The First IAAF World Indoor Championships
Venue: Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis
Participation: 419 athletes from 85 countries and regions

At this Championships, indoor world records were set in the men's 60m and 5000m walk and women's 200m,high jump, and 3000m walk. IAAF introduced authorization of indoor word records from January 1, 1987, and the Championships became the world's first. It is also the first to have the 200m board track.

Attention was on Ben Johnson of Canada in 60m, who placed first with 6.49 in the semi-finals held on the first day. At the final on the second day, Johnson run to midway point of the stretch without knowing that Lee McRae of the US committed flying. The recall pistol was shot only at that point, causing a clamour in the grandstands. In the second try, Johnson leaped into a perfect start, winning the race with a new world record of 6.41 leading second-place McRae by one metre. McRae marked 6.50.

His victory in the World Championships and world record were cancelled with detection of the illegal anabolic steroid at the Olympic Games in Seoul the following year, and he had been banned from racing since June 1989. The second-place McRae was moved up to first, and his record of 6.50 was accepted as world record.

Angella Issajenko of Canada who holds the world record in the women's 50m was also regarded top contender in 60m. However, she placed second in a heated race with Nelli Cooman of the Netherlands, sharing the time record of 7.08. However, she was disqualified and banned similarly with doping test findings.

In the women's 200m final, held immediately in the afterglow of the world record set by Ben Johnson, Heike Dreschsler won with a world record of 22.27. She was also the winner of the long jump with 7.10 metres, succeeding Marita Koch of East Germany, who won the event in Paris two years before and had retired just before the Championships, but keeping the title in East German hands. Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria, who won in the women's high jump in the Paris Championships at age 19 also set the world record of 2.05 metres.

In the 5000m walk, Mikhail Shchennikov of the USSR set the world indoor record of 18:27.79. Olga Krishtop of the USSR also broke the indoor world record with 12:05.49 in the women's 3000m walk.