In 2021, like the previous year, the sport of athletics was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, at both the elite and local level. The main competition was the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which had been rescheduled. The rescheduling meant that the World Athletics Championships, originally set for 2021, was postponed given the presence of the Olympics in a World Championships year.

Several other competitions were held in 2021 after being delayed from their usual schedule in 2020, including 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships. However, the severity of the impacts of the pandemic remained high and other major competitions were pushed to a later date (such as the 2021 World Athletics Indoor Championships and 2021 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships), while others were cancelled completely, including the African Championships in Athletics and Asian Athletics Championships.

Smaller-scale meetings generally proceeded where pandemic restrictions allowed, although continued restrictions resulted in the cancellation of the British Indoor Athletics Championships, USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, Tokyo Marathon, and both Chinese legs of the 2021 Diamond League.

International competitions

Global championships
Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Athletics at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
2021 World Athletics Relays
2021 World Athletics U20 Championships

Regional championships
2021 Arab Athletics Championships
2021 Balkan Athletics Championships
2021 Balkan Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 Baltic States Athletics Championships
2021 Central American Championships in Athletics
2021 European Athletics Team Championships
2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships
2021 European Athletics U20 Championships
2021 European Athletics U23 Championships
2021 European Cross Country Championships
2021 European 10,000m Cup
2021 European Race Walking Team Championships
2021 European Throwing Cup
2021 World Para Athletics European Championships
2021 NACAC U18 U20 and U23 Championships in Athletics
2021 NACAC U23 Championships in Athletics – Results
Athletics at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games
2021 Championships of the Small States of Europe
2021 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics – Results
2021 South American Championships in Athletics
2021 South American Championships in Athletics – Results
2021 South American U18 Championships in Athletics
2021 South American U20 Championships in Athletics
2021 South American Under-23 Championships in Athletics

Postponed
World Athletics Championships
World Indoor Championships
World Para Athletics Championships
World Cross Country Championships
World Mountain Running Championships
World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships
Universiade

Southeast Asian Games
South Asian Games 
Asian U18 Athletics Championships 
East Asian Youth Games
European Youth Olympic Festival 
Pan American U20

Cancelled
African Championships in Athletics
Asian Athletics Championships
CARIFTA Games
Oceanian Athletics Championships
Games of the Small States of Europe
Island Games
African U18 and U20 Championships in Athletics
CARIFTA Games
Oceania U20 Athletics Championships

Annual competitions
2021 Diamond League
2021 British Grand Prix
2021 Doha Diamond League
2021 Golden Gala
2021 Bislett Games
2021 BAUHAUS-galan
2021 Herculis
2021 Prefontaine Classic
2021 Athletissima
2021 Meeting de Paris
2021 Memorial Van Damme
2021 Weltklasse Zürich
2021 World Athletics Indoor Tour
2021 World Athletics Continental Tour
2021 Hypo-Meeting

2021 Berlin Marathon
2021 Boston Marathon
2021 Chicago Marathon
2021 London Marathon
2021 New York City Marathon
2021 Taipei Marathon

National indoor championships
2021 Belgian Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 Czech Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 Dutch Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 French Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 German Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 Italian Athletics Indoor Championships
2021 Polish Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 Russian Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 Spanish Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 Swedish Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 Turkish Indoor Athletics Championships
2021 Ukrainian Athletics Indoor Championships
2021 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships

National outdoor championships
2020–21 Australian Athletics Championships
2021 Belgian Athletics Championships
2021 British Athletics Championships
2021 British Athletics Marathon and 20km Walk Trial
2021 Canadian Athletics Championships
2021 Chinese Athletics Championships
2021 Czech Athletics Championships
2021 Dutch Athletics Championships
2021 Estonian Athletics Championships
2021 Finnish Athletics Championships
2021 French Athletics Championships
2021 German Athletics Championships
2021 Hungarian Athletics Championships
2021 Icelandic Athletics Championships
2021 Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships
2021 Iranian Athletics Championships
2021 Italian Athletics Championships
2021 Jamaican Athletics Championships
2021 Japan Championships in Athletics
2021 Lithuanian Athletics Championships
2021 Norwegian Athletics Championships
2021 Polish Athletics Championships
2021 Portuguese Athletics Championships
2021 Russian Athletics Championships
2021 Spanish Athletics Championships
2021 Swedish Athletics Championships
2021 Ukrainian Athletics Championships
2021 USA Cross Country Championships
2020 United States Olympic trials
2021 USATF U20 Outdoor Championships
2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships
2021 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships
2021 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships

By event
2020/21 in 60 metres
2021 in 100 metres

Records

World records

Continental records

Deaths
5 January: Mikhail Zhelev, Bulgarian steeplechaser, aged 77.
7 January: Vladimir Kiselyov, Soviet shot putter, aged 64.
8 January: Bill Nankeville, British distance runner, aged 95.
13 January: Bernd Kannenberg, German racewalker, aged 78.
26 January: Margitta Gummel, German shot putter, aged 79.
31 January: Alejandro Gómez, Spanish marathon runner, aged 53.
7 February: Leslie Laing, Jamaican sprinter, aged 95.
8 February: Els Vader, Dutch sprinter, aged 61.
8 March: Josip Alebić, sprinter from Yugoslavia and Croatia, aged 74
14 March: Helena Fuchsová, runner from Czechoslovakia and Czechia, aged 55
8 April: Antal Kiss, Hungarian racewalker, aged 85
26 April: Tamara Press, shot putter from the Soviet Union and Ukraine, aged 84
13 May: Christa Stubnick, sprinter from Germany, aged 87
16 May: Alessandro Talotti, Italian jumper, aged 40
19 May: Lee Evans, sprinter from United States, aged 74
21 May: Manfred Ommer, sprinter from Germany, aged 70
22 May: Pavol Szikora, racewalker from Czechoslovakia and Slovakia, aged 69
22 May: Ron Hill, distance runner from England aged 82
30 May: Rick Mitchell, sprinter from Australia, aged 66
7 June: Jason Loutitt, distance runner Canada, aged 47
11 June: Paola Pigni, distance runner from Italy, aged 75
11 June: Surat Mathur, distance runner from India, aged 90
11 June: Sara Wedlund, distance runner from Sweden, aged 45
18 June: Emma Roca Rodríguez, Spanish distance runner, aged 47
18 June: Milkha Singh, India distance runner, aged 91
26 June: Abdalelah Haroun, sprinter from Sudan and Qatar, aged 24
28 June: Vera Nikolić, distance runner from Yugoslavia and Serbia, aged 72
30 June: Janet Moreau, sprinter from United States, aged 93
1 July: Josh Culbreath, American hurdler, aged 88
5 July: Aggrey Awori, sprinter and hurdler from Uganda, aged 82
5 July: Roberto Hernández, sprinter from Cuba, aged 54
8 July: Adrian Metcalfe, British sprinter, aged 79
18 July: Roger Quemener, French racewalker, aged 80
18 July: Nenad Stekić, long jumper from Yugoslavia and Serbia, aged 70
31 July: Angela Bailey, sprinter from Canada, aged 59
9 August: Cameron Burrell, American sprinter and long jumper, aged 26
12 August: Karl-Friedrich Haas, sprinter from Germany, aged 90
15 August: Rafael Romero, sprinter from Venezuela, aged 83
16 August: Volodymyr Holubnychy, racewalker from Soviet Union and Ukraine, aged 85
3 September: Barbara Inkpen, British jumper, aged 71
14 September: Yuriy Sedykh, hammer thrower from Soviet Union and Ukraine, aged 66
16 September: Margarita Ponomaryova, hurdler from Soviet Union and Russia, aged 58 ans
22 September: Jüri Tamm, hammer thrower from Soviet Union and Estonia, aged 64
29 September: Lee Vernon McNeill, sprinter from United States, aged 56
4 October: Valeriy Pidluzhny, long jumper from Soviet Union and Ukraine, aged 69
13 October: Agnes Tirop, distance runner from Kenya, aged 25
22 October: Álex Quiñónez, sprinter from Ecuador, aged 32 ans 
28 October: Ali Baghbanbashi, distance runner from Iran, aged 97
3 November: Dorothy Manley, sprinter from Britain, aged 94
6 November: Luíz Antônio dos Santos, distance runner from Brazil, aged 57
7 November: Igor Nikulin, hammer thrower from Soviet Union and Russia, aged 61
17 November: Leonid Bartenyev, sprinter from Soviet Union and Ukraine, aged 88 ans 
25 November: Julien Le Bas, sprinter from France, aged 97 ans 
28 November: Emmit King, sprinter from United States, aged 62
29 November: C. J. Hunter, shot putter from United States, aged 52
3 December: Lamine Diack, administrator and former World Athletics President, aged 88
5 December: Sławomir Majusiak, distance runner from Poland, aged 57
8 December: Andrzej Zieliński, sprinter from Poland, aged 85

References

 
Athletics
2021