Some selection conversations treat prior championship experience - at area level (African, Asian, European, NACAC, Oceania or South American Championships), or at Olympic/World level itself - as a step on the way to a global medal. Is that actually what happens, or is a medal more often won without much of a run-up at all?
This page counts, for every athlete who won an Olympic or World medal since 2015, how many senior championships of any kind - area, Olympic or World - they had already competed in before that first medal, broken down by event and gender. An athlete who reached three previous Olympic or World finals without medalling, then finally broke through, counts that experience here, not just prior area-level appearances.
This page compares every event, so the differences between them are the point. 19 events, men and women.
Different events top the list for men and women. Men's Javelin medallists had competed in the most senior championships (area, Olympic or World) on average before their first Olympic or World medal (5.4), while for women it's Discus medallists (5.8) - the highest of all 19 events in each case.
The 400mH, 800m and 100m carry the least experience. Medallists in these events typically arrive with the fewest senior championships of any event on their record - around 1.9 to 2.9 on average.
In Javelin (men) / Discus (women), that experience mostly comes before the medal, not after. Every count on this page is restricted to championships raced before the athlete's first global medal, so this high average is consistent with prior championships acting as a genuine step on the way up in this event, rather than a consolation entered afterwards.
Restricting the count to the same event barely changes Javelin (men) / Discus (women)'s figure (men: 5.4 any event vs 5.4 same event; women: 5.8 vs 5.8). So the pattern isn't driven by athletes picking up unrelated titles in other events along the way.