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TORUN 2026 DAY 2
QUOTES OF THE DAY
“For the moment, I am speechless because my dream came true. I badly wanted to improve my European record here, but it was difficult to imagine that I could set a world record as well. It was not easy to clear 5.10m, 5.20m and 5.30m on my third attempt. But after the pole vault, I realised that the 2:43 I needed to break the world record was in my capacity; I just needed to be patient. By the way, I already spoke with him [Ashton Eaton] by phone. It was a pleasure. It’s incredible,” Simon Ehammer after winning the heptathlon title and setting a new WR.
“I didn’t expect this result and this shape, I surprised myself, especially because I recently finished my exams, so it was a difficult time for me. I will probably do 5k outdoors, 10k and longer distances. I will run 5k at the Golden Gala in Rome, that’s the focus, and, of course, the European Championships. This is going to be a long season with cross country, road races, indoor and outdoor competitions,” Nadia Battocletti said after winning the 3000m title.
“There are no words to describe my feelings at the moment. Making my debut at the World Indoors as a senior and finishing with the gold is something I cannot even dream of. I was very tired after two races yesterday: the heat in the morning and the semi-final in the evening. It was something unusual for me. I felt like I was not fully recovered,” Lurdes Gloria Manuel, after winning the 400m title.
“My goal was the national record as I thought it would take around 7.35-7.37 to win, but major championship finals are a different thing. I predicted Cunningham would have problems. The only surprise was the Spaniard, who finished ahead of him. Last year, I was heartbroken to miss out on the final in Nanjing when the medals were won in very slow times. Now, the weight has fallen off my shoulders. Records can be beaten at any time, but winning gold is just extra special,” Jakub Szymanski said after winning the 60m hurdles title.
Jakub SZYMAŃSKI, 60 Metres Hurdles Men, POL
Trey CUNNINGHAM, 60 Metres Hurdles Men, USA
Wilhem BELOCIAN, 60 Metres Hurdles Men, FRA
Enrique LLOPIS, 60 Metres Hurdles Men, ESP, photo by World Athletics
RESULT OF THE DAY
Simon Ehammer set the first world indoor record of the championships with 6670 points, breaking Ashton Eaton’s record of 6645 points set at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
SURPRISE OF THE DAY
Lurdes Gloria Manuel becomes the youngest winner of the women’s 400m final in World Indoor Championships history, at 20y/252d.
Erick Portillo becomes just the third Mexican to win a medal in World Indoor Championships history, and the first this century.
MEDALS (25 countries)
ITA 3-0-0; USA 2-5-3; UKR 2-1-0; POL 1-1-1; CAN 1-1-0; SWE 1-0-1.
POINTS (42 countries)
USA 90; JAM 36; POL 30; ITA 27; NED, UKR 23; SWE 22; FRA, AUS 21; CZE 20.
TITLE RETAINERS
Yes (3): A.Díaz, Duplantis, Pérez-Hernández
No (5): Olyslagers, Mitton, Azu, Woo, Hailu
NC (6): Bailey, Skotheim, Ingebrigtsen, Anning, Holloway, Kambundji
TOP MARKS
WR (1): Hep 6670 Ehammer
WB (2): Hep60mH 7.52 Ehammer, mix4x400m 3:15.60 Belgium
CR (3): 400m 44.76 Morales Williams, PV 625 Duplantis, mix4x400m 3:15.60 Belgium (inaugural)
WL (4+1): 60m 6.42 Bromell, 6.41 Anthony, TJ 17.47 A.Díaz, mix4x400m 3:15.60 Belgium; TJ 14.95 Pérez-Hernández (equalled)
AR: Africa (1) – 60mH 7.50 Le Roux, South America (1) – 400m 45.71 Lima
AGENTS (individual gold medals)
2 – Aivar Karotamm, Marcello Magnani; 1 – Jorge Luis Aguilera, Alfons Juck, Eric Lilot, John Regis, Marcin Rosengarten, Robert Wagner, Daniel Wessfeldt, Mark Wetmore, Bradley Yewer; not known Ehammer’s agent
TORUN NEWS
TORUN (POL): Fastest times from the mixed 4x400m final were 50.94 by Justyna Swiety-Ersetic, and 45.87 by Tony Van Diepen (45.87).
TORUN (POL): Dylan Beard has been medically withdrawn from the men’s 60m hurdles final, according to USATF. Franco Le Roux advanced to the final instead of him.
TORUN (POL): World Athletics President Sebastian Coe and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Witold Bańka met at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26 in Torun, Poland, on Saturday (21) to discuss the importance of unity and further collaboration within the global anti-doping system, the work of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), and the need to move beyond compliance and invest more money into new research and further investigations.
TORUN STATS (by Ken Nakamura and WA)
W-60: After winning bronze and silver in the last two 60m finals, Dosso becomes the first Italian woman to win a global sprint title; best marks at World Indoors for places 3, 7 and 8; 7.10 by Hunt is equalled fastest non-qualifier for the final.
W-400: Manuel becomes the first Czech woman to win a world indoor title since 2001; 0.07 winning margin is the third smallest; 0.26 is the smallest between 1 and 3, and 0.05 the second smallest between 3 and 4; first title for CZE, first medal for POL.
W-800: Coiro’s 1:59.33 was the fastest time not to qualify for a final (previously 2:00.06 by Lore Hoffmann in 2024); 1:58.53 by Hodgkinson is the fastest semi-final time at World Indoors, improving 1.59.26 by Jolanda Čeplak (2004).
W-3000: Battocletti becomes the first Italian winner of this title and the first European winner since Olga Yegorova in 2001.
W-TJ: Perez Hernandez (CUB) becomes the fifth triple jumper to win multiple world indoor triple jump titles; she is now tied second (2-1-0) with Tatyana Lebedeva and Ashia Hansen behind Rojas (3-1-0); VEN (3-1-0) equalled GBR at 3 behind RUS and CUB (3-3-1).
M-400: Morales-Williams’ winning time of 44.76 was not just a championship record but also the first ever sub-45 second 400m set outside of the United States; he also ran the fastest ever heat (45.51) and semifinal (45.35) in World Indoors; second title for CAN.
M-800: Lutkenhaus’ 1:44.29 in the semifinal was the third fastest 800m time in World Indoors history behind Wilson Kipketer’s world indoor records of 1:43.96 and 1:42.97 from the heat and final in 1997; Wyderka’s 1:44.59 was by far the fastest time not to qualify for a final (previously 1:45.45 by El Guesse from 2024).
M-3000: Kerr’s winning time of 7:35.56 was the second fastest winning time in World Indoors behind Haile Gebrselassie’s championship record of 7:34.71 from 1997; top 6 finishers ranked from 2 to 7 in the all-time WI performances; winning margin of 0.14 was the second smallest, and 0.15 between 1 and 3 the smallest; best marks for places 2-8 at WI; 2 title for Kerr tied place 3 behind Bernard Lagat and Haile Gebrselassie; USA (2-5-1) moved to 2 behind ETH.
M-60H: Szymański wins Poland’s first gold medal at the World Indoors since the men’s 4x400m title in 2018; best marks at WI for place 4 (best mark overall) – 8; first medal/title for POL; 7.55 by Le Roux equalled fastest non-qualifier for the final, but at the end he was running the final as Dylan Beard cancelled.
M-HJ: Doroshchuk becomes the first Ukrainian to win the men’s high jump title at the World Indoors; Portillo becomes just the third Mexican to win a medal, and the first this century; 2.30m is the lowest height to win gold; for the fifth time top 2 cleared the same height; Woo confirmed his third position (2-0-2) behind Javier Sotomayor and Stefan Holm.
M-PV: Duplantis equals Sergey Bubka by winning his fourth world indoor title, he remains unbeaten across nine global championships this decade; for just the second time in history, three vaulters cleared 6.00m or higher; equalled best mark for place 2 and best marks for places 3-7.
M-HEP: Ehammer becomes just the fourth to win multiple world indoor titles after Roman Sebrle, Bryan Clay and Ashton Eaton; 333 points is the second biggest winning margin and 425 points the second biggest difference between places 1 and 3; second title for SUI moving to 3 3 behind USA and CZE; Ehammer smashed the world heptathlon best (Ashton Eaton – 7.60) and championship heptathlon best (Damian Warner – 7.61) with a 7.52 clocking in the 60m hurdles; 2:32.49 by Jeff Tesselaar is the second fastest heptathlon 1000m at WI.
X-4×400: BEL winning time of 3:15.60 was the fastest time ever recorded in an indoor mixed 4x400m, replacing the Netherlands’ winning time of 3:15.63 from the 2025 European Indoor Championships. However, the time was some way short of the world record target time (3:12.44) and just outside the European record target time of 3:15.50.
