In 2020, the foremost competitions in the sport of athletics were the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, the 2020 World Athletics Indoor Championships held in Nanjing, China and the 2020 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships held in Gdynia, Poland. All three were rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemicm with the 2020 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships being the only event still held in 2020.

Major championships

World

Olympic Games Paralympic Games World Half Marathon Championships World U20 Championships World Mountain Running Championships

Regional

African Championships Asian Indoor Championships European Championships European Throwing Cup CARIFTA Games South American Indoor Championships Pan American Cross Country Cup

World and continental athletics events February 15: 2020 Balkan Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul 60 m winners: Konstantinos Zikos (m) / Diana Vaisman (f) 400 m winners: Ivan Budzynskyi (m) / Andrea Miklós (f) 800 m winners: Yevhen Hutsol (m) / Cristina Daniela Bălan (f) 1500 m winners: Elzan Bibić (m) / Roxana Bârcă (f) 3000 m winners: Andreas Vojta (m) / Luiza Gega (f) 60 m Hurdles winners: Mikdat Sevler (m) / Ivana Lončarek (f) Long Jump winners: Izmir Smajlaj (m) / Florentina Iusco (f) Triple Jump winners: Nazim Babayev (m) / Elena Panțuroiu (f) High Jump winners: Dmytro Nikitin (m) / Yuliya Chumachenko (f) Pole Vault winners: Ersu Şaşma (m) / Iana Gladiichuk (f) Shot Put winners: Mesud Pezer (m) / Dimitriana Surdu (f) 4 × 400 m winners: (m) / (f) March 7: 2020 World University Cross Country Championships in Marrakesh March 29: 2020 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in GdyniaWorld Athletics Half Marathon Championships Page May 2 & 3: 2020 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in MinskWorld Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Page July 7–12: 2020 World Athletics U20 Championships in NairobiWorld Athletics U20 Championships Page July 16–19: 2020 European Athletics U18 Championships in RietiEA's European Athletics U18 Championships Page August 26–30: 2020 European Athletics Championships in Paris December 13: 2020 European Cross Country Championships in Dublin

Annual competitions

Diamond League Continental Tour IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge World Marathon Majors Tokyo Marathon Boston Marathon (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) London Marathon Berlin Marathon (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) Chicago Marathon (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) New York City Marathon (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) IAAF Road Race Label Events

Season's bests 60 metres 100 metres 200 metres 400 metres 800 metres 1500 metres 3000 metres 5000 metres 10,000 metres 60 metres hurdles 100/110 metres hurdles 400 metres hurdles 3000 metres steeplechase 10 kilometres 15 kilometres 20 kilometres Half marathon 25 kilometres 30 kilometres Marathon 20 kilometres race walk 50 kilometres race walk Pole vault m m High jump m m Long jump m m Triple jump m m Shot put m m Discus throw m m Javelin throw m m Hammer throw m m Pentathlon — pts Heptathlon pts pts Decathlon pts —4 × 100 metres relay 4 × 400 metres relay

Outdoor season's top ten performers All information on the season's top ten performers in outdoor events is published by World Athletics.Toplists 2020. World Athletics. Retrieved 2021-07-14.

100 metres

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 9.86 Michael Norman 2 9.90 Trayvon Bromell 3 9.91 Akani Simbine 4 9.97 Andre De Grasse 5 10.00 Ronnie Baker 6 10.03 Julian Forte 6 10.03 Rai Benjamin 6 10.03 Asuka Cambridge 9 10.04 Noah Lyles 9 10.04 Yoshihide Kiryū 9 10.04 Andre Ewers 9 10.04 Kyree King 9 10.04 Arthur Cissé

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 10.85 Elaine Thompson-Herah 2 10.86 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce 3 10.95 Sha'Carri Richardson 4 10.98 Shaunae Miller-Uibo 5 11.08 Ajla Del Ponte 6 11.11 Rebekka Haase 7 11.12 Aleia Hobbs 8 11.14 Hannah Cunliffe 8 11.14 Marie-Josée Ta Lou 10 11.15 Tamari Davis

200 metres

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 19.76 Noah Lyles 2 19.80 Kenny Bednarek 3 19.96 Steven Gardiner 4 20.22 Divine Oduduru 5 20.23 Clarence Munyai 5 20.23 Arthur Cissé 7 20.24 Andre De Grasse 7 20.24 Josephus Lyles 7 20.24 Aaron Brown 7 20.24 William Reais

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 21.98 Shaunae Miller-Uibo 2 22.00 Sha'Carri Richardson 3 22.19 Elaine Thompson-Herah 4 22.45 Jasmine Camacho-Quinn 5 22.47 Lynna Irby 6 22.57 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce 7 22.63 Gabrielle Thomas 8 22.66 Lieke Klaver 9 22.67 Anthonique Strachan 10 22.69 Ge Manqi

400 metres

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 44.91 Justin Robinson 2 44.98 Michael Cherry 3 45.05 Karsten Warholm 4 45.07 Akeem Bloomfield 5 45.21 Edoardo Scotti 6 45.25 Yousef Karam 7 45.31 Davide Re 8 45.37 Steven Solomon 9 45.40 Josephus Lyles 10 45.46 Ludvy Vaillant

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 50.42 Beatrice Masilingi 2 50.50 Lynna Irby 3 50.52 Shaunae Miller-Uibo 4 50.98 Lieke Klaver 5 51.13 Femke Bol 6 51.22 Amantle Montsho 7 51.23 Wadeline Jonathas 8 51.33 Justyna Święty-Ersetic 9 51.35 Lada Vondrová 10 51.51 Polina Miller

800 metres

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 1:43.15 Donavan Brazier 2 1:43.23 Bryce Hoppel 3 1:44.09 Daniel Rowden 4 1:44.14 Marco Arop 5 1:44.16 Ferguson Rotich 6 1:44.18 Jake Wightman 7 1:44.47 Andreas Kramer 8 1:44.51 Amel Tuka 9 1:44.56 Benjamin Robert 9 1:44.56 Elliot Giles

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 1:57.68 Faith Kipyegon 2 1:58.10 Hedda Hynne 3 1:58.37 Selina Rutz-Büchel 4 1:58.50 Lore Hoffmann 5 1:58.63 Jemma Reekie 6 1:58.84 Laura Muir 7 1:58.92 Rose Mary Almanza 8 1:59.22 Esther Guerrero 9 1:59.69 Ciara Mageean 10 1:59.87 Adelle Tracey

1500 metres

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 3:28.45 Timothy Cheruiyot 2 3:28.68 Jakob Ingebrigtsen 3 3:29.47 Jake Wightman 4 3:30.35 Filip Ingebrigtsen 5 3:30.51 Stewart McSweyn 6 3:32.69 Yomif Kejelcha 7 3:32.97 Selemon Barega 8 3:33.07 Jesús Gómez 9 3:33.45 Soufiane El Bakkali 10 3:33.72 Ignacio Fontes

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 3:57.40 Laura Muir 2 3:59.05 Faith Kipyegon 3 3:59.70 Sofia Ennaoui 4 4:00.02 Karissa Schweizer 5 4:00.09 Laura Weightman 6 4:00.42 Jessica Hull 7 4:00.77 Elle Purrier St. Pierre 8 4:01.31 Claudia Bobocea 9 4:01.81 Melissa Courtney-Bryant 10 4:02.20 Jemma Reekie

5000 metres

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 12:35.36 Joshua Cheptegei 2 12:47.20 Mohammed Ahmed 3 12:48.63 Jacob Kiplimo 4 12:49.08 Selemon Barega 5 12:51.78 Nicholas Kimeli 6 12:58.78 Lopez Lomong 7 13:02.26 Yemaneberhan Crippa 8 13:08.91 Berihu Aregawi 9 13:09.83 Stewart McSweyn 10 13:10.64 Jonathan Ndiku

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 14:06.62 Letesenbet Gidey 2 14:22.12 Hellen Obiri 3 14:23.92 Shelby Houlihan 4 14:26.34 Karissa Schweizer 5 14:35.44 Laura Weightman 6 14:37.85 Sifan Hassan 7 14:40.51 Sheila Chelangat 8 14:40.70 Yasemin Can 9 14:43.80 Jessica Hull 10 14:45.11 Shannon Rowbury

10,000 metres

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 26:11.00 Joshua Cheptegei 2 26:58.97 Nicholas Kimeli 3 27:01.42 Richard Yator 4 27:01.95 Jonathan Ndiku 5 27:02.39 Benard Kibet 6 27:02.80 Bedan Karoki Muchiri 7 27:18.75 Akira Aizawa 8 27:20.34 Cleophas Kandie Meyan 9 27:22.06 Eric Jenkins 10 27:22.55 Patrick Tiernan

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 29:36.67 Sifan Hassan 2 30:20.44 Hitomi Niiya 3 30:38.18 Rosemary Wanjiru 4 30:57.73 Tsehay Gemechu 5 31:06.46 Sarah Chelangat 6 31:08.09 Evaline Chirchir 7 31:09.79 Rachel Schneider 8 31:10.08 Weini Frezghi 9 31:10.84 Alicia Monson 10 31:11.07 Sharon Lokedi

110/100 metres hurdles

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 13.11 Orlando Ortega 2 13.14 Andrew Pozzi 3 13.15 Aaron Mallett 4 13.18 Wilhem Belocian 5 13.19 Grant Holloway 6 13.24 Xie Wenjun 7 13.27 Taio Kanai 8 13.29 Jason Joseph 9 13.30 Freddie Crittenden 10 13.31 Sergey Shubenkov

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 12.68 Nadine Visser 2 12.71 Luca Kozák 3 12.73 Elvira Herman 3 12.73 Cyréna Samba-Mayela 5 12.76 Annimari Korte 6 12.78 Payton Chadwick 7 12.79 Luminosa Bogliolo 8 12.82 Britany Anderson 9 12.84 Nooralotta Neziri 10 12.86 Taliyah Brooks

400 metres hurdles

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 46.87 Karsten Warholm 2 48.69 Ludvy Vaillant 3 48.72 Rasmus Mägi 4 49.04 Yasmani Copello 5 49.11 Wilfried Happio 6 49.12 Tatsuhiro Yamamoto 7 49.19 Kazuki Kurokawa 8 49.31 Takatoshi Abe 9 49.33 Mehdi Pirjahan 10 49.35 David Kendziera

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 53.79 Femke Bol 2 54.54 Anna Ryzhykova 3 54.93 Viktoriya Tkachuk 4 54.98 Léa Sprunger 5 55.09 Sarah Carli 6 55.19 Emma Zapletalová 7 55.20 Sara Slott Petersen 8 55.27 Jessie Knight 8 55.27 Amalie Iuel 10 55.40 Ronda Whyte 10 55.40 Janieve Russell 10 55.40 Ayomide Folorunso

3000 metres steeplechase

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 8:08.04 Soufiane El Bakkali 2 8:08.78 Leonard Bett 3 8:13.43 Djilali Bedrani 4 8:13.45 Fernando Carro 5 8:16.25 Matthew Hughes 6 8:16.57 Topi Raitanen 7 8:17.60 Abraham Kibiwot 8 8:19.37 Ryuji Miura 9 8:19.40 Daniel Arce 10 8:19.60 Philemon Kiplagat Ruto

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 9:06.14 Hyvin Kiyeng Jepkemoi 2 9:10.07 Beatrice Chepkoech 3 9:16.84 Yekaterina Ivonina 4 9:20.68 Maruša Mišmaš-Zrimšek 5 9:23.86 Olga Vovk 6 9:27.35 Natalya Aristarkhova 7 9:28.12 Anna Tropina 8 9:30.73 Aimee Pratt 9 9:32.90 Stella Rutto 10 9:32.95 Rosie Clarke

Half marathon

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 57:32 Kibiwott Kandie 2 57:37 Jacob Kiplimo 3 57:49 Rhonex Kipruto 4 57:59 Alexander Mutiso 5 58:11 Philemon Kiplimo 6 58:42 Kelvin Kiptum 7 58:53 Amedework Walelegn 8 58:54 Andamlak Belihu 9 58:56 Stephen Kissa 10 59:04 Muktar Edris

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 1:04:31 Ababel Yeshaneh 2 1:04:46 Yalemzerf Yehualaw 3 1:04:49 Brigid Kosgei 4 1:05:06 Ruth Chepng'etich 5 1:05:16 Peres Jepchirchir 6 1:05:18 Melat Yisak Kejeta 6 1:05:18 Genzebe Dibaba 8 1:05:34 Rosemary Wanjiru 9 1:05:39 Zeineba Yimer 9 1:05:39 Sheila Chepkirui

Marathon

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 2:03:00 Evans Chebet 2 2:03:04 Lawrence Cherono 3 2:03:16 Birhanu Legese 4 2:03:30 Amos Kipruto 5 2:04:12 Reuben Kiprop Kipyego 6 2:04:46 Mekuant Ayenew Gebre 7 2:04:49 Bashir Abdi 8 2:04:51 Sisay Lemma 9 2:04:53 Deso Gelmisa 10 2:05:05 Barnabas Kiptum 10 2:05:05 Abel Kirui

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 2:17:16 Peres Jepchirchir 2 2:17:45 Lonah Chemtai Salpeter 3 2:18:35 Birhane Dibaba 4 2:18:40 Joyciline Jepkosgei 5 2:18:58 Brigid Kosgei 6 2:19:38 Worknesh Degefa 7 2:19:52 Helalia Johannes 8 2:19:54 Zeineba Yimer 9 2:19:56 Degitu Azimeraw 9 2:19:56 Tigist Girma

Pole vault

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 2 6.02 Sam Kendricks 3 5.90 Jacob Wooten 3 5.90 Matt Ludwig 3 5.90 Piotr Lisek 6 5.85 Harry Coppell 7 5.82 Audie Wyatt 7 5.82 KC Lightfoot 7 5.82 Claudio Stecchi 7 5.82 Thiago Braz 7 5.82 Renaud Lavillenie

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 4.92 Katie Nageotte 2 4.83 Michaela Meijer 3 4.80 Anzhelika Sidorova 4 4.75 Tina Šutej 5 4.73 Holly Bradshaw 5 4.73 Angelica Bengtsson 7 4.72 Iryna Zhuk 7 4.72 Nina Kennedy 9 4.70 Eleni-Klaoudia Polak 9 4.70 Sandi Morris

High jump

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 2.33 Maksim Nedasekau 2 2.31 Tomohiro Shinno 3 2.30 Jamal Wilson 3 2.30 Brandon Starc 3 2.30 Woo Sang-hyeok 3 2.30 Gianmarco Tamberi 3 2.30 Loïc Gasch 3 2.30 Ilya Ivanyuk 3 2.30 Andriy Protsenko 10 2.28 Mateusz Przybylko 10 2.28 Norbert Kobielski 10 2.28 Keitaro Fujita 10 2.28 Ryoichi Akamatsu

+WomenRankResultAthleteNation 1 2.00 Yuliya Levchenko 1 2.00 Yaroslava Mahuchikh 3 1.99 Eleanor Patterson 4 1.98 Nicola McDermott 5 1.97 Mariya Lasitskene 6 1.95 Erika Kinsey 7 1.94 Erika Furlani 8 1.92 Lia Apostolovski 8 1.92 Oksana Okunyeva 10 1.91 Bára Sajdoková 10 1.91 Ioanna Zakka 10 1.91 Alina Shukh

Long jump

+MenRankResultAthleteNation 1 8.36 Wang Jianan 2 8.33 Huang Changzhou 3 8.29 Yuki Hashioka 4 8.28 Lester Lescay 5 8.27 Kristian Pulli 6 8.26 Maykel Massó 7 8.25 Juan Miguel Echevarría 8 8.23 Tajay Gayle 9 8.20 Darcy Roper 9 8.20 Cheswill Johnson