This article contains an overview of the year 1991 in athletics.

EVENT	ATHLETE	MARK	DATE	VENUE
100 metres	Leroy Burrell (USA)	9.90	14 June	New York City, USA
	Carl Lewis (USA)	9.86	25 August	Tokyo, Japan
20,000 metres	Arturo Barrios (MEX)	56:55.6	30 March	La Flèche, France
One hour run	Arturo Barrios (MEX)	21,101m	30 March	La Flèche, France
4 × 100 m Relay	United States (USA) • Michael Marsh • Leroy Burrell • Dennis Mitchell • Carl Lewis	37.67	7 August	Zürich
	United States (USA) • Andre Cason • Leroy Burrell • Dennis Mitchell • Carl Lewis	37.50	1 September	Tokyo
Pole vault	Sergey Bubka (URS)	6.07m	6 May	Shizuoka, Japan
	Sergey Bubka (URS)	6.08m	9 June	Moscow
	Sergey Bubka (URS)	6.09m	8 July	Formia, Italy
	Sergey Bubka (URS)	6.10m	5 August	Malmö, Sweden
Long jump	Mike Powell (USA)	8.95m	30 August	Tokyo

• The relay team of the United States in the men's 4 × 100 m, formed by Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Floyd Heard and Carl Lewis, equal the current world record, set the previous year by France at the European Championships, clocking 37.79 on 1991-08-03 at a meet in Monaco. The first mark was set by Max Morinière, Daniel Sangouma, Jean-Charles Trouabal and Bruno Marie-Rose on 1990-09-01 in Split, Yugoslavia.

EVENT	ATHLETE	MARK	DATE	VENUE
Triple jump	Inessa Kravets (URS)	14.95 m	10 June	Moscow, Soviet Union
Half marathon	Elana Meyer (RSA)	1:07:59	18 May	East London, South Africa

Main race this year: World Championships 100 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Carl Lewis (USA)	9.86
2.	Leroy Burrell (USA)	9.88
3.	Linford Christie (GBR)	9.92
4.	Frank Fredericks (NAM)	9.95
5.	Raymond Stewart (JAM)	9.96

Main race this year: World Championships 200 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Michael Johnson (USA)	19.88
2.	Frank Fredericks (NAM)	20.08
3.	John Regis (GBR)	20.12
4.	Danny Everett (USA)	20.13
5.	Robson da Silva (BRA)	20.15

Main race this year: World Championships 400 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Michael Johnson (USA)	44.17
2.	Antonio Pettigrew (USA)	44.36
3.	Roberto Hernández (CUB)	44.40
4.	Danny Everett (USA)	44.42
5.	Steve Lewis (USA)	44.52

Main race this year: World Championships 800 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	José Luíz Barbosa (BRA)	1:43.08
2.	William Tanui (KEN)	1:43.30
3.	Johnny Gray (USA)	1:43.84
4.	Mark Everett (USA)	1:43.93
5.	Billy Konchellah (KEN)	1:43.96

Main race this year: World Championships 1,500 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Noureddine Morceli (ALG)	3:31.00
2.	Simon Doyle (AUS)	3:31.96
3.	Fermín Cacho (ESP)	3:32.03
4.	Peter Elliott (GBR)	3:32.94
5.	Saïd Aouita (MAR)	3:33.28

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Noureddine Morceli (ALG)	3:49.12
2.	Peter Elliott (GBR)	3:49.46
3.	Wilfred Kirochi (KEN)	3:49.77
4.	Jim Spivey (USA)	3:49.83
5.	Simon Doyle (AUS)	3:49.91

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Dieter Baumann (FRG)	7:33.91
2.	Yobes Ondieki (KEN)	7:34.74
3.	Noureddine Morceli (ALG)	7:37.34
4.	Brahim Boutayeb (MAR)	7:38.39
5.	Khalid Skah (MAR)	7:38.84

Main race this year: World Championships 5,000 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Yobes Ondieki (KEN)	13:01.82
2.	Ibrahim Kinuthia (KEN)	13:09.76
3.	Salvatore Antibo (ITA)	13:10.10
4.	Brahim Boutayeb (MAR)	13:10.44
5.	Richard Chelimo (KEN)	13:11.76

Main race this year: World Championships 10,000 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Richard Chelimo (KEN)	27:11.18
2.	John Ngugi (KEN)	27:11.62
3.	Khalid Skah (MAR)	27:23.29
4.	Salvatore Antibo (ITA)	27:24.55
5.	Thomas Osano (KEN)	27:28.87

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Lawrence Peu (RSA)	1:00:58

Main race this year: World Championships Marathon

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Koichi Morishita (JPN)	2:08:53
2.	Takeyuki Nakayama (JPN)	2:09:12
3.	Yakov Tolstikov (URS)	2:09:17
4.	Toru Mimura (JPN)	2:09:23
5.	Salvador García (MEX)	2:09:28

Main race this year: World Championships 110m hurdles

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Tony Dees (USA)	13.05
2.	Greg Foster (USA)	13.06
—	Jack Pierce (USA)	13.06
4.	Colin Jackson (GBR)	13.09
5.	Tony Jarrett (GBR)	13.13

Main race this year: World Championships 400m hurdles

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Samuel Matete (ZAM)	47.10
2.	Danny Harris (USA)	47.38
3.	Winthrop Graham (JAM)	47.74
4.	Kevin Young (USA)	47.83
5.	Kriss Akabusi (GBR)	47.86

Main race this year: World Championships 3,000m steeplechase

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Moses Kiptanui (KEN)	8:06.46
2.	Philip Barkutwo (KEN)	8:08.39
3.	Mark Croghan (USA)	8:10.69
4.	Julius Kariuki (KEN)	8:11.28
5.	William Mutwol (KEN)	8:11.85

Main competition this year: World Championships High Jump

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	HEIGHT
1.	Javier Sotomayor (CUB)	2.40
	Charles Austin (USA)
3.	Hollis Conway (USA)	2.37
4.	Dalton Grant (GBR)	2.36
5.	Sorin Matei (ROM)	2.35
	Troy Kemp (BAH)

Main competition this year: World Championships Long Jump

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Mike Powell (USA)	8.95
2.	Carl Lewis (USA)	8.87
3.	Larry Myricks (USA)	8.50
	Llewellyn Starks (USA)
5.	Gordon Laine (USA)	8.28

Main competition this year: World Championships Triple Jump

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Kenny Harrison (USA)	17.78
2.	Leonid Voloshin (URS)	17.75
3.	Ralf Jaros (GER)	17.66
4.	Mike Conley (USA)	17.62
5.	Oleg Denishchik (URS)	17.53

Main competition this year: World Championships Discus Throw

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Mike Buncic (USA)	69.36
2.	Erik de Bruin (NED)	68.12
3.	Adewale Olukoju (NGR)	67.80
4.	Lars Riedel (GER)	67.78
5.	Romas Ubartas (URS)	67.54

Main competition this year: World Championships Shot Put

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Werner Günthör (SUI)	22.03
2.	Vyacheslav Lykho (URS)	20.77
3.	Lars-Arvid Nilsen (NOR)	20.75
4.	Saulius Kleiza (LTU)	20.67
5.	Sergey Smirnov (URS)	20.55

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Igor Astapkovich (URS)	84.26
2.	Andrey Abduvaliyev (URS)	82.80
3.	Yuriy Sedykh (URS)	82.62
4.	Plamen Minev (BUL)	82.40
5.	Sergey Alay (URS)	81.16

Main competition this year: World Championships Javelin Throw

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Seppo Räty (FIN)	96.96
2.	Steve Backley (GBR)	91.36
3.	Raymond Hecht (GER)	90.84
4.	Kimmo Kinnunen (FIN)	90.82
5.	Jan Železný (CZE)	90.72

Main competition this year: World Championships Pole Vault

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	HEIGHT
1.	Sergey Bubka (URS)	6.10
2.	István Bagyula (HUN)	5.92
3.	Radion Gataullin (URS)	5.90
	Igor Potapovich (URS)
5.	Bill Payne (USA)	5.90

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	POINTS
1.	Dan O'Brien (USA)	8812
2.	Michael Smith (CAN)	8549
3.	Christian Plaziat (FRA)	8518
4.	Dave Johnson (USA)	8467
5.	Christian Schenk (GER)	8402

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Irina Privalova (URS)	7.02
2.	Merlene Ottey (JAM)	7.04
3.	Katrin Krabbe (GER)	7.06
4.	Liliana Allen (CUB)	7.12
5,	Gwen Torrence (USA)	7.13

Main race this year: World Championships 100 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Merlene Ottey (JAM)	10.79
2.	Katrin Krabbe (GER)	10.91
3.	Carlette Guidry (USA)	10.94
4.	Gwen Torrence (USA)	10.96
	Marie-José Pérec (FRA)

Main race this year: World Championships 200 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Merlene Ottey (JAM)	21.64
2.	Katrin Krabbe (GER)	21.96
3.	Gwen Torrence (USA)	22.07
4.	Irina Privalova (URS)	22.21
5.	Dannette Young (USA)	22.24

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Marie-José Pérec (FRA)	49.13
2.	Grit Breuer (GER)	49.42
3.	Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB)	49.61
4.	Lillie Leatherwood (USA)	49.66
5.	Sandra Myers (ESP)	49.67

Main race this year: World Championships 800 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Svetlana Masterkova (URS)	1:57.23
2.	Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB)	1:57.34
3.	Liliya Nurutdinova (URS)	1:57.50
4.	Ella Kovacs (ROM)	1:57.58
5.	Maria de Lurdes Mutola (MOZ)	1:57.63

Main race this year: World Championships 1,500 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Natalya Artyomova (URS)	3:59.16
2.	Hassiba Boulmerka (ALG)	4:00.00
3.	Doina Melinte (ROM)	4:00.83
4.	Violeta Szekely (ROM)	4:02.21
5.	Tatyana Dorovskikh (URS)	4:02.58

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Natalya Artyomova (URS)	4:17.00
2.	Hassiba Boulmerka (ALG)	4:20.79
3.	Doina Melinte (ROM)	4:22.04
4.	Mary Slaney (USA)	4:23.35
5.	Zola Pieterse (RSA)	4:23.38

Main race this year: World Championships 3,000 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Elana Meyer (RSA)	8:32.00
2.	Zola Pieterse (RSA)	8:35.72
3.	Tatyana Dorovskikh (URS)	8:35.82
4.	Yvonne Murray (GBR)	8:36.05
5.	Yelena Romanova (URS)	8:36.06

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Elana Meyer (RSA)	14:49.35
2.	Kathrin Ullrich (GER)	14:58.71
3.	Yelena Romanova (URS)	14:59.70
4.	Susan Sirma (KEN)	15:03.52
5.	Uta Pippig (GER)	15:04.87

Main race this year: World Championships 10,000 metres

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Liz McColgan (GBR)	30:57.07
2.	Kathrin Ullrich (GER)	31:03.62
3.	Jill Hunter (GBR)	31:07.88
4.	Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR)	31:20.28
5.	Francie Larrieu-Smith (USA)	31:28.92

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Elana Meyer (RSA)	1:07:59 WR

Main race this year: World Championships Marathon

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Wanda Panfil (POL)	2:24:18
2.	Rosa Mota (POR)	2:26:14
3.	Kim Jones (USA)	2:26:40
4.	Uta Pippig (GER)	2:26:52
5.	Joan Benoit (USA)	2:26:54

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Ludmila Narozhilenko (URS)	7.82
	Monique Éwanjé-Épée (FRA)	7.82
3.	Mihaela Pogăcean (ROM)	7.88
4.	Anne Piquereau (FRA)	7.89
5.	Lidiya Yurkova (URS)	7.96

Main race this year: World Championships 100m hurdles

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Ludmila Narozhilenko (URS)	12.28
2.	Nataliya Grygoryeva (URS)	12.39
3.	Gail Devers (USA)	12.48
4.	Monique Éwanjé-Épée (FRA)	12.67
5.	Florence Colle (FRA)	12.73

Main race this year: World Championships 400m hurdles

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	TIME
1.	Tatyana Ledovskaya (URS)	53.11
2.	Sally Gunnell (GBR)	53.16
3.	Janeene Vickers (USA)	53.47
4.	Sandra Farmer-Patrick (USA)	53.54
5.	Kim Batten (USA)	53.98

Main competition this year: World Championships High Jump

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	HEIGHT
1.	Heike Henkel (GER)	2.05 m
2.	Stefka Kostadinova (BUL)	2.03 m
3.	Inga Babakova (URS)	2.02 m
4.	Yelena Gulyayeva (URS)	1.99 m
5.	Svetlana Leseva (BUL)	1.98 m
	Yelena Yelesina (URS)

Main competition this year: World Championships Long Jump

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Heike Drechsler (GER)	7.37 m
2.	Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA)	7.32 m
3.	Larisa Berezhnaya (URS)	7.24 m
4.	Yelena Sinchukova (URS)	7.20 m
5.	Susen Tiedtke (GER)	7.00 m

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Inessa Kravets (URS)	14.95 m
2.	Li Huirong (CHN)	14.42 m
3.	Yelena Semiraz (URS)	14.35 m
4.	Svetlana Davydova (URS)	13.84 m
5.	Octavia Iacob (ROM)	13.74 m

Main competition this year: World Championships Shot Put

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Natalya Lisovskaya (URS)	21.12 m
2.	Huang Zhihong (CHN)	20.85 m
3.	Zhou Tianhua (CHN)	20.40 m
4.	Wang Wei (CHN)	19.58 m
5.	Li Xiaoyun (CHN)	19.47 m

Main competition this year: World Championships Javelin

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	DISTANCE
1.	Trine Hattestad (NOR)	71.44
2.	Karen Forkel (GER)	70.20
3.	Petra Meier (GER)	69.66
4.	Xu Demei (CHN)	68.78
5.	Silke Renk (GER)	68.34

Main competition this year: World Championships Heptathlon

RANK	1991 WORLD BEST PERFORMERS	POINTS
1.	Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA)	6878
2.	Sabine Braun (GER)	6672
3.	Peggy Beer (GER)	6494
4.	Liliana Nastase (ROM)	6493
5.	Irina Belova (URS)	6448

• January 15 — Darya Klishina, Russian long jumper
• February 8 — Genzebe Dibaba, Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner
• February 22 — Rebecca Cheptegei, Ugandan distance runner (d. 2024)
• May 8 — Kalkidan Gezahegne, Ethiopian distance runner

• January 1 — Inga Gentzel (82), Swedish athlete (b. 1908)
• August 10 — Ellen Braumüller (80), German athlete (b. 1910)

• Year Lists
• 1991 Year Rankings
• Association of Road Racing Statisticians