The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial

indoor track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor Games'' in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently renamed to IAAF World Indoor Championships in 1987. The current name was adapted with the name change of the sports governing body in 2019. They have been held every two years except for when they were held in consecutive years 2003 and 2004 to facilitate the need for them to be held in alternate years to the main

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

(outdoors) in the future.

Championships

Events

The events held have remained more or less the same since they originated, with the main alterations coming in the earlier years. The 4 x 400 m

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, oriente ...

for both men and women was added to the full schedule in 1991 with the women's

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

, the latter as an exhibition event, and gaining full status at the following championships.

Racewalking Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

events were dropped after 1993, and a 1600 m medley relay was tried but was discontinued were due to poor interest. This same year, a men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon were successfully introduced as non-championship events, and have remained on the program since. In 1997 the women's

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the M ...

entered the fray, two years before it made an appearance at the event's outdoor counterpart. Despite the event's popularity, the 200 m was removed from the program after the 2004 championships, as the event was deemed unfair and too predictable, with the tight bends involved in the race meaning any athletes not drawn in either of the outside lanes had minimal or no chance of winning.

Outstanding achievements

Seven gold medals

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Maria de Lurdes Mutola Maria de Lurdes Mutola ( ; born 27 October 1972) is a retired female track and field athlete from Mozambique who specialised in the 800 metres running event. She is only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. ...

won seven

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

, one silver and one bronze medal in the women's 800 m from 1993 to 2008.

Natalya Nazarova Natalya Viktorovna Nazarova (russian: Наталья Викторовна Назарова, born May 26, 1979, Moscow) is a track and field sprinter. She was born in Moscow. Following a personal best time of 49.65 seconds run a fortnight e ...

has won seven gold and one silver medal from 1999 to 2008 in the 400 m and 4 × 400 m relay.

Five gold medals

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

n Iván Pedroso won five straight golds in the men's

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

from 1993 to 2001.

Stefka Kostadinova Stefka Georgieva Kostadinova ( bg, Стефка Георгиева Костадинова; born March 25, 1965) is a Bulgarian retired athlete who competed in the high jump. Her world record of 2.09 metres has stood since 1987. She was the 1996 ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

won five gold medals in the women's

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

Genzebe Dibaba Genzebe Dibaba Keneni ( Oromo: ''Ganzabee Dibaabaa Qananii''; Amharic: ገንዘቤ ዲባባ ቀነኒ; born 8 February 1991) is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. A 1500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, she won a gold med ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

won 2 gold medals in the women's 1,500m and 3 gold medals in the 3,000m from 2012 to 2018

Four gold medals

Haile Gebrselassie Haile Gebrselassie ( am, ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, ''haylē gebre silassē''; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian retired long-distance track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Champions ...

won three golds in the 3,000 m and one in the 1,500 m. *

Sergey Bubka Sergey Nazarovych Bubka ( uk, Сергій Назарович Бубка; born 4 December 1963) is a Ukrainian former pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. Bubka was twice named Athlete of the Year by '' T ...

won four pole vault gold medals (three while competing for the Soviet Union and one for

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

). *Cuban

Javier Sotomayor Javier Sotomayor Sanabria (; born October 13, 1967) is a Cuban retired track and field athlete, who specialized in the high jump and is the current world record holder. The 1992 Olympic champion, he was the dominant high jumper of the 1990s; hi ...

won four gold and one bronze medal in the men's

. *

Stefan Holm Stefan Christian Holm (born 25 May 1976) is a retired Swedish high jumper. He won an Olympic gold medal, a silver in the World Championships, and one silver and one bronze medal in the European Championships. His personal records are 2.37 ...

of Sweden has won four gold medals in the men's high jump. * Meseret Defar of Ethiopia has won four gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the women's 3,000 m. * Mikhail Shchennikov of Russia has won four gold medals in the 5000 m walk. *

Gail Devers Yolanda Gail Devers ( ; born November 19, 1966) is an American retired track and field sprinter who competed in the 60 metres, 60 m hurdles, 100 m and 100 m hurdles. One of the greatest and most decorated female sprinters of all time, she was t ...

of the United States has won 3 golds at 60m and 1 gold and 1 silver at 60m hurdles * Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia has won 4 golds and 1 silver at pole vault * Valerie Adams of the United States has won 4 golds and 1 bronze at shot put

Championship records

Key to tables:
X = annulled due to doping violation

Men

Women

Heptathlon disciplines

Pentathlon disciplines

Records in defunct events

Men's events

Women's events

All-time medal table

''Medal table includes 1985–2022 Championships.'' ;Notes was the name, under which Russian athletes competed in the 2018 Championships. Their medals were not included in the official medal table.

All-time placing table

In the ''

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

placing table A placing table is a team ranking system used in sports competitions that feature multiple finals. It shares similarities with the better-known medal table found at most multi-sport events, but goes beyond the top three performers and assigns wei ...

'' the total score is obtained from assigning eight points to the first place and so on to one point for the eight place. Points are shared in situations where a tie occurs. ''Updated after 2016 Championships''

Notes

References

External links

World Athletics Indoor ChampionshipsEvent History 1987–2003
from BBC {{Main world championships

World Indoor Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

Indoor Recurring sporting events established in 1985 Indoor track and field competitions Biennial athletics competitions