At the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, the athletics events were held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, India from 14 to 16 October. A total of 34 events were contested, which were split evenly between the sexes. After the swimming programme, the athletics competition had the next most number of events.

The 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, officially known as the III Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Pune 2008, a regional sporting event that was held from 12 to 18 October 2008 in Pune, India, a city in the state of Maharashtra. They were the third Commonwealth Youth Games, which are held every four years; they were the first Commonwealth Youth Games to be held in Asia.