In athletics, “WL” stands for World Lead (or world leading).

Quick meaning

  • “WL” is shown next to a result to mark it as the best performance in the world so far in that season for that event.
  • It can appear in sprints, distance races, jumps, or throws – any athletics event.

Example:
If someone runs 100 m in the fastest time anyone has run that year, the result might be listed as:

9.79 (WL) – meaning it is the current world‑leading time.

Related note

Official abbreviation lists for athletics put WL = World leading , alongside things like SB = Season’s best and WR = World record.

TL;DR: In athletics, “WL” next to a performance means it is the world- leading mark of that season in that event.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.