Swedish Athletics Championships
The Swedish Athletics Championships is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Swedish Athletics Association, which serves as the national championship for the sport in Sweden.
History
The first Swedish Athletics Championships were held at Fridhem in Helsingborg, 7–9 August 1896 with twelve athletics events: the 100 metres, 1500 metres, 10,000 metres, 110 metres hurdles, high jump, grenhopp, long jump, pole vault, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw, and hammer throw; and other sports, namely wrestling, tug of war, football, tennis, and weightlifting. A separate Swedish Women's Athletics Championships was held starting in 1928, the first time at Strömvallen in Gävle. A non-official championship had been held in Lidköping the year before. From 1956 on, the women's event have been held at the Swedish Athletics Championships.Separate annual championship events are held for cross country running, road running and racewalking events. There is also a Swedish Indoor Athletics Championships. There is also a Swedish Athletics Team Championship.
Events
The competition programme features a total of 38 individual Swedish championship athletics events, 19 for men and 19 for women. For each of the sexes, there are seven track running events, three obstacle events, four jumps, four throws, one walking event.; Track running
; Obstacle events
; Jumping events
; Throwing events
; Racewalking
The combined events, men's decathlon and women's heptathlon, as well as para athletics events may be included or held separately. Of the other Olympic events, the 4 × 100 metres relay and 4 × 400 metres relay events are contested at thee Swedish Athletics Relay Championship, the marathon events are contested at the Swedish Marathon Championship, and the 20 km race walk events are contested at the Swedish Racewalking Championship, while the mixed 400 m relay and mixed marathon walk relay events are not contested.
A men's pentathlon featured on the programme from 1971 to 1987. The men's 10,000 metres race walk was held in 1960, but went through periods of being dropped from the programme. A 5000 m walk for men was held from 1970 to 1976.
The women's programme gradually expanded to match the men's. On the track, the 1500 m was added in 1969, the 3000 metres in 1972 and the 10,000 metres in 1985. The 3000 m was replaced with the international standard 5000 m in 1995. Similarly, the women's pentathlon was replaced by the heptathlon in 1980. The 80 metres hurdles was contested until 1969, after which the international standard distance of 100 m hurdles was used. A 400 m hurdles event was introduced in 1970. The women's field events reached parity with the men's after the addition of triple jump in 1990, and hammer throw and pole vault in 1996. From the period 1969–86 women had two track walking events over 3000 m and 5000 m, with the shorter event being dropped later. The women's steeplechase was the last event to be added to the schedule, with women first competing in a national championship event in 2001.