World records in athletics
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "World_records_in_athletics".

Usain Bolt (right) of Jamaica is the current world record holder for the 100 and 200 meter sprint races. He is shown here in the closing stages of his record 200 m run.

World records in athletics (track and field) are ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Records are kept for all events contested at the Olympic Games and some others. Unofficial records for some other events are kept by track and field statisticians. The only non-metric distance for which official records are kept is the mile run.

Ratification

The criteria which must be satisfied for ratification also apply to national or other restricted records and also to performances submitted as qualifying marks for eligibility to compete in major events such as the Olympic Games.

The criteria include:

• The dimensions of the track and equipment used must conform to standards.
• Except in road events (road running and race walking), the performance must be set in a single-sex race.^[1]
• All team members in a relay race must be of the same nationality.
• Pacemakers are allowed, provided they have not been lapped; lapped athletes must give way.
• Drug testing immediately after the performance is now required for ratification of a record. Existing records which predate this requirement are still extant. Athletes who pass the immediate test but are later found to have been on drugs have their performances invalidated.
• In sprint events up to 200 m and in jump events, wind assistance is permitted only up to 2.0 m/s. In decathlon or heptathlon, average wind assistance of less than 2.0 m/s is required across all applicable disciplines; and maximum of 4.0 m/s in any one event.
• In sprint events up to 400 m, photo finish fully automatic timing is required.
• There is no restriction on altitude; since the thinner atmosphere of higher altitude provides less air resistance, locations such as Mexico City and Sestriere are popular in the sprint and jump events.
• In road events, the course is not required to be a circuit, but must not have too great a downhill gradient.
• In road events, the course must be accurately measured, by a certified measurer.

Bonus payments

Witnessing a world record brings great pleasure for athletics fans; athletes' personal sponsors and the promoters of major meetings such as the IAAF Golden League have offered bonuses to athletes breaking a record.

Some middle-distance runners have specialized in acting as pacemakers in longer races, receiving a fee without even finishing the race, and possibly a bonus if a record results. This is a useful occupation for athletes who are capable of running accurately to a specified pace, but not capable of the very fastest times to become champions in their own right.

In the pole vault (and potentially the high jump) record bonuses create an incentive for an athlete capable of smashing a record to instead break it by the minimum amount (one centimetre), multiple times, at multiple meetings, in order to accumulate multiple bonuses. This has been done by Sergey Bubka in the men's pole vault, and Yelena Isinbayeva in the women's pole vault. Some commentators have complained that neither athlete ever posted as high a mark as they were capable of. In other disciplines this perverse incentive does not arise, since it is practically impossible to deliberately break a record by a small margin.

Outdoor world records

Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place
100 m Progression	9.69	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	16 August 2008	Beijing, China
200 m Progression	19.30	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	20 August 2008	Beijing, China
400 m Progression	43.18	Michael Johnson	United States	26 August 1999	Seville, Spain
800 m Progression	1:41.11	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark	24 August 1997	Cologne, Germany
1000 m	2:11.96	Noah Ngeny	Kenya	5 September 1999	Rieti, Italy
1500 m Progression	3:26.00	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	14 July 1998	Rome, Italy
Mile Progression	3:43.13	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	7 July 1999	Rome, Italy
2000 m	4:44.79	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	7 September 1999	Berlin, Germany
3000 m Progression	7:20.67	Daniel Komen	Kenya	1 September 1996	Rieti, Italy
5000 m Progression	12:37.35	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	31 May 2004	Hengelo, Netherlands
10,000 m Progression	26:17.53	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	26 August 2005	Brussels, Belgium
10 kilometres (road)	27:02	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	11 December 2002	Doha, Qatar
15 kilometres (road)	41:29	Felix Limo	Kenya	11 November 2001	Nijmegen, Netherlands
20,000 m	56:26.0	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	27 June 2007	Ostrava, Czech Republic
20 kilometres (road)	55:48	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	15 January 2006	Phoenix, AZ, United States
Half marathon (road)	58:33	Samuel Kamau Wanjiru	Kenya	17 March 2007	The Hague, Netherlands
One hour (track)	21.285 km	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	27 June 2007	Ostrava, Czech Republic
25,000 m	1:13:55.8	Toshihiko Seko	Japan	22 March 1981	Christchurch, New Zealand
25 kilometres (road)	1:12:45	Paul Malakwen Kosgei	Kenya	9 May 2006	Berlin, Germany
30,000 m	1:29:18.8	Toshihiko Seko	Japan	22 March 1981	Christchurch, New Zealand
30 kilometres (road)	1:28:00	Takayuki Matsumiya	Japan	27 February 2005	Kumamoto, Japan
Marathon Progression	2:03:59	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	28 September 2008	Berlin, Germany
100 kilometres (road)	6:13:33	Takahiro Sunada	Japan	21 June 1998	Tokoro, Japan
3000 m steeplechase	7:53.63	Saif Saaeed Shaheen (born Stephen Cherono, Kenya)	Qatar	3 September 2004	Brussels, Belgium
110 m hurdles Progression	12.87 s	Dayron Robles	Cuba	12 June 2008	Ostrava, Czech Republic
400 m hurdles	46.78 s	Kevin Young	United States	6 August 1992	Barcelona, Spain
High jump Progression	2.45 m	Javier Sotomayor	Cuba	27 July 1993	Salamanca, Spain
Pole vault Progression	6.14 m A	Sergey Bubka	Ukraine	31 July 1994	Sestriere, Italy
Long jump Progression	8.95 m	Mike Powell	United States	30 August 1991	Tokyo, Japan
Triple jump Progression	18.29 m	Jonathan Edwards	United Kingdom	7 August 1995	Göteborg, Sweden
Shot put Progression	23.12 m	Randy Barnes	United States	20 May 1990	Westwood, USA
Discus	74.08 m	Jürgen Schult	East Germany	6 June 1986	Neubrandenburg, Germany
Hammer	86.74 m	Yuriy Sedykh	Soviet Union	30 August 1986	Stuttgart, Germany
Javelin	98.48 m (Current design)	Jan Železný	Czech Republic	25 May 1996	Jena, Germany
	104.80 m (old design)	Uwe Hohn	East Germany	20 July 1984	Berlin, Germany
Decathlon	9026 pts	Roman Šebrle	Czech Republic	27 May 2001	Götzis, Austria
	10.64 s (100 m), 8.11 m (26.61ft) (long jump), 15.33 m (50.3 ft) (shot put), 2.12 m (6.96 ft) (high jump), 47.79 s (400 m), 13.92 s (110 m hurdles), 47.92 m (157.22 ft) (discus), 4.80 m (15.75 ft) (pole vault), 70.16 m (230.18 ft) (javelin), 4:21.98 min (1500 m)
20,000 m walk (track)	1:17:25.6	Bernardo Segura	Mexico	7 May 1994	Bergen, Norway
20 km walk (road) Progression	1:16:43	Sergey Morozov	Russia	8 June 2008	Saransk, Russia
30000 m walk (track)	2:01:44.1	Maurizio Damilano	Italy	3 October 1992	Cuneo, Italy
50000 m walk (track)	3:40:57.9	Thierry Toutain	France	29 September 1996	Héricourt, France
50 km walk (road) Progression	3:34:14	Denis Nizhegorodov	Russia	11 May 2008	Cheboksary, Russia
4x100 m relay	37.10	Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell	Jamaica	22 August 2008	Beijing, China
4x200 m relay	1:18.68	Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Floyd Heard, Carl Lewis	United States	17 April 1994	Walnut, USA
4x400 m relay[2]	2:54.29	Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Butch Reynolds, Michael Johnson	United States	22 August 1993	Stuttgart, Germany
4x800 m relay	7:02.43	Joseph Mutua, William Yiampoy, Ismael Kombich, Wilfred Bungei	Kenya	25 August 2006	Brussels, Belgium
4x1500 relay	14:38.8	Thomas Wessinghage, Harald Hudak, Michael Lederer, Karl Fleschen	West Germany	17 August 1977	Cologne, Germany

Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place
100 m Progression	10.49 s	Florence Griffith Joyner	United States	16 July 1988	Indianapolis, USA
200 m	21.34 s	Florence Griffith Joyner	United States	29 September 1988	Seoul, S. Korea
400 m	47.60	Marita Koch	East Germany	6 October 1985	Canberra, Australia
800 m Progression	1:53.28	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	26 July 1983	Munich, Germany
1000 metres	2:28.98	Svetlana Masterkova	Russia	23 August 1996	Brussels, Belgium
1500 metres Progression	3:50.46	Qu Yunxia	China	11 September 1993	Beijing, China
Mile Progression	4:12.56	Svetlana Masterkova	Russia	14 August 1996	Zürich, Switzerland
2000 metres	5:25.36	Sonia O'Sullivan	Ireland	8 July 1994	Edinburgh, Scotland
3000 metres Progression	8:06.11	Wang Junxia	China	13 September 1993	Beijing, PR China
5000 metres Progression	14:11.15	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia	6 June 2008	Oslo, Norway
10,000 metres Progression	29:31.78	Wang Junxia	China	8 September 1993	Beijing, PR China
10 kilometres (road)	30:21	Paula Radcliffe	United Kingdom	23 February 2003	San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA
15 kilometres (road)	46:55	Kayoko Fukushi	Japan	5 February 2006	Marugame, Japan
One hour	18.517 km	Dire Tune	Ethiopia	12 June 2008	Ostrava, Czech Republic
20,000 m	1:05:26.6	Tegla Loroupe	Kenya	3 September 2000	Borgholzhausen, Germany
20 kilometres (road)	1:02:57	Lornah Kiplagat	Netherlands	14 October 2007	Udine, Italy
Half Marathon (road)	1:06:25	Lornah Kiplagat	Netherlands	14 October 2007	Udine, Italy
25,000 m	1:27:05.9	Tegla Loroupe	Kenya	21 September 2002	Mengerskirchen, Germany
25 kilometres (road)	1:22:13	Mizuki Noguchi	Japan	25 September 2005	Berlin, Germany
30,000 m	1:45:50.0	Tegla Loroupe	Kenya	7 June 2003	Warstein, Germany
30 kilometres (road)	1:38:49	Mizuki Noguchi	Japan	25 November 2005	Berlin, Germany
Marathon Progression	2:15:25	Paula Radcliffe	United Kingdom	13 April 2003	London, England, UK
100 kilometres (road)	6:33:11	Tomoe Abe	Japan	25 June 2000	Tokoro, Japan
3000 m steeplechase	8:58.81	Gulnara Samitova	Russia	17 August 2008	Beijing, China
100 m hurdles Progression	12.21 s	Yordanka Donkova	Bulgaria	20 August 1988	Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
400 m hurdles	52.34 s	Yuliya Pechonkina	Russia	8 August 2003	Tula, Russia
High jump Progression	2.09 m	Stefka Kostadinova	Bulgaria	30 August 1987	Rome, Italy
Pole vault Progression	5.05 m	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia	18 August 2008	Beijing, China
Long jump	7.52 m	Galina Chistyakova	Soviet Union	11 June 1988	Leningrad, USSR
Triple jump Progression	15.50	Inessa Kravets	Ukraine	10 August 1995	Göteborg, Sweden
Shot put Progression	22.63	Natalya Lisovskaya	Soviet Union	7 June 1987	Moscow, USSR
Discus	76.80	Gabriele Reinsch	East Germany	9 July 1988	Neubrandenburg, Germany
Hammer throw	77.80 m[3]	Tatyana Lysenko	Russia	15 August 2006	Tallinn, Estonia
Javelin[4]	72.28 m (Current design)	Barbora Špotáková	Czech Republic	13 September 2008	Stuttgart, Germany
	80.00 m (old design)	Petra Felke	East Germany	9 September 1988	Potsdam, Germany
Heptathlon	7291 pts	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	United States	24 September 1988	Seoul, S. Korea
	12.69 s (100 m hurdles), 1.86 m (high jump), 15.80 m (shot put), 22.56 s (200 m), 7.27 m (long jump), 45.66 m (javelin), 2:08.51 (800 m)
Decathlon	8358 pts	Austra Skujytė	Lithuania	14 April 2005 – 15 April 2005	Columbia, USA
	12.49 s (100 m), 46.19 m (discus), 3.10 m (pole vault), 48.78 m (javelin), 57.19 s (400 m), 14.22 s (100 m hurdles), 6.12 m (long jump), 16.42 m (shot put), 1.78 m (high jump), 5:15.86 (1500 m)
10000 m walk (track)	41:56.23	Nadezhda Ryashkina	Soviet Union	24 July 1990	Seattle, USA
20000 m walk (track)	1:26:52.3	Olimpiada Ivanova	Russia	6 September 2001	Brisbane, Australia
20 km walk (road) Progression	1:25:41	Olimpiada Ivanova	Russia	7 August 2005	Helsinki, Finland
4x100 m relay	41.37	Silke Gladisch, Sabine Rieger, Ingrid Auerswald, Marlies Göhr	East Germany	6 October 1985	Canberra, Australia
4x200 m relay	1:27.46	LaTasha Jenkins, LaTasha Colander-Richardson, Nanceen Perry, Marion Jones	United States	29 April 2000	Philadelphia, USA
4x400 m relay	3:15.17	Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova, Mariya Pinigina, Olga Bryzgina	Soviet Union	1 October 1988	Seoul, S. Korea
4x800 m relay	7:50.17	Nadezhda Olizarenko, Lyubov Gurina, Lyudmila Borisova, Irina Podyalovskaya	Soviet Union	5 August 1984	Moscow, USSR

Indoor world records

Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place
50 m	5.56 s	Donovan Bailey	Canada	9 February 1996	Reno, USA
60 m	6.39 s	Maurice Greene	United States	3 February 1998	Madrid, Spain
				3 March 2001	Atlanta, USA
200 m	19.92 s	Frankie Fredericks	Namibia	18 February 1996	Liévin, France
400 m	44.57 s	Kerron Clement	United States	12 March 2005	Fayetteville, USA
800 m	1:42.67	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark	9 March 1997	Paris-Bercy, France
1000 m	2:14.96	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark	20 February 2000	Birmingham, England
1500 m	3:31.18	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	2 February 1997	Stuttgart, Germany
Mile	3:48.45	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	12 February 1997	Ghent, Belgium
3000 m	7:24.90	Daniel Komen	Kenya	6 February 1998	Budapest, Hungary
5000 m	12:49.60	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	20 February 2004	Birmingham, England
50 m hurdles	6.25 s	Mark McKoy	Canada	5 March 1986	Kobe, Japan
60 m hurdles	7.30 s	Colin Jackson	United Kingdom	6 March 1994	Sindelfingen, Germany
High jump	2.43 m	Javier Sotomayor	Cuba	4 March 1989	Budapest, Hungary
Pole vault	6.15 m	Sergey Bubka	Ukraine	21 February 1993	Donetsk, Ukraine
Long jump	8.79 m	Carl Lewis	United States	27 January 1984	New York City, USA
Triple jump	17.83 m	Aliecer Urrutia	Cuba	1 March 1997	Sindelfingen, Germany
		Christian Olsson	Sweden	7 March 2004	Budapest, Hungary
Shot put	22.66 m	Randy Barnes	United States	20 January 1989	Los Angeles, USA
Heptathlon	6476 pts	Dan O'Brien	United States	13 March 1993	Toronto, Canada
	6.67 s (60 m), 7.84 m (long jump), 16.02 m (shot put), 2.13 m (high jump), 5.20 m (pole vault), 2:57.96 min (1000 m), 7.85 (60 m hurdle)
5000 m walk	18:07.08	Mikhail Shchennikov	Russia	14 February 1995	Moscow, Russia
4x200 m relay	1:22.11	Linford Christie, Darren Braithwaite, Ade Mafe, John Regis	United Kingdom	3 March 1991	Glasgow, Scotland
4x400 m relay	3:02.83	Andre Morris, Dameon Johnson, Deon Minor, Milton Campbell	United States	7 March 1999	Maebashi, Japan
4x800 m relay	7:13.94	Joey Woody, Karl Paranya, Rich Kenah, David Krummenacker	United States	6 February 2000	Boston, USA

Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place
50 m	5.96 s	Irina Privalova	Russia	9 February 1995	Madrid, Spain
60 m	6.92 s	Irina Privalova	Russia	11 February 1993 February 9, 1995	Madrid, Spain Madrid, Spain
200 m	21.87 s	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica	13 February 1993	Liévin, France
400 m	49.59 s	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia	7 March 1982	Milan, Italy
800 m	1:55.82	Jolanda Čeplak	Slovenia	3 March 2002	Vienna, Austria
1000 m	2:30.94	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	Mozambique	25 February 1999	Stockholm, Sweden
1500 m	3:57.71	Yelena Soboleva	Russia	9 March 2008	Valencia, Spain
Mile	4:17.14	Doina Melinte	Romania	9 February 1990	East Rutherford, USA
3000 m	8:23.72	Meseret Defar	Ethiopia	3 February 2007	Stuttgart, Germany
5000 m	14:27.42	Tirunesh Dibaba