Mondo Duplantis in Uppsala (© AFP / Getty Images)
The first competitions of the 2023 track and field indoor season have produced some dizzying results, delivered not only on the biggest international stages. Hungarian athletes preparing for the World Championships in Budapest also showed with a few national records that they want to be in the best shape of their lives in front of 35,000 fans at the National Athletics Centre.
Armand Duplantis and ten other top pole vaulters competed in Uppsala, Sweden. In the event organised by Red Bull, the young star attempted a world record of 6.22 metres in his first appearance of the year. He has not succeeded yet - maybe in Budapest on 26 August. Nevertheless, he won the Mondo Classic with a sensational 6.10m, kind of his usual level.
Grant Holloway claimed his 52nd consecutive victory in the 60m hurdles, extending his unbeaten streak since 2017. He won the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix with 7.38 seconds, the world’s best this year.
Femke Bol ran the best ever indoor 500m. The Dutch youngster, still only 22, finished in 1:05.63 in Boston on Saturday, where Noah Lyles surprisingly beat Trayvon Bromell in the 60m.
The difference between the two was just 0.002 seconds (!) in favour of the 200m world champion. Will Lyles be preparing to compete in the 100m before the 200 metres on the first weekend of the World Championships? Aleia Hobbs, who has started the season in excellent form, ran 6.98 in Fayetteville and nobody was faster than her in the 60m (7.02) in Boston, too.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, making her first ever 60m race in Boston, made her debut with a 7.33 seconds run. More importantly, in an interview after the race, she called the next World Championships “an awesome opportunity" to try herself in the 400m flat in addition to the 400m hurdles. So, the new queen of track and field could fight for victory not only on the evening of 24 August, but also the day before.
Europe's top female sprinters competed first in Karlsruhe and then in Düsseldorf in the 60 metres. Karlsruhe’s Indoor Tour Gold competition was won by Dina Asher-Smith with 7.04 ahead of Ewa Swoboda, who triumphed in the other event in Germany, beating European 100m champion Gina Lückenkemper.
She wasn’t the only Polish athlete to have a great time at the ISTAF in Düsseldorf, as European 100 m hurdles champion Pia Skrzyszowska won the 60 m hurdles with a new PB of 7.84.
Ivana Vuleta, who didn’t retire this winter due to the World Championships in Budapest, also started the year promisingly in Karlsruhe. The Serbian long jumper's attempt of 6.76m immediately put her on the top of the 2023 rankings. But she didn't stay there for long, as two days later her great rival Malaika Mihambo won the event in Düsseldorf with 6.83 metres. Their rivalry could also escalate in Budapest in the WCH final in the evening of 20 August.
There is no Karsten Warholm Invitational without a Karsten Warholm victory. The Norwegian 400 m hurdles world record holder won the 400 m in his hometown, Ulsteinvik in a clear victory with a time of 45.31. The Norwegian favourite was back on the indoor track after three years.
There are signs which are definitely showing that Keely Hodgkinson could be an even bigger challenger this year to defending Olympic and world champion Athing Mu in the 800m. The British European champion competed in the 600m at the Manchester World Indoor Tour competition, where she clocked an all-time best of 1:23.41. If you don't want to miss another potentially huge battle between these two, you should buy your tickets now for the final night of the World Championships Budapest 23!
The reigning 1500m champion, Faith Kipyegon, is not only an amazing superhero on the track, but also in cross country. She proved it recently on home soil at the Sirikwa Cross Country Classic, which the Kenyan won confidently.
With less than 200 days to go until the biggest sporting event of the year, the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, Hungary's athletes will be hugely motivated to compete on home soil from 19-27 August. Everyone wants to show their best shape to the public. This is also confirmed by a number of national records that have already been broken in the first days of the season.
István Szögi broke the Hungarian indoor record in the 2000 metres last year and the 1500 metres Hungarian indoor record in 2021. The 27-year-old middle distance runner's streak was not broken this year: in Ostrava he became the first Hungarian to complete the one-mile distance indoors in 4 minutes, with a 3:58.00 time.
In their first rumble of the year, both men's and women's 4x400 m relay teams broke the Hungarian indoor record. The quartet of Evelin Nádházy, Fanni Rapai, Sára Mátó and Janka Molnár finished in 3:37.11, while the team of Tamás Máté, Dániel Huller, Zoltán Wahl and Attila Molnár destroyed a 23-year-old record with 3:08.58. They are preparing for something similar in the Saturday evening programme of the WCH on 26 August.
Importantly for the future of the host nation’s track and field, national indoor records were also broken at youth and junior levels: Zita Szentgyörgyi (60m - U18), Alexa Sulyán (200m - U20) and János Kubasi (800m - U20) are names that you will hear about in the next few years.
