World records and best performances, women’s outdoor
| 100 m | 10.49 / 0.0 | Florence Griffith Joyner (USA) | 16 Jul 1988 | Indianapolis |
| 150 m | 16.10+ / 1.3 | Florence Griffith Joyner (USA) | 29 Sep 1988 | Seoul |
| 16.46 / -1.5 | Merlene Ottey (JAM) | 27 Sep 1989 | Trapani | |
| 200 m | 21.34 / 1.3 | Florence Griffith Joyner (USA) | 29 Sep 1988 | Seoul |
| 300 m | 35.00+ | Marie-José Pérec (FRA) | 27 Aug 1991 | Tokyo |
| 35.30A | Ana Guevara (MEX) | 3 May 2003 | Mexico City | |
| 34.1+ | Marita Koch (GDR/GER) | 6 Oct 1985 | Canberra | |
| 400 m | 47.60 | Marita Koch (GDR/GER) | 6 Oct 1985 | Canberra |
| 500 m | 1:05.9 | Tatána Kocembová (TCH/CZE) | 2 Aug 1984 | Ostrava |
| 600 m | 1:22.63 | Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB) | 25 Jul 1997 | Guadalajara ESP |
| 800 m | 1:53.28 | Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH/CZE) | 26 Jul 1983 | Munich |
| 1000 m | 2:28.98 | Svetlana Masterkova (RUS) | 23 Aug 1996 | Brussels |
| 1500 m | 3:50.46 | Qu Yunxia (CHN) | 11 Sep 1993 | Beijing |
| 1 mile | 4:12.56 | Svetlana Masterkova (RUS) | 14 Aug 1996 | Zürich |
| 2000 m | 5:25.36 | Sonia O’Sullivan (IRL) | 8 Jul 1994 | Edinburgh |
| 3000 m | 8:06.11 | Wang Junxia (CHN) | 13 Sep 1993 | Beijing |
| 2 miles | 8:58.58 | Meseret Defar (ETH) | 14 Sep 2007 | Brussels |
| 5000 m | 14:11.15 | Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) | 6 Jun 2008 | Oslo |
| 10000 m | 29:31.78 | Wang Junxia (CHN) | 8 Sep 1993 | Beijing |
| 15000 m | 48:54.91+ | Dire Tune (ETH) | 12 Jun 2008 | Ostrava |
| 20000 m | 1:05:26.6 | Tegla Loroupe (KEN) | 3 Sep 2000 | Borgholzhausen |
| 25000 m | 1:27:05.84 | Tegla Loroupe (KEN) | 21 Sep 2002 | Mengerskirchen |
| 30000 m | 1:45:50.0 | Tegla Loroupe (KEN) | 6 Jun 2003 | Warstein |
| 50000 m | 3:18:52+ | Carolyn Hunter-Rowe (GBR) | 3 Mar 1996 | Barry |
| 40 miles | 4:26:43 | Carolyn Hunter-Rowe (GBR) | 7 Mar 1993 | Barry |
| 100 km | 7:14:06 | Norimi Sakurai (JPN) | 27 Sep 2003 | San Giovanni Lupatoto |
| 100 miles | 14:25:45+ | Edit Bérces (HUN) | 22 Sep 2002 | San Giovanni Lupatoto |
| 1 hour | 18,517m | Dire Tune (ETH) | 12 Jun 2008 | Ostrava |
| 2 hours | 32,652m | Chantal Langlacé (FRA) | 3 Sep 1983 | Amiens |
| 24 hours | 250.160km | Edit Bérces (HUN) | 22 Sep 2002 | San Giovanni Lupatoto |
| 48 hours | 377.892km | Sue Ellen Trapp (USA) | 4 May 1997 | Surgères |
| 2000 m SC | 6:03.38 | Wioletta Janowska (POL) | 15 Jul 2006 | Gdansk |
| 3000 m SC | 8:58.81 | Gulnara Galkina (RUS) | 17 Aug 2008 | Beijing |
| 100 m Hurdles | 12.21 / 0.7 | Yordanka Donkova (BUL) | 20 Aug 1988 | Stara Zagora |
| 200 m Hurdles | 25.82 / 1.7 | Patricia Girard (FRA) | 22 Sep 1999 | Nantes |
| 25.6 / -0.7 | Patricia Girard (FRA) | 23 Aug 2001 | Nantes | |
| 300 m Hurdles | 38.91 | Zuzana Hejnová (CZE) | 13 Aug 2011 | Pardubice |
| 38.6 | Mame Tacko Diouf (SEN) | 21 Feb 1999 | Dakar | |
| 400 m Hurdles | 52.34 | Yuliya Pechonkina (RUS) | 8 Aug 2003 | Tula |
| High Jump | 2.09 | Stefka Kostadinova (BUL) | 30 Aug 1987 | Rome |
| Pole Vault | 5.06 | Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) | 28 Aug 2008 | Zürich |
| Long Jump | 7.52 / 1.4 | Galina Chistyakova (URS/RUS) | 11 Jun 1988 | St. Petersburg |
| Triple Jump | 15.50 / 0.9 | Inessa Kravets ¶ (UKR) | 10 Aug 1995 | Gothenburg |
| Shot | 22.63 | Natalya Lisovskaya (URS/RUS) | 7 Jun 1987 | Moscow |
| Discus | 76.80 | Gabriele Reinsch (GDR/GER) | 9 Jul 1988 | Neubrandenburg |
| Hammer | 79.42 | Betty Heidler (GER) | 21 May 2011 | Halle |
| Javelin (1999) | 72.28 | Barbora Špotáková (CZE) | 13 Sep 2008 | Stuttgart |
| Decathlon | 8358 | Austra Skujyté (LTU) | 15 Apr 2005 | Columbia |
| (12.49 46.19 3.10 48.78 57.19 / 14.22w 6.12 16.42 1.78 5:15.86) | ||||
| Heptathlon | 7291 OJ | Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA) | 24 Sep 1988 | Seoul |
| (12.69 1.86 15.80 22.56 / 7.27 45.66 2:08.51) | ||||
| 45 mins Heptathlon | 6214 OJ | Sabine Braun (GER) | 28 Aug 1993 | Ingelheim |
| (13.43 1.83 14.44 24.82 6.43 44.96 2:32.35) | ||||
| Double Heptathlon | 10798 | Milla Kelo (FIN) | 8 Sep 2002 | Turku |
| (14.89 1.51 5:03.74 62.18 12.73 25.16 12.59 / 5.73w 56.10 32.69 2:23.94 28.72 47.86 11:48.68) |
||||
| Pentathlon | 5213 | Nadezhda Tkachenko ¶ (URS/UKR) | 24 Jul 1980 | Moscow |
| (13.29 16.84 1.84 6.73 2:05.2a) | ||||
| 4×100 m Relay | 40.82 | United States | 10 Aug 2012 | London |
| (Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter) | ||||
| 4×200 m Relay | 1:27.46 | United States | 29 Apr 2000 | Philadelphia |
| (LaTasha Jenkins, LaTasha Colander-Richardson, Nanceen Perry, Marion Jones) | ||||
| 4×400 m Relay | 3:15.17 | Soviet Union | 1 Oct 1988 | Seoul |
| (Tatyana Ledovskaya, Olga Nazarova ¶, Mariya Pinigina, Olga Bryzgina) | ||||
| 4×800 m Relay | 7:50.17 | Soviet Union | 5 Aug 1984 | Moscow |
| (Nadezhda Olizarenko, Lyubov Gurina, Lyudmila Borisova, Irina Podyalovskaya) | ||||
| 4×1500 m Relay | 17:08.34 | University of Tennessee (USA) | 24 Apr 2009 | Philadelphia |
| (Chanelle Price, Pheobe Wright, Rolanda Bell, Sarah Bowman) | ||||
| 4×1 mile Relay | 18:39.58 | University of Oregon (USA) | 3 May 1985 | Eugene |
| (Brenda Bushnell, Leann Warren, Kathy Hayes, Claudette Groenendaal) | ||||
