by Alfonz JuckI have to admit, Mujinga Kambundji is still making me smile. She just did not realize that she had won. Gutty run by Elle Purrier putting it all on the line with the three Ethiopians, and congrats on her silver medal. Chase Ealey putting it all together in women’s shot put, setting an American record and Auriol Dongmo takes shot win and gives Portugal its first shot put gold! What a first day!
Women’s 60m heats, photo by Getty Images for World Athletes
WORLD INDOORS DAY 1
QUOTES OF THE DAY
Lazaro Martinez (triple jump winner)
“I believe people will look at me differently now that I achieved this title. I was out of the circuit for some time due to injury, but I am back now. Everything was different this year, it went very well when I was training in my country and I felt very good coming here.”
Mujinga Kambundji (60m winner)
“It feels so surreal. It’s just amazing. I was strong in the heats and the sem-final was so-so. Usually I like to be in the middle [lane] but I think in this case it was just perfect. I was doing my own thing, trying to run as fast as possible, seeing no one.”
RESULTS OF THE DAY
Mujinga Kambundji going to fourth on the world all-time list with 6.96 in the 60m – the fastest time since 1998. In the final also best marks ever for places 3-4-5-6-7 and only 0.008 separated 3 and 7. Noor Vidts climbing to sixth in history with 4929 NR in the pentathlon. Also Miltiadis Tentoglou with 8.55m goes 6th in all-time lists. World leads for Lazaro Martinez (17.64m) and Auriol Dongmo (20.43 NR).
SURPRISE OF THE DAY
Mujinga Kambundji’s 60m win while favourite Ewa Swoboda was just fourth. Aregawi out in heats of 3000 m.
MEDALS
POR 1-1-0, ETH 1-0-1, BEL 1-0-0, CUB 1-0-0, GRE 1-0-0, SUI 1-0-0
POINTS
USA 61, ETH 18, POR 15, POL 12, SWE 12
AGENT RANKINGS (by individual gold medals)
Alberto Suarez, Paul Doyle, Juan Pineda, Alfons Juck, Marc Corstjens, Federico Rosa.
TOP RESULTS
World leads (5): Men’s long jump, triple jump, women’s 60m, women’s pentathlon, women’s shot
Area Indoor records (5): Oceania, South America (2), North America 1
BELGRADE NEWS
BELGRADE (SRB): Elliot Giles, one of the favourites for the 800m, withdrew before today’s heats due to an injury picked up in warm-up.
BELGRADE (SRB): Femke Bol told BBC Sport she thought she made tactical errors en route to her fall across the line with an unconvincing second in her 400m semi-final. The Dutchwoman also said, quoted by NOS: “It’s going well, maybe it’s the adrenaline, but I don’t feel anything yet. I ran everything in lane 2 and I just feel that. I’m disappointed. I really don’t know what happened, if I’m honest. I really wanted to, but I didn’t want to. I’ll just be there on Saturday and then I hope to do better than today.”
BELGRADE (SRB): World outdoor heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson told the BBC after her withdrawal before the 800m: “I’m happy and healthy, no injuries. It’s just one of those things. This is a season opener for me. World Athletics contacted me and asked whether we wanted the wildcard and training was going well so it was just like ‘yes, why not?’ I came out here today and I was super-rusty. When you think about my career the last two years with Covid and then the Achilles rupture, you can count the amount of competitions I’ve done on one hand. So, for me, this is a triumph. I can take so many positives from this.”
BELGRADE (SRB): Hungarian record holder Luca Kozak will not compete in the 60 m hurdles heats on Saturday due to minor hamstring injury.
BELGRADE (SRB): The 1500 m heat time 4:04.83 by Axumawit Embaye was the fastest ever 1st round at World Indoors. The 52.51 Camille Laus in the women 400 m 1st round was the best ever non qualifier at World Indoors in that stage.
BELGRADE (SRB): Belgian Julien Watrin clocked in 400 m heats the fastest of the day 45.88 national record in heats but then did not qualify for the final. His time was not improved also in the semifinals.
BELGRADE (SRB): Olympic decathlon winner Damian Warner clocked 6.68 PB in the 60 m and 805 indoor NR in long jump and leads overnight with 3649 over Swiss Simon Ehammer 3647 in the heptathlon. Both can attack 6600 points.
