The strongest of the six IAAF Area groups, Europe and its SO Member Federation's can beexpected to take about 40% of the medals at major international athletics events. However, the long-term trend shows that its share of medals is shrinking in the face of increased competition from the rest of the world. This article examines the 2013 IAAF World Championship in Athletics with the aim of contributing to discussions on ways to maximise future results. It provides short evaluations of all the competitions in Moscow by an experienced former head coach and a detailed statistical analysis, which includes the introduction of a Performance Delivery Index (PDI) to quantify how well federations prepare their athletes for major events. While they did better in both medals and PDI in Moscow compared to the previous year's Olympics in London, European countries have generally lower PDI scores compared to the top countries in other parts of the world. European federations should carefully consider all aspects of their systems for preparing athletes and whether it is possible to learn from successful countries in other parts of the world or from each other.
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