World record setters in athletics (track and field)

Cornelius Cooper "Corny" Johnson (August 28, 1913 – February 15, 1946) was an American athlete in the high jump. Born in Los Angeles in 1913, Johnson first competed in organized track and field events at Berendo Junior High School. He achieved greater athletic success as a student at Los Angeles High School, competing in the sprint and in the high jump. Before going to the Olympics as a junior, he won the CIF California State Meet in 1932. He had been second the year before. In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including Johnson, was documented in the film Olympic Pride, American Prejudice.

Richard Attlesey (May 10, 1929 – October 14, 1984) was an American sprinter who mostly competed in the 110-meter hurdles. He set world records for the event twice in 1950 with times of 13.6 and 13.5 seconds.Attlesey won the 110 m hurdles event at the 1950 Amateur Athletic Union Championships and repeated the feat the year after. He won the hurdles gold medal at the first edition of Pan American Games in 1951. He competed collegiately for the University of Southern California and won the NCAA title in 1950. After an almost two-year winning streak, injuries curtailed his career in 1952.

Bobby Joe Morrow (October 15, 1935 – May 30, 2020) was an American sprinter who won three gold medals at the 1956 Olympics. He has been called "the dominant sprinter of the 1950s" and "the most relaxed sprinter of all time, even more so than his hero Jesse Owens".

Lee Stratford Barnes (July 16, 1906 – December 28, 1970) was an American athlete from Utah who competed in the men's pole vault. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and died in Oxnard, California.Barnes attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He competed in Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and won gold, beating fellow American pole vaulter Glenn Graham, who received silver.
Barnes has the honor of being the only known stunt double for silent film star Buster Keaton during Keaton's independent years of film making. In Keaton's 1927 feature College, Barnes performed a pole vault through an open upper-story window.

Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner; October 28, 1949; known as Bruce Jenner until 2015) is an American media personality and former Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete.
Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a knee injury that required surgery. Convinced by Olympic decathlete Jack Parker's coach, L. D. Weldon, to try the decathlon, Jenner had a six-year decathlon career, culminating in winning the men's decathlon event at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, setting a third successive world record and gaining fame as "an all-American hero". Jenner established a career in television, film, writing, auto racing, business, and as a Playgirl cover model.Jenner has six children with three successive wives – Chrystie Crownover, Linda Thompson, and Kris Jenner – and from 2007 to 2021 appeared on the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians with Kris, their daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, as well as Kris's other children from her previous marriage, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian.
Jenner publicly came out as a trans woman in April 2015, announcing her new name in July of that year. From 2015 to 2016, she starred in the reality television series I Am Cait, which focused on her gender transition. At the time of her coming out, she had been called the most famous trans woman in the world. Jenner is a transgender rights activist, although her views on transgender issues have been criticized by many other LGBTQ+ activists.A member of the Republican Party, Jenner ran in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election, finishing 13th with one percent of the vote. Six months after the election, Jenner was hired by Fox News as an on-air contributor.

James Ronald Ryun (born April 29, 1947) is an American former Republican politician and Olympic track and field athlete, who at his peak was widely considered the world's top middle-distance runner. He won a silver medal in the 1500 m at the 1968 Summer Olympics, and was the first high school athlete to run a mile in under four minutes. He is the last American to hold the world record in the mile run. Ryun later served in the United States House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007, representing Kansas's 2nd congressional district.

Robert Bruce Mathias (November 17, 1930 – September 2, 2006) was an American decathlete, politician, and actor. Representing the United States, he won two Olympic gold medals in the Decathlon, at the 1948 and the 1952 Summer Games. As a Republican, he served in the US House of Representatives for California's 18th congressional district, for four terms from 1967 to 1975.

Terje Olav Pedersen (born 9 February 1943) is a former Norwegian javelin thrower. He represented SK Vidar.
At the 1960 Summer Olympics he progressed from the qualifying round, but did not start in the final. At the 1964 Summer Olympics he did not qualify for the final. He became Norwegian champion in the years 1960 and 1962–1964.Pedersen established two world records in javelin throw (with the old implement), both at Bislett stadion. The first record of 87.12 metres came in July 1964 and the second of 91.72 metres was established in September the same year. This remained his career best throw. For his world records Pedersen was selected Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year in 1964.

Wilhelm "Willy" Dörr (7 August 1881 – 5 April 1955) was a German track and field athlete and tug of war competitor who competed in the 1906 Intercalated Games. He was born and died in Frankfurt am Main. In 1906, he was part of the German team which won the gold medal in the tug of war competition. In the ancient pentathlon contest he finished 16th and he also participated in the discus throw event but his result is unknown.

Jadwiga Wajs-Marcinkiewicz (30 January 1912 in Pabianice, Russian Empire – 1 February 1990) was a Polish athlete who mainly competed in the discus throw.