by Stuart Weir
This is the first article on Nanjing 2025 from senior writer for Europe Stuart Weir, who covers the event remotely from Oxford, England.
First Gold Medal in Nanjing World Indoor Athletics Champs 2025
Andy Hernandez Diaz (Italy) won the first gold medal of the 2025 World Indoor Athletics Championships with a world-leading 17.80. This beat his previous gold medal-winning European indoor (and world lead at the time) 17.71. Two gold medals in two weeks is not bad! Yaming Zhu got silver for China with 17.33, and Almir Dos Santos took bronze with 17.22. (Editor’s Note: Dos Santos was DQed after this article due to unapproved footwear. Hugues Fabrice Zango, Burkina Faso, defending champion, took the bronze in 17.15m )
The Triple Jump has been struggling in recent years. Those who remember Jonathan Edwards’ 18.29 in 1995 shake our heads when a stadium announcer describes 17.43 as an “amazing jump.” In Nanjing, only 7 athletes have reached the age of 17 meters. To be fair, the European Championship last summer saw two athletes go beyond 18 meters, with Jordan Diaz (a Cuban-born Spanish athlete) winning with 18.18 and Pichardo (Portugal) with 18.04.
Hernandez Diaz said of his win, “My plan was never to jump only once. I felt strong enough to set a new record, but it didn’t happen this time. There was a long wait between jumps, so I was inactive for too long, leading to the decision to skip the following attempts. But I feel strong, which indicates that good jumps could happen this summer. Jumping 18 meters is a benchmark all triple jumpers aspire to and aim for – 18 meters and a bit further than t. To be honest, when the competition is tighter, your body reacts differently. There is a different feeling to it, a different type of emotion. Undoubtedly, we were missing some of the global elite athletes – like Pedro (PICHARDO) and Jordan (DIAZ), but had they been here today, I would have still taken this world indoor title. I came here for that Edito, but I look forward to competing against them in the summer.”
Andy Hernandez Diaz (Italy) won the first gold medal of the 2025 World Indoor Athletics Championships with a world-leading 17.80. This beat his previous gold medal-winning European indoor (and world lead at the time) 17.71. Two gold medals in two weeks is not bad! Yaming Zhu got silver for China with 17.33, and Almir Dos Santos took bronze with 17.22.
(Editor’s Note: Dos Santos was DQed after this article due to unapproved footwear. Hugues Fabrice Zango, Burkina Faso, defending champion, took the bronze in 17.15m )
The Triple Jump has been struggling in recent years. Those who remember Jonathan Edwards’ 18.29 in 1995 shake our heads when a stadium announcer describes 17.43 as an “amazing jump.” In Nanjing, only 7 athletes have reached the age of 17 meters. To be fair, the European Championship last summer saw two athletes go beyond 18 meters, with Jordan Diaz (a Cuban-born Spanish athlete) winning with 18.18 and Pichardo (Portugal) with 18.04.
Hernandez Diaz said of his win, “My plan was never to jump only once. I felt strong enough to set a new record, but it didn’t happen this time. There was a long wait between jumps, so I was inactive for too long, leading to the decision to skip the following attempts. But I feel strong, which indicates that good jumps could happen this summer. Jumping 18 meters is a benchmark that all triple jumpers aspire to and aim for – 18 meters and a bit further than that. To be honest, when the competition is tighter, your body reacts differently. There is a different feeling to it, a different type of emotion. Undoubtedly, we were missing some of the global elite athletes – like Pedro (PICHARDO) and Jordan (DIAZ), but had they been here today, I would have still taken this world indoor title. I came here for that, but I look forward to competing against them in the summer.”
Conundrum: In a recent press point with pole vaulter Molly Caudery, who won the event in Glasgow last year, was asked if she was confident about retaining her title. She replied that she had been told that her opportunity to defend her title would come in Toruń, Poland, next year. The current championship in Nanjing is deemed still to be the 2020 event. So Sandi Morris, who won in Birmingham 2018, is the defending champion! Just imagine how much fun our sports statisticians can have with that one.
