Athletics at the Summer World University Games
Events	50 (men: 25; women: 25)
Games
1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1970 1970 1973 1972 1975 1975 1977 1978 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2025

Athletics is one of the sports at the biennial Universiade competition. It has been one of the event's competed sports since the inaugural edition.

Games	Year	Events	Host city	Host country	Winner	Second	Third
1	1959	29	Torino	Italy	Italy	Soviet Union	Germany
2	1961	29	Sofia	Bulgaria	Soviet Union	Hungary	Romania
3	1963	29	Porto Alegre	Brazil	Soviet Union	Germany	United Kingdom
4	1965	30	Budapest	Hungary	Soviet Union	Italy	Hungary
5	1967	33	Tokyo	Japan	Germany	United States	Japan
6	1970	33	Torino	Italy	Soviet Union	East Germany	United Kingdom
7	1973	34	Moscow	Soviet Union	Soviet Union	United States	United Kingdom
8	1975	35	Rome	Italy	Soviet Union	Poland	Italy
9	1977	34	Sofia	Bulgaria	Soviet Union	Bulgaria	United States
10	1979	35	Mexico City	Mexico	Soviet Union	East Germany	Romania
11	1981	39	Bucharest	Romania	Soviet Union	United States	East Germany
12	1983	40	Edmonton	Canada	Soviet Union	United States	Nigeria
13	1985	42	Kobe	Japan	Soviet Union	United States	Cuba
14	1987	42	Zagreb	Yugoslavia	United States	Soviet Union	East Germany
15	1989	42	Duisburg	Germany	United States	Soviet Union	Cuba
16	1991	42	Sheffield	United Kingdom	United States	Soviet Union	China
17	1993	43	Buffalo	United States	United States	Poland	Cuba
18	1995	43	Fukuoka	Japan	United States	Russia	Japan
19	1997	45	Catania	Italy	United States	Russia	Ukraine
20	1999	45	Palma de Mallorca	Spain	United States	Romania	Cuba
21	2001	45	Beijing	China	China	United States	Cuba
22	2003	45	Daegu	South Korea	Russia	China	Ukraine
23	2005	45	İzmir	Turkey	Russia	Poland	China
24	2007	46	Bangkok	Thailand	Russia	Ukraine	Kazakhstan
25	2009	46	Belgrade	Serbia	Russia	Australia	Japan
26	2011	50	Shenzhen	China	Russia	Jamaica	Ukraine
27	2013	50	Kazan	Russia	Russia	South Africa	Ukraine
28	2015	50	Gwangju	South Korea	Russia	Japan	Kazakhstan
29	2017	50	Taipei	Taiwan	Japan	Poland	Germany
30	2019	50	Naples	Italy	Japan	Ukraine	Australia
31	2021	50	Chengdu	China	China	Turkey	Poland
32	2023	50	Yekaterinburg	Russia	Cancelled due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
33	2025	50	Bochum	Germany
34	2027	50	Chungcheong Province	South Korea
35	2029	50	Research Triangle	United States

Note

Last updated after the 1961 Summer Universiade

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Soviet Union (URS)	18	15	6	39
2	Italy (ITA)	8	6	2	16
3	Hungary (HUN)	7	2	4	13
4	West Germany (FRG)	6	6	11	23
5	Romania (ROM)	4	4	4	12
6	Poland (POL)	3	4	7	14
7	Bulgaria (BUL)	2	3	4	9
8	Yugoslavia (YUG)	2	3	1	6
9	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	2	1	3	6
10	Great Britain (GBR)	1	5	5	11
11	Japan (JPN)	1	4	4	9
12	France (FRA)	1	1	4	6
13	Greece (GRE)	1	1	1	3
14	Ireland (IRL)	1	0	1	2
15	Cuba (CUB)	1	0	0	1
16	Austria (AUT)	0	1	1	2
	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	1	2
18	Switzerland (SUI)	0	1	0	1
Totals (18 entries)		58	58	59	175

• List of Universiade records in athletics
• List of Universiade medalists in athletics (men)
• World University Cross Country Championships
• International Athletics Championships and Games