# Athletics at the 1961 Summer Universiade

Athletics events were contested at the 1961 Summer Universiade in Sofia, Bulgaria.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Enrique Figuerola (CUB) | 10.38 | Berwyn Jones (GBR) | 10.59 | László Mihályfi (HUN) | 10.65 |
| 200 metres details | László Mihályfi (HUN) | 21.27 | Brian Smouha (GBR) | 21.40 | Brian Anson (GBR) | 21.51 |
| 400 metres details | Josef Trousil (TCH) | 47.51 | Jacques Pennewaert (BEL) | 48.06 | Otto Grasshoff (FRG) | 48.53 |
| 800 metres details | Ron Delany (IRL) | 1:51.1 | Rudolf Klaban (AUT) | 1:51.4 | Wolfgang Schöll (FRG) | 1:51.6 |
| 1500 metres details | Tomáš Salinger (TCH) | 3:45.75 | Zoltan Vamoș (ROM) | 3:45.85 | Rudolf Klaban (AUT) | 3:46.16 |
| 5000 metres details | János Pintér (HUN) | 14:23.4 | Andrei Barabás (ROM) | 14:23.8 | Peter Kubicki (FRG) | 14.23.8 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Valentin Chistyakov (URS) | 14.33 | Klaus Willimczik (FRG) | 14.62 | Wiesław Król (POL) | 14.81 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Salvatore Morale (ITA) | 50.14 | Georgiy Chevychalov (URS) | 51.80 | Elio Catola (ITA) | 52.33 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Leonid Bartenyev Valentin Chistyakov Anatoly Mikhaylov Edvin Ozolin | 41.22 | Japan (JPN) Kiyoshi Asai Hirotada Hayase Yojiro Muro Takayuki Okazaki | 41.30 | West Germany (FRG) Hans-Jürgen Felsen Rudolf Sundermann Hinrick Helmke Joachim Guter | 41.35 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | West Germany (FRG) Peter Hoppe Wolfgang Schöll Otto Graßhoff Albert Grawitz | 3:10.56 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) Josef Trousil Josef Odložil Milan Jílek Tomáš Salinger | 3:12.93 | Great Britain (GBR) Menzies Campbell John Cooper Mike Fleet Mike Robinson | 3:14.63 |
| High jump details | Valeriy Brumel (URS) | 2.25 | Igor Kashkarov (URS) | 2.08 | Milan Valenta (TCH) | 2.03 |
| Pole vault details | Dimitar Khlebarov (BUL) | 4.52 | Gérard Barras (SUI) | 4.52 | Ihor Petrenko (URS) | 4.52 |
| Long jump details | Igor Ter-Ovanesyan (URS) | 7.90 | Takayuki Okazaki (JPN) | 7.67 | Ivan Ivanov (BUL) | 7.58 |
| Triple jump details | Sorin Ioan (ROM) | 15.93 | Oleg Ryakhovskiy (URS) | 15.85 | Tomio Ota (JPN) | 15.65 |
| Shot put details | Viktor Lipsnis (URS) | 18.00 | Dieter Urbach (FRG) | 17.64 | Zsigmond Nagy (HUN) | 17.57 |
| Discus throw details | Edmund Piątkowski (POL) | 59.15 | Kaupo Metsur (URS) | 54.20 | Virgil Manolescu (ROM) | 52.52 |
| Hammer throw details | Gyula Zsivótzky (HUN) | 64.62 | Gennadiy Kondrashov (URS) | 63.38 | John Lawlor (IRL) | 63.33 |
| Javelin throw details | Gergely Kulcsár (HUN) | 77.65 | Janusz Sidło (POL) | 77.48 | Rolf Herings (FRG) | 75.67 |
| Decathlon details | Vasili Kuznetsov (URS) | 7918 | Milan Kuzmanov (BUL) | 6226 | Klaus-Dieter Röper (FRG) | 6209 |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Tatyana Shchelkanova (URS) | 11.78 | Galina Popova (URS) | 11.90 | Joan Atkinson (GBR) | 11.93 |
| 200 metres details | Barbara Janiszewska (POL) | 24.44 | Joan Atkinson (GBR) | 24.49 | Vera Kabranyuk (URS) | 24.70 |
| 800 metres details | Antje Gleichfeld (FRG) | 2:07.76 | Florica Grecescu (ROM) | 2:08.67 | Tsvetana Isaeva (BUL) | 2:12.59 |
| 80 metres hurdles details | Irina Press (URS) | 10.90 | Rimma Koshelyova (URS) | 11.01 | Snezhana Kerkova (BUL) | 11.09 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Irina Press Tatyana Shchelkanova Rimma Koshelyova Larisa Kuleshova | 46.2 | Poland (POL) Mirosława Sałacińska Irena Szczupak Elżbieta Krzesińska Barbara Janiszewska | 47.6 | Bulgaria (BUL) Stefka Ilieva Diana Yorgova Svetlana Isaeva Rossitsa Madzharska | 47.9 |
| High jump details | Iolanda Balaș (ROM) | 1.85 | Klara Pushkaryeva (URS) | 1.67 | Thelma Hopkins (GBR) | 1.65 |
| Long jump details | Tatyana Shchelkanova (URS) | 6.49 | Diana Yorgova (BUL) | 6.12 | Elżbieta Krzesińska (POL) | 6.11 |
| Shot put details | Tamara Press (URS) | 17.12 | Irina Press (URS) | 15.61 | Ana Roth (ROM) | 15.59 |
| Discus throw details | Tamara Press (URS) | 58.06 | Antonina Zolotukhina (URS) | 53.82 | Jolán Kontsek (HUN) | 52.51 |
| Javelin throw details | Yelena Gorchakova (URS) | 51.39 | Maria Diaconescu (ROM) | 50.64 | Almut Brömmel (FRG) | 47.65 |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union (URS) | 13 | 10 | 2 | 25 |
| 2 | Hungary (HUN) | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 3 | Romania (ROM) | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 4 | West Germany (FRG) | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 |
| 5 | Poland (POL) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 8 | Ireland (IRL) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 10 | Cuba (CUB) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Great Britain (GBR) | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 12 | Japan (JPN) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 13 | Austria (AUT) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Switzerland (SUI) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (15 entries) | Totals (15 entries) | 29 | 29 | 29 | 87 |