The World Championships is one of sport’s biggest events and, along with football’s World Cup and the Olympic Games, it is considered the pinnacle of athletic achievement. The championships were started in 1976 in response to growing calls amongst the sport’s global governing body, the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF), for a tournament that brought together the best athletes in the world and truly decided the best of them all.
It was agreed at a IAAF Council meeting in Puerto Rico in 1978 that the new tournament would take place a month and a half after the Olympics and Helsinki was chosen as the host city for the inaugural event which took place in August 1983. The first edition was a resounding success with Carl Lewis cementing his status as a global superstar by winning gold in the 100m, long jump and 4x100m relay, while British hurdling duo Colin Jackson and Sally Gunnell won double gold medals in their respective events. Sergey Bubka also impressed in the pole vault, clearing a wind-aided 6.01m to win his sixth straight world title.
Over the years, a number of world records have been broken at the championships, with American athletes leading the way with 15 in total followed by Jamaica and Great Britain with four each. Six men have already run inside the previous world record in the men’s 800m at this year’s championships and with 16 inside the 5000m CR, there is every chance that we will witness a new WR in both of those races.