The 2011 South American Championships in Athletics were the 47th edition of the South American Championships, organised under the supervision of the CONSUDATLE. They were held at the National Center of High Performance Athletics in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 2 to 5 June 2011. Forty-four track and field events were contested, with the number of contests split evenly between the sexes. A total of 345 athletes participated at the championships.

Fabiana de Almeida Murer is a retired Brazilian pole vaulter. She holds the South American record in the event with an indoor best of 4.82 m and an outdoor best of 4.87 m, making her the fourth highest vaulter ever at the time, now the eighth. She won the gold medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and also won at the 2007 Pan American Games. Murer represented Brazil at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is a four-time South American Champion with wins in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011. Murer was coached by both the Ukrainian Vitaly Petrov, who managed the world record holders Sergei Bubka and Yelena Isinbayeva, and her husband, Élson Miranda de Souza, a former vaulter himself.