That Athletics World Championships Oregon22 have created ideal conditions for the world’s top athletes to shine on a global stage, with exhilarating and record-breaking performances from both individual athletes and national teams.
More than 1,700 athletes from 179 countries (plus the Athlete Refugee Team) competed in Oregon in front of more than 130,000 ticketed spectators (a sell-out session is yet to come).
In terms of performance, this will go down in history as the most universal edition of the global event.
In more countries than ever before, athletes have reached the finals of events in Oregon before the final session of competition has even been held.
A record 79 countries had finalists at the time, up from 76 countries at Doha in 2019, with Liberia, Niger, Pakistan and Samoa reaching a final for the first time in World Cup history.
Due to the diversity and global reach of athletics, there is at least one world champion in every continental area, while Peru and Kazakhstan won their first gold medals, and India and Burkina Faso also achieved their best-ever medal performances (silver).
Oregon could also break the record for the number of countries winning gold medals at a championship (26 in 2017), with 24 countries already on the gold medal list, compared to 20 in Doha in 2019.
The US team easily surpassed a host country’s best performance at the World Championships to claim the record for most medals at a single championship. Going into the final session, the US team has 28 medals with eight medal events to go.
This record was bolstered by medal wins in the men’s 100m, 200m and shot put. Jamaica, meanwhile, achieved a medal win of their own, winning all three medals in the women’s 100m.
Peru’s Kimberly Garcia was the top individual artist at the championships and took double gold in the women’s walk. Had she been entered as a separate team, she would have finished seventh in the medal table.
Aside from the dominant performers, there were also plenty of close finishes and competitive finals. Just two-hundredths of a second separated the medal winners in the men’s 100-meter dash. The women’s 10,000 m also delivered a tight and exciting final, and the men’s shot put once again provided an exciting crescendo. Even the men’s 35km walk went to the finish, with just a second separating gold from silver.
Other performance milestones achieved in Oregon include:
· Sydney McLaughlin’s extraordinary world record in the 400m hurdles, now faster than the women’s flat 400m record 50 years ago
· 11 championship records and 24 world bests
· 15 area records, 82 national records, 1 U20 world record
· The fastest marathons of all time in major championships
· First time three women broke nine minutes for the 3000m steeplechase
· Allyson Felix extended her bronze medal record to 19 in the mixed relay and could finish her career with 20 World Championships medals after running in the heats of the women’s 4x400m relay yesterday.
broadcasting and social media
Our US broadcast partner NBC reports that this championship has already attracted more viewers (13.7 million) than any previous IAAF World Championships with three days of ratings to report (Friday to Sunday).
NBC network coverage for the first weekend (2.0 million average viewers) was ranked as the most-watched IAAF World Championships since Osaka 2007, representing a 159% increase over NBC’s coverage of the 2019 edition. These numbers are expected to be even more impressive when the final three days of competition are reported earlier this week.
The World Championships also fueled significant growth and interactions on World Athletics social media platforms, attracting 400,000 new followers, more than seven million interactions and more than 41 million video views, bringing the total number of followers for our official social channels to more than 9.1 million across five platforms.
heritage
World Athletics and parkrun have partnered to help the communities of Eugene and Springfield, Oregon open parkrun events as a legacy of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
With an existing parkrun event in Oregon, this will increase the number of opportunities for residents and visitors to the state to be active and social in the great outdoors. The first event from this collaboration is slated to launch in the coming months, paving the way for many more across the state and beyond.
There are currently 53 parkrun locations in the United States. More than seven million people have participated in parkrun worldwide.
Other statistics
· 1583 volunteers
10,507 meals served in staff restaurants (since July 10)
· 3486 uniform kits distributed
· 5 sessions (so far) where all available ticket stock was sold
130,862 ticketed people at the venue through Day Nine / Session 14
· Event app: over 34,000 downloads, 20,000 activated push notifications and 585,000 unique sessions in the app
· Approximately 1000 bicycles are parked daily at the bicycle service
Note: Final stats will be released with an updated press release after the final competition session tonight.
