These are the first World Athletics Championships in Hungary. The city of Budapest had previously stated an interest in hosting the 2007 World Championships, but withdrew and it was eventually held in Osaka.[3] The official mascot of the event is a Racka, called Youhuu.[4][5]
The championships were held in the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, which was specially built for this event, and has a provisional capacity of 36,000.[8]
Countries who had no male and/or no female athletes who had achieved the Entry Standard or considered as having achieved the entry standard or a qualified relay team, could enter one unqualified male athlete OR one unqualified female athlete in one event of the championships (except the road events and field events, combined events, 10,000 m and 3000 m steeplechase).
Since the postponement of the 2023 World Relays to 2024 Nassau, for Covid-pandemic reasons, a modified qualification system has been available for relay teams.[11]
At the end of the qualification period, the 2023 World Athletics Rankings were published. They were used to invite additional athletes to the World Championships where the target number of athletes had not been achieved for that event through other methods of qualification.
The maximum of three athletes per country in individual events was not affected by this rule. Member federations retained the right to confirm or reject athlete selections through this method.
Where the highest ranked athletes were from a country that already had three entrants for the event, or where member federations had rejected an entrant, the next highest ranked athlete became eligible for entry via the world rankings.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
* Indicates the athletes only competed in the preliminary heats and received medals.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
* Indicates the athletes only competed in the preliminary heats and received medals.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2023)
In the United States, television rights to the championships belong to NBC Sports.[13]
Eurovision Sport and ESPN jointly hold and distribute World Athletics media rights in Europe and Africa for 2023. Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed with World Athletics rights-holders Eurovision Sport and ESPN to broadcast the nine-day event on its channels – Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2 and Eurosport App – including its platform Discovery+ on a non-exclusive basis in more than 45 countries across Europe, excluding the Nordics region – Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden. Streaming is available on Discovery+ in Austria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, UK and Ireland.[14]
In India, live streaming is available on JioCinema.[15]