The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a variety of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport. Starting in 1948 by Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, Track & Field News became the leader in creating and defining abbreviations in this field. These abbreviations have also been adopted by, among others: World Athletics, the world governing body; various domestic governing bodies; the Association of Track and Field Statisticians; the Association of Road Racing Statisticians; the Associated Press; and individual media outlets who receive their reports. These abbreviations also appear in Wikipedia.
Times and marks Almost all races record a time. Evolving since experiments in the 1930s, to their official use at the 1968 Summer Olympics and official acceptance in 1977, fully automatic times have become common. As this evolution has occurred, the rare early times were specified as FAT times. As they are now commonplace, automatic times are now expressed using the hundredths of a second. Hand times (watches operated by human beings) are not regarded as accurate and thus are only accepted to the accuracy of a tenth of a second even when the watch displays greater accuracy. If the mark was set before 1977, a converted time to the tenth was recorded for record purposes, because they did not have a system to compare between the timing methods. Frequently in those cases there is a mark to the 100th retained for that race. Over this period of evolution, some reports show hand times also followed with an "h" or "ht" to distinguish hand times.
With two different timing methods came the inevitable desire to compare times. Track and Field News initiated adding .24 to hand times as a conversion factor. Many electronic hand stopwatches display times to the hundredth. Frequently those readings are recorded, but are not accepted as valid (leading to confused results). Some low level meets have even hand timed runners and have switched places according to the time displayed on the stopwatch. All of this is, of course, wrong. Hand times are not accurate enough to be accepted for record purposes for short races. Human reaction time is not perfectly identical between different human beings. Hand times involve human beings reacting, pushing the stopwatch button when they see the smoke or hear the sound of the starting pistol, then reacting (possibly anticipating) the runner crossing the finish line. The proper procedure for converting hand times would be to round any hundredths up to the next higher even tenth of a second and then add the .24 to get a time for comparison purposes only. But many meets displayed the converted marks accurate to the hundredth making the results look like they were taken with fully automatic timing. In these cases, some meets have displayed a 4 or a 0 in the hundredths column for all races. When detected, reports of these times are followed by a "c" or ' to indicate converted times.
Road race times are only considered accurate to a full second. To distinguish a full second time with hours, from a minute time with hundredths of a second, colons are used to separate hours from minutes, and minutes from seconds. A period is used to separate seconds from hundredths of a second.
Transponder timing is becoming more common. The RFID detection system times the transponder chip, usually located on a runner's shoe as opposed to the official timing of the torso. Accurate to a full second, this is not significant, but in breaking microscopic ties, the data does not correspond to timing rules. Most road races cannot fit all participants onto the start line. Depending on the size of the field, some athletes could be several city blocks away from the start line and in the large crowd, could take minutes to get across the line. Results frequently indicate two times, the "gun time" would be the official time from the firing of the starting pistol, but the mat time shows the time the shoe crossed a sensing mat at the start line to the time the shoe crossed the sensing mat at the finish line.
Occasionally, when breaking ties using photo finish, times are displayed to the thousandth of a second. These times to the thousandth are not used for record purposes but times to the thousandth can be used to break ties between adjacent heats. Rules specify if a tie is broken this way, that all heats involved are recorded with the same timing system.
Records Most records are subject to ratification by the governing body for that record. On the world level, that is World Athletics. Each body has their own procedure for ratifying the records: for example, USA Track & Field (USATF), the governing body for the United States, only ratifies records once a year at their annual meeting at the beginning of December.
Until a record is ratified, it is regarded as "Pending" which is sometimes indicated by a following P.
WR – world record OR – olympic record CR – championship record CR – course record (marathon) CR – US collegiate record GR – games record PR – paralympic games record AR – area (or continental) record ER – European record NR – national record (for a specific country) MR – meet record (World Athletics' official terminology list uses "Meeting Record.") DLR – diamond league record # – the performance has not been accepted as a record, or there is some sort of irregularity with the result X – the athlete has been disqualified after the performance (usually, this is for taking performance-enhancing substance) U20 (formerly J for Junior) – for an athlete under 20 years of age before the end of the calendar year of the competition. If no age-specific infix is added, the athlete is considered senior. WU20R – world under-20 record (formerly WJR – world junior record) AU20R – area (or continental) under-20 record (formerly AJR – area junior record) NU20R – national under-20 record (for a specific country) (formerly NJR – national junior record)
Bests Some records are ratified or tracked, but they are not to the same standard of quality or accuracy as a record. The term is "bests." World Athletics lists bests for the Youth division and for road-racing records such as the marathon. It also tracks athlete personal achievements as bests.
WB – world best (the best mark recorded for a non-WA world record event) WBP – world best performance (the best mark recorded for a non-WA world record event) AB – area (or continental) best (the best mark recorded for a non-WA world record event) NB – national best (the best mark recorded for a non-national federation record event) NBP – national best performance (the best mark recorded for a non-WA world record event) PB – personal best (the best mark achieved by an athlete on a personal level) SB – season's best (the best mark achieved by an athlete on a personal level within a given season) WL – world leading (the best mark achieved worldwide within a given season) EL – European leading (Europe leading) (the best mark achieved throughout Europe within a given season) CL – Collegiate leading (the best mark achieved throughout US American universities and colleges within a given season) U18 (formerly Y for Youth) – for athletes under 18 years of age at the end of the calendar year of the competition. WU18B – world under-18 best (formerly WYB – world youth best) AU18B – area (or continental) under-18 best (formerly AYB – area youth best) NU18B – national under-18 best (for a specific country) (formerly NYB – national youth best) U23 – for athletes under 23 years of age at the end of the calendar year of the competition. WU23B – world under-23 best AU23B – area (or continental) under-23 best NU23B – national under-23 best (for a specific country)
Circumstances and conditions + – time was taken at an intermediate distance in a longer race A – mark set at altitude a – (in a road race) assisted, course not record-eligible according to World Athletics rule 260.28 AC – also competed b – banked track c – converted mark dh – downhill e – estimated mark F – finals DNF – Did not finish (Running or Race Walking Events or Combined Events) DNS – Did not start r – Retired from competition (Field Events) DNC – did not compete DQ – Disqualified YC – Yellow Card YRC – Second Yellow Card RC – Red Card h – hand timed or heats i – indoors INT – international team (used in relay results where athletes are from different countries) IRM – irregular measurement L – Lane infringement Mx – mixed-gender race n – non-winning time ND – no distance NT – no time NWI – no wind information (or no wind instrument) NWJ – no water jump (in steeplechase running events) OC – out of competition athlete (athlete representing a foreign member federation in a national championship) OT – oversized track P – Competing under protest Q – Automatic qualification - qualified by place (Track Events), qualified by standard (Field Events) (see qualifying standards in athletics) q – Non-automatic qualification - qualified by time (Track Events), qualified by performance (Field Events). Its purpose is to complete the prescribed group size in semi-finals (Track Events only) or a final. qR – Advanced to next round by Referee qJ – Advanced to next round by Jury of Appeal qD – Advanced to next round by draw Re – Qualified for the Repechage Round ReR – Advanced to Repechage Round by Referee ReJ – Advanced to Repechage Round by Jury of Appeal S – straight track sf – semi-finals sh – short track, including "indoors" but also allowing for outdoor 200 metres tracks w – mark of wind assistance. For events where wind assistance is a factor (outdoor races 200 metres or less, long jump and triple jump), the wind reading is usually reported in metres per second (m/s). Wo – women-only race y – race measurement in yards
Field events NM – No valid trial recorded "O" – Valid trial in High Jump and Pole Vault "X" – Failed trial "-" – Passed trial
Race walking events ">" – bent knee "~" – loss of contact
Warnings / Disqualifications Athlete warnings and disqualifications often reference the World Athletics (formerly IAAF) Competition Rule or Technical Rule number under which the athlete was warned or disqualified.
These are typically written in the following format: YC TR6.2 (giving or receiving assistance), DQ TR16.8 (false start)
40.1 – Doping violation during or in connection with the championships 40.8 – Prior doping violation leading to suspension during the period of the championships 41.1 – Doping violation by one or more relay team members CR6.1 Note (ii) – Failure to comply with order to withdraw or retire (Running or Race Walking Event) CR6.1 Note (iii) – Failure to comply with order to withdraw or retire (Field Event) CR6.1 Note (iv) – Failure to comply with order to withdraw or retire (Combined Event) TR4.4.1 – No show of confirmed athlete TR4.4.2 – No show of qualified athlete TR4.4.3 – Competing without bona fide effort TR6.2 – Giving or receiving assistance TR6.3.1 – Pacing TR6.3.2 – Possession / use of electronic device TR6.3.3 – Use of technology or appliance TR6.3.4 – Use of mechanical aid TR6.3.5 – Provision of advice or other support by an official of the competition TR6.3.6 – Receiving physical support from another athlete TR7.1 – Unsporting or improper conduct (unsportsmanlike conduct) 149 – Entry to championships on the grounds of invalid performances TR5.11 – Not complying with the bib rule TR16.5.1 – Aborted start with no valid reason TR16.5.2 – Delaying the start TR16.5.3 – Disturbing the start TR16.8 – False start TR17.1.2 – Jostling or obstruction TR17.2.3 – Lane infringement TR17.5 – Leaving the assigned lane early before the breakline (800m) TR17.6 – Continuing in the race after voluntarily leaving the track TR17.7 – Make check-marks / place objects on or alongside the track