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≡ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ≡
● Athletics ● The second day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow (GBR), had some surprises, but also expected brilliance from stars like American Grant Holloway in the 60 m hurdles, home favorite Josh Kerr in the men’s 3,000 m and Dutch women’s 400 m ace Femke Bol.
But who saw wins for Alexander Doom in the men’s 400 m, or Elle St. Pierre in the women’s 3? The highlights of a busy day:
● Men/400 m: No doubt who was going to take it out hard: Norway’s Karsten Warholm, the Olympic and World 400 m hurdles star and he was in front at the 100, 200 and 300 m marks.
But Belgium’s Doom had the best finish down the final straight and won at the line in 45.25 – a national indoor record – to 45.34 for Warholm, with Rusheen McDonald (JAM: 45.65) in third.
It’s Doom’s first individual Worlds medal of any color and Warholm’s first World Indoor medal.
● Men/3,000 m: One of the most anticipated races of the meet saw U.S. champ Yared Nuguse take the early lead, with Olympic 10,000 m Selemon Barega (ETH) at the front at the 500 m mark.
Ethiopia’s defending indoor 3,000 m champion Barega and Olympic Steeple fourth-placer Getnet Wale were 1-2 at 1,000 m in 2:39.15, with a pack of 10 still close. Wale had the lead after seven laps and at halfway in 3:58.05 and Olin Hacker and Nuguse of the U.S. close by in 3-4. Barega took over again and passed 2,000 m with Wale close at 5:17.74. Ten were within a second with four laps left and 2023 World 1,500 m champ Kerr (GBR) had moved up to challenge Wale and Barega.
At the bell, Kerr took over and was running away from Barega with Wale chasing and held on for a 7:42.98 victory, with Nuguse putting on a patented (really) late rush to get the silver in 7:43.59 and Barega third in 7:43.64. Wale was fourth (7:44.77) and Hacker an impressive fifth in 7:45.50.
The race was tactical, not fast, but Kerr had the engine to power away on the final lap – and thrill the home crowd – as he has done so many times before. Nuguse timed his charge well enough to win his first Worlds medal.
● Men/60 m hurdles: Defending champ Holloway of the U.S. was trying to become only the third to win the World Indoors twice or more and after a false start in the third semi, rocketed out of the blocks and won easily in 7.32, , equaling the no. 5 performance of all time! Teammate Trey Cunningham won semi two in 7.49, and Cameron Murray, the U.S. Nationals runner-up was eliminated in the first semifinal, finishing fourth in 7.56.
In the final, Cunningham was in lane three and Holloway in five. Holloway got a good start, but then accelerated and destroyed the field in 7.29, equaling his championship record from Belgrade in 2022. Only Holloway has ever run under 7.30 and he’s now done it four times: 7.27 and three times at 7:29. Of the 16 performances in this event through 7.35, Holloway has 13.
The best chaser was Italy’s Lorenzo Simonelli, who got the silver in 7.43, with France’s Just Kwaou-Mathey third in 7.47. Cunningham was in a blanket finish for fourth, but was awarded sixth in 7.53 as the 4-5-6 placers were separated by only 5/1000ths of a second.
Holloway, with his second title, joins Americans Allen Johnson – who won three times, in 1995, 2003 and 2004 – and Terrence Trammell, who won in 2001-06, as two-time (or more) winners.
● Men/Long Jump: Held in the morning session, this was a tight battle between Olympic and World Champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, world leader, 19-year-old Mattia Furlani (ITA) and Jamaica’s Carey McLeod, the 2023 NCAA champ from Arkansas.
Defending champ Tentoglou got the party started as the fourth jumper in the first round, reaching 8.22 m (26-11 3/4), which Furlani matches as the sixth man in the round. Neither could improve, and no one else was close. In the fourth round, Furlani managed 8.10 m (26-7) and took the lead on the second-best mark, but Tentoglou took over again on the next jump, at 8.15 m (26-9). And that’s how it ended. It’s Furlani’s first Worlds medal and Tentoglou’s second World Indoor gold and his fourth World or Olympic victory.
McLeod got close in the fifth round at 8.21 m (26-11 1/4), just a centimeter behind the leaders, but could do no more and got third. Jarrion Lawson of the U.S. finished fifth (8.06 m/26-5 1/2) and Will Williams was seventh (7.83 m/25-8 1/4).
● Men/Triple Jump: Algeria’s Yasser Triki got the party started in the first round with a national indoor record of 17.35 m (56-11 1/4), followed in round two by 2023 World Champion Hugues Fabrice Zango (BUR) at 17.33 m (56-10 1/4).
No one else could manage 17 m, but Donald Scott of the U.S. moved into fifth in the fourth round at 16.84 m (55-3). Zango finally exploded, reaching 17.53 m (57-6 1/4) to take the lead in round five, while Triki fouled two attempts and then passed on his last three.
Portugal’s Tiago Pereira was the only other jumper to finally get past 17 m, grabbing the bronze in the final round at 17.08 m (56-0 1/2). Scott improved to 16.88 m (55-4 3/4), but had to settle for sixth. American Chris Benard managed 16.14 m (52-11 1/2) and finished 12th.
Zango moved up from silver at this meet in 2022 and added an indoor gold to go with his 2023 world title. Triki, fifth in Budapest last summer, got his first career Worlds medal.
● Women/60 m: Poland’s Ewa Swoboda, fourth at the 2022 World Indoors, took the world lead at 6.98 in the first semi, while American Celera Barnes was fourth in 7.14 and did not advance. Aleia Hobbs of the U.S. won the second semi in 7.04 and favored Julien Alfred (LCA) took semi three in 7.04, with 2022 World Indoor runner-up Mikiah Brisco second (7.10).
Alfred, Swoboda and Hobbs were in 4-5-6 for the final, with Hobbs withdrawing due to a calf injury. Swoboda got the second-best start, but Alfred caught up in the final 10 m and won by 0.02, 6.98 to 7.00, for her first Worlds medal and equaling Swoboda’s world-leading time from the semis.
Alfred was fifth at the Budapest Worlds last summer, but now has her first Worlds medal – a gold – and Swoboda also got her first Worlds medal of any color, after a fourth in 2022. Zaynab Dosso (ITA) won the bronze at 7.05 and Brisco finished fifth in 7.08.
● Women/400 m: World indoor record-setter Bol (NED) was the clear favorite, and she left no doubt with a powerful run to a world record – her third at this distance – of 49.17!
Dutch teammate Lieke Klaver, the no. 2 400 m runner for most of the indoor season, got her first Worlds medal in second at 50.16, with U.S. champ Alexis Holmes getting her first Worlds individual medal in third at 50.24, a lifetime best.
Talitha Diggs of the U.S. finished fifth at 51.23. How great is Bol? She now owns the top three indoor women’s 400 m times ever and four of the top six. She moved up from the silver in this meet in 2022.
● Women/3,000 m: Women’s Steeple world-record holder Beatrice Chepkoech (KEN) led for the first 1,000 m in 2:48.83, but then Ethiopian star Gudaf Tsegay took over and passed ,1,500 m in 4:12.15, ahead of Australia’s Jessica Hull (4:12.29). By 2,000 m, the lead pack was down to five and Tsegay continued to push, with four in attendance with three laps left.
Tsegay, Hull, Chepkoech and American Elle St. Pierre – second in this race in 2022 – were within a half-second with two laps left, and Hull fell back the bell, with Chepkoech and St. Pierre chasing the leader.
St. Pierre moved to challenge Tsegay with 100 m left and got by on the final straight to get a sensational, upset victory in 8:20.87, a championship record, with Tsegay second in 8:21.13 and Chepkoech getting a national indoor record in third at 8:22.68. Hull was fourth in 8:24.39, also a national indoor record. Britain’s Olympic 1,500 m medalist Laura Muir was fifth and defending champ Lemlem Hailu (ETH) was sixth; American Josette Andrews finished 11th in 8:41.93.
St. Pierre’s mark moves her to no. 2 on the world list for 2024, and to no. 3 on the all-time list, with an American Record. She surpasses Alicia Monson’s 8:25.05 from 2023 and enjoyed almost a 5-second lifetime best, previously 8:25.25 from the New Balance Grand Prix in early February. Tsegay was no slouch; her 8:21.13 is the no. 5 performance of all-time and she owns four of the top seven.
St. Pierre is the first American to win this race; Ethiopians had won four straight and nine of the last 10. Wow!
● Women/Vault: Five cleared 4.65 m (15-3), plus Olympic champ Katie Moon of the U.S., who passed. Once at 4.75 m (15-7), only four could clear: Rio Olympic bronzer Eliza McCartney (NZL: 1st try), world leader Molly Caudery (GBR: 2nd), Moon (2nd) and Angelica Moser (SUI: 3rd). Two-time defending champ Sandi Morris of the U.S. cleared 4.65 m and had to settle for fifth.
At 4.80 m (15-9), everyone missed their first attempts, but Caudery cleared on her second and McCartney on her third. Moon got the bronze on the countback against Moser, to follow up her silver from 2022.
The bar was raised to 4.85 m (15-11), and Caudery missed all three tries. McCartney missed her first try and with at least a silver already assured, went up to 4.90 m (16-0 3/4) to try and win, but missed twice.
Caudery, 23, was fifth at the Worlds in Budapest in 2023 but will be looking for a lot higher finish in Paris this summer.
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In the morning men’s 800 m semis, American Bryce Hoppel’s fast finish overtook Elliott Crestan (GBR) at the line as both were timed in a fast 1:45.08, the second-best indoor mark in the world for 2024.
Spain’s defending champ Mariano Garcia won the slower first heat in 1:47.83 over world indoor leader Catalin Tecuceanu (ITA: 1:48.13), with American Isaiah Harris a non-qualifying fourth at the line (1:48.18). The women’s 800 m semis were won by Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma (1:58.35, a lifetime best) and Britain’s Jemma Reekie (1:58.28).
In the evening session, world leader Ken Mullings (BAH) rode a win in the high jump to the first-day lead in the men’s heptathlon at 3,637 points, ahead of 2022 World Indoor runner-up Simon Ehammer (SUI: 3,558) and Johannes Erm (EST: 3,552).
The meet concludes on Sunday, shown in the U.S. on the NBC Peacock streaming service, but also on CNBC live from 2-5 p.m. Eastern time.
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