2006 in the sport of athletics

The following events in the sport of athletics took place in 2006:

Championships

 * March: 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships (part of the IAAF World Athletics Series)
 * March: 2006 Commonwealth Games
 * April: 2006 IAAF World Cross Country Championships (part of the IAAF World Athletics Series)
 * May: 2006 IAAF World Race Walking Cup (part of the IAAF World Athletics Series)
 * July: 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games
 * August: 2006 European Championships in Athletics
 * August: 2006 African Championships in Athletics
 * August: 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics (part of the IAAF World Athletics Series)
 * September: 2006 IAAF World Athletics Final (part of the IAAF World Athletics Series)
 * September: 2006 IAAF World Cup (part of the IAAF World Athletics Series)
 * October: 2006 Lusophony Games
 * October: 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships (part of the IAAF World Athletics Series)

World Athletics Tour
The World Athletics Tour is a tournament where athletes accumulate points from placing in designated meets throughout the season. The top-ranking athletes in each event are then allowed entry in the IAAF World Athletics Final.

In 2006 the World Athletics Tour consisted of six IAAF Golden League meets (Oslo, Paris, Rome, Zürich, Brussels, Berlin), six Super Grand Prix meets (Doha, Athens, Lausanne, Stockholm, London (Crystal Palace), Monaco), twelve Grand Prix meets (Melbourne, Dakar, Osaka, Belém, Eugene, Hengelo, Ostrava, Gateshead, Madrid, Helsinki, Rieti, Zagreb) as well as 26 Area Permit Meetings all over the world. The World Athletics Final was held in Stuttgart, having been staged in Monaco the three previous years.

Challenges
In certain events that are not included in the World Athletics Final, currently race walking and combined events (formerly also cross-country running), distinct tournaments, named challenges, are being held. Similarly to the World Athletics Tour, the participating athletes accumulate points in designated meets, however in this case the final ranking is decided by the points table and not a conclusive meet.

See IAAF World Race Walking Challenge and IAAF World Combined Events Challenge for the 2006 results.

Awards
At the 2006 World Athletics Gala in Monaco Asafa Powell and Sanya Richards were given the IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards for men and women respectively.

At the same time Liu Xiang and Meseret Defar were recognized with the Performance of the Year awards for men and women, for their new world records (see above). The Rising Star Award was given to Margus Hunt for his world junior records, and the Coaches’ Award was given to Woldemeskel Kostre of Ethiopia. Hicham El Guerrouj, Stefka Kostadinova and Jan Železný were presented Distinguished Career Awards.

Transfers of eligibility
See list of eligibility transfers in athletics

Deaths

 * March 9 – Erik Elmsäter (86), Swedish long-distance runner (b. 1919)
 * August 9 – Chinatsu Mori (26), Japanese shot putter (b. 1980)