| 2011 in athletics | |
|---|---|
| Major world events | 2011 World Championships |
| World records set | 13 |
| IAAF Athletes of the Year | Usain Bolt Sally Pearson |
| World Marathon Majors winners | Emmanuel Mutai Liliya Shobukhova |
| New competitions | African XC Championships |
← 2010 2012 → | |
In 2011, the foremost athletics event was the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu. The other major global level competition held in 2011 was the World Cross Country Championships.
The 2011 season marked the re-establishment of the African Cross Country Championships, an event created in response to the change of the World Cross Championships from an annual to a biennial format. It was also the first year since 1992 that the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was not held, as that competition also switched to a two-year schedule.