| Track Events - MEN |
| Event | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
| 100 metres | Carl Lewis
USA | 9.92s | Linford Christie
GB | 9.97s | Calvin Smith
USA | 9.99s |
| 200 metres | Joe DeLoach
USA | 19.75s | Carl Lewis
USA | 19.79s | Robson da Silva
Brazil | 20.04s |
| 400 metres | Steve Lewis
USA | 43.87s | Harry Reynolds
USA | 43.93s | Danny Everett
USA | 44.09s |
| 800 metres | Paul Ereng
Kenya | 1m 43.45s | Joaquim Cruz
Brazil | 1m 43.90s | Said Aouita
Morocco | 1m 44.06s |
| 1500 metres | Peter Rono
Kenya | 3m 35.96s | Peter Elliott
GB | 3m 36.15s | Jens-Peter Herold
German Dem. Rep. | 3m 36.21s |
| 5000 metres | John Ngugi
Kenya | 13m 11.70s | Dieter Baumann
Germany | 13m 15.52s | Hansjorg Kunze
German Dem. Rep. | 13m 15.73s |
| 10000 metres | Brahim Boutayb
Morocco | 27m 21.46s | Salvatore Antibo
Italy | 27m 23.55s | Kipkemboi Kimeli
Kenya | 27m 25.16s |
Marathon
(42,195 m) | Gelindo Bordin
Italy | 2h 10m 32s | Douglas Wakihuri
Kenya | 2h 10m 47s | Ahmed Saleh
Djibouti | 2h 10m 59s |
Steeplechase
(3000 metres) | Julius Kariuki
Kenya | 8m 5.51s | Peter Koech
Kenya | 8m 6.79s | Mark Rowland
GB | 8m 7.96s |
| Field Events - MEN |
| | | Ht/Dist | | Ht/Dist | | Ht/Dist |
| High Jump | Gennady Avdeyenko
USSR | 2.38 m | Hollis Conway
USA | 2.36 m | Rudolf Povarnytsyn
USSR | 2.36 m |
| Long Jump | Carl Lewis
USA | 8.72 m | Mike Powell
USA | 8.49 m | Larry Myricks
USA | 8.27 m |
| Pole Vault | Sergey Bubka
USSR | 5.90 m | Rodion Gataullin
USSR | 5.85 m | Grigory Yegorov
USSR | 5.80 m |
| Shot | Ulf Timmermann
German Dem. Rep. | 22.47 m | Randy Barnes
USA | 22.39 m | Werner Gunthor
Switzerland | 21.99 m |
| Discus | Jurgen Schult
German Dem. Rep. | 68.82 m | Romas Ubartas
USSR | 67.48 m | Rolf Danneberg
Germany | 67.38 m |
| Javelin | Tapio Korjus
Finland | 84.28 m | Jan Zelezny
Czechoslovakia | 84.12 m | Seppo Raty
Finland | 83.26 m |
| Track Events - WOMEN |
| Event | Gold | Time | Silver | Time | Bronze | Time |
| 100 metres | Florence Griffith-Joyner
USA | 10.54s | Evelyn Ashford
USA | 10.83s | Heike Dreschler
German Dem. Rep. | 10.85s |
| 200 metres | Florence Griffith-Joyner
USA | 21.34s | Grace Jackson
Jamaica | 21.72s | Heike Dreschler
German Dem. Rep. | 21.95s |
| 400 metres | Olga Bryzgina
USSR | 48.65s | Petra Muller
German Dem. Rep. | 49.45s | Olga Nazarova
USSR | 49.90s |
| 800 metres | Sigrun Wodars
German Dem. Rep. | 1m 56.10s | Christine Wachtel
German Dem. Rep. | 1m 56.64s | Kim Gallagher
USA | 1m 56.91s |
| 1500 metres | Paula Ivan
Romania | 3m 53.96s | Laimute Baikauskaite
USSR | 4m 0.24s | Tatyana Samolenko
USSR | 4m 0.30s |
| 3000 metres | Tatyana Samolenko
USSR | 8m 26.53s | Paula Ivan
Romania | 8m 27.15s | Yvonne Murray
GB | 8m 29.02s |
| 10000 metres | Olga Bondarenko
USSR | 31m 5.21s | Liz McColgan
GB | 31m 8.44s | Yelena Zhupiyeva
USSR | 31m 19.82s |
| Marathon | Rosa Mota
Portugal | 2h 25m 40s | Lisa Martin
Australia | 2h 25m 53s | Kathrin Dorre
German Dem. Rep. | 2h 26m 21s |
| Field Events - WOMEN |
| | | Ht/Dist | | Ht/Dist | | Ht/Dist |
| High Jump | Louis Ritter
USA | 2.03 m | Stefka Kostadinova
Bulgaria | 2.01 m | Tamara Bykova
USSR | 1.99 m |
| Long Jump | Jackie Joyner-Kersee
USA | 7.40 m | Heike Drechsler
German Dem. Rep. | 7.22 m | Galina Chistiakova
USSR | 7.11 m |
| Shot | Natalya Lisovskaya
USSR | 22.24 m | Kathrin Neimke
German Dem. Rep. | 21.07 m | Li Meisu
China | 21.06 m |
| Discus | Martina Hellmann
German Dem. Rep. | 72.30 m | Diana Gansky
German Dem. Rep. | 71.88 m | Tsvetanka Khristova
Bulgaria | 69.74 m |
| Javelin | Petra Felke
German Dem. Rep. | 74.68 m | Fatima Whitbread
GB | 70.32 m | Beate Koch
German Dem. Rep. | 67.30 m |