The World Athletics Championships begins on Friday 16 July, with around 2000 athletes from 200 countries competing in Eugene, Oregon, as the US stages the Championships for the first time in its history.
The US topped the medals table three years ago in Doha 2019, ahead of Kenya and Jamaica, while Great Britain will be looking to improve on its haul of five medals last time out.
This year, there will be an added incentive for the track-and-field stars with points awarded for a top-eight finish (eight points for each gold medalist down to one point for an 8th-place finish). After the 49th and final event is completed in Eugene, the nation with the most points will be crowned World Team Champions, with the teams finishing second and third also receiving trophies.
When are the World Athletics Championships 2022 and where are they?
The World Athletics Championships begin on Friday, 15 July and they end ten days later on Sunday 24 July 2022. They're taking place in Eugene, Oregon. This is the very first time the United States is hosting the Track and Field event since the Championships began in 1983.
Full details of the Championships timetable can be found on the World Athletics website. Most days there's a morning session which starts around 9.30 am local time and an evening session which starts around 5 pm.
World Athletics Championships daily highlights
FRIDAY 15 JULY RESULTS
- Mixed 4x400m relay: Dominican Republic
- Women’s 20k race walk: Kimberly Garcia (Peru)
SATURDAY 16 JULY RESULTS
- Women’s 10000m: Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia)
- Men’s 100m final: Fred Kerley (USA)
- Men’s hammer: Pawel Fajdek (Poland)
- Men’s long jump: Jianan Wang (China)
- Women’s shot put: Chase Ealey (USA)
SUNDAY 17 JULY RESULTS
- Women’s pole vault: Katie Nageotte (USA)
- Men’s marathon: Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia)
- Women's hammer: Brooke Andersen (USA)
- Men’s 10000m: Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda)
- Men’s shot put: Ryan Crouser (USA)
- Men’s 110m hurdles: Grant Holloway (USA)
- Women’s 100m: Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica)
MONDAY 18 JULY RESULTS
- Heptathlon: Nafi Thiam (Netherlands)
- Women’s 1500m: Faith Kipyegon (Kenya)
- Men’s high jump: Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar)
- Women’s marathon: Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia)
- Women’s triple jump: Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela)
- Men’s 3000m steeplechase: El Bakkali (Morocco)
TUESDAY 19 JULY RESULTS
- Men’s 400m hurdles: Alison dos Santos (Brazil)
- Men's 1500m: Jake Wightman (UK)
- Women’s high jump: Eleanor Patterson (Australia)
- Men’s discus: Kristjan Ceh (Slovenia)
WEDNESDAY 20 JULY RESULTS
- Women’s 3000m steeplechase: Norah Jeruto (Kazakhstan)
- Women's discus: Fen Bing (China)
THURSDAY 21 JULY RESULTS
- Women's 200m: Shericka Jackson (Jamaica)
- Men's 200m: Noah Lyles (USA)
FRIDAY 22 JULY
Olympic gold medallist Sydney McLaughlin is the one to watch today after the US athlete recently broke her own women’s 400m hurdles world record. Meanwhile, the women’s 400m could see a last individual appearance from US legend Alysson Felix. The seven-time Olympic gold medallist and 13-times world champion will retire after Eugene, at the age of 36.
Other finals: women’s 35k race walk; women’s javelin; men’s 400m.
SATURDAY 23 JULY
Zharnel Hughes and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake — part of Britain’s 4x100m relay quartet — will be desperate to claim a medal after being disqualified and stripped of their silver at the Tokyo Olympics when CJ Ujah was found guilty of doping. In the men’s 800m, look out for rising British star Max Burgin, who has run the quickest time in the world this year.
Other finals: Decathlon starts (ends on Sunday 24 July); men’s triple jump; women’s 5000m; men’s javelin; women’s 4x100m relay.
SUNDAY 24 JULY
In one of the most anticipated races of the Championships, Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson renews her rivalry with fellow 20-year-old Athing Mu of the USA in the women’s 800m. Both runners are in superb form and Hodgkinson will want revenge for the Tokyo Olympics when the American pipped her to gold. Elsewhere, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis — at just 22 years old — is the one to watch in the men’s pole vault after recently setting yet another new outdoors world record of 6.16m.
Other finals: men’s 35k walk; women’s long jump; men’s 5000m; women’s 100m hurdles; men’s 4x400m relay; women’s 4x400m relay.
Athletes to watch at the Athletics Championships
Karsten Warholm (Norway)
The former decathlete-turned-400m hurdler broke his own world record at the Tokyo Olympics to become the first person to run below 46 seconds over the distance. And, although he's exuberant and larger than life on the track, he recently revealed he relaxes away from the track by building Lego sports cars.
Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica)
Thompson-Herah may have claimed golds in the women’s 100m and 200m in Tokyo, but the sprint sensation has yet to win individual gold at the World Championships. She’ll have two chances in Eugene where she will be up against compatriots and rivals Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson in both events. They’ll also team up as reigning Olympic champions for the 4x100m relay.
Hellen Obiri (Kenya)
Kenya have five reigning world champions in their squad for the Championships, including Hellen Obiri, who will be going for a third consecutive victory in the women’s 5000m. The 32-year-old, who finished second to the formidable Sifan Hassan in the 5000m in the Tokyo Olympics, will also double up in the 10000m.
Neeraj Chopra (India)
Chopra became the first Indian to win Olympic track-and-field gold at Tokyo, and he’ll be looking to repeat that feat in Eugene. He set a new personal best in the javelin throw just last month, but will need to be on top of his game to beat reigning world champion Andersen Peters of Grenada, who looks to be peaking at just the right time.
Armand "Mondo" Duplantis (Sweden)
The Swedish pole vaulter stamped his mark on the sport when he broke Sergey Bubka’s 26-year-old outdoor record (of 6.14m) in 2020. In June 2022, Mondo, still only 22, improved his own record by clearing 6.16m at the Stockholm Diamond League meet. The American-born star, who has a Swedish mother, also holds the world indoor record with a clearance of 6.20m.
Andre De Grasse (Canada)
The Canadian sprinter claimed gold in the men’s 200m in Tokyo last summer – his country’s first 200m Olympic gold for 93 years – as well as bronze in the 100m. The 27-year-old hasn’t shown the same form this year, but will certainly give the Americans a run for their money when he lines up in both the 100m and 200m in Oregon.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway)
Another athletic wunderkind, Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the most talented of a supremely talented family. Just 21 years old he's already set records in middle- and long-distance running, winning the 1500m gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and golds in both the 1500 and 5000m races in the 2018 European Championships as well as holding the Indoor world record for 1500m. He races with tactical skill that's rare in such a young distance runner.
Elder brothers, Henrik and Filip are also runners (1500, 3000 and 5000m) with Championship medals under their belt. There are two other younger Ingebrigtsen children, Ingrid and William who are planning to take up the racing habit, so watch this space.
Who's missing out on the Athletics Championships?
- Visa issues are causing problems for multiple teams including South Africa, Kenya, Jamaica and Libya. 100m sprinter, Ferdinand Omanyala, has finally been issued a visa but will only arrive in the USA just three hours before his first heat. World and Olympic Champion sprinter (200m and 400m) Michael Johnson has blasted the poor preparation saying "This would never happen in a truly professional sport!"
- In a shock announcement, we hear that Botswana's Nijel Amos (800m) has been suspended from competing after he failed a drugs test. Amos is the silver Olympic medallist from the London Olympic Games in 2012 and he was due to start his competition on July 20.
- Steven Gardiner, the reigning Olympic and world 400m champion, from the Bahamas, will miss the Championships event due to a tendon injury.
- US pole vaulter (and current world champion), Sam Kendricks, is missing out on the first World Athletics Championships on his home soil as a result of a slow recovery from knee surgery. It's a double blow for Kendricks who had to miss the Tokyo Olympic Games after testing positive for COVID-19.
- Triple Olympic gold medallist, Polish hammer thrower Anita Wlodarczyk, is missing out after sustaining an injury apprehending a car thief! Sadly her good deeds have not been rewarded and she has to set her sights on Paris 2024 instead.
- A stress fracture has put paid to Burundi's Olympic medal-winning distance runner, Francine Niyonsaba's event attendance.
- Also missing out from injury is Peres Jepchirchir, the current women's marathon Olympic champion from Kenya.
- German javelin world champion (2017) Johannes Vetter also pulled out, just days before the Championships, with a shoulder injury. In a post on Instagram, he shared that "It's tough to say when I will be able to compete again and I will need the following weeks to digest this decision."
- UK heptathlete and high jumper Morgan Lake had to miss her event due to covid.
Where to watch the World Athletics 2022
In the US, NBC has the exclusive rights to screen World Athletics events (as well as having screening rights to the Olympics until 2032.) This means the World Athletics Championships will be streaming on Peacock as well as extensive coverage on NBC, USA Network, CNBC and NBC Sports.
In the UK, the Athletics Championships is being shown for free live across the BBC but, with local Oregon time eight hours behind the UK, the best option is probably to catch up on demand via the BBC iPlayer.
Canada (CBC) and Australia (Kayo Sports) are also showing hours of the Championships on their free streaming platforms.
See full details in our guide to how to watch the World Athletics Championships.
How often are the World Athletics Championships held?
The world championships are held every 2 years. The last one was in Doha, 2019. The athletics event started in 1983 as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. The first three were held every four years but switched in 1993, changing their name a few times and dropping the IAAF for the simpler "World Athletics Championships".
All the events at the World Athletics Championships
Track events
- 100 Metres
- 200 Metres
- 400 Metres
- 800 Metres
- 1,500 Metres
- 5,000 Metres
- 10,000 Metres
- 100 Metres Hurdles (Women)
- 110 Metres Hurdles (Men)
- 400 Metres Hurdles
- 4x100 Metres Relay
- 4x400 Metres Relay
- 3,000 Metres Steeplechase
- Marathon
- 20 Kilometres Race Walk
- 35 Kilometres Race Walk
Field events
- High Jump
- Pole Vault
- Long Jump
- Triple Jump
- Shot Put
- Discus Throw
- Hammer Throw
- Javelin Throw
Track/Field events
- Heptathlon
- Decathlon
