by Alfonz Juck
GLASGOW (GBR): The 19th edition of World Indoors will be for the first time in Glasgow but for the third in the UK. Despite being an Olympic Year, several sports stars will participate (Lyles, Duplantis, Holloway, Bol, Warholm). It is the equaled earliest date in the history of the event, also 2018 Birmingham edition was held on March 1-4. In total, 651 athletes (331 women and 320 men) are entered, slightly less than in Belgrade 2022 (680, 372 men and 308 women). Now it is 133 countries, two years ago it was 137. Record numbers are 705 athletes at World Indoors 1997 in Paris (without technical events direct finals) and 171 countries at World Indoors 2012 in Istanbul. In total, 13 reigning individual world champions and seven individual gold medallists from the Tokyo Olympics are among the entries. From Belgrade 2022 title defenders only missing are two men Marcell Jacobs (60 m) and Damian Warner (heptathlon), but also 6 women Mujinga Kambundji (60 m), Shaunae Miller-Uibo (400 m), Ajee Wilson (800 m), Ivana Vuleta (long jump), Yulimar Rojas (triple jump) and Auriol Dongmo (shot put). Gudaf Tsegay, who won the 1500 m two years ago, runs the 3000 m this time. Not invited as in Belgrade Russian and Belarus athletes, all technical events are held as finals. Evening sessions on Saturday and Sunday are practically sold out. A new Mondo track was installed, and legendary David Rudisha is the ambassador. There’s good prize money, too, for places 1-6: $40 000-20 000-10 000-8000-6000-4000, plus a $50,000 bonus for a world record.
Event by event short previews
Men
60 m: Will Coleman´s fast start be enough to beat Lyles? Blake and Omanyala for bronze.
400 m: Two question marks: What is the shape of Warholm and Richards? Both came without any racing experience this winter. Then it is very open.
800 m: This year fastest Tecuceanu and Crestan. Hoppel has its experience; Masalela won on the circuit, and Garcia was the defender.
1500 m: Nader is unbeaten this season, Kessler comes with a fast time, and Nordas is the World medalist. And Ethiopians.
3000 m: This is the highlight. Nuguse vs Kerr is the talk, but Barega and Wale have better times.
60mH: Holloway against the clock, 60 indoor wins in a row. There is a big fight for other medals (Cunningham, Joseph, French, Simonelli, Szymanski).
HJ: Woo ruled during the season, Kerr comes from Down Under.
PV: Mondo is in his own world. Can he produce a global mark at championships again? Obiena vs Nilsen and Kendricks for the remainder of the podium.
LJ: Tentoglou by all books. Furlani is ready for a surprise.
TJ: Zango should manage and then be wide open.
SP: The Crouser question is how far. Fabbri, Walsh, Campbell for silver and bronze. Romani only one competition.
Hep: Ehammer gave this priority over long jump, Skotheim the other contender, Mullings did not compete since end of January.
4×400 m: The US is always strong, but remember what happened in Belgrade. Belgium, Netherlands, and Czech have current quality there.
Women
60 m: Alfred vs Swoboda, top fight for gold. Hobbs and Dosso for bronze.
400 m: In case Femke and Lieke from the same coaching group will not be 1-2, we would say it was a surprise.
800 m: Alemu has the best time, but Reekie, the spectator’s support. Or space for a surprise name on top?
1500 m: This could be a unique situation with the full Ethiopian podium.
3000 m: Tsegay in her own class, Muir with the crowd for silver, but Hull, St. Pierre, Meshesha not light opposition.
60mH: Charlton vs European force (Visser, Skrzyszowska).
HJ: Mahuchikh vs. Olyslagers, how high they can go?
PV: Caudery, McCartney, Murto, and Newman against US duo Moon and Morris.
LJ: Davis looks like a clear choice after her several contenders for two medals.
TJ: 2 Cubans vs 2 US, and in between LaFond with Peleteiro.
SP: Jackson vs Mitton for gold. Is Schilder still in shape?
Pen: Vicente should be the name; defender Vidts competed only individually this winter.
4×400 m: Netherlands followed by the US followed by Jamaica or Poland or Britain. Czech dark horse.
FLASH-BACK
PORTLAND (USA): In the flash-back for Portland 2016, the USA was the best country with 13-6-4 gold, silver, and bronze medals ahead of Ethiopia 2-2-1; in total, 29 countries got medals. In points, the USA was also 249 ahead of Ethiopia 56 and Great Britain 39, and 53 countries got points. In total, 10 world leads, 2 meet records, and 7 area indoor records were registered, but no World Indoor record. Of title defenders who competed, only four defended (7 were not successful). Paul Doyle was the agent with the most individual gold medals from his athletes, and the total number of spectators was 39,283 for all sessions.
BIRMINGHAM (GBR): In the Birmingham flashback to mention 32 countries won medals. Also, 48 countries were in the points rankings. There was 1 World indoor record in the men´s 4×400 m, 6 Area indoor records, 6 meet records, and 14 World leads. Seven athletes successfully defended their titles from Portland. Six agents represented athletes with two individual gold medals.
BELGRADE (SRB): Three World Indoor records highlighted the Serbian edition of the championships after 4 four-year break due to COVID-19 (Duplantis, Rojas, Holloway). 612 athletes from 129 different countries took part. The average age of participants is 25 years. The average age of medallists and winners was 26 years. more than 20,000 spectators attended across the three days, despite a reduced stadium capacity due to Covid restrictions, with Sunday’s 2nd session 6800 the highest. 72 national records. In medals Ethiopia was better than USA and Belgium, in total 31 countries won medals. In total, 56 countries achieved the top 8 position. The best agent was Juan Pineda, with 3 individual gold medals. The light tower was used for the first time in technical events to show the validity of attempts. In competition performance rankings, Belgrade is the best ever World Indoors with 49 348 (since 2000), ahead of Budapest 2004 with 48 839 and third Birmingham 2018 with 48 861.
