1979 in the sport of athletics

This page contains an overview of the year 1979 in athletics.

Major Events

Event	Athlete	Nation	Performance	Place	Date
200 m	Pietro Mennea	Italy	19.72	Mexico City, Mexico	12 September
800 m	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom	1:42.33	Oslo, Norway	5 July
1500 m	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom	3:32.03	Zurich, Switzerland	15 August
110 m hurdles	Renaldo Nehemiah	United States	13.16	San Jose, United States	14 April
110 m hurdles	Renaldo Nehemiah	United States	13.00	Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United States	6 May

Event	Athlete	Nation	Performance	Place	Date
200 m	Marita Koch	East Germany	22.02	Leipzig, East Germany	3 June
200 m	Marita Koch	East Germany	21.71	Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany	10 June
400 m	Marita Koch	East Germany	48.89	Potsdam, East Germany	29 July
400 m	Marita Koch	East Germany	48.60	Turin, Italy	4 August
100 m hurdles	Grazyna Rabsztyn	Poland	12.48^[1]	Warsaw, Poland	18 June
400 m hurdles	Marina Styepanova	Russia	54.78	Moscow, Russia	27 July
Javelin throw	Ruth Fuchs	East Germany	69.52 m	Dresden, East Germany	13 June
4 × 100 metres relay	Marita Koch Romy Müller Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr	East Germany	42.10	Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany	10 June
4 × 100 metres relay	Christina Lathan Romy Müller Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr	East Germany	42.09	Turin, Italy	4 August

Best marks of the year
Event	Men			Women
Event	Athlete	Mark	Notes	Athlete	Mark	Notes
100 metres	Pietro Mennea (ITA)	10.01		Marlies Göhr (GDR) Evelyn Ashford (USA)	10.97
200 metres	Pietro Mennea (ITA)	19.72	WR	Marita Koch (GDR)	21.71	WR
400 metres	Harald Schmid (FRG)	44.92		Marita Koch (GDR)	48.60	WR
800 metres	Sebastian Coe (GBR)	1:42.33	WR	Totka Petrova (BUL)	1:56.2
1500 metres	Sebastian Coe (GBR)	3:32.03	WR	Totka Petrova (BUL)	3:57.4
3000 metres	Rudy Chapa (USA)	7:37.70		Grete Waitz (NOR)	8:31.75
5000 metres	Suleiman Nyambui (TAN)	13:12.29		—
10,000 metres	Karl Fleschen (FRG)	27:36.8		—
100/110 metres hurdles	Renaldo Nehemiah (USA)	13.00	WR	Grazyna Rabsztyn (POL)	12.48	WR
400 metres hurdles	Edwin Moses (USA)	47.53		Marina Styepanova (RUS)	54.78	WR
3000 metres steeplechase	Henry Rono (KEN)	8:17.92		—
High jump	Dietmar Mögenburg (GER)	2.32 m		Rosemarie Ackermann (GDR)	1.99 m
Long jump	Larry Myricks (USA)	8.52 m		Brigitte Wujak (GDR)	6.90 m
Triple jump	João Carlos de Oliveira (BRA)	17.27 m		—
Shot put	Udo Beyer (GER)	21.74 m		Ilona Slupianek (GDR)	22.04 m
Discus throw	Mac Wilkins (USA)	70.66 m		Evelin Jahl (GDR)	69.82 m
Javelin throw	Pentti Sinersaari (FIN)	93.84 m		Ruth Fuchs (GDR)	69.52 m	WR
Decathlon	Guido Kratschmer (FRG)	8476 pts		—
4×100 metres relay	United States Mike Roberson Harvey Glance Bill Collins (athlete) Mel Lattany	38.30		East Germany Christina Lathan Romy Müller Ingrid Auerswald Marlies Göhr	42.09	WR
4×400 metres relay	United States Herman Frazier Bill Green Willie Smith Tony Darden	3:00.70		East Germany Gabriele Kotte Christina Lathan Brigitte Rohde Marita Koch	3:19.62

↑ This time did not set a new world record. Rather, it equaled Rabsztyn's existing world record.