Since there is no official list for post-championship all-time world bests, here:s a look at the best performances ever legally recorded by athletes who competed in the same championship (defined as an outdoor IAAF WC and/or OG) event the same season. Marathon, walks and hep/dec have been excluded, as they are not part of the GP/GL circuit.
Feel free to use this to compare how "boring" performances may be following any given championship, or how athletes may be faring against the best performances ever recorded following a major championship.
There are a number of occasions here where folks have been able to hold a peak past a championship - and not simply up to it. Others have bombed in the given championship and made up for it.
Key: Event, Athlete PB, Athlete PCPB, Championship Result, Name, Year
Track Events
100m:
00.09,72 ..... 00.09,72 ..... 00.09,95 ..... Asafa Powell ..... 2008
00.10,74 ..... 00.10,74 ..... 00.10,94 ..... Merlene Ottey ..... 1996
200m:
00.19,30 ..... 00.19,63 ..... 00.19,30 ..... Usain Bolt ..... 2008
00.21,64 ..... 00.21,64 ..... 00.22,21 ..... Merlene Ottey ..... 1991
400m:
00.43,45 ..... 00.43,82 ..... 00.44,74 ..... Jeremy Wariner ..... 2008
00.48,70 ..... 00.48,92 ..... 00.49,74 ..... Sanya Richards ..... 2005
800m:
01.41,11 ..... 01.41,11 ..... 01.43,38 ..... Wilson Kipketer ..... 1997
01.54,01 ..... 01.54,01 ..... 01.54,87 ..... Pamela Jelimo ..... 2008
1.500m:
03.26,00 ..... 03.26,12 ..... 03.30,68 ..... Hicham El Guerrouj ..... 2001
03.52,47 ..... 03.52,47 ..... 03.56,56 ..... Tatyana Kazankina ..... 1980
steeple:
07.55,28 ..... 07.55,28 ..... 08.21,95 ..... Brahim Boulami ..... 2001
09.15,04 ..... 09.16,46 ..... 09.18,24 ..... Dorcus Inzikuru ..... 2005
5.000m:
12.39,74 ..... 12.39,74 ..... 13.07,38 ..... Daniel Komen ..... 1997
14.12,88 ..... 14.28,98 ..... 14.39,54 ..... Meseret Defar ..... 2005
10.000m:
26.17,53 ..... 26.17,53 ..... 27.08,33 ..... Kenenisa Bekele ..... 2005
29.31,78 ..... 29.31,78 ..... 30.49,30 ..... Wang Junxia ..... 1993
110mh:
00.12,92 ..... 00.12,92 ..... 00.12,95 ..... Allen Johnson ..... 1996
00.12,39 ..... 00.12,39 ..... 00.12,56 ..... Vera Komisova ..... 1980
400mh:
00.47,02 ..... 00.47,32 ..... 00.47,75 ..... Edwin Moses ..... 1984
00.52,62 ..... 00.52,90 ..... 00.52,62 ..... Tonja Buford-Bailey ..... 1995
Field Events
Long jump:
08.74m ..... 08.66m ..... 08.33m ..... Larry Myricks ..... 1987
07.48m ..... 07.32m ..... 07.29m ..... Heike Drechsler ..... 1991
Triple jump:
18.29m ..... 18.00m ..... 18.29m ..... Jonathan Edwards ..... 1995
15.15m ..... 15.15m ..... 14.49m ..... Ashia Hansen ..... 1997
High jump:
02.39m ..... 02.38m ..... 02.29m ..... Zhu Jianhua ..... 1983
02.38m ..... 02.38m ..... 02.38m ..... Gennadiy Avdeyenko ..... 1987
02.38m ..... 02.38m ..... 02.37m ..... Artur Partyka ..... 1996
02.09m ..... 02.07m ..... 02.09m ..... Stefka Kostadinova ..... 1987
Pole vault:
06.14m ..... 06.13m ..... 00.00m ..... Sergey Bubka ..... 1992
05.05m ..... 04.93m ..... 05.01m ..... Yelena Isinbaeva ..... 2005
Shot put:
22.75m ..... 21.97m ..... 21.98m ..... Werner Günthör ..... 1993
21.42m ..... 21.40m ..... 21.42m ..... Svetlana Krachevskaya ..... 1980
Discus:
73.88m ..... 70.61m ..... 70.17m ..... Virgilijus Alekna ..... 2005
70.50m ..... 69.60m ..... 53.76m ..... Faina Melnik ..... 1980
Hammer throw:
84.86m ..... 83.15m ..... 82.91m ..... Koji Murofushi ..... 2004
76.07m ..... 76.07m ..... 75.20m .... Mihaela Melinte ..... 1999
Javelin:
98.48m ..... 95.66m ..... 85.98m ..... Jan Zelezný ..... 1993
71.70m ..... 69.82m ..... 69.53m ..... Osleidys Menendez ..... 2001
Note: The women run 100m hurdles, naturally. Bubka 00.00m was a no-height in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona; his PB was set at altitude. The 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games were boycotted, which change the dynamics of the post-champs bests during those years. The w-steeple is a new event with not much historical depth. Isinbaeva has "only" set one WR in 15 post-champs meets (wink), meaning she has packed in a great punch prior to taking championship gold AND delivered theatrics before the events as well.
Sources: pela2 lists and Tilastopaja.