by Stuart Weir
World Indoors 2025
The world indoor championships take place in Nanjing, China 21-23 March. Nanjing was originally scheduled to host the event in 2020. I remember it well, literally 2 days before I was due to go to London to get my China visa, it was announced that the event had been postponed because of a strange virus which was sweeping China. I think the virus was called COVID or something like that. Eventually China has had its opportunity to host the event.
Someone recently put on Twitter that there didn’t seem to be much enthusiasm for the event. I replied that I had been full of enthusiasm in 2020. Now, less than two weeks after the European indoor championships and a 17 hour flight from London it seems a championship to many. I am not going to China. And I am far from the only one. GB took 44 athletes to the European indoors; just 13 are on the roster for Nanjing.
Nanjing, by the way is the capital of Jiangsu province. Situated on the Yangtze River Delta, it is 630 miles south of Beijing and has a population of over 9 million.
The entry list for the worlds lists 576 athletes (264 women and 312 men). Only 11 defending champions are returning to the event: Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Devynne Charlton (60m hurdles), Grant Holloway (60m hurdles), Molly Caudery (pole vault), Tsige Duguma (800m), Hamish Kerr (high jump), Thea Lafond (triple jump), Sarah Mitton (shot put), Nicola Olyslagers (high jump), Miltiadis Tentoglou (long jump) and Hugues Fabrice Zango (triple jump).
The British team was largely self-selecting, in terms of those who wanted to go. The team is:
Women
60m: Amy Hunt
400m: Amber Anning
1500m: Georgia Hunter Bell, Revee Walcott-Nolan
3000m: Innes FitzGerald*
Pole Vault: Molly Caudery
Long Jump:
*subject to achieving Road to Nanjing ranking position.
Men
60m: Jeremiah Azu, Andy Robertson
1500m: Adam Fogg, Neil Gourley
3000m: George Mills
Shot put: Scott Lincoln
Molly Caudery goes as defending champion in PV – but withdrew from the recent Europeans with injury. Britain will be strong in the women’s 1500 with 2024 Olympic medalist, Georgia Hunter Bell and European Indoor medalist, Revee Walcott-Nolan. Amber Anning looked good at the Europeans but for the lane infringement. European champion, Jeremiah Azu, get a chance to test himself against the world’s best – well, those among the world’s best who have chosen to run in China! And it’s great to see Andy Robertson, rewarded following his unexpected bronze medal at the Europeans, getting a lane in Nanjing. George Mills will let no one down as he battles for a medal in the 3000m. (Editor’s note: George Mills has pulled out due to illness he developed post European Indoors).
The evening sessions are on free to air BBC TV,
