The United States has competed at every edition of the World Athletics Championships since its inception in 1983. It has been the most successful nation at the global competition for track and field. By the end of the 2017 World Championships, its athletes had won a total of 385 medals, 168 of them gold – more than double that of the next most successful nation Kenya, as well as more than the combined total of the and post-Soviet states. It has been the top nation in the championships medal table at every edition bar 1983 and 1987, 2001 (Russia) and 2015 (Kenya). It also ranks number one on points in the national placing tables. As one of the foremost nations in the sport internationally, its delegations for the championships are among the largest. It also won the first title of "World