Typically organised in July or August, the event was first held in 1919 (the first summer after the country's formation) until 1992. The competition was not held in the years from 1938 to 1944 due to World War II and ran for 66 editions in total. It was superseded by the Czech Athletics Championships and Slovak Athletics Championships following the country's dissolution in 1993. Czechoslovakia had sometimes hosted separate Czech and Slovak sub-national championships before then.[1][2]
By its final year, the competition programme featured a total of 35 individual Czechoslovak Championship athletics events, 19 for men and 16 for women. For men, there were seven track running events, three obstacle events, four jumps, four throws, and the decathlon. Women did not have pole vault, hammer throw or 3000 metres steeplechase championship contests.[2]
Men competed in a 200 metres hurdles until 1967, by which point the event had fallen out of favour in international competitions. The women's programme was gradually expanded from the 1960s onwards, with the 1500 m appearing in 1969, the 3000 m in 1972, the 10,000 m in 1984, and the triple jump in 1990. The women's hurdles events gradually changed too: the 80 metres hurdles became the 100 m version in 1968, a 200 m version was held from 1970 to 1972, then the women's 400 m hurdles began in 1975. The women's combined event was the athletics pentathlon up to 1980.[2]
Separate championship events were held for road running and walks, and cross country running.
