BATTOCLETTI, KERR CLAIM WORLD 3000M TITLES IN TORUŃ

Editor’s Notes: One of the highlights of the World Indoors was the 3000 meters for Women and Men. Both races were fun to watch, riveting, full of surprises, and featured many of the sport’s stars. David Monti, editor of Race Results Weekly, and his wife, photographer Jane Monti, were there, on site, in Poland to provide us with these stories! 

This is the wonderfully detailed story from Race Results Weekly on the World Indoor Champs 3000 meters and 800m heats.

BATTOCLETTI, KERR CLAIM WORLD 3000M TITLES IN TORUŃ
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2026 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission. 

TORUŃ (20-Mar) — Italy’s Nadia Battocletti and Great Britain’s Josh Kerr scored resounding victories in their respective 3000m races on the penultimate day of the 21st World Athletics Indoor Championships here at Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena Toruń.  Battocletti, 25, earned her first global title on any surface –and the first 3000m world title by an Italian woman– while Kerr, 28, got his third.  Battocletti earned Italy’s second gold medal at these championships; Kerr earned Britain’s first.

In a slow and messy race, Battocletti’s tactics paid off

The women’s race, which went first, was slow and messy.  The opening kilometer was completed in just 3:15, a pace that would not carry an athlete to a national high school title these days.  Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan led nearly all of those early laps, and Battocletti stayed tucked in and tried to remain patient.  She had been hoping that the race would go faster.

“I prefer a very fast pace and not tactical because I am not able to run indoors,” said Battocletti, who ran three cross-country races this winter and just one 3000m on the track.  “So, I prefer a very fast race instead of a tactical one also because we touch (bump) each other in a current way.  I was a little nervous.”

Her nervousness was justified.  Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu, the defending champion of this event, who was in second place at 1200m, fell flat to the track just 20 meters later.  Stunned, she had to wait for traffic to clear before regaining her feet, and it wasn’t until about the 1600m point that she rejoined the field.  Exhausted from working to catch up, she would finish in seventh place.

Meanwhile, Jeruto gave up the lead to Battocletti’s Italian teammate, Micol Majori, who led for three laps before Jeruto took over again.  The other athletes with legitimate medal chances — Emily Mackay of the United States, Jessica Hull of Australia, and Aleshign Baweke of Ethiopia — tried to stay near the front and avoid trouble.  Although the second kilometer was faster, about 3:00, it was still too slow to string out the pack.

All of the early slow running set the stage for an exciting last kilometer.  Jeruto was still leading with four laps to go, but she fell back quickly when Battocletti and Hull decided to take over at the front.  Lap times began to fall, first to 33.1 seconds through 2600m and then to 29.9 seconds through the bell.  Hull led Battocletti and Mackay, and the race looked like it was setting up well for the Australian, who has 3:50.83 1500m speed, by far the fastest in the field.

“When it’s that slow for so long, when the race goes there’s no time for mistakes,” Hull told Race Results Weekly.

Hull ran confidently down the backstretch, but Battocletti was closing.  Just before entering the final bend, Battocletti went around Hull on the outside.

“I prepared to race in training with this improvement (increase) of pace,” Battocletti explained.  “I am able to support this change of pace, run fast, then slow, fast then slow.”

Battocletti won in 8:57.64, the slowest winning time at these championships since Meseret Defar of Ethiopia in 2004 (9:11.22).  She ran her last kilometer in 2:40.9 seconds.  Behind her, Mackay moved out to the center of the track and was sprinting at full speed to catch Hull.  The American, who won a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in 2024 in the 1500m, leaned hard and just pipped Hull at the line to get silver, 8:58.12 to 8:58.18.  The 27-year-old was delighted and marveled at her growth as an athlete over the last two years.

“I feel like a completely different runner this time around,” Mackay told reporters.  “I think that medal (in 2024) was a little bit of a surprise.  Like I believed in myself, but going into that race, honestly, I was just happy that I made the final.  This go-around, I came here knowing that I wouldn’t be super-happy with anything but a podium finish.  So, definitely a completely different mindset.”

Unlike Battocletti and Mackay, Hull has to contest the 1500m final tomorrow and needed to rest.

“Just go back, reset, and live the same day for the third time,” said Hull.

KERR WINS WITH JUST ONE MOVE

The men’s race was much faster, thanks mostly to Ethiopia’s Addisu Yihune, who took the lead after 2024 Olympic 1500m champion, Cole Hocker of the United States, led the field through the first kilometer in 2:38.5.  With the pack strung out behind him, Yihune went through 2000m in 5:10.57.  All of the favorites were lined up behind him: compatriot Getnet Wale, Americans Hocker and Yared Nuguse, Kerr, and France’s Yann Schrub.

Remarkably, Yihune stayed on the front all the way to the bell.  But a second later, Kerr was around him and accelerated quickly to full speed.  With that one move, he overwhelmed the field.  His winning time of 7:35.56 was the second-fastest at a World Indoor Championships behind only Haile Gebrselassie’s winning mark of 7:34.71 in 1997.  He ran his last lap in 26.4 seconds.

“It’s a game of chess,” Kerr told reporters.  “Cole is so good and Yared is so good, over the last K you kind of just have to play your hand as confidently as you can, and not give an inch.  So, I made the move, and nobody really came with it.”  He added, “I had to make sure nobody was going to run by me.”

The battle for silver wasn’t over.  Hocker was in third with 100 meters to go, but he out-sprinted Schrub –the European record holder for the indoor 3000m– in the final meters.  Hocker’s margin over the Frenchman was just 1/100th of a second, 7:35.70 to 7:35.71.  Hocker was the silver medalist in the 1500m at the 2024 World Indoor Championships.

“I’d probably give myself an A- on that race,” Hocker told reporters.  He added, “Maybe I should have gone sooner.”

Just after crossing the finish line, Kerr put his hands together and made the “night night” sleeping gesture that NBA star Steph Curry initiated to signify that the game was over and he had put his opponents to sleep.  Hocker had made that gesture at the Millrose Games in February when he beat Kerr in the two-mile there.  Kerr said it was all in good fun.

“Look, we’re having some fun,” Kerr told reporters.  “He’s done such a great job over the last couple of years in this sport.”  He continued: “I’m just letting him know that that was a huge motivational thing for me coming into World Championships.  Millrose was a big deal, but this is the North Star.”

MEDAL FAVORITES ADVANCE IN 800M SEMI-FINALS

All of the medal favorites for the men’s and women’s 800m advanced to Sunday’s final, and the gold medal favorites won their heats.

On the women’s side, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson left nothing to chance.  As she did in the preliminary round, she went right to the front of the second of three heats, hit halfway in a fast 57.55, then powered to the finish in 1:58.53, the fastest time of the session.

“It was fine,” the reigning Olympic 800m champion told the U.K. Athletics media team.  “I did what the coach said, picked it up a little bit, and passed the first 400 at around 58.  I am happy with how we ran it; it’s just these back-to-back mornings.  Now back to bed!”

American Addy Wiley saw what Hodgkinson was doing and quickly took advantage of the situation.  She attached herself to Hodgkinson and, like a Formula One driver, she gladly took the two all the way to the finish.  She clocked 1:58.75, an indoor personal best.

“I knew if she went to the front, it was going to be a fast and honest race,” Wiley told reporters.  “I’m always ready for that opportunity, so I enjoyed it.  I knew that if she took it, there would be no questions about what kind of race we were going to run.  I think it’s a smart move on her part.”

Italy’s Eloisa Coiro ran a personal best 1:59.33 in third, but only the top two from each heat advanced to the final.

Also advancing was Switzerland’s Audrey Werro, who won the third heat in 1:59.27.  She clearly wasn’t stressed, and cantered to the finish with Ethiopia’s Nigist Getachew a stride behind in 1:59.46.

Perhaps the biggest surprise today was that Australia’s Hayley Kitching, a senior at Penn State, won the first heat from the front in 2:00.06 (France’s Clara Lieberman was second in 2:00.28).  Kitching had fallen in her prelim at the NCAA Indoor Championships last weekend and was trying to sort out how her luck had changed so dramatically.

“I’m super excited,” said Kitching, her face decorated with gold and green glitter to match her race kit.  “Honestly, I just came into it today (that) this was my final.  I know I’m capable of mixing it up with these girls.”  She added: “I was just ready to have a go.”

On the men’s side, Belgium’s Eliott Crestan confirmed his status as a medal favorite with a well-calculated run in the third and final heat.  After taking the lead at 200m, he never left that spot all the way to the finish line. He ran a fast-enough 1:45.71, trying not to expend any more energy than was necessary.

“The most difficult thing is to get into the final,” Crestan said.  “I played the tactic like yesterday, went to the front, and took control.  I’m very satisfied.”

Behind him, Marino Bloudek, 26, became the first Croatian man to make a world indoor final.  He was only in fifth place with 200 meters to go, but trusted his lead and passed the USA’s Sean Dolan in the final 100m.  He was clocked at 1:45.92.

Australia’s Peter Bol easily won the first heat in 1:46.21 and is likely Crestan’s biggest challenger for gold.  Bol, who is coached by Justin Rinaldi and part of the Fast 8 Track Club in Melbourne, followed Britain’s Ben Pattison for the first half of the race.  At 600m, he covered the move by Ireland’s Mark English, then quickly overtook the Irishman on the backstretch.  He sailed to the finish line, clearly slowing down in the homestretch.

“If you follow Rinaldi’s training, we do a lot of change of pace,” Bol told Race Results Weekly.  “I was actually quite tired from yesterday, so I didn’t want it to be fast.  So, I was pretty happy when I saw Ben Pattison on the front.  I knew he would slow it down and change pace, and that made it a little bit easier than yesterday for sure.”

The big surprise on the men’s side involved another Penn State athlete.  Allon Clay, representing Japan, was in last place with 100m to go and ran around four men to take second in 1:46.47.  Like his college teammate, Hayley Kitching, he was incredibly excited to make the final.

“I kind of had a bad position to be honest,” Clay told reporters.  He continued: “I stayed calm.  I know I have a strong kick; I believe in that.  Until the goal line, I just moved my arms, and it just kind of connected.  I was just trying hard.”

The second heat showed, perhaps, where this event is headed.  Seventeen-year-old American Cooper Lutkenhaus ran a masterful heat, which resulted in the fastest time of the day: 1:44.29.  Lutkenhaus, from Justin, Texas, followed Poland’s Maciej Wyderka to nearly the 600m point before moving smoothly to the front.  He essentially ran away from the field in the final lap, despite a fast close by Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui, one of the sport’s fastest closers, who took second in 1:44.48, a Spanish indoor record.

Lutkenhaus –who wore a compression sleeve on his left calf, which he did not wear yesterday– did not speak with the media after his race.

– – – – –