# Athletics at the 1959 Summer Universiade

Athletics events were contested at the 1959 Summer Universiade in Turin, Italy.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Livio Berruti (ITA) | 10.5 | Jean-Claude Penez (FRA) | 10.8 | Romain Poté (BEL) | 10.8 |
| 200 metres details | Livio Berruti (ITA) | 20.9 | Nikolaos Georgopoulos (GRE) | 21.6 | Fritz Helfrich (FRG) | 21.7 |
| 400 metres details | Viktor Šnajder (YUG) | 47.5 | Walter Oberste (FRG) | 47.9 | Otto Klappert (FRG) | 47.9 |
| 800 metres details | Dieter Heydecke (FRG) | 1:50.5 | John Holt (GBR) | 1:50.5 | Kuniaki Watanabe (JPN) | 1:50.9 |
| 1500 metres details | Béla Szekeres (HUN) | 3:50.9 | John Winch (GBR) | 3:52.0 | Kuniaki Watanabe (JPN) | 3:52.1 |
| 5000 metres details | Kevin Gilligan (GBR) | 14:09.8 | Saburo Yokomizo (JPN) | 14:14.8 | Jaroslav Bohatý-Pavelka (TCH) | 14:18.0 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Stanko Lorger (YUG) | 14.2 | Nereo Svara (ITA) | 14.4 | Giorgio Mazza (ITA) | 14.4 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Salvatore Morale (ITA) | 52.1 | Germano Gimelli (ITA) | 52.8 | Wiesław Król (POL) | 53.2 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Italy (ITA) Guido De Murtas Salvatore Giannone Giorgio Mazza Livio Berruti | 41.0 | West Germany (FRG) Rudolf Sundermann Martin Reichert Burkhart Quantz Fritz Helfrich | 41.0 | France (FRA) Ali Brakchi Joël Caprice Jean-Claude Penez Guy Lagorce | 41.4 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | West Germany (FRG) Albert Grawitz Burkhart Quantz Walter Oberste Otto Klappert | 3:09.5 | Italy (ITA) Elio Catola Nereo Fossati Mario Fraschini Germano Gimelli | 3:11.4 | Great Britain (GBR) Robert Hay Mike Robinson John Holt Norman Futter | 3:12.2 |
| High jump details | Cornel Porumb (ROM) | 2.01 | Vladimir Marjanović (YUG) | 1.96 | Raycho Aleksandrov (URS) Kazimierz Fabrykowski (POL) | 1.96 |
| Pole vault details | Noriaki Yasuda (JPN) | 4.35 | Mirko Kuzmanovic (YUG) | 4.30 | Bernard Balastre (FRA) | 4.20 |
| Long jump details | Attilio Bravi (ITA) | 7.46 | Maurizio Terenziani (ITA) | 7.43 | Ali Brakchi (FRA) | 7.42 |
| Triple jump details | Oleg Ryakhovskiy (URS) | 15.74 | Koji Sakurai (JPN) | 15.55 | Hiroshi Shibata (JPN) | 15.44 |
| Shot put details | Hermann Lingnau (FRG) | 17.32 | Zsigmond Nagy (HUN) | 17.10 | Georgios Tsakanikas (GRE) | 16.70 |
| Discus throw details | Antonios Kounadis (GRE) | 53.07 | Vladimir Lyakhov (URS) | 52.79 | Eugeniusz Wachowski (POL) | 52.22 |
| Hammer throw details | Gyula Zsivótzky (HUN) | 63.65 | Anatoliy Samotsvetov (URS) | 63.61 | Krešimir Račić (YUG) | 62.32 |
| Javelin throw details | Hermann Salomon (FRG) | 75.95 | Gergely Kulcsár (HUN) | 75.80 | Alexandru Bizim (ROM) | 72.81 |
| Pentathlon details | Vasili Kuznetsov (URS) | 4006 | Hermann Salomon (FRG) | 3530 | Miloš Vojtek (TCH) | 3048 |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres details | Giuseppina Leone (ITA) | 11.7 | Lyudmila Nechayeva (URS) | 12.0 | Catherine Capdevielle (FRA) | 12.1 |
| 200 metres details | Giuseppina Leone (ITA) | 23.8 | Barbara Janiszewska (POL) | 24.2 | Lyudmila Nechayeva (URS) | 24.7 |
| 800 metres details | Nicole Goullieux (FRA) | 2:11.1 | Edith Schiller (FRG) | 2:11.3 | Klavdiya Babintseva (URS) | 2:12.3 |
| 80 metres hurdles details | Nelli Yelisayeva (URS) | 11.1 | Snezhana Kerkova (BUL) | 11.4 | Elżbieta Krzesińska (POL) | 11.5 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Nelli Yeliseyeva Larisa Kuleshova Tamara Makarova Lyudmila Nechayeva | 46.9 | Italy (ITA) Anna Doro Fausta Galluzzi Giuseppina Leone Nadia Mecocci | 47.5 | West Germany (FRG) Ilsabe Heider Antje Gleichfeld Kristianne Foss Inge Fuhrmann | 48.1 |
| High jump details | Iolanda Balaș (ROM) | 1.80 | Valentina Ballod (URS) | 1.73 | Jarosława Jóźwiakowska (POL) | 1.61 |
| Long jump details | Elżbieta Krzesińska (POL) | 5.94 | Tamara Makarova (URS) | 5.76 | Larisa Kuleshova (URS) | 5.71 |
| Shot put details | Lidia Sharamovich (BUL) | 13.97 | Milena Usenik (YUG) | 13.90 | Antonia Vehoff (FRG) | 13.11 |
| Discus throw details | Györgyi Hegedus (HUN) | 46.76 | Elivia Ricci (ITA) | 45.56 | Ida Bucsányi (HUN) | 43.38 |
| Javelin throw details | Elvīra Ozoliņa (URS) | 49.95 | Urszula Figwer (POL) | 47.02 | Maria Diţi (ROM) | 46.86 |

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Italy (ITA) | 7 | 6 | 1 | 14 |
| 2 | Soviet Union (URS) | 5 | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| 3 | West Germany (FRG) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 4 | Hungary (HUN) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 5 | Yugoslavia (YUG) | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 6 | Romania (ROM) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 7 | Poland (POL) | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 8 | Japan (JPN) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 | Great Britain (GBR) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | France (FRA) | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 11 | Greece (GRE) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 12 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 14 | Belgium (BEL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (14 entries) | Totals (14 entries) | 29 | 29 | 30 | 88 |