World Indoor Athletics Championships 1987

1st World Indoor Athletics Championships
Hoosier Dome (2007)
city	Indianapolis , United States
Stadion	Hoosier Dome
participating countries	85
Participating athletes	419
Competitions	24
opening	March 6, 1987
Final day	March 8, 1987
timeline
← Paris 1985	Budapest 1999 →

The 1st World Indoor Athletics Championships were held from March 6th to 8th, 1987 in the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis (State of Indiana ).

17 years after the first official European Indoor Championships and two years after the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris so that the world athletics federation took IAAF officially the auspices of the World Indoor Championships.

A total of 419 athletes from 85 countries took part, of which athletes from 39 countries reached a final and athletes from 23 countries won medals.

A total of five indoor world records or best indoor world performances were achieved:

• Lee McRae ran 60 meters for 6.50 seconds. (Originally Ben Johnson won in 6.41s, but that performance was later canceled for doping).
• Mikhail Shchennikov walked over 5000 meters at 18: 27.79 min.
• Heike Drechsler ran over 200 meters for 22.27 s.
• Stefka Kostadinowa jumped 2.05 m.
• Olga Krischtop walked over 3000 meters at 12:05:49.

Men

60 m

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Lee McRae	United States	6.50 (WR)
2	Mark Witherspoon	United States	6.54
3	Pierfrancesco Pavoni	ITA	6.59
4th	Antonio Ullo	ITA	6.64
5	Ronald Desruelles	BEL	6.67
6th	Bruno Marie-Rose	FRA	6.68
	Christian Haas	FRG	6.68
	Ben Johnson	CAN	DQ

Final on March 7th

Ben Johnson crossed the finish line first in 6.41 s. He came as a world record holder with 6.44 s and ran 6.49 s in the semifinals. When Johnson was banned after the doping scandal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, the IAAF also canceled all his achievements and medals from 1987. Lee McRae was subsequently declared world champion and world record holder.

200 m

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Kirk Baptiste	United States	20.73
2	Bruno Marie-Rose	FRA	20.89
3	Robson da Silva	BRA	20.92
4th	Gilles Quenéhervé	FRA	20.97
5	James Butler	United States	21.05
6th	Donovan Reid	GBR	21.53

Final on March 8th

The world record holder Bruno Marie-Rose could not beat Kirk Baptiste.

The run went under a little because Stefka Kostadinova had set a world record in the high jump just before the start.

400 m

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Antonio McKay	United States	45.98
2	Roberto Hernández	CUB	46.09
3	Michael Franks	United States	46.19
4th	Ian Morris	TRI	46.57
5	Paul Harmsworth	GBR	46.59
6th	Arjen Visserman	NED	47.11

Final on March 7th

800 m

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	José Luíz Barbosa	BRA	1: 47.49
2	Vladimir Graudyn	URS	1: 47.68
3	Faouzi Lahbi	MAR	1: 47.79
4th	Stanley Redwine	United States	1: 47.81
5	Dieudonné Kwizera	BDI	1: 47.87
6th	Slobodan Popović	YUG	1: 48.07
7th	Babacar Niang	SEN	1: 48.33
8th	Rob Druppers	NED	1: 48.89

Final on March 8th

Redwine and Kwizera set the pace, but Barbosa took the lead at the start of the final lap and ran to his greatest success.

1500 m

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Marcus O'Sullivan	IRL	3: 39.04
2	José Manuel Abascal	ESP	3: 39.13
3	Han Kulker	NED	3: 39.51
4th	Jim Spivey	United States	3: 39.63
5	Michael Hillardt	OUT	3: 39.77
6th	Dave Campbell	CAN	3: 40.82
7th	Dieter Baumann	FRG	3: 41.07
8th	Alessandro Lambruschini	ITA	3: 42.25

Final on March 7th

In the second run, Irishman Eamonn Coghlan fell , got up and ran up to the front again, but was then overrun by Campbell and Baumann on the home straight. Even a protest by the Irish team management did not bring him to the final.

In the final, Spivey led until the 800-meter split, then Abascal took over the lead, who, however, was unable to hold onto the second-best Irishman on the home straight.

3000 m

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Frank O'Mara	IRL	8: 03.32
2	Paul Donovan	IRL	8: 03.89
3	Terry Brahm	United States	8: 03.92
4th	Mark Rowland	GBR	8: 04.27
5	Doug Padilla	United States	8: 05.55
6th	Julius Kariuki	KEN	8: 06.77
7th	Pascal Thiébaut	FRA	8: 08.82
8th	Mogens Guldberg	THE	8: 10.25

Final on March 8th

Donovan and O'Mara had already won the heats. The two Irish delayed the pace in the final, trusting their sprint strength, but were able to follow Rowland and Padilla when the two started a long sprint. Donovan made up three places in the last 100 meters and ensured an Irish one-two.

5000 m walking

space	athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Mikhail Shchennikov	URS	18: 27.79 WR
2	Jozef Pribilinec	TCH	18: 27.80
3	Ernesto Canto	MEX	18: 38.71
4th	Roman Mrázek	TCH	18: 47.95
5	David Smith	OUT	18: 52.20
6th	Sándor Urbanik	HUN	19: 06.19
7th	Walter Arena	ITA	19:08.20
8th	Tim Lewis	United States	19: 18.40

Final on March 7th

Shchennikov set the pace, Pribilinec only picked up the pace after 4000 meters and caught up with the leader. On the final lap the lead changed several times, in the end the 19-year-old Russian won with a world record and a lead of a hundredth of a second.

60 m hurdles

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Tonie Campbell	United States	7.51
2	Stéphane Caristan	FRA	7.62
3	Nigel Walker	GBR	7.66
4th	Colin Jackson	GBR	7.68
5	Arto Bryggare	FIN	7.68
6th	Javier Moracho	ESP	7.89
	Mark McKoy	CAN	DNF
	Greg Foster	United States	DQ

Final on March 8th

Mark McKoy was initially in the lead, but Foster was catching up. Foster was running to McKoy's left, and since Foster crossed the hurdle first with his left leg and McKoy with his right leg, the risk of a collision was high. At the fourth hurdle, the two favorites collided and fell to the ground. Campbell could now win confidently.

high jump

space	athlete	country	Height (m)
1	Igor Paklin	URS	2.38
2	Hennadij Avdjejenko	URS	2.38
3	Ján Zvara	TCH	2.34
4th	Javier Sotomayor	CUB	2.32
5	Roland Dalhauser	SUI	2.32
	Sorin Matei	ROU	2.32
7th	Milton Ottey	CAN	2.28
8th	Dalton Grant	GBR	2.28
	Zhu Jianhua	CHN	2.28

Final on March 7th

Since the two leaders had no failed attempts up to 2.38 m, but both failed at 2.40 m, gold and silver were decided in the jump-off. Paklin won the jump-off with 2.36 m.

Without a valid height, two jumpers, Patrik Sjöberg and Carlo Thränhardt , who had jumped world records in the hall in the run-up to the world championships, were eliminated in the final.

Pole vault

space	athlete	country	Height (m)
1	Serhiy Bubka	URS	5.85
2	Earl Bell	United States	5.80
3	Thierry Vigneron	FRA	5.80
4th	Ferenc Salbert	FRA	5.80
5	Marian Kolasa	POLE	5.75
6th	Atanas Tarew	BUL	5.70
7th	Nikolay Nikolov	BUL	5.60
8th	Doug Lytle	United States	5.60

Final on March 8th

Bubka jumped 5.65 m in the first attempt. He tore 5.85 m in the first attempt, but mastered the height in the second attempt. Then he waited until his competitors had broken their last attempts.

Long jump

space	athlete	country	Width (m)
1	Larry Myricks	United States	8.23
2	Paul Emordi	NGR	8.01
3	Giovanni Evangelisti	ITA	8.01
4th	Robert Emmijan	URS	8.00
5	Brian Cooper	United States	7.91
6th	László Szalma	HUN	7.87
7th	Dimitrios Chatzopoulos	GRE	7.85
8th	Frans Maas	NED	7.84

Final on March 6th

Triple jump

space	athlete	country	Width (m)
1	Mike Conley Sr.	United States	17.54
2	Oleg Prozenko	URS	17.26
3	Frank Rutherford	BAH	17.02
4th	Christo Markow	BUL	16.96
5	Al Joyner	United States	16.92
6th	Joseph Taiwo	NGR	16.65
7th	Māris Bružiks	URS	16.61
8th	Didier Falise	BEL	16.53

Final on March 8th

A week earlier, Conley had jumped an indoor world record of 17.76 m. In Indianapolis, Prozenko led to Conley's last attempt.

Shot put

space	athlete	country	Width (m)
1	Ulf Timmermann	GDR	22.24
2	Werner Günthör	SUI	21.61
3	Sergei Smirnov	URS	20.67
4th	Gregg Tafralis	United States	20.26
5	Lars Arvid Nilsen	NOR	20.09
6th	Ron Backes	United States	20.02
7th	Udo Gelhausen	FRG	19.80
8th	Karsten pride	FRG	19.60

Final on March 7th

Timmermann came within two centimeters of Günthör's indoor world record.

Women

60 m

space	Athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Nelli Cooman	NED	7.08
2	Anelija Nunewa	BUL	7.10
3	Angela Bailey	CAN	7.12
4th	Merlene Ottey	JAM	7.13
5	Michelle Finn	United States	7.19
6th	Els Vader	NED	7.23
7th	Dianne Holden	OUT	7.43
	Angella Issajenko	CAN	DQ

Final on March 6th

Nelli Cooman won razor-thinly ahead of Issajenko, who was disqualified for doping two years later .

200 m

space	Athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Heike Drechsler	GDR	22.27 WR
2	Merlene Ottey	JAM	22.66
3	Grace Jackson	JAM	23.21
4th	Alice Jackson	United States	23.55
5	Mary Onyali	NGR	23.56
6th	Angela Phipps	CAN	23.77

Final on March 7th

400 m

space	Athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Sabine Busch	GDR	51.66
2	Lillie Leatherwood	United States	52.54
3	Judit Forgács	HUN	52.68
4th	Olga Nazarova	URS	52.76
5	Rossiza Stamenova	BUL	53.56
6th	Esmie Lawrence	CAN	54.38

Final on March 8th

Petra Müller surprisingly dropped out in the semi-finals. Her teammate Sabine Busch achieved a safe start-finish victory, but was initially disqualified for exceeding her lane and only declared the winner again after a protest. Leatherwood was still in last place 100 meters from the finish and overtook four runners in the final sprint. In doing so, she won the only women's medal for the host country.

800 m

space	Athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Christine Wachtel	GDR	2: 01.32
2	Gabriela Sedláková	TCH	2: 01.85
3	Lyubov Kirjukhina	URS	2: 01.98
4th	Slobodanka Čolović	YUG	2: 02.33
5	Janet Bell	GBR	2: 02.96
6th	Joetta Clark	United States	2: 03.92
7th	Maria Pintea	ROU	2: 04.33
8th	Diana Richburg	United States	2: 05.86

Final on March 7th

1500 m

space	Athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Doina Melinte	ROU	4: 05.68
2	Tetiana Samolenko	URS	4: 07.08
3	Svetlana Kitova	URS	4: 07.59
4th	Mitica Junghiatu	ROU	4: 08.49
5	Kirsty Wade	GBR	4: 08.91
6th	Sandra Gasser	SUI	4: 09.89
7th	Darlene Beckford	United States	4: 13.64
8th	Nikolina Shtereva	BUL	4: 18.16

Final on March 8th

3000 m

space	Athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Tetiana Samolenko	URS	8: 46.52
2	Olga Bondarenko	URS	8: 47.08
3	Maricica Puică	ROU	8: 47.92
4th	Krishna Wood	OUT	8: 48.38
5	Yvonne Murray	GBR	8: 48.43
6th	Lynn Williams	CAN	8: 50.80
7th	Leslie Seymour	United States	8: 54.55
8th	Elly van Hulst	NED	8: 57.46

Final on March 7th

Indoor European champion Murray tried to break away from the rest of the field at high speed, but was overtaken by the three Eastern Europeans who won the medals before the start of the last round.

3000 m walking

space	Athlete	country	Time (min)
1	Olga Krischtop	URS	12: 05.49 WR
2	Giuliana Salce	ITA	12: 36.76
3	Ann Peel	CAN	12: 38.97
4th	Dana Vavřačová	TCH	12: 47.49
5	Emilia Cano	ESP	13: 02.41
6th	Ann Jansson	SWE	13: 04.29
7th	Mirva Hämäläinen	FIN	13: 08.42
8th	Maryanne Torrellas	United States	13: 10.30

Final on March 6th

The Australian Kerry Saxby set the pace and pulled away from the field together with Krischtop, but was disqualified on the last lap. Krischtop improved the world record by 26.08 seconds.

60 m hurdles

space	athlete	country	Time (s)
1	Cornelia Oschkenat	GDR	7.82
2	Jordanka Donkova	BUL	7.85
3	Ginka Sagortschewa	BUL	7.99
4th	Rita Heggli	SUI	8.11
5	Marjan Olijslager	NED	8.12
6th	Lesley-Ann Skeete	GBR	8.18
7th	Aliuska López	CUB	8.25
8th	Stephanie Hightower-Leftwich	United States	8.26

Final on March 7th

high jump

space	Athlete	country	Height (m)
1	Stefka Kostadinova	BUL	2.05 WR
2	Susanne Beyer	GDR	2.02
3	Emilija Dragiewa	BUL	2.00
4th	Tamara Bykowa	URS	1.94
5	Diana Davies	GBR	1.91
6th	Heike Redetzky	FRG	1.91
7th	Katrena Johnson	United States	1.91
8th	Olga Turchak	URS	1.91

Final on March 8th

It was the first ever competition in which three women conquered a height of two meters.

Long jump

space	Athlete	country	Width (m)
1	Heike Drechsler	GDR	7.10
2	Helga Radtke	GDR	6.94
3	Elena Belevskaya	URS	6.76
4th	Galina Chistjakova	URS	6.66
5	Vali Ionescu	ROU	6.62
6th	Agata Karczmarek	POLE	6.43
7th	Edine van Heezik	NED	6.33
8th	Antonella Capriotti	ITA	6.31

Final on March 7th

A week before the world championships, Heike Drechsler had improved the indoor world record to 7.32 m and was three jumps ahead of her teammate Radtke.

Shot put

space	Athlete	country	Width (m)
1	Natalia Lisovskaya	URS	20.52
2	Ilona Briesenick	GDR	20.28
3	Claudia Losch	FRG	20.14
4th	Heidi Krieger	GDR	20.00
5	Natalia Achrimenko	URS	19.32
6th	Ramona Pagel	United States	19.25
7th	Mihaela Loghin	ROU	18.44
8th	Iris Plotzitzka	FRG	17.97

Final on March 6th

Medal table

Medal table
space	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
01	Soviet Union	6th	5	4th	15th
02	United States	6th	3	2	11
03	German Democratic Republic	6th	3	-	09
04th	Ireland	2	1	-	03
05	Bulgaria	1	2	2	05
06th	Brazil	1	-	1	02
	Netherlands	1	-	1	02
	Romania	1	-	1	02
09	France	-	2	1	03
	Czechoslovakia	-	2	1	03
11	Italy	-	1	2	03
12	Jamaica	-	1	1	02
13	Cuba	-	1	-	01
	Nigeria	-	1	-	01
	Switzerland	-	1	-	01
	Spain	-	1	-	01
17th	Canada	-	-	2	02
18th	Bahamas	-	-	1	01
	BR Germany	-	-	1	01
	United Kingdom	-	-	1	01
	Morocco	-	-	1	01
	Mexico	-	-	1	01
	Hungary	-	-	1	01

literature

• Mark Butler (Ed.): IAAF Statistics Handbook - 13th IAAF World Indoor Championships Doha 2010. IAAF, 2010
  • Part 1: PDF; 7.78 MB
  • Part 2: PDF; 5.94 MB