The 2018 IAAF World Indoor Tour has been living up to the hype. Provide a series of intimate halls or stadiums, build the meets around strong rivalries, reach out with streaming video and vibrant social media, and we have a great season upon us!
With the wild cards from the IAAF World Indoor Tour (one of my favorite points), and the World Indoor coming to Birmingham from March 1-4, 2018. The Copernicus Cup, held in Torun, Poland. The Polish indoor meet circuit is very good, and it is on my bucket list.
Thanks to EME News for their fine pre view of the meet series.
Piotr Lisek, can he win the Tour PV in Torun?, photo by PhotoRun.net
Maria Lasitskene, can she extend her winning streak to 36 events? photo by PhotoRun.net
Tomas Stanek, this Czech star is at top of his game photo by PhotoRun.net
Will Lisek win the Tour before home crowd?
TORUN (POL): IAAF World Indoor Tour fifth leg 4th Copernicus Cup is waiting for 5200 spectators who will follow the meet along with many more worldwide via IAAF stream. Home stars Kszczot, Lewandowski, Swoboda will be attacking top positions. Special is pole vault battle as Lisek leads the tour standings and the winner will be decided here, the same for triple jump as Stanek is already confirmed winner of shot put. Great depth in women 1500 m and as usual fast sprints with tough battles in the 400 m races are expected.
Event by event preview
Men
60 m: Fastest on paper Ben Meite, but Fisher beat him in Lievin.
400 m (non Tour): Two-time world indoor champion Pavel Maslak faces former world and Olympic medallist Luguelin Santos and former world indoor champion Nery Brenes. But Janezic could be the winner too.
800m: Adam Kszczot will target his fourth successive win of the indoor season at home.
1500m (non Tour): European indoor champion Marcin Lewandowski will be looking for victory at home against training partner Jakub Holusa from Czech Republic and Ethiopian Tolosa with Brit Grice.
60mH (non Tour): World 110m hurdles bronze medallist Balazs Baji faces Milan Trajkovic who set a Cypriot record of 7.55 at the weekend.
Triple jump: Nelson Evora is back in form with a 17.30m season's best in Madrid. German Hess, Cubans Napoles and Diaz will make his life tough. First time held so MR for sure. And Copello as only one can challenge Evora for the tour win.
Pole vault: In-form Poles Piotr Lisek and Pawel Wojciechowski face Olympic champion Thiago Braz who cleared 5.90m in Rouen at the weekend. Raphael Holzdeppe and Konstadinos Filippidis have cleared 5.88m and 5.85m respectively this year and will also challenge with young star Karalis also in the field. Meet record 577 should go.
Shot put: Czech Republic's Tomas Stanek should extend his win streak against European indoor champion Konrad Bukowiecki, Michal Haratyk and double World champ Storl. MR 21.04 will go.
Women
60 m (non Tour): Joint world-leader Marie Josee Ta Lou will be looking for her fifth successive win over 60m. Also Asher-Smith here and home star Swoboda.
400 m: Lea Sprunger will be looking to extend her win streak after victories in Karlsruhe and Madrid. Swiety thinks about Polish record. MR 52.17 under threat.
800 m (non Tour): European 1500m champion Angelika Cichocka drops down to the 800m after finishing third in Lievin with Swiss Buchel also in the race.
1500 m: World 5000m champion Hellen Obiri drops down to the 1500m where she will face top Ethiopians Dawit Seyaum and Gudaf Tsegay coming from Boston top places.
60m hurdles: A head-to-head between Germany's Pamela Dutkiewicz and Belarus' Alina Talay with the top Americans absent. MR 7.96 should be broken.
High jump: Mariya Lasitskene will be targeting her 36th successive win after an easy victory at the Russian Indoor Championships. Recent global medallist Yuliya Levchenko is also in the line-up. Meet record will go (so far 192).
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