# Athletics at the 1991 Summer Universiade

At the 1991 Summer Universiade, the athletics events were held at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield in the United Kingdom from July 19–25. A total of 43 events were contested, of which 23 by male and 20 by female athletes.
Performances were of a high standard, particularly in the men's competition, with 6 Games records broken, with 1988 Olympic silver medalist Hollis Conway jumping 2.37 m in the high jump and home favourite Steve Backley throwing 87.42m in the javelin, both performances that remain Universiade records to this day. Future Olympic champion Derrick Adkins won the 400 metre hurdles.
The United States easily topped the medal table with fifteen gold medals and 31 medals in total. The Soviet Union won the next highest number of events, with six gold medallists, and 20 total medals. Great Britain, the host nation, came joint-third in the medal table with two gold medals and nine medals in total. Twenty-eight nations reached the medal table in the athletics competition.

## Medal summary
### Men

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres (wind: 0.0 m/s) details | Michael Bates (USA) | 10.17 | Boris Goins (USA) | 10.34 | Steve Gookey (GBR) | 10.39 |
| 200 metres (wind: +1.0 m/s) details | Jon Drummond (USA) | 20.58 | Daniel Phillip (NGR) | 20.69 | Patrick Stevens (BEL) | 20.99 |
| 400 metres details | Patrick O'Connor (JAM) | 45.52 | Benyounès Lahlou (MAR) | 45.55 | Marlin Cannon (USA) | 45.78 |
| 800 metres details | Giuseppe D'Urso (ITA) | 1:46.82 | Dean Kenneally (AUS) Curtis Robb (GBR) | 1:46.88 | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 1500 metres details | Niall Bruton (IRL) | 3:50.69 | Davide Tirelli (ITA) | 3:50.79 | Juan Viudes (ESP) | 3:51.22 |
| 5000 metres details | John Mayock (GBR) | 13:39.25 | David Evans (AUS) Peter Sherry (USA) | 13:39.31 | Not awarded | Not awarded |
| 10,000 metres details | Stephan Freigang (GER) | 28:15.84 GR | Ryuki Takei (JPN) | 28:17.02 | Mogambi Otwori (KEN) | 28:18.91 |
| 110 metres hurdles details | Elbert Ellis (USA) | 13.83 | Jerry Roney (USA) | 13.83 | Dmitriy Buldov (URS) | 13.85 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Derrick Adkins (USA) | 49.01 | Yoshihiko Saito (JPN) | 50.02 | Oleg Tverdokhleb (URS) | 50.09 |
| 3000 metres steeplechase details | Shaun Creighton (AUS) | 8:32.30 | Akira Nakamura (JPN) | 8:33.50 | Gavin Gaynor (USA) | 8:34.21 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Jon Drummond Boris Goins Michael Bates James Trapp | 39.10 | Sierra Leone (SLE) Joselyn Thomas Horace Dove-Edwin Benjamin Grant Sanusi Turay | 39.88 | Belgium (BEL) David Branle Jeroen Fischer Stefaan Allemeersch Patrick Stevens | 40.05 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | United States (USA) Chuck Wilson Marlin Cannon Brian Irvin Gabriel Luke | 3:03.65 | Jamaica (JAM) Linval Laird Evon Clarke Howard Davis Patrick O'Connor | 3:05.93 | Italy (ITA) Marcello Pantone Gianrico Boncompagni Riccardo Cardone Vito Petrella | 3:07.54 |
| Marathon details | Hwang Young-Jo (KOR) | 2:12:40 GR | Kenjiru Jitsui (JPN) | 2:14:22 | Choi Hyong-Chol (PRK) | 2:17:45 |
| 20 kilometres walk details | Robert Korzeniowski (POL) | 1:24:37 | Jaime Barroso (ESP) | 1:25:01 | Arturo Di Mezza (ITA) | 1:25:09 |
| High jump details | Hollis Conway (USA) | 2.37 m GR | Arturo Ortiz (ESP) | 2.31 m | Yuriy Sergiyenko (URS) | 2.25 m |
| Pole vault details | István Bagyula (HUN) | 5.80 m GR | Bill Payne (USA) | 5.60 m | Pyotr Bochkaryov (URS) | 5.60 m |
| Long jump details | Alan Turner (USA) | 8.18 m (w) | George Ogbeide (NGR) | 8.08 m | Bogdan Tudor (ROM) | 8.01 m |
| Triple jump details | Brian Wellman (BER) | 17.07 m | Chen Yanping (CHN) | 16.97 m | Wu Lijun (CHN) | 16.72 m (w) |
| Shot put details | Aleksandr Klimenko (URS) | 19.35 m | Matt Simson (GBR) | 19.07 m | Jordan Reynolds (USA) | 19.01 m |
| Discus throw details | Adewale Olukoju (NGR) | 61.48 m | Anthony Washington (USA) | 61.46 m | Alexis Elizalde (CUB) | 59.04 m |
| Hammer throw details | Ken Flax (USA) | 76.46 m | Valeriy Gubkin (URS) | 76.28 m | Heinz Weis (GER) | 75.62 m |
| Javelin throw details | Steve Backley (GBR) | 87.42 m GR | Vladimir Ovchinnikov (URS) | 80.60 m | Knut Hempel (FIN) | 77.90 m |
| Decathlon details | Steve Fritz (USA) | 7874 pts | Kris Szabadhegy (USA) | 7719 pts | Anthony Brannen (GBR) | 7656 pts |

### Women

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 metres (wind: +1.6 m/s) details | Chryste Gaines (USA) | 11.56 | Anita Howard (USA) | 11.57 | Sølvi Olsen (NOR) | 11.61 |
| 200 metres (wind: +1.6 m/s) details | Wang Huei-Chen (TPE) | 23.22 | Sølvi Olsen (NOR) | 23.41 | Michelle Collins (USA) | 23.47 |
| 400 metres details | Maicel Malone (USA) | 50.65 | Gretha Tromp (NED) | 52.06 | Galina Moskvina (URS) | 52.34 |
| 800 metres details | Inna Yevseyeva (URS) | 1:59.80 | Gabi Lesch (GER) | 2:00.97 | Jasmin Jones (USA) | 2:02.00 |
| 1500 metres details | Sonia O'Sullivan (IRL) | 4:12.14 | Iulia Besliu (ROM) | 4:12.24 | Qu Yunxia (CHN) | 4:12.43 |
| 3000 metres details | Iulia Besliu (ROM) | 8:55.42 | Sonia O'Sullivan (IRL) | 8:56.35 | Zita Ágoston (HUN) | 9:01.09 |
| 10,000 metres details | Anne Marie Letko (USA) | 32:36.87 | Suzana Ćirić (YUG) | 32:37.94 | Olga Nazarkina (URS) | 32:40.83 |
| 100 metres hurdles (wind: +1.6 m/s) details | Marina Azyabina (URS) | 12.95 | Mary Cobb (USA) | 13.19 | Keri Maddox (GBR) | 13.32 |
| 400 metres hurdles details | Gretha Tromp (NED) | 55.30 | Nicoleta Carutasu (ROM) | 56.07 | Anna Chuprina (URS) | 56.74 |
| 4 × 100 metres relay details | United States (USA) Andrea James Tamela Saldana Chryste Gaines Anita Howard | 44.45 | Great Britain (GBR) Rachel Kirby Louise Stuart Melanie Neef Christine Bloomfield | 44.97 | Italy (ITA) Annarita Balzani Laura Galligani Cristina Picchi Lara Sinico | 45.24 |
| 4 × 400 metres relay details | United States (USA) Keisha Demas Tasha Downing Teri Smith Maicel Malone | 3:27.93 | Soviet Union (URS) Yelena Golesheva Inna Yevseyeva Galina Moskvina Anna Knoroz | 3:29.64 | Poland (POL) Barbara Grzywocz Agata Sadurska Monika Warnicka Sylwia Pachut | 3:35.03 |
| Marathon details | Miyako Iwai (JPN) | 2:36:27 | Kim Yen-Ku (KOR) | 2:37:58 | Mariya Doskoch (URS) | 2:38:48 |
| 10 kilometres walk details | Sari Essayah (FIN) | 44:04 | Chen Yueling (CHN) | 44:33 | Annarita Sidoti (ITA) | 45:10 |
| High jump details | Alison Inverarity (AUS) | 1.92 m | Svetlana Lavrova (URS) | 1.92 m | Tisha Waller (USA) | 1.90 m |
| Long jump details | Inessa Kravets (URS) | 6.87 m | Fiona May (GBR) | 6.67 m | Yelena Khlopotnova (URS) | 6.66 m (w) |
| Triple jump details | Li Huirong (CHN) | 14.20 m GR | Yelena Semiraz (URS) | 13.75 m | Li Jing (CHN) | 13.63 m (w) |
| Shot put details | Svetlana Krivelyova (URS) | 19.62 m | Zhou Tianhua (CHN) | 19.23 m | Agnes Deselaers (GER) | 17.32 m |
| Discus throw details | Xiao Yanling (CHN) | 64.36 m | Qiu Qiaoping (CHN) | 62.40 m | Antonina Patoka (URS) | 62.22 m |
| Javelin throw(old model) details | Tatyana Shikolenko (URS) | 63.56 m | Isel López (CUB) | 62.32 m | Paula Berry (USA) | 58.28 m |
| Heptathlon details | Birgit Clarius (GER) | 6419 pts | Urszula Włodarczyk (POL) | 6319 pts | Maria Kamrowska (POL) | 6279 pts |

## Medal table

* Host nation (Great Britain)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States | 15 | 8 | 8 | 31 |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 6 | 5 | 10 | 21 |
| 3 | China | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| 3 | Great Britain* | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 |
| 5 | Australia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | Germany | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Ireland | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | Japan | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 9 | Romania | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | Nigeria | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 | Italy | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 12 | Poland | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 13 | Jamaica | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | South Korea | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Bermuda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Chinese Taipei | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Finland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Spain | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 21 | Cuba | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 21 | Norway | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 23 | Morocco | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | Sierra Leone | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | Yugoslavia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Belgium | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 27 | Kenya | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 27 | North Korea | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (28 entries) | Totals (28 entries) | 43 | 45 | 42 | 130 |