Combined events (men's heptathlon and women's pentathlon) were added, and men's 5000m walk and women's 3000m walk was to be canceled from subsequent Championships. At this Championships, medley relay for men and women (800, 200, 200, and 400 metres) were introduced as non-Championship events. Mikhail Shchennikov of the USSR won for the fourth time and set 3 world records since 1987, but the event was to be the last in the World Indoor Championships.

In the newly introduced heptathlon, Dan O'Brien of the US, later winner of the decathlon in the Atlanta Olympics, won with 6476 points. In the women's triple jump, Inessa Kravets of Ukraine set the indoor world record with 14.47 metres. These are the two world indoor records set in the Championships.

The Championships turned out to be memorable for Japan with the Japanese team placing third in the 4x400m relay. Masayoshi Kan of Juntendo University, and Seiji Inagaki, Yoshihiko Saito and Hideyuki Hayashi of Hosei University (running in this order) marked a new Japanese national indoor record of 3:07.30. The US won gold with a record of 3:04.20; and Trinidad & Tobago won the silver with a record of 3:07.02.