1997 British Athletics Championships

{{Short description|Track and field championship}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox Athletics Championships

|Name=1997 British Athletics Championships

|Host city=Birmingham, England

|Dates= 12 & 13 July 1997

|Stadium=Alexander Stadium|Stadium image=250px

|Level=Senior|Type=Outdoor

|Events=|Records set=

|Previous=1993

|Next=2007

|Games=UK Athletics Championships
British Athletics Championships

}}

The 1997 BAF British Championships sponsored by Bupa, was the national championship in outdoor track and field for the United Kingdom, held at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham. The 10,000 metres event was hosted separately at the Sheffield Hallam UCA Stadium. The event doubled up as the 1997 World Championships trials.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002137/19970713/528/0065 |title=Norman gets right back on track |work=Sunday Mirror |date=13 July 1997 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=30 March 2025}}

Organised by the British Athletics Federation (BAF), the competition was limited to British athletes only and marked a replacement to the UK Athletics Championships, which had last been held in 1993. The BAF British Championships overshadowed that year's AAA Championships, which was open to foreign competitors and typically the most prominent meet on the domestic calendar. This has led some statisticians, such as the National Union of Track Statisticians (NUTS), to judge the British Championships event as the main national championships for the country for 1997. Many of the athletes below also competed at the 1997 AAA Championships.[http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/uk.htm UK Championships]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-02-25.[https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm AAA WAAA and National Championships Medalists]. NUTS. Retrieved 2018-02-25.

The bankruptcy of the British Athletics Federation that same year effectively rendered the competition defunct.[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmcumeds/507/507we03.htm Memorandum submitted by the Association of British Athletic Clubs - THE DEMISE OF BRITISH ATHLETICS FROM GRASS ROOTS TO ELITE]. Parliament. Retrieved 2018-02-25. The British Athletics Championships returned ten years later in 2007, organised by UK Athletics – the government-led successor organisation to the British Athletics Federation.

The main international track and field competition for the United Kingdom that year was the 1997 World Championships in Athletics. British javelin champion Steve Backley claimed world silver in Athens. UK runners-up Colin Jackson and Denise Lewis were also both runners-up at the global level.[http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/wc.htm IAAF World Championships in Athletics]. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-03-09.