During one year 4398 injured athletes were treated at the casualty wards of Aarhus, Denmark; 156 were practicing track and field disciplines. In the same period 54 track athletes of a Danish sport club were followed in order to register any lesion incurred during sports activity. Thirty‐one athletes (57%) had 35 injuries, giving an injury incidence of 1.8 per 1000 hours of practice. At follow‐up after 1 year, 13% of all athletes still had complaints, and none of them had returned to former sports activity. Jumpers had overuse symptoms correlated to take‐off, and sprains or fractures related to downstrokes. Runners had a higher risk of overuse injuries than jumpers, especially involving the Achilles tendon and the plantar aponeurosis. Young athletes had a higher injury incidence per time than older participants; and women had higher injury risk tha