Two Universiade records were broken at the competition: the United States men's 4×400 metres relay team ran a time of 3:00.40 minutes and Italy's Annarita Sidoti set a new 10 km walk record.

Future Olympic sprint medallists Obadele Thompson and Ekaterini Thanou were runners-up in the 100 metres races.

Abdelkader Chékhémani, Iulia Negură and Heike Meissner all defended their respective 1993 titles, while Hungary's István Bagyula took his third consecutive pole vault gold medal.

Men's hammer throw winner Balázs Kiss went on to win the Olympic title in 1996 and the women's discus throw champion Natalya Sadova was the Olympic silver medallist that same year.

The 1990 European champion Dragutin Topić was the winner of the men's high jump.