Johannes Vetter joined a select club of javelin throwers when he unleashed his 91.49m throw at the Paavo Nurmi Games, the opening World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting of 2020, on Tuesday (11).

Today marks the anniversaries of three very significant historic world records which were all set in 1960 in Walnut, California.

When Ron Davis started out in athletics, he probably never dreamed that he would get to travel the world doing what he loved best – much less that it would lead to him laying down roots half way across the world in Tanzania.

Today was originally set to be the eve of the athletics competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Now, of course, athletes have 12 more months to wait before track and field action gets underway in the Japanese capital exactly one year from today.

It was perhaps fitting that Leonard Fabbri broke the Italian indoor shot put record in Satra on the outskirts of Stockholm earlier this year.

We conclude our 'area in focus' series look at South America with a selection of images which show how athletes from the area have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic.

Successful and versatile throughout her youth, Argentina’s Belén Casetta pushed her own limits and found extraordinary inspiration at the 2017 World Championships.

After coming desperately close to several world titles, few athletes were as desperate to get on the plane to Tokyo as Brazilian shot putter Darlan Romani.

The Covid-19 pandemic is hitting every corner of the world and South America is no exception. All activities in the region have been virtually paralyzed since the last event was held in Bragança Paulista, Brazil on 14 March. There, Darlan Romani, the area record holder in the shot put, the fourth place finisher at the 2019 World Championships and one of South America’s best athletes, reached 21.52m.

When Billy Mills arrived in Tokyo for the 1964 Olympic Games, few people knew much about the lanky US athlete. By the time he left two weeks later, he was a global star.

While the coronavirus pandemic shut down most of the world by the latter half of March, the spread of the virus itself progressed in phases. By late May, when some parts of the world were beginning to ease out of lockdown, South America became one of its most lethal epicentres. Brazil has been especially hard hit, with more than 2 million cases of Covid-19 reported and over 80,000 deaths. Peru and Chile, with nearly 700,000 cases and more than 20,000 reported deaths combined, have also been badly affected.

We conclude our Area in Focus series look at North America and the Caribbean with a selection of images which show how athletes from the area have dealt with the coronavirus pandemic.