Athletics gradually appeared in Croatia at the turn of the 20th century. Certain athletics events were regularly practised at the Sokol societies, the first newspaper articles about athletics appeared, and athletics competitions in various events began to be organized in Croatia at the beginning of the 20th century. Although athletics has ancient roots, the appearance of modern athletics is connected with modern “English” sports, and its development and expansion in Croatia is connected with the first modern sports clubs, such as HAŠK and PNIŠK, which were founded in 1903 and which, in addition to football, fostered other modern sports, such as athletics, but also rowing, tennis, skiing, swimming, etc. Athletics clubs were founded after the Second World War (Mladost Zagreb, Split, Slavonija Osijek, Kvarner Rijeka, Sloboda Varaždin, etc.). Until then, athletics had developed through the athletics sections of existing clubs (e.g. Concordia Zagreb Croatian Sports Club, Marathon Sports Club, Slavija Varaždin Sports Club, Hajduk Split Sports Club, etc.) or at the Sokol societies. The first athletics infrastructure (throwing and jumping facilities and a running track) was built at HAŠK’s sports ground in Zagreb in 1912.
The athletics section of the Croatian Sports Federation was founded in 1912 and that is considered the beginning of the activities of the umbrella athletics organization in Croatia. The Athletics Federation for Croatia and Slavonia operated from 1919 on. It was renamed to the Croatian Athletics Federation in 1939, to the Athletics Federation of Croatia in 1948 and to the Croatian Athletics Federation in 1992, when it became a member of World Athletics (previously IAAF).
The first athletics successes were achieved by Ivan Gubijan in the hammer throw (silver medallist at the 1948 Olympic Games in London) and Franjo Mihalić in the marathon (silver medallist at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne). Croatia’s most decorated female athlete, discus thrower Sandra Elkasević (née Perković), won 2 Olympic gold medals (London 2012 and Rio 2016) and one bronze medal (Paris 2024) in addition to 5 World Championships medals, 2 of which were gold, and 7 gold European Championships medals. Olympic medals were also won by javelin thrower Sara Kolak, gold medallist at Rio 2016, and high jumper Blanka Vlašić, silver medallist at Beijing 2008 and bronze medallist at Rio 2016, who also won 4 World Championships medals, of which two gold medals, and one gold European Championships medal. Vera Nikolić, Luciano Sušanj, Jelica Pavličić, Branko Zorko, Stipe Žunić and Filip Mihaljević also stood out with their results in athletics.