Marcell Jacobs dips to take the world indoor 60m title ahead of Christian Coleman in Belgrade (© Getty Images)
One of the most keenly anticipated head-to-heads of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 duly came to pass tonight as Italy’s Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs beat world 100m champion Christian Coleman of the United States to the men’s 60m title by just three thousandths of a second, clocking a European indoor record of 6.41.
In the end it happened just as Jacobs had predicted, as he kept in touch with the superfast-starting Coleman – who missed the Olympics due to a six-month ban for anti-doping whereabouts failures – and then won on the dip.
In the course of the day's heats, semifinal and final, the truth was that Coleman began relaxed and tightened up, while the amiable Italian – who had reached the final by setting an Italian record of 6.45 – did the reverse.
Coleman, defending the title he won four years ago in Birmingham, was also credited with 6.41, after winning his semi-final in 6.51, the same time he recorded in his heat.
The difference between the two earlier performances, however, was that he appeared to stroll to his heats win and was clearly working significantly harder for the same time in the semi.
Bronze went to Coleman’s compatriot Marvin Bracy in a personal best of 6.44.
There was a similarly measured United States reaction after the men’s shot put, where their double Olympic champion and world indoor and outdoor world record-holder Ryan Crouser suffered a rare defeat.
There could hardly have been a stronger favourite for gold than the mighty American, but he had to give way to Brazil's Darlan Romani, who inflicted upon him his first defeat since the epic 2019 World Championships final, where he lost by a centimetre to compatriot Joe Kovacs despite recording a personal best of 22.90m.
Romani, who has come so close to big medals in recent years – fifth at the Rio 2016 Games, fourth at the 2018 World Indoors, fourth at the 2019 World Championships, fourth again at the Tokyo Olympics – but he hit the spot in the Stark Arena with a championship record of 22.53m which tops this year’s world lists.
It had appeared to be business as usual for Crouser as he opened with a championship record of 22.44m. But he could not improve upon it, even after Romani attained peak performance in round three.
New Zealand’s Tom Walsh, seeking a third consecutive title, earned bronze after equalling his own Oceanian indoor record of 22.31m.
But the United States had a far happier time in the women’s pole vault, where Sandi Morris became only the second woman in history to successfully defend the world indoor pole vault title as her third-time clearance of 4.80m proved decisive.
An early failure at 4.60m put Morris behind on countback for the majority of the competition as her teammate and training partner, Olympic champion Katie Nageotte, sailed over four consecutive heights at first attempt before 4.80m proved too much.
If ever an athlete deserved a turn of luck it was Morris, one of only four women to have cleared 5.00m, whose ambitions of adding Olympic gold to the silver she won at the Rio 2016 Games ended when she was injured when her pole snapped in mid-air during a rainswept qualifying session.
On this evening, however, she made her own luck, hanging on to her rival and her self belief until events turned her way.
Bronze went to Slovenia’s Tina Sutej, who matched Nageotte’s clearance of 4.75m but took third place on countback.
A blistering start by double Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo earned her a first world indoor title as she held off the late charge of 21-year-old Dutch athlete Femke Bol to win in 50.31.
Bol, the Olympic 400m hurdles bronze medallist, had fallen on to her face over the line as she tried in vain to overtake Jamaica’s Stephenie Ann McPherson in her semifinal.
But she showed no ill effects as she sought to apply pressure to her 27-year-old rival, who had won only one previous indoor medal – world bronze in Sopot in 2014.
Bol smiled ruefully after crossing second in 50.57, fully on her feet, and she was soon followed by McPherson, so desperately upset at missing an Olympic 400m medal in Tokyo last summer, who earned tangible reward for her talent this time as she finished in a national indoor record of 50.79, with fourth place going to Poland’s Justyna Swiety-Ersetic in 51.40.
“I’ve come through some injuries so I’m pretty proud of the way I ran here,” Miller-Uibo said. “I’ve got some speed work still to go so I am looking forward to that – it gives me a lot of confidence to go back and train to be ready for the World Championships at Hayward Field later this year.”
Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago fully honoured his late friend and teammate Deon Lendore, killed in a car crash two months ago, by winning the men’s 400m title in a championship record of 45.00.
Richards thus became the first athlete from his country to win this title – one to which Lendore twice came close, finishing in bronze medal position at this event in Birmingham four years ago, and Portland, Oregon in 2016.
As a world 200m bronze medallist in London five years ago – a championship in which he played his part in a stunning 4x400m relay victory – Richards knew he had the speed required.
But after getting to the bell ahead of the field, it was his strength, physical and mental, that was put under scrutiny.
Only one athlete was able to get on to terms with him, Trevor Bassitt of the United States, who moved up on the outside to apply pressure and tried all he knew to move past.
Richards dug in, resisted, and held his lead all the way to the finishing line, with Bassitt crashing to the deck in his effort, but not before earning silver in 45.05.
The bronze medal went to Sweden’s Carl Bengstrom, who clocked a national indoor record of 45.33, ahead of Denmark’s Benjamin Vedel, who also recorded a national indoor record of 45.67.
Ethiopia’s world record holder Gudaf Tsegay was in a class of her own in the women’s 1500m final – as were Ethiopia as a team as they secured gold, silver and bronze on the night, the first ever medal sweep in World Indoor history.
But Tsegay, who set her record of 3:53.09 in Lievin last year, finished more than 30 metres clear of her teammates Axumawit Embaye and Hirut Meshesha in a championship record of 3:57.19.
Embaye claimed silver in 4:02.29, with Meshesha clocking 4:02.39.
Canada’s Olympic champion Damian Warner missed heptathlon gold by just five points last time round in Birmingham – but four years on he made sure as he restored the lead he had held for the majority of the competition by finishing third in the concluding 1000m – and crucially well clear of the leader after six events, Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer.
After clearing 5.10m in the pole vault, Ehammer narrowly led from Warner coming into the last event, but the Canadian, who had a personal best that was superior by about 14 seconds, only needed to finish a couple of seconds ahead of his 22-year-old rival to resume golden position at the close.
His time of 2:39.56 was amply sufficient as Ehammer came home ninth in 2:53.54 and Warner ended up by breaking the Canadian record he set in 2018, totalling 6489.
Ehammer secured silver with a Swiss indoor record of 6363, and Australia’s 22-year-old Olympic bronze medallist Ash Moloney – making his indoor competition debut – maintained bronze position with an Oceanian indoor record of 6344 as Estonia’s Hans-Christian Hausenberg had to settle for fourth place in a personal best of 6191.
France’s 21-year-old Cyrena Samba-Mayela, who has got better and better in the course of the women’s 60m hurdles event, came through for a superlative gold in a national record of 7.78 after a performance that was almost faultless.
Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas, fastest qualifier in a national record of 7.81, equalled that to take silver, with bronze going to Gabriele Cunningham of the United States in 7.87.
Manuel Garcia, who likes to mime the revving of a motorbike before he starts his races, was at full throttle in the closing stages of the men’s 800m final as he hung on to earn Spain’s first gold in the event since the precursor to the first edition in 1985.
After early leader Marco Arop of Canada ran out of gas after 650 metres, Garcia moved into the lead and was soon under pressure from the outside lane from Kenya’s extravagant 17-year-old talent Noah Kibet.
But Garcia, who leads this year’s world list with 1:45.12, had the experience – and positioning – to hold on and claim victory in 1:46.20, with Kibet earning silver in 1:46.35 and Bryce Hoppel of the United States coming through for bronze in 1:46.51.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
