The German Athletics Championships serve as the national outdoor title meet for German track and field, with the primary summer program focused on a stadium weekend. The main venue is the Lohrheidestadion in Wattenscheid, Bochum, and the events there encompass the core track and field disciplines, not solely road races.
Some events are not held at the main stadium meet, so the championship extends across Germany with separate competitions for winter throwing, road running, mountain running, race walking, long relays, combined events, ultra distances, and cross country. The pole vault takes place as a public marketplace event in Hannover, and the walking program now includes half marathon and marathon distances, replacing the former 20 km and 35 km races. Team competitions were discontinued due to low participation. Recent separate events have yielded a German best performance and multiple championship records, including those set at newly established race distances.