The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

IAAF Continental Cup
Statusdefunct
GenreTrack and field
Date(s)varying
Frequencybiennial
Countryvarying
Years active1977–2018
Inaugurated1977 (1977)
Most recent2018
Organised byWorld Athletics
Websiteworldathletics.org

The event was proposed by IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo and was first held in 1977 as the IAAF World Cup.[1] The event was initially held every two years, but following the establishment of the World Athletics Championships it moved to a quadrennial basis. The 1989 edition was held the same year as the World Indoor Championships, then moved to the even-year between the Summer Olympics, ensuring the sport of athletics had a global competition in all years.

The original format included separate men's and women's competitions consisting of 21 events each, with team points being awarded for the finishing position of each athlete. Eight teams, five continental and three national, entered an athlete in each event: if the stadium had a ninth lane, the host nation would also be permitted to enter.

The eight entrants included the United States, the top two nations in the preceding European Cup and continental teams comprising Africa, Asia, Oceania, the rest of the Americas (North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association and Confederación Sudamericana de Atletismo), and the rest of Europe.

From 2010, the event was rebranded to the IAAF Continental Cup, with the national teams being removed, and team scoring incorporated both the sexes. Two athletes per individual event were entered by four regional teams: Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe and the Americas), though the regions had only one team each for the relay events.[2]

After a decision at the 206th IAAF Council Meeting, held after the 2016 Summer Olympics, long-distance events were removed from the programme, and the 4 × 400 metres relay event was modified to a mixed-gender event.[3]

A nation-based competition, the Athletics World Cup, was staged in 2018 by an independent promoter. The IAAF competition was briefly rebranded as the World Athletics Continental Cup in 2019, but the event was scrapped in March 2020.[4][5][6]

Results edit

IAAF World Cup edit

Edition Year Venue Division Cup winners Second place Third place
1st 1977 Düsseldorf Men   East Germany   United States   West Germany
Women   Europe   East Germany   Soviet Union
2nd 1979 Montreal Men   United States   Europe   East Germany
Women   East Germany   Soviet Union   Europe
3rd 1981 Rome Men   Europe   East Germany   United States
Women   East Germany   Europe   Soviet Union
4th 1985 Canberra Men   United States   Soviet Union   East Germany
Women   East Germany  Soviet Union   Europe
5th 1989 Barcelona Men   United States   Europe   Great Britain
Women   East Germany   Soviet Union  America
6th 1992 Havana Men   Africa   Great Britain   Europe
Women   Unified Team   Europe   America
7th 1994 London Men   Africa   Great Britain   America
Women   Europe   America   Germany
8th 1998 Johannesburg Men   Africa   Europe   Germany
Women   United States   Europe   Africa
9th 2002 Madrid Men   Africa   Europe   United States
Women   Russia   Europe   America
10th 2006 Athens[7] Men   Europe   United States   Africa
Women   Russia   Europe   America

IAAF Continental Cup edit

Year Venue Cup winners Second place Third place Fourth place
2010 Split, Croatia Overall   Americas   Europe   Africa Asia/Pacific
Points 424.5[8] 410 295 292.5
Men   Europe   Americas   Africa Asia/Pacific
Women   Americas   Europe   Africa Asia/Pacific
2014 Marrakesh, Morocco Overall   Europe   Americas   Africa Asia/Pacific
Points 447.5 390 339 257.5
Men   Europe   Americas   Africa Asia/Pacific
Women   Europe   Americas   Africa Asia/Pacific
2018 Ostrava, Czech Republic Overall   Americas   Europe Asia/Pacific   Africa
Points 262 233 188 142

Cup records edit

Key to tables:   not ratified or later rescinded by IAAF

Men edit

Event Record Name Nationality Team Date Games Ref
100 m 9.87 (-0.2 m/s) Obadele Thompson   Barbados Americas 11 September 1998 1998 Johannesburg
200 m 19.87 (+0.1 m/s) Wallace Spearmon   United States United States 17 September 2006 2006 Athens
400 m 44.22 Jeremy Wariner   United States Americas 4 September 2010 2010 Split [9]
800 m 1:43.37 David Rudisha   Kenya Africa 5 September 2010 [10]
1500 m 3:31.20 Bernard Lagat   United States United States 20 September 2002 2002 Madrid
3000 m 7:32.19 Craig Mottram   Australia Oceania 17 September 2006 2006 Athens
5000 m 13:13.82 Miruts Yifter   Ethiopia Africa 3 July 1977 1977 Düsseldorf
10,000 m 27:38.43 Werner Schildhauer   East Germany East Germany 4 September 1981 1981 Rome
3000 m steeplechase 8:09.67 Richard Mateelong   Kenya Africa 5 September 2010 2010 Split [11]
110 m hurdles 12.96 (+0.4 m/s) Allen Johnson   United States United States 17 September 2006 2006 Athens
400 m hurdles 47.37 Edwin Moses   United States United States 4 September 1981 1981 Rome
Abderrahman Samba   Qatar Asia-Pacific 8 September 2018 2018 Ostrava [12]
High jump 2.40 m Javier Sotomayor   Cuba Americas 11 September 1994 1994 London
Pole vault 5.95 m Steve Hooker   Australia Oceania 5 September 2010 2010 Split [13]
Long jump 8.52 m (0.0 m/s) Larry Myricks   United States United States 26 September 1979 1979 Montreal
Triple jump 17.61 m (+0.6 m/s) Yoelbi Quesada   Cuba Americas 10 September 1994 1994 London
Shot put 22.00 m Ulf Timmermann   East Germany East Germany 5 October 1985 1985 Canberra
Discus throw 71.25 m Róbert Fazekas   Hungary Europe 21 September 2002 2002 Madrid
Hammer throw 82.68 m Tibor Gécsek   Hungary Europe 12 September 1998 1998 Johannesburg
Javelin throw 89.26 m Andreas Thorkildsen   Norway Europe 5 September 2010 2010 Split [14]
4 × 100 m relay 37.59 Kaaron Conwright
Wallace Spearmon
Tyson Gay
Jason Smoots
  United States United States 16 September 2006 2006 Athens
4 × 400 m relay 2:59.00   Nery Brenes (CRC)
  Bershawn Jackson (USA)
  Greg Nixon (USA)
  Ricardo Chambers (JAM)
Various Americas 5 September 2010 2010 Split [15]

Women edit

Event Record Name Nationality Date Games Ref
100 m 10.65 (+1.1 m/s) Marion Jones   United States United States 12 September 1998 1998 Johannesburg
200 m 21.62 (-0.6 m/s) Marion Jones   United States United States 11 September 1998
400 m 47.60 Marita Koch   East Germany East Germany 6 October 1985 1985 Canberra
800 m 1:54.44 Ana Fidelia Quirot   Cuba Americas 9 September 1989 1989 Barcelona
1500 m 4:00.84 Maryam Yusuf Jamal   Bahrain Asia 17 September 2006 2006 Athens
3000 m 8:27.50 Sifan Hassan   Netherlands Europe 8 September 2018 2018 Ostrava [16]
5000 m 14:39.11 Meseret Defar   Ethiopia Africa 17 September 2006 2006 Athens
10,000 m 30:52.51 Elana Meyer   South Africa Africa 10 September 1994 1994 London
100 m hurdles 12.47 (+0.7 m/s) Dawn Harper-Nelson   United States Americas 14 September 2014 2014 Marrakech [17]
400 m hurdles 52.96 Nezha Bidouane   Morocco Africa 11 September 1998 1998 Johannesburg
3000 m steeplechase 9:07.92 Beatrice Chepkoech   Kenya Africa 9 September 2018 2018 Ostrava [18]
High jump 2.05 m Blanka Vlašić   Croatia Europe 5 September 2010 2010 Split [19]
Pole vault 4.85 m Anzhelika Sidorova   Russia Europe 8 September 2018 2018 Ostrava [20]
Katerina Stefanidi   Greece Europe
Sandi Morris   United States Americas
Long jump 7.27 m (+0.7 m/s) Heike Drechsler   East Germany East Germany 6 October 1985 1985 Canberra
Triple jump 15.25 m (+1.7 m/s) Olga Rypakova   Kazakhstan Asia 4 September 2010 2010 Split [21]
Shot put 20.98 m Ilona Slupianek   East Germany East Germany 24 August 1979 1979 Montreal
Discus throw 71.54 m Ilke Wyludda   East Germany East Germany 10 September 1989 1989 Barcelona
Hammer throw 75.46 m DeAnna Price   United States Americas 8 September 2018 2018 Ostrava [22]
Javelin throw 65.52 m Barbora Špotáková   Czech Republic Europe 13 September 2014 2014 Marrakech
68.14 m Mariya Abakumova   Russia Europe 4 September 2010 2010 Split [23]
4 × 100 m relay 41.37 Silke Möller
Sabine Günther
Ingrid Auerswald
Marlies Göhr
  East Germany East Germany 6 October 1985 1985 Canberra
4 × 400 m relay 3:19.50 Kirsten Emmelmann
Sabine Busch
Dagmar Neubauer
Marita Koch
  East Germany East Germany 4 October 1985

Trophy edit

A silver trophy was presented to winners of the men's competition. The women's equivalent was later remodelled and used for the Continental Cup. The winners' names were engraved around the bottom and the winners would keep a hold of the trophy until the next edition.[24]

As the IAAF World Cup, World Cup trophies were presented to the athletes of the winning team. It was the sole prize awarded by the IAAF for the team category.[25]

As the IAAF Continental Cup, in 2018, a new trophy was unveiled for the winners of the combined team event (men and women). All individual athletes of the winning team were presented with awards for the first time.[26]

References edit

  1. ^ "Past Presidents of the IAAF". iaaf.org. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  2. ^ IAAF Council Meeting notes, Monaco - 21 November. IAAF (2008-11-21). Retrieved on 2009-09-11.
  3. ^ Competitions Update. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-08-21.
  4. ^ "World Athletics Continental Cup". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Continental Cup scrapped by World Athletics after 43 years". insidethegames.biz. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  6. ^ Pavitt, Michael (12 March 2020). "Continental Cup scrapped by World Athletics after 43 years". inside the games. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  7. ^ ""10th IAAF World Cup in Athletics 2006 Athens Olympic Stadium" photos".
  8. ^ "Americas awarded the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech| News".
  9. ^ "400 Metres Results" (PDF). IAAF. 4 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  10. ^ "800 Metres Results" (PDF). IAAF. 5 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  11. ^ "3000 Metres Steeplechase Results" (PDF). IAAF. 5 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  12. ^ "400 Metres Hurdles Men Results" (PDF). IAAF. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  13. ^ "Pole Vault Results" (PDF). IAAF. 5 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  14. ^ "Javelin Throw Results" (PDF). IAAF. 5 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  15. ^ "4x400 Metres Relay Results" (PDF). IAAF. 5 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  16. ^ "3000 Metres Women Results" (PDF). IAAF. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  17. ^ "100m Hurdles Results". IAAF. 14 September 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  18. ^ "3000 Metres Steeplechase Women Results" (PDF). IAAF. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  19. ^ "High Jump Results" (PDF). IAAF. 5 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  20. ^ "Pole vault Women Results" (PDF). IAAF. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  21. ^ "Triple Jump Results" (PDF). IAAF. 4 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  22. ^ "Hammer Throw Women Results" (PDF). IAAF. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  23. ^ "Javelin Throw Results" (PDF). IAAF. 4 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  24. ^ "The original IAAF World Cup – IAAF Heritage". World Athletics. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  25. ^ "Continental Cup scrapped by World Athletics after 43 years". Inside the Games. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  26. ^ "Organisers unveil trophy for the IAAF Continental Cup". European Athletics. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2022.

External links edit