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

Major events

World

• World Cross Country Championships
• World Cup

Regional

World records

Men

Event	Athlete	Nation	Performance	Meeting	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		Zürich, Switzerland	15 August
Mile	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom	3:48.95		Oslo, Norway	17 July
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

Women

Event	Athlete	Nation	Performance	Meeting	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
Mile	Natalia Mărășescu	Romania	4:22.1		Auckland, New Zealand	27 January
100 m hurdles	Grażyna 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
4 × 200 metres relay	Raisa Makhova Nina Zyuskova Tatyana Prorochenko Maria Kulchunova	Soviet Union	1:30.74 [2]		Moscow, Soviet Union	29 July

Season's bests

Best marks of the year

Event	Men			Women
	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	Grażyna 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
Pole vault	Patrick Abada ( FRA)   Philippe Houvion ( FRA)	5.65 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
Hammer throw	Sergey Litvinov ( URS)	79.82 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 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

Notes

References

• Matti Koskimies (1 January 2012). "Season Bests by Year (Men)". Retrieved 12 January 2012.
• Matti Koskimies (1 January 2012). "Season Bests by Year (Women)". Retrieved 12 January 2012.
• Matti Koskimies (1 January 2012). "World Record Progression (Men)". Retrieved 12 January 2012.
• Matti Koskimies (1 January 2012). "World Record Progression (Women)". Retrieved 12 January 2012.