Athletics abbreviations

The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a variety of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport. Starting in 1948 by Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, Track & Field News became the leader in creating and defining abbreviations in this field. These abbreviations have also been adopted by, among others: World Athletics, the world governing body; various domestic governing bodies; the Association of Track and Field Statisticians; the Association of Road Racing Statisticians; the Associated Press; and individual media outlets who receive their reports. These abbreviations also appear in Wikipedia.

Almost all races record a time. Evolving since experiments in the 1930s, to their official use at the 1968 Summer Olympics and official acceptance in 1977, fully automatic times have become common. As this evolution has occurred, the rare early times were specified as FAT times. As they are now commonplace, automatic times are now expressed using the hundredths of a second. Hand times (watches operated by human beings) are not regarded as accurate and thus are only accepted to the accuracy of a tenth of a second even when the watch displays greater accuracy. If the mark was set before 1977, a converted time to the tenth was recorded for record purposes, because they did not have a system to compare between the timing methods. Frequently in those cases there is a mark to the 100th retained for that race. Over this period of evolution, some reports show hand times also followed with an "h" or "ht" to distinguish hand times.

With two different timing methods came the inevitable desire to compare times. Track and Field News initiated adding .24 to hand times as a conversion factor. Many electronic hand stopwatches display times to the hundredth. Frequently those readings are recorded, but are not accepted as valid (leading to confused results). Some low level meets have even hand timed runners and have switched places according to the time displayed on the stopwatch. All of this is, of course, wrong. Hand times are not accurate enough to be accepted for record purposes for short races. Human reaction time is not perfectly identical between different human beings. Hand times involve human beings reacting, pushing the stopwatch button when they see the smoke or hear the sound of the starting pistol, then reacting (possibly anticipating) the runner crossing the finish line. The proper procedure for converting hand times would be to round any hundredths up to the next higher even tenth of a second and then add the .24 to get a time for comparison purposes only.^[1] But many meets displayed the converted marks accurate to the hundredth making the results look like they were taken with fully automatic timing. In these cases, some meets have displayed a 4 or a 0 in the hundredths column for all races. When detected, reports of these times are followed by a "c" or ' to indicate converted times.

Road race times are only considered accurate to a full second. To distinguish a full second time with hours, from a minute time with hundredths of a second, colons are used to separate hours from minutes, and minutes from seconds. A period is used to separate seconds from hundredths of a second.

Transponder timing is becoming more common. The RFID detection system times the transponder chip, usually located on a runner's shoe as opposed to the official timing of the torso. Accurate to a full second, this is not significant, but in breaking microscopic ties, the data does not correspond to timing rules. Most road races cannot fit all participants onto the start line. Depending on the size of the field, some athletes could be several city blocks away from the start line and in the large crowd, could take minutes to get across the line. Results frequently indicate two times, the "gun time" would be the official time from the firing of the starting pistol, but the mat time shows the time the shoe crossed a sensing mat at the start line to the time the shoe crossed the sensing mat at the finish line.

Occasionally, when breaking ties using photo finish, times are displayed to the thousandth of a second. These times to the thousandth are not used for record purposes but times to the thousandth can be used to break ties between adjacent heats. Rules specify if a tie is broken this way, that all heats involved are recorded with the same timing system.

Most records are subject to ratification by the governing body for that record. On the world level, that is World Athletics. Each body has their own procedure for ratifying the records: for example, USA Track & Field (USATF), the governing body for the United States, only ratifies records once a year at their annual meeting at the beginning of December.

Until a record is ratified, it is regarded as "Pending" which is sometimes indicated by a following P.

• WR – world record
• OR – olympic record
• CR – championship record
• CR – course record (marathon)
• CR – US collegiate record
• GR – games record
• PR – paralympic games record
• AR – area (or continental) record
• ER – European record
• NR – national record (for a specific country)
• MR – meet record (meeting record)
• DLR – diamond league record
• # – the performance has not been accepted as a record, or there is some sort of irregularity with the result
• X – the athlete has been disqualified after the performance (usually, this is for taking performance-enhancing substance)
• U20 (formerly J for Junior) – for an athlete under 20 years of age before the end of the calendar year of the competition. If no age-specific infix is added, the athlete is considered senior.
  • WU20R – world under-20 record (formerly WJR – world junior record)
  • AU20R – area (or continental) under-20 record (formerly AJR – area junior record)
  • NU20R – national under-20 record (for a specific country) (formerly NJR – national junior record)

Some records are ratified or tracked, but they are not to the same standard of quality or accuracy as a record. The term is "bests." World Athletics lists bests for the Youth division and for road-racing records such as the marathon. It also tracks athlete personal achievements as bests.

• WB – world best (the best mark recorded for a non-IAAF world record event)
• WBP – world best performance (the best mark recorded for a non-IAAF world record event)
• AB – area (or continental) best (the best mark recorded for a non-IAAF world record event)
• NB – national best (the best mark recorded for a non-national federation record event)
• NBP – national best performance (the best mark recorded for a non-IAAF world record event)
• PB – personal best (the best mark achieved by an athlete on a personal level)
• SB – season's best (the best mark achieved by an athlete on a personal level within a given season)
• WL – world leading (the best mark achieved worldwide within a given season)
• EL – European leading (Europe leading) (the best mark achieved throughout Europe within a given season)
• CL – Collegiate leading (the best mark achieved throughout US American universities and colleges within a given season)
• U18 (formerly Y for Youth) – for athletes under 18 years of age at the end of the calendar year of the competition.
  • WU18B – world under-18 best (formerly WYB – world youth best)
  • AU18B – area (or continental) under-18 best (formerly AYB – area youth best)
  • NU18B – national under-18 best (for a specific country) (formerly NYB – national youth best)
• U23 – for athletes under 23 years of age at the end of the calendar year of the competition.
  • WU23B – world under-23 best
  • AU23B – area (or continental) under-23 best
  • NU23B – national under-23 best (for a specific country)

• + – time was taken at an intermediate distance in a longer race
• A – mark set at altitude
• a – (in a road race) course not record-eligible according to World Athletics rule 260.28
• AC – also competed
• b – banked track
• c – converted mark
• dh – downhill
• DNF – did not finish
• DNS – did not start
• DQ – disqualified
• h – hand timed
• i – indoors
• INT – international team (used in relay results where athletes are from different countries)
• IRM – irregular measurement
• Mx – mixed-gender race
• n – non-winning time
• ND – no distance^[2]
• NT – no time
• NWI – no wind information (or no wind instrument)
• NWJ – no water jump (in steeplechase running events)
• OT – oversized track
• Q – automatic qualifier in a major competition (see qualifying standards in athletics)
• q – secondary qualifier, by next best time or distance to complete the prescribed field size, rather than achieving a place or measurement goal
• qJ – advanced to the next round by jury appeal
• qR – advanced to the next round by referee
• Re – repechage
• sh – short track, including "indoors" but also allowing for outdoor 200 metres tracks
• w – mark of wind assistance. For events where wind assistance is a factor (outdoor races 200 metres or less, long jump and triple jump), the wind reading is usually reported in metres per second (m/s).
• Wo – women-only race
• y – race measurement in yards

• o – a cleared height in high jump or pole vault
• x – a missed height in high jump or pole vault
• r – athlete retired from competition
• NH – no height
• NM – no mark
• - (formerly P) – athlete passed their attempt

Athlete disqualifications often reference the IAAF rule number under which the athlete was disqualified.

This is typically written in the format (false start as example): DQ R162.7.^[3]

• 40.1 – Doping violation during or in connection with the championships
• 40.8 – Prior doping violation leading to suspension during the period of the championships
• 41.1 – Doping violation by one or more relay team members
• 142.4 – Failure to participate honestly with bona fide effort
• 144.2 – Giving or receiving assistance (e.g. pacing, use of electronic devices)
• 145.2 – Acting in an unsporting or improper manner (unsportsmanlike conduct)
• 149 - Entry to championships on the grounds of invalid performances
• 162.7 – False start
• 163.2 – Jostling or obstructing another athlete on the track
• 163.3 – Running out of lane
• 163.5 – Running out of lane (before 800 m, alley start or relay breakline)
• 168.6 – Knocking down hurdle out of lane
• 168.7 – Illegal hurdle clearance or deliberately knocking down hurdle
• 170.6 – Baton not carried by hand; gloves or substances worn to give a better grip of the baton
• 170.6c – Dropped baton not retrieved by the athlete who dropped it
• 170.7 – Baton not passed within take-over zone
• 170.8 – Obstructing another team by athlete without baton
• 170.11 – Unverified team composition or running order
• 170.17 – Outgoing runner in 4 × 400 m relay begins running or breaks from lane too early
• 218.4 – Illegal change of position by waiting relay runner (indoor events)
• 230.6a – Failure to comply with definition of race walking according to three different judges
• 240.8e – Illegal action by person authorised to hand refreshment to athlete
• 240.8f – More than two team officials stationed behind drinks table or running beside an athlete while taking on refreshment or water

The various organizing bodies of the sport are abbreviated into alphabet soup.

• AAA – Amateur Athletic Association of England – England
• AAA – Asian Athletics Association
• AAU – Amateur Athletic Union USA amateur sports umbrella governing body formed 1887 until broken up in 1979 – USA
• AFI – Athletics Federation of India - India
• AK – Athletics Kenya – Kenya
• ANA – Authorised Neutral Athletes
• ANZ – Athletics New Zealand – New Zealand
• APA – Association of Panamerican Athletics – North and South America
• ARAF – All-Russia Athletic Federation – Russia
• ART – Athlete Refugee Team — Refugees
• BAAA – Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations – Bahamas
• BFLA – Belarus Athletic Federation – Belarus
• CAA – Confederation of African Athletics
• CACAC – Central American and Caribbean Athletic Confederation – Central America and Caribbean
• CBAt – Confederação Brasileira de Atletismo – Brasil
• CISM – International Military Sports Council – Military athletics
• CONSUDATLE – Confederación Sudamericana de Atletismo – South America
• CTAA – Chinese Taipei Athletics Association – Taiwan
• DAF – Danish Athletics Federation – Denmark
• DLFV – 1949–1990 Athletics Federation of East Germany
• DLV – Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband – Germany
• EAA or EA – European Athletic Association/European Athletics
• EAF – Egyptian Athletic Federation – Egypt
• EKJL – Eesti Kergejõustikuliit – Estonia
• FCA – Federación Cubana de Atletismo – Cuba
• FFA – Fédération française d'athlétisme – France
• FRMA – Fédération Royale Marocaine d’Athlétisme – Morocco
• FIDAL – Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera – Italy
• FISU – International University Sports Federation – Student athletics
• HKAAA – Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates – Hong Kong. Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association is sometimes used.
• IAAF – International Association of Athletics Federations 1912-2019, the former name of what is now World Athletics – World
• IAU – International Association of Ultrarunners
• IOC – International Olympic Committee – Olympics
• IPC – International Paralympic Committee – Paralympic athletics
• JAAA – Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association – Jamaica. Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association is sometimes used.
• JAAF – Japan Association of Athletics Federations – Japan
• KAAF – Korean Association of Athletics Federations [it] — South Korea
• KNAU – Royal Dutch Athletics Federation – Netherlands
• OAA – Oceania Athletics Association
• NACAC – North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association – North America
• NCAA – National Collegiate Athletic Association – USA Colleges and Universities
• NFHS – National Federation of State High School Associations – USA High Schools
• QAF – Qatar Athletics Federation – Qatar
• PZLA - Polski Związek Lekkiej Atletyki - Poland
• RFEA – Real Federación Española de Atletismo – Spain
• TAC – The Athletics Congress, predecessor to USA Track & Field 1979–1992 – USA
• TAF – Turkish Athletic Federation – Turkey
• UKA – UK Athletics – United Kingdom
• USATF – USA Track & Field – USA
• WA – World Athletics – World
• WAVA – 1977–2001 World Association of Veteran Athletes – World Masters (athletes over age 35)
• WMA – since 2001 World Masters Athletics – World Masters (athletes over age 35)
• WMRA – World Mountain Running Association

• ARRS – Association of Road Racing Statisticians
• ATFS – Association of Track and Field Statisticians
• AW – Athletics Weekly
• NUTS – National Union of Track Statisticians – United Kingdom
• T&FN – Track & Field News

Due to the large number of athletics events that are regularly contested, presentations of results and statistics often use abbreviations to refer to the events, rather than the full form.

• CE – Combined events
• DMR – Distance medley relay
• DT – Discus throw
• HJ – High jump
• HM – Half marathon
• HT – Hammer throw
• JT – Javelin throw
• LJ – Long jump
• mh or mH – metres hurdles (e.g. 400mh for 400 metres hurdles)
• PV – Pole vault
• SMR – Sprint medley relay
• SP – Shot put
• SC, st. or s'chase – Steeplechase
• TJ – Triple jump
• WT – Weight throw
• XC or CC – Cross country running

• AAG – African Games
• AfC – African Championships in Athletics
• AsC – Asian Athletics Championships
• CWG – Commonwealth Games
• DL – Diamond League
• EC or ECh – European Athletics Championships
• ECCC – European Cross Country Championships
• EIC – European Athletics Indoor Championships
• EJC – European Athletics Junior Championships
• EG – European Games
• ETC – European Team Championships
• ESAA – English Schools' Athletics Championships
• ISTAF – Internationales Stadionfest Berlin
• LYG – London Youth Games
• OG – Olympic Games
• OAC – Oceania Athletics Championships
• PG – Pacific Games
• WC or WCh – World Championships in Athletics
• WHM – World Half Marathon Championships
• WIC – World Indoor Championships
• WJC – World Junior Championships in Athletics
• WXC – World Cross Country Championships
• WYC – IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics
• PAG – Pan American Games
• SAG – South Asian Games
• SEAG – Southeast Asian Games

• GBR Athletics abbreviations
• Terms & Abbreviations (World Athletics)