WThis article contains an overview of the year 2009 in athletics.
WThe 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships were held in Bambous, Mauritius from 30 July to 2 August. There were 40 events in total, of which 20 were contested by male athletes and 20 by female athletes. Multiple gold medallists Caster Semenya and Amaka Ogoegbunam broke championships records, but also created controversy at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics later that year. Semenya was asked to take a gender test and Ogoegbunam tested positive for anabolic steroids.
WThe 2009 Americas Combined Events Cup were held in La Habana, Cuba, at the Estadio Panamericano on May 29–30, 2009. A detailed report on the event and an appraisal of the results was given.
WThe 18th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Guangzhou, China in 2009.
WThe 2008–09 Australian Athletics Championships was the 87th edition of the national championship in outdoor track and field for Australia. It was held from 19–21 March 2009 at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre in Brisbane. It served as a selection meeting for Australia at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.
WThe 2009 British Indoor Athletics Championships was the 3rd edition of the national championship in indoor track and field for the United Kingdom. It was held from 13–14 February at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield, England. A total of 24 events were contested over the two-day competition.
WThe 2009 British Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, held from 10–12 July at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. It was organised by UK Athletics. It served as a selection meeting for Great Britain at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.
WThe 38th CARIFTA Games was held in the George Odlum National Stadium in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia, on April 10–13, 2009. Detailed reports on the results were given.
WThe 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships was the twenty second edition of the tournament and was held between 3 and 7 July in Havana, Cuba.
WAt the 2009 East Asian Games, the athletics events were held at the Tseung Kwan O Sports Ground in Hong Kong from 10 December to 13 December. A total of 46 events were contested, of which 23 were by male athletes and 23 by female athletes.
WThe first SPAR European Team Championships took place on 20 and 21 June 2009. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup competition which was held annually until 2008. The Championships saw a number of new rules introduced, which were criticised by some athletes and observers.
WThe 20th European Athletics Junior Championships were held between 23 and 26 July 2009 in the Stadion Karađorđe in Novi Sad, Serbia.
WThe 7th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 16 and 19 July 2009 in the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, Lithuania.
WThe 2009 European Cross Country Championships was a continental cross country running competition that was held on 13 December 2009 near Dublin city, Fingal in Ireland. Dublin was selected as the host city in 2007 and the event was the first time that a major European athletics championships took place in Ireland. The six men's and women's races in the championship programme took place in Santry Demense on a looped course with flat and grassy ground. The 16th edition of the European Cross Country Championships featured 323 athletes from 30 nations.
WThe 2009 European Cup Winter Throwing was held on 14 and 15 March at the Estadio de Los Realejos in Tenerife, Spain. It was the ninth edition of the athletics competition for throwing events and was organised by the European Athletics Association and the Real Federación Española de Atletismo. The competition featured men's and women's contests in shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and hammer throw. In addition to the senior competitions, there were also under-23 events for younger athletes. A total of 226 athletes from 29 nations entered the competition. It was the first time that Spain hosted the competition.
WThe 30th European Athletics Indoor Championships was held in Turin, Italy, from Friday, 6 March to Sunday, 8 March 2009. The championships took place at the Oval Lingotto indoor arena which has a seating capacity of 6,700 people.
WThe athletics competition at the 2009 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival was held from 20 to 24 July. The events took place at the Tampere Stadium in Tampere, Finland. Boys and girls born 1992 or 1993 or later participated 36 track and field events, divided evenly between the sexes.
WThe 2009 French Athletics Championships was the 121st edition of the national championship in outdoor track and field for France, organised by the French Athletics Federation. It was held on 23–25 July at the Lac de Maine Stadium in Angers. A total of 38 events were contested over the three-day competition. Hind Dehiba won a women's middle-distance double while Vanessa Gladone won both the horizontal jumps.
WAthletics competition at the 2009 Games of the Small States of Europe was held from 2–6 June 2009 in Nicosia, Cyprus.
WThe 2009 German Athletics Championships were held at the Donaustadion in Ulm on 4–5 July 2009.
WThe 2009 Italian Athletics Championships was the 99th edition of the Italian Athletics Championships and were held in Grosseto from 31 July - 2 August.
WThe 2009 Pan American Junior Championships were held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on July 31 to August 2, 2009. A report on the results was given.
WThe 2009 Pan American Race Walking Cup was held in San Salvador, El Salvador on 1–2 May. The track of the Cup runs in the Boulevard del Hipódromo, Zona Rosa.
WThe 8th edition of the European Race Walking Cup took place in the French city of Metz on Sunday May 24, 2009.
WThe 2009 South American Championships in Athletics was the forty sixth edition of the tournament and was held between 19 and 21 June in Lima, Peru.
WThe 38th South American Junior Championships in Athletics were held in São Paulo, Brazil in the Estádio Ícaro de Castro Melo from July 25–26, 2009. The Champions for men’s 10,000m, both Race Walking and Combined Events were extracted from the classification of the 2009 Pan American Junior Championships held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in the Hasely Crawford Stadium from July 31 to August 2, 2009. A detailed report on the results was given.
WThe athletics competition at the 2009 Summer Universiade was held at the Stadion Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, Serbia from July 7 to July 12, 2009.
WThe 2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships took place between June 25–28 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The competition acted as a way of selecting the United States team for the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin later that year.
WThe 7th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece on September 12 and September 13, 2009. The competition represented the culmination of the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour, a selection of athletics meetings which began on September 20, 2008 at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. The Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association (SEGAS) won the rights to hold the event in April 2008.
WThe 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour was the fourth and final edition of the annual global circuit of one-day track and field competitions organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The series featured 25 one-day meetings, consisting of the six meetings of the 2009 IAAF Golden League, five IAAF Super Grand Prix meetings, and fourteen IAAF Grand Prix meetings. In addition, there were 29 Area Permit Meetings that carried point-scoring events. The series culminated in the two-day 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final, held in Thessaloniki, Greece from 12–13 September.
WThe 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate.
WThe 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 28, 2009. The races were held at the Al Bisharat Golf Course in Amman, Jordan. Four races took place, one for men, women, junior men and junior women respectively. All races encompassed both individual and team competition. Amman is also only the second occasion on which Asia has hosted the World Cross Country Championships, which are the oldest IAAF World Athletics Series event, first celebrated under the IAAF banner in 1973.
WThe 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Birmingham, United Kingdom on 11 October 2009. It was the final event of the International Association of Athletics Federations' 2009 World Athletics Series.
WThe 2009 World Military Track and Field Championship was the 43rd edition of the international athletics competition between military sports personnel. The competition was held from 6 to 13 June at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia, Bulgaria. A total of 398 athletes from 33 nations competed in the 29-event programme.
WThe 2009 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the sixth edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held at Brixen-Bressanone Sport Arena in Brixen, Italy from 8–12 July 2009. Athletes had to be aged 16 or 17 on 31 December 2009 to compete.