# List of athletics competitors who died during their careers

A number of athletics competitors have died during their careers. Sometimes, the deaths came during competition or practice, while other times deaths occurred due to road accidents or other non-sports-related reasons.
The list does not include athletes who died during World War I or during World War II, when international athletics competitions were largely put on pause.

## List

The following is an incomplete list of athletics competitors who died or disappeared during their professional or amateur careers.
| Date | Name | Nationality | Age | Events | Cause |
| 15 Jul 1912 | Francisco Lázaro | Portugal | 24 | Marathon | Collapsed during the 1912 Olympic marathon due to dehydration and high body temperature. |
| 18 Aug 1931 | Eric Krenz | United States | 25 | Discus throw | Drowning. |
| 15 Apr 1933 | George Saling | United States | 23 | 110 metres hurdles | Car crash. |
| 30 Jun 1946 | Donato Pavesi | Italy | 57 | 10 kilometres walk | Died while racewalking during a race held in his honor. |
| 15 Sep 1950 | Jaakko Jouppila | Finland | 27 | Shot put | Murder-suicide of his wife. |
| 11 Nov 1950 | Les McKeand | Australia | 26 | Triple jump, javelin throw | Car crash. |
| 26 Aug 1951 | Jakob Jutz | Switzerland | 35-36 | Marathon | Suffered heart failure while running the 1951 Swiss Marathon Championships. |
| 2 Aug 1960 | Bob Gutowski | United States | 25 | Pole vault | Car accident. |
| 11 Dec 1962 | Jorma Valkama | Finland | 34 | Long jump | Car crash. |
| 9 Jan 1968 | Kōkichi Tsuburaya | Japan | 27 | Marathon | Suicide. |
| 23 Nov 1968 | Aurelio Janet | Cuba | 23 | Javelin throw | Car crash. |
| 22 Dec 1969 | Rolf Hoppe | Chile | 24 | Javelin throw | Car accident. |
| 8 Dec 1971 | A. K. M. Miraj Uddin | Bangladesh | 23 | Pole vault, long jump, 110 metres hurdles | Disappearance after capture by Pakistani army. |
| 17 Feb 1973 | Ezra Burnham | Barbados | 25 | 400 metres | Car accident. |
| 30 May 1975 | Steve Prefontaine | United States | 24 | 5000 metres, 10,000 metres, mile | Car accident. |
| 29 Dec 1976 | Ivo Van Damme | Belgium | 24 | 800 metres, 1500 metres | Car accident. |
| 7 Jun 1977 | Jim Buchanan | Canada | 21 | Long jump | Car accident. |
| 26 Aug 1977 | Tadeusz Zieliński | Poland | 31 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Car accident. |
| Jul 1981 | Dele Udo | Nigeria | 24 | 400 metres | Killed by a Nigerian police officer following an argument. |
| 27 Sep 1981 | Bronisław Malinowski | Poland | 30 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Car accident. |
| 12 Nov 1984 | Christopher Brathwaite | Trinidad and Tobago | 36 | 100 metres, 200 metres | Murdered by a sniper. |
| 29 May 1990 | Mohamed Shah Alam | Bangladesh | 27 | 100 metres, 200 metres | Motorcycle accident. |
| 23 Aug 1990 | Yutaka Kanai | Japan | 30 | 10,000 metres | Car crash. |
| 23 Aug 1990 | Tomoyuki Taniguchi [ja] | Japan | 29 | Marathon | Car crash. |
| 1 Sep 1992 | Desta Asgedom | Ethiopia | 20 | 1500 metres, 800 metres | Struck by a pickup truck, ruled a suicide. |
| 6 Apr 1993 | Miguel Ángel Gómez | Spain | 24 | 200 metres | Motorcycle accident. |
| 29 Mar 1994 | Paul Spangler | United States | 95 | 1500 metres to Marathon | Masters world record holder died on his daily 7 mile training run |
| 13 Aug 1994 | Simon Robert Naali | Tanzania | 28 | Marathon | Died from hit-and-run injuries. |
| 1 Oct 1994 | Oluyemi Kayode | Nigeria | 26 | 200 metres | Car crash. |
| 29 Jul 1996 | Georgi Dakov | Bulgaria | 28 | High jump | Car accident. |
| 8 Aug 1998 | Walter Merlo | Italy | 33 | Long-distance running | Fell from the Corno Stella mountain. |
| 7 Sep 2000 | Hyginus Anugo | Nigeria | 22 | 400 metres | Car crash. |
| 31 Mar 2001 | Diego García | Spain | 39 | Marathon | Sudden cardiac death during a training run. |
| 4 Aug 2003 | Pål Arne Fagernes | Norway | 29 | Javelin throw | Car accident. |
| 25 Dec 2004 | Ian Syster | South Africa | 28 | Marathon | Drowning after car accident. |
| 14 Aug 2004 | Robert Howard | United States | 28 | Triple jump | Murder-suicide of his wife. |
| 27 May 2005 | Piotr Gładki | Poland | 33 | Marathon | Car accident. |
| 5 Jun 2005 | Matic Šušteršič | Slovenia | 25 | 60 metres, 100 metres | Car accident along with two other Slovenian athletes, Patrik Cvetan (23) and Nejc Lipnik (17). |
| 9 Sep 2006 | Émilie Mondor | Canada | 25 | 5000 metres | Car crash. |
| 21 Jan 2007 | Maria Cioncan | Romania | 29 | 1500 metres | Car accident. |
| 3 Nov 2007 | Ryan Shay | United States | 28 | Marathon | Collapsed during the U.S. marathon trials for the 2008 Olympics, died due to heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia. |
| 16 Jun 2008 | Tom Compernolle | Belgium | 32 | 5000 metres | Car accident. |
| 29 Aug 2010 | Dejene Berhanu | Ethiopia | 29 | 5000 metres | Suicide. |
| 11 Sep 2010 | Taavi Peetre | Estonia | 27 | Shot put, discus throw | Boat accident. |
| 15 May 2011 | Samuel Wanjiru | Kenya | 24 | Marathon | Fall from balcony. |
| 26 Jun 2012 | Daniel Batman | Australia | 31 | 200 metres, 400 metres | Car crash. |
| 5 Dec 2012 | Yves Niaré | France | 35 | Shot put | Car crash. |
| 19 Jan 2013 | Abderrahim Goumri | Morocco | 36 | Marathon | Car crash; died one year into his doping ban. |
| 10 Jul 2014 | Peter Mutuku | Kenya | 20 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Car crash. |
| 28 Jul 2014 | Torrin Lawrence | United States | 25 | 400 metres | Car crash. |
| Oct 2015 | Yuliya Balykina | Belarus | 31 | 100 metres | Murdered by boyfriend. |
| 28 Aug 2017 | David Torrence | Peru | 31 | 1500 metres, 5000 metres | Drowning. |
| 8 Aug 2018 | Nicholas Bett | Kenya | 28 | 400 metres hurdles | Car accident. |
| 19 Aug 2019 | Margarita Plavunova | Russia | 25 | 100 metres hurdles, 400 metres hurdles | Acute heart failure while jogging. |
| 7 Jan 2020 | Kennedy Njiru | Kenya | 32-33 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Car accident. |
| 4 Feb 2020 | Abadi Hadis | Ethiopia | 22 | 5000 metres, 10000 metres | Unspecified illness. |
| 26 Feb 2020 | Braian Toledo | Argentina | 26 | Javelin throw | Motorcycle crash. |
| 24 Sep 2020 | Ondřej Hodboď [cs] | Czech Republic | 19 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Suicide. |
| 8 Nov 2020 | Clevonte Lodge-Bean | Bermuda | 18 | 400 metres | Car crash. |
| 22 May 2021 | Liang Jing | China | 31 | Ultramarathon | Gansu ultramarathon disaster. |
| 22 May 2021 | Huang Guanjun | China | 33-34 | Ultramarathon | Gansu ultramarathon disaster. |
| 26 Jun 2021 | Abdalelah Haroun | Qatar | 24 | 400 metres | Car accident. |
| 9 Aug 2021 | Cameron Burrell | United States | 26 | 100 metres, long jump | Suicide. |
| 13 Oct 2021 | Agnes Tirop | Kenya | 25 | 10,000 metres, cross country | Stabbing. |
| Sep 2021 | Jason Carty | Great Britain | 51 | 60 metres, 100 metres | Lung cancer. |
| 22 Oct 2021 | Álex Quiñónez | Ecuador | 32 | 200 metres, 100 metres | Murdered outside a shopping centre. |
| 10 Jan 2022 | Deon Lendore | Trinidad and Tobago | 29 | 400 metres | Car crash. |
| 16 Apr 2022 | Damaris Muthee | Bahrain | 28 | 5000 metres, cross country | Murdered. |
| 24 Apr 2022 | Kaushalya Madushani | Sri Lanka | 26 | 400 metres hurdles | Suicide. |
| 23 Jan 2023 | Edrissa Marong | Gambia | 27 | 800 metres | Unspecified illness. |
| 23 Apr 2023 | Tori Bowie | United States | 32 | 100 metres, long jump | Complications of childbirth. |
| 23 Apr 2023 | Samuel Kiplimo Kosgei | Kenya | 37 | Marathon | Road accident. |
| 31 Dec 2023 | Benjamin Kiplagat | Uganda | 34 | 3000 metres steeplechase | Stabbed to death. |
| 11 Feb 2024 | Kelvin Kiptum | Kenya | 24 | Marathon | Car accident. |
| 5 September 2024 | Rebecca Cheptegei | Uganda | 33 | Marathon | Murdered. |

## Former athletics competitors who died during other sporting careers

* Max Houben, who competed in the 1920 Olympic 200 m and died during his bobsleigh career in 1949
* Stone Johnson, who competed in the 1960 Olympic 200 m and died during his American Football League career in 1963