Athletics is one of the regular sports at the biennial SEA Games (SEA Games) competition, which has been competed at the Games since the inaugural edition of the South East Asian Peninsular Games (SEAP) in 1959.

Athletics is the competition with the most medal events, with 48 of total 530 gold medal in 2019 edition.

Games	Year	Host city	Host country	Total Events	Best Country	2nd Best Country	3rd Best Country	Results
SEAP Games
I	1959 (details)	Bangkok	Thailand	{{}}				[1]
II	1961 (details)	Rangoon	Burma	{{}}				[2]
-	1963	(Cancelled)	Cambodia	{{}}
III	1965 (details)	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	{{}}				[3]
IV	1967 (details)	Bangkok	Thailand	{{}}				[4]
V	1969 (details)	Rangoon	Burma	{{}}				[5]
VI	1971 (details)	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	{{}}				[6]
VII	1973 (details)	Singapore	Singapore	{{}}				[7]
VIII	1975 (details)	Bangkok	Thailand	{{}}				[8]
SEA Games
IX	1977 (details)	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	Burma	[9]
X	1979 (details)	Jakarta	Indonesia	{{}}				[10]
XI	1981 (details)	Manila	Philippines	Burma	[11]
XII	1983 (details)	Singapore	Singapore	Philippines	[12]
XIII	1985 (details)	Bangkok	Thailand	41	Thailand (10-12-10)	Philippines (10-4-5)	Indonesia (9-12-12)	[13]
XIV	1987 (details)	Jakarta	Indonesia	45	Indonesia (17-13-19)	Thailand (8-9-4)	Malaysia (8-4-7)	[14]
XV	1989 (details)	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	{{}}				[15]
XVI	1991 (details)	Manila	Philippines	44	Thailand (12-8-9)	Malaysia (11-7-9)	Philippines (8-8-8)	[16]
XVII	1993 (details)	Singapore	Singapore	44	Malaysia (14-6-7)	Indonesia (13-11-7)	Thailand (8-11-7)	[17]
XVIII	1995 (details)	Chiang Mai	Thailand	{{}}				[18]
XIX	1997 (details)	Jakarta	Indonesia	{{}}				[19]
XX	1999 (details)	Bandar Seri Begawan	Brunei	{{}}				[20]
XXI	2001 (details)	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	46	Thailand (22-8-11)	Philippines (8-11-4)	Malaysia (8-5-9)	[21]
XXII	2003 (details)	Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	45	Thailand (13-14-13)	Vietnam (8-15-8)	Philippines (8-3-5)	[22]
XXIII	2005 (details)	Manila, Laguna, Cebu, Bacolod	Philippines	45	Thailand (12-13-19)	Philippines (9-11-9)	Vietnam (8-8-4)	[23]
XXIV	2007 (details)	Nakhon Ratchasima	Thailand	45	Thailand (17-19-9)	Vietnam (8-4-5)	Indonesia (7-7-5)	[24]
XXV	2009 (details)	Vientiane	Laos	45	Thailand (14-20-14)	Indonesia (7-7-7)	Vietnam (7-4-11)	[25]
XXVI	2011 (details)	Palembang & Jakarta	Indonesia	46	Thailand (14-9-9)	Indonesia (13-12-11)	Vietnam (9-9-14)	[26]
XXVII	2013 (details)	Naypyidaw	Myanmar	46	Thailand (17-13-10)	Vietnam (11-10-12)	Indonesia (6-4-7)	[27]
XXVIII	2015 (details)	Singapore	Singapore	46	Thailand (17-13-9)	Vietnam (11-15-8)	Indonesia (7-4-4)	[28]
XXIX	2017 (details)	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	45	Vietnam (17-11-6)	Thailand (9-13-11)	Malaysia (8-8-9)	[29]
XXX	2019 (details)	Philippines	Philippines	49	Vietnam (16-12-10)	Thailand (12-11-12)	Philippines (11-8-8)	[30]
XXXI	2021 (details)	Hanoi	Vietnam	47	Vietnam (22-14-8)	Thailand (12-11-8)	Philippines (5-7-14)	[31]
XXXII	2023 (details)	Phnom Penh	Cambodia	47	Thailand (14-8-5)	Vietnam (12-20-8)	Indonesia (7-3-9)	[32]

Source:^[33]

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Thailand (THA)	375	302	275	952
2	Malaysia (MAS)	285	235	251	771
3	Myanmar (MYA)	176	186	139	501
4	Indonesia (INA)	155	178	189	522
5	Philippines (PHI)	141	154	161	456
6	Vietnam (VIE)	133	138	126	397
7	Singapore (SIN)	69	112	129	310
8	Cambodia (CAM)	12	9	15	36
9	Brunei (BRU)	0	2	6	8
10	East Timor (TLS)	0	2	0	2
11	Laos (LAO)	0	0	8	8
Totals (11 entries)		1,346	1,318	1,299	3,963

• List of SEA Games records in athletics
• List of SEA Games medalists in athletics
• Southeast Asian Youth Athletics Championships
• Southeast Asian Athletics Association
• Southeast Asian Games Federation

• Past SEA athletics medallists 1959–2005 from GBR Athletics