# 1991 World Championships in Athletics

The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1. 1517 athletes from 167 countries participated in the event. Japan hosted again the championship in 2007 in Osaka and Tokyo will host again the event in 2025 in a new venue building at the same place.
The event is best-remembered for the men's long jump competition, when Carl Lewis made the best six-jump series in history, only to be beaten by Mike Powell, whose 8.95 m (29 ft 4.36 in) jump broke Bob Beamon's long-standing world record from the 1968 Summer Olympics.

## Men's results
### Track

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m details | Carl Lewis (USA) | 9.86 (WR) | Leroy Burrell (USA) | 9.88 (PB) | Dennis Mitchell (USA) | 9.91 (PB) |
| 200 m details | Michael Johnson (USA) | 20.01 (CR) | Frankie Fredericks (NAM) | 20.34 | Atlee Mahorn (CAN) | 20.49 |
| 400 m details | Antonio Pettigrew (USA) | 44.57 | Roger Black (GBR) | 44.62 | Danny Everett (USA) | 44.63 |
| 800 m details | Billy Konchellah (KEN) | 1:43.99 | José Luíz Barbosa (BRA) | 1:44.24 | Mark Everett (USA) | 1:44.67 |
| 1500 m details | Noureddine Morceli (ALG) | 3:32.84 (CR) | Wilfred Kirochi (KEN) | 3:34.84 | Hauke Fuhlbrügge (GER) | 3:35.28 |
| 5000 m details | Yobes Ondieki (KEN) | 13:14.45 (CR) | Fita Bayisa (ETH) | 13:16.64 | Brahim Boutayeb (MAR) | 13:22.70 |
| 10,000 m details | Moses Tanui (KEN) | 27:38.74 | Richard Chelimo (KEN) | 27:39.41 | Khalid Skah (MAR) | 27:41.74 |
| Marathon details | Hiromi Taniguchi (JPN) | 2:14:57 | Hussein Ahmed Salah (DJI) | 2:15:26 | Steve Spence (USA) | 2:15:36 |
| 110 m hurdles details | Greg Foster (USA) | 13.06 | Jack Pierce (USA) | 13.06 | Tony Jarrett (GBR) | 13.25 |
| 400 m hurdles details | Samuel Matete (ZAM) | 47.64 | Winthrop Graham (JAM) | 47.74 (NR) | Kriss Akabusi (GBR) | 47.86 (NR) |
| 3000 m st. details | Moses Kiptanui (KEN) | 8:12.59 | Patrick Sang (KEN) | 8:13.44 | Azzedine Brahmi (ALG) | 8:15.54 |
| 20 km walk details | Maurizio Damilano (ITA) | 1:19:37 (CR) | Mikhail Shchennikov (URS) | 1:19:46 | Yevgeniy Misyulya (URS) | 1:20:22 |
| 50 km walk details | Aleksandr Potashov (URS) | 3:53:09 | Andrey Perlov (URS) | 3:53:09 | Hartwig Gauder (GER) | 3:55:14 |
| 4 × 100 m relay details | United States (USA) Andre Cason Leroy Burrell Dennis Mitchell Carl Lewis Michael Marsh* | 37.50 (WR) | France (FRA) Max Morinière Daniel Sangouma Jean-Charles Trouabal Bruno Marie-Rose | 37.87 | Great Britain (GBR) Tony Jarrett John Regis Darren Braithwaite Linford Christie | 38.09 |
| 4 × 400 m relay details | Great Britain (GBR) Roger Black Derek Redmond John Regis Kriss Akabusi Ade Mafe* Mark Richardson* | 2:57.53 (AR) | United States (USA) Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Danny Everett Antonio Pettigrew Jeff Reynolds* Mark Everett* | 2:57.57 | Jamaica (JAM) Patrick O'Connor Devon Morris Winthrop Graham Seymour Fagan Howard Burnett* | 3:00.10 |
| WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season) |||||| |
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

### Field

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Long jump details | Mike Powell (USA) | 8.95 (WR) | Carl Lewis (USA) | 8.91w | Larry Myricks (USA) | 8.42 |
| Triple jump details | Kenny Harrison (USA) | 17.78 | Leonid Voloshin (URS) | 17.75 | Mike Conley (USA) | 17.62 |
| High jump details | Charles Austin (USA) | 2.38 (CR) | Javier Sotomayor (CUB) | 2.36 | Hollis Conway (USA) | 2.36 |
| Pole vault details | Sergey Bubka (URS) | 5.95 (CR) | István Bagyula (HUN) | 5.90 | Maksim Tarasov (URS) | 5.85 |
| Shot put details | Werner Günthör (SUI) | 21.67 | Lars Arvid Nilsen (NOR) | 20.75$^1$ | Aleksandr Klimenko (URS) | 20.34 |
| Discus throw details | Lars Riedel (GER) | 66.20 | Erik de Bruin (NED) | 65.82 | Attila Horváth (HUN) | 65.32 |
| Hammer throw details | Yuriy Sedykh (URS) | 81.70 | Igor Astapkovich (URS) | 80.94 | Heinz Weis (GER) | 80.44 |
| Javelin throw details | Kimmo Kinnunen (FIN) | 90.82 | Seppo Räty (FIN) | 88.12 | Uladzimir Sasimovich (URS) | 87.08 |
| Decathlon details | Dan O'Brien (USA) | 8812 (CR) | Mike Smith (CAN) | 8549 | Christian Schenk (GER) | 8394 |
| WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season) |||||| |
$^1$ Georg Andersen of Norway originally won the silver medal, but he was disqualified after he tested positive for steroids.

## Women's results
### Track

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| 100 m details | Katrin Krabbe (GER) | 10.99 | Gwen Torrence (USA) | 11.03 | Merlene Ottey (JAM) | 11.06 |
| 200 m details | Katrin Krabbe (GER) | 22.09 | Gwen Torrence (USA) | 22.16 | Merlene Ottey (JAM) | 22.21 |
| 400 m details | Marie-José Pérec (FRA) | 49.13 | Grit Breuer (GER) | 49.42 | Sandra Myers (ESP) | 49.78 |
| 800 m details | Liliya Nurutdinova (URS) | 1:57.50 | Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB) | 1:57.55 | Ella Kovacs (ROU) | 1:57.58 |
| 1500 m details | Hassiba Boulmerka (ALG) | 4:02.21 | Tetyana Dorovskikh (URS) | 4:02.58 | Lyudmila Rogachova (URS) | 4:02.72 |
| 3000 m details | Tetyana Dorovskikh (URS) | 8:35.82 | Yelena Romanova (URS) | 8:36.06 | Susan Sirma (KEN) | 8:39.41 (AR) |
| 10,000 m details | Liz McColgan (GBR) | 31:14.31 | Zhong Huandi (CHN) | 31:35.08 | Wang Xiuting (CHN) | 31:35.99 |
| Marathon details | Wanda Panfil (POL) | 2:29:53 | Sachiko Yamashita (JPN) | 2:29:57 | Katrin Dörre (GER) | 2:30:10 |
| 100 m hurdles details | Ludmila Narozhilenko (URS) | 12.59 | Gail Devers (USA) | 12.63 | Nataliya Grygoryeva (URS) | 12.69 |
| 400 m hurdles details | Tatyana Ledovskaya (URS) | 53.11 (CR) | Sally Gunnell (GBR) | 53.16 NR | Janeene Vickers (USA) | 53.47 |
| 10 km walk details | Alina Ivanova (URS) | 42:57 (CR) | Madelein Svensson (SWE) | 43:13 | Sari Essayah (FIN) | 43:13 |
| 4 × 100 m relay details | Jamaica (JAM) Dahlia Duhaney Juliet Cuthbert Beverly McDonald Merlene Ottey Merlene Frazer* | 41.94 (NR) | Soviet Union (URS) Natalya Kovtun Galina Malchugina Yelena Vinogradova Irina Privalova | 42.20 | Germany (GER) Grit Breuer Katrin Krabbe Sabine Richter Heike Drechsler | 42.33 |
| 4 × 400 m relay details | Soviet Union (URS) Tatyana Ledovskaya Lyudmila Dzhigalova Olga Nazarova Olha Bryzhina Anna Chuprina* Tatyana Alekseyeva* | 3:18.43 | United States (USA) Rochelle Stevens Diane Dixon Jearl Miles Lillie Leatherwood Natasha Kaiser-Brown* | 3:20.15 | Germany (GER) Uta Rohländer Katrin Krabbe Christine Wachtel Grit Breuer Annett Hesselbarth* Katrin Schreiter* | 3:21.25 |
| WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season) |||||| |
Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

### Field

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995
| Games | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Long jump details | Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA) | 7.32 | Heike Drechsler (GER) | 7.29 | Larysa Berezhna (URS) | 7.11 |
| High jump details | Heike Henkel (GER) | 2.05 | Yelena Yelesina (URS) | 1.98 | Inha Babakova (URS) | 1.96 |
| Shot put details | Huang Zhihong (CHN) | 20.83 | Natalya Lisovskaya (URS) | 20.29 | Svetlana Krivelyova (URS) | 20.16 |
| Discus throw details | Tsvetanka Khristova (BUL) | 71.02 | Ilke Wyludda (GER) | 69.12 | Larisa Mikhalchenko (URS) | 68.26 |
| Javelin throw details | Xu Demei (CHN) | 68.78 | Petra Meier (GER) | 68.68 | Silke Renk (GER) | 66.80 |
| Heptathlon details | Sabine Braun (GER) | 6672 | Liliana Năstase (ROU) | 6493 | Irina Belova (URS) | 6448 |
| WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season) |||||| |
Note: * Indicates athletes who only ran in the preliminary round and also received medals.

## Medal table

* Host nation (Japan)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States (USA) | 10 | 8 | 8 | 26 |
| 2 | Soviet Union (URS) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 29 |
| 3 | Germany (GER) | 5 | 4 | 8 | 17 |
| 4 | Kenya (KEN) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 5 | Great Britain (GBR) | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 6 | China (CHN) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Algeria (ALG) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 8 | Jamaica (JAM) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | Finland (FIN) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 10 | France (FRA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Japan (JPN)* | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Italy (ITA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Poland (POL) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Switzerland (SUI) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Zambia (ZAM) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 17 | Cuba (CUB) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 | Canada (CAN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 18 | Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 18 | Romania (ROU) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 21 | Brazil (BRA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | Djibouti (DJI) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | Ethiopia (ETH) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | Namibia (NAM) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | Norway (NOR) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 | Morocco (MAR) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 29 | Spain (ESP) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (29 entries) | Totals (29 entries) | 43 | 43 | 43 | 129 |