 Athletes performances are timed or measured at virtually all track and field competitions . Doing so can not only serve as a way of determining the winner in an event , but it can also be used for historical comparison ( i.e. a record ) . A large variety of record types exist and men 's and women 's performances are recorded separately . The foremost types of records organise athlete 's performances by the region they represent — beginning with national records , then continental records , up to the global or world record level . National governing bodies control the national record lists , the area associations organise their respective continental lists , and the IAAF <unk> world records . 
