Running athletics combines the following stadium disciplines: sprints (100 m, 200 m, and 400 m), middle distance running (800 to 3000 m, including 3000 m steeplechase), long distance running (classic distances of 5000 m and 10,000 m), hurdles (100 m, 400 m), and relay races (4×100 m, 4×200 m, 4×400 m, 4×800 m, 4×1500 m). All of them take place on the stadium track.
Running competitions have been known since 776 BC. Running competitions are one of the oldest sports for which official competition rules have been approved and have been included in the program since the very first Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896. For runners, the most important qualities are: the ability to maintain high speed at a distance, endurance (for medium and long distances), speed endurance (for long sprints), reaction and tactical thinking.
Running competitions are held at special athletics stadiums with equipped tracks. Summer stadiums usually have 8-9 lanes, while winter stadiums have 4-6 lanes. The width of the track is 1.22 m, the line separating the tracks is 5 cm. Special markings are applied to the tracks, indicating the start and finish of all distances, and corridors for passing the baton.
The athletes wear special running shoes – spikes that provide good grip on the surface. Running competitions are held in almost any weather. In hot weather, long-distance running events can also include food stations.
Types
Women’s steeplechase race (steeplechase)
Running is divided into Olympic and other disciplines. Olympic disciplines include “smooth” running (i.e. running on a stadium track with a hard surface)
sprinting – for short distances (100, 200, 400 m); 110 m (100 m for women) and 400 m hurdles (for men); and the respective relays (4×100 and 4×400 m)
middle distance running (800 and 1500 meters)
Steeplechase – long-distance running (5000 and 10000 meters), “steeplechase” – 3000 meters with obstacles (barriers and a moat with water); and marathon (42 km 195 m).
Some athletics competitions are also held in winter under the roof in a shortened version (for example, instead of a 100-meter sprint, they compete on a 60-meter distance).
There is also a large number of non-Olympic running events, with numerous international competitions for both men and women, or combined races, world and European championships; world records are set, for example, in smooth running (at traditional distances measured in yards and miles for the English-speaking world) and cross-country.
Among the long distances, the most popular are the half marathon (21.1 km), quarter marathon (10.5 km), and there are competitions in the “ultra-marathon” – running at distances exceeding 42 km 195 m (50 km, 100 km, etc.). There are also numerous time trial competitions – running for 1 hour, 2, 6, 12, 24 hours, multi-day runs, etc.
Running for 3000 meters
The 3000 meters is a middle distance track and field race in which an athlete runs 7.5 laps of 400 meters in an open stadium.
For men, the 3000 meters has never been an Olympic distance. There were no such competitions at the World Athletics Championships either. Sometimes it is held at European level competitions, but not as often as the 5000 meters and 3000 meters steeplechase. For women, this distance was part of the Olympic and World Championships program until the mid-1990s. In 1996, it was excluded from the program of the Olympic Games in Atlanta.
The world record for women’s 3000 meters (8 min. 06.11 sec.) belongs to Chinese athlete Wang Junxia. It was set on September 13, 1993.