The International Association of Athletics Federations World Indoor Championships were inaugurated as the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently renamed in 1987 as they are known today.

  History

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 IAAF World Championships (outdoors) in the future.

  Championships

Edition	Year	City	Country	Date	Venue
–	1985	Paris	France	18–19 January 1985	Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy
1	1987	Indianapolis	United States	6–8 March 1987	Hoosier Dome
2	1989	Budapest	Hungary	3–5 March 1989	Budapest Sportcsarnok
3	1991	Seville	Spain	8–10 March 1991	Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo
4	1993	Toronto	Canada	12–14 March 1993	SkyDome
5	1995	Barcelona	Spain	10–12 March 1995	Palau Sant Jordi
6	1997	Paris	France	7–9 March 1997	Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy [1]
7	1999	Maebashi	Japan	5–7 March 1999	Green Dome Maebashi
8	2001	Lisbon	Portugal	9–11 March 2001	Pavilhão Atlântico
9	2003	Birmingham	United Kingdom	14–16 March 2003	National Indoor Arena
10	2004	Budapest	Hungary	5–7 March 2004	Budapest Sports Arena
11	2006	Moscow	Russia	10–12 March 2006	Olimpiysky Stadium
12	2008	Valencia	Spain	7–9 March 2008	Luis Puig Palace
13	2010	Doha	Qatar	12–14 March 2010	ASPIRE Dome
14	2012	Istanbul	Turkey	9–11 March 2012	Ataköy Athletics Arena
15	2014	Sopot	Poland	TBD	Ergo Arena

  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 for both men and women was added to the full schedule in 1991 as was the women's triple jump, but only as an exhibition event before gaining full status at the following championships.

1993 saw the last of the racewalking events included and a 1600 m medley relay was tried but dropped for future games. This same year a men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon were successfully introduced as non-championship events and have remained in place since.

In 1997 the women's pole vault entered the fray – two years before it made an appearance at the games' outdoor counterpart.

The 200 m has been absent since the 2006 championships in Moscow, as it was deemed unfair. Its results had become too predictable. Because of the tight bends involved, athletes not drawn in one of the outside lanes had next to no chance of winning.

  Outstanding achievements

  Seven gold medals

Mozambique's Maria de Lurdes Mutola won seven gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the women's 800 m from 1993 to 2008.

Natalya Nazarova has won seven gold and one silver medal from 1999 to 2008 in the 400 m and 4x400m relay.

  Five gold medals

Cuban Iván Pedroso won five straight golds in the men's long jump from 1993–2001.
Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria won five gold medals in the women's high jump.

  Four gold medals

• Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia won three golds in the 3,000 m and one in the 1,500 m.
• Sergey Bubka won four pole vault gold medals (three while competing for the Soviet Union and one for Ukraine).
• Cuban Javier Sotomayor won four gold and one bronze medal in the men's high jump.
• Stefan Holm 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.

  Championship records

  Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref	Video
60 m	6.42	Maurice Greene	United States	7 March 1999	1999 World Championships	Maebashi, Japan
400 m	45.11	Nery Brenes	Costa Rica	10 March 2012	2012 World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	[1]	[2]
800 m	1:42.67	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark	9 March 1997	1997 World Championships	Paris, France
1500 m	3:33.77	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	7 March 1999	1999 World Championships	Maebashi, Japan
3000 m	7:34.71	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	9 March 1997	1997 World Championships	Paris, France
60 m hurdles	7.34	Dayron Robles	Cuba	14 March 2010	2010 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[2]
High jump	2.43 m	Javier Sotomayor	Cuba	4 March 1989	1989 Championships	Budapest, Hungary
Pole vault	6.01 m	Steven Hooker	Australia	13 March 2010	2010 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[3]
Long jump	8.62 m	Iván Pedroso	Cuba	7 March 1999	1999 World Championships	Maebashi, Japan
Triple jump	17.90 m	Teddy Tamgho	France	14 March 2010	2010 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[4]
Shot put	22.24 m	Ulf Timmermann	East Germany	7 March 1987	1987 World Championships	Indianapolis, United States
Heptathlon	6645 pts	Ashton Eaton	United States	9–10 March 2012	2012 World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	[5]
	6.79 (60 m), 8.16 m (long jump), 14.56 m (shot put), 2.03 m (high jump) / 7.68 (60 m hurdles), 5.20 m (pole vault), 2:32.77 (1000 m)
4 x 400 m relay	3:02.83	Andre Morris Dameon Johnson Deon Minor Milton Campbell	United States	7 March 1999	1999 World Championships	Maebashi, Japan		[3]

  Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref	Video
60 m	6.95	Gail Devers	United States	12 March 1993	1993 World Championships	Toronto, Canada
400 m	50.04	Olesya Forsheva	Russia	12 March 2006	2006 World Championships	Moscow, Russia
800 m	1:56.90	Ludmila Formanová	Czech Republic	7 March 1999	1999 World Championships	Maebashi, Japan
1500 m	3:59.41 X	Yuliya Fomenko	Russia	9 March 2008	2008 World Championships	Valencia, Spain
	3:59.75	Gelete Burka	Ethiopia	9 March 2008	2008 World Championships	Valencia, Spain
3000 m	8:33.82	Elly van Hulst	Netherlands	4 March 1989	1989 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary
60 m hurdles	7.72	Lolo Jones	United States	13 March 2010	2010 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[6]
High jump	2.05 m	Stefka Kostadinova	Bulgaria	8 March 1987	1987 World Championships	Indianapolis, United States
Pole vault	4.86 m	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia	6 March 2004	2004 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary
Long jump	7.23 m	Brittney Reese	United States	11 March 2012	2012 World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	[7]	[4]
Triple jump	15.36 m	Tatyana Lebedeva	Russia	6 March 2004	2004 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary
Shot put	20.85 m	Nadzeya Ostapchuk	Belarus	14 March 2010	2010 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[8]
Pentathlon	5013 pts	Nataliya Dobrynska	Ukraine	9 March 2012	2012 World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	[9]
	8.38 (60 m hurdles), 1.84 m (high jump), 16.51 m (shot put), 6.57 m (long jump), 2:11.15 (800 m)
4 x 400 m relay	3:23.88	Olesya Forsheva Olga Kotlyarova Tatyana Levina Natalya Nazarova	Russia	7 March 2004	2004 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary

X = annulled due to doping violation

  Records in defunct events

  Men's events

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref
200 m	20.10	Frank Fredericks	Namibia	6 March 1999	1999 World Championships	Maebashi, Japan
5000 m walk	18:23.55	Mikhail Shchennikov	Soviet Union	10 March 1991	1991 World Championships	Seville, Spain
Distance medley relay (non-championship event)	3:15.10	Mark Everett James Trapp Kevin Little Butch Reynolds	Russia	14 March 1993	1993 World Championships	Toronto, Canada

  Women's events

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref
200 m	22.15	Irina Privalova	Russia	14 March 1993	1993 World Championships	Toronto, Canada
3000 m walk	11:49.73	Yelena Nikolayeva	Russia	12 March 1993	1993 World Championships	Toronto, Canada
Distance medley relay (non-championship event)	3:45.90	Joetta Clark Wendy Vereen Kim Batten Jearl Miles	United States	14 March 1993	1993 World Championships	Toronto, Canada

  Heptathlon disciplines

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref	Video
60 m	6.61	Chris Huffins	United States	8 March 1997	1997 World Championships	Paris, France
Long jump	8.16 m	Ashton Eaton	United States	9 March 2012	2012 World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	[10]	[5]
Shot put	17.17 m	Aleksey Drozdov	Russia	12 March 2010	2010 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[11]
High jump	2.17 m	Tom Pappas	United States	15 March 2003	2003 World Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom
60 m hurdles	7.76 m	Roman Šebrle	Czech Republic	11 March 2006	2006 World Championships	Moscow, Russia
Pole vault	5.50 m	Erki Nool	Estonia	7 March 1999	1999 World Championships	Maebashi, Japan
1000 m	2:32.77	Ashton Eaton	United States	10 March 2012	2012 World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	[12]	[6]

  Pentathlon disciplines

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref
60 m hurdles	7.91	Jessica Ennis	Great Britain	9 March 2012	2012 World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	[13]
High jump	1.99 m	Tia Hellebaut	Belgium	7 March 2008	2008 World Championships	Valencia, Spain
Shot put	17.18 m	Nataliya Dobrynska	Ukraine	7 March 2008	2008 World Championships	Valencia, Spain
Long jump	6.69 m	Natalya Sazanovich	Belarus	9 March 2001	2001 World Championships	Lisbon, Portugal
800 m	2:08.09	Jessica Ennis	Great Britain	9 March 2012	2012 World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	[14]

  All-time medal table 1985–2011

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	82	59	60	201
2	Russia	49	43	39	131
3	Soviet Union	19	17	17	53
4	Ethiopia	17	4	9	30
5	Germany	16	15	22	53
6	Great Britain	15	27	18	60
7	Cuba	15	15	14	44
8	Jamaica	14	17	8	39
9	East Germany	12	7	5	24
10	Ukraine	10	11	8	29
11	France	10	9	15	34
12	Sweden	10	7	7	24
13	Romania	9	9	8	26
14	Bulgaria	9	5	7	21
15	Kenya	7	12	11	20
16	Australia	7	7	5	19
17	Canada	7	2	13	22
18	Mozambique	7	1	1	9
19	Morocco	6	5	6	17
20	Ireland	6	2	2	10
21	Czech Republic	5	5	9	19
22	Italy	4	6	11	21
23	Portugal	4	3	5	12
24	Greece	4	3	2	9
25	Netherlands	4	1	3	8
26	Belarus	3	12	6	21
27	Bahamas	3	4	8	15
28	Kazakhstan	3	4	1	8
29	Brazil	3	3	5	11
30	South Africa	3	3	2	7
31	Spain	2	19	11	32
32	Poland	2	6	13	21
33	Nigeria	2	6	3	11
34	China	2	4	5	11
35	Czechoslovakia	2	4	2	8
36	Switzerland	2	1	3	6
37	Croatia	2	1	2	5
38	New Zealand	2	1	1	4
39	Sudan	2	1	1	4
40	Grenada	2	0	0	2
41	Belgium	1	4	2	7
42	Denmark	1	2	2	5
43	Hungary	1	1	3	5
44	Bermuda	1	1	1	3
45	Ghana	1	1	0	2
45	Namibia	1	1	0	2
47	Norway	1	0	2	3
48	Algeria	1	0	1	2
49	Costa Rica	1	0	0	1
49	Finland	1	0	0	1
51	Austria	0	3	0	3
52	Slovenia	0	2	2	4
53	Iceland	0	2	1	3
53	Trinidad and Tobago	0	2	1	3
55	Cameroon	0	2	0	2
55	Estonia	0	2	0	2
55	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0	2	0	2
58	Bahrain	0	1	2	3
59	Latvia	0	1	1	2
59	Qatar	0	1	1	2
59	Turkey	0	1	1	2
62	Barbados	0	1	0	1
62	Botswana	0	1	0	1
62	Burundi	0	1	0	1
62	Cayman Islands	0	1	0	1
62	Côte d'Ivoire	0	1	0	1
62	Panama	0	1	0	1
62	United States Virgin Islands	0	1	0	1
69	Japan	0	0	3	3
70	Lithuania	0	0	2	2
70	Mexico	0	0	2	2
70	Yugoslavia	0	0	2	2
73	Antigua and Barbuda	0	0	1	1
73	British Virgin Islands	0	0	1	1
73	Chile	0	0	1	1
73	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0	0	1	1
73	Dominican Republic	0	0	1	1
73	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	1
73	Senegal	0	0	1	1
73	Suriname	0	0	1	1
Total		393	398	405	1196

  See also

• International Athletics Championships and Games

  References

  External links

• International Association of Athletics Federation
• Event History 1987–2003 from BBC

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