WIC Glasgow 24 preview: 3000m

Women’s 3000m

Timetable | 2024 world list | world all-time list | world rankings

Nine of the past 10 gold medals in the women’s 3000m at the World Indoor Championships have gone to Ethiopia, and that trend looks set to continue in Glasgow.

Gudaf Tsegay, the world indoor 1500m champion and outdoor 10,000m champion, was considering ending her indoor season at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Boston. But the world 5000m record-holder – who came within a whisker of the world indoor 3000m record with 8:17.11 in Lievin on 10 February – made a late decision to compete in Glasgow.

If the 26-year-old triumphs in Glasgow, it would mean she has won four global titles across four different distances across the space of two years.

Defending champion Lemlem Hailu is also entered, but her only race this season was over 3000m in Lievin, where she dropped out at 2200m, some 110m adrift of Tsegay. She earned her entry by winning the World Indoor Tour last year.

Hirut Meshesha, the 1500m bronze medallist behind the victorious Tsegay in Belgrade two years ago, won the battle for second place in Lievin, finishing a distant runner-up in 8:29.71.

The 23-year-old won in Metz a week earlier in 8:28.46 and heads to Glasgow as the fourth-fastest entrant on season’s bests. Having made the world indoor all-time top-ten lists with 4:19.53 for the mile in Ostrava and 3:56.47 for 1500m in Torun, Meshesha will be tough to beat.

Still, two other entrants have gone significantly quicker than her over 3000m in 2024.

At the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Boston on 4 February, Australia’s Jess Hull blasted past Elle St Pierre off the final bend to win in 8:24.93, an Oceania record.

St Pierre – the silver medallist in this event two years ago – clocked a PB of 8:25.25 as runner-up, then gained revenge a week later, improving her own US indoor mile record to 4:16.41 at the Millrose Games in New York, Hull taking consolation in a national record of 4:19.03 as runner-up.

Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech is next fastest on the 2024 list at 3000m, the world steeplechase record-holder having clocked a PB of 8:30.87 behind Tsegay and Meshesha in Lievin.

Now 30, Britain’s Laura Muir will be seeking to add to her international medal collection at the venue where she completed a 1500m-3000m double at the 2019 European Indoor Championships.

The Scot, who did her veterinarian training in Glasgow, set a British two mile best of 9:04.84 in New York, passing 3000m in 8:31.45.

The field also includes Japan’s multiple national record-holder Nozomi Tanaka, who set a Japanese 3000m record of 8:40.05 en route to an Asian two miles record of 9:16.76 at the Millrose Games.

 

Men’s 3000m

Timetable | 2024 world list | world all-time list | world rankings

After his home-straight heroics in Hungary last August, Josh Kerr will be aiming to find another global Midas touch back on home ground in Scotland.

This time the distance is twice as far and the opposition every bit as formidable as it was in that thriller of a world outdoor 1500m final in Budapest.

Kerr had to dig to the very depths of his competitive reserves to get the better of Jakob Ingebrigtsen and keep the world outdoor 1500m title in British hands – indeed in those of Edinburgh AC, the Scottish club that also produced the 2022 champion Jake Wightman.

At the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24, he will have to find a way to break the stranglehold Ethiopia has taken on the men’s 3000m.

The past three finals have all been won by Ethiopians: Selemon Barega in Belgrade in 2022 and, before that, Yomif Kejelcha in Birmingham in 2018 and in Portland in 2016.

Barega will be seeking to emulate his compatriot’s back-to-back feat by retaining the title in Glasgow.

The Olympic 10,000m champion heads the 2024 list, having emerged from a dominant victory over steeplechaser and compatriot Getnet Wale with a 7:25.82 PB at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Torun on 6 February. The 24-year-old also won comfortably in Lievin four days later.

Barega led an Ethiopian one-two in Belgrade two years ago, outsprinting Lamecha Girma, and was part of a one-two in Birmingham in 2018, behind Kejelcha.

In Glasgow he will be backed up by Wale, who will be chasing his first individual global medal at senior level.

A member of the Ethiopian team that took silver in the mixed relay at last year’s World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Wale finished fourth in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2019 and 2022 World Championships and at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Also entered for Ethiopia is Telahun Haile Bekele, fourth in the world 5000m final back in 2019, who made a modest seasonal debut at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Madrid on Friday, finishing fourth in 7:43.76.

Kerr, aiming to become the first European winner since the successful title defence by Italy’s Gennaro Di Napoli in Toronto in 1993, passed 3000m in an outright British record of 7:30.14 en route to his two mile world best time of 8:00.67 at the Millrose Games in New York on 6 February.

The NCAA indoor 1500m champion in 2017 and 2018, Kerr will be tackling his first international championship on the boards. “The 200m indoor track isn’t always the best suited to some of us,” he confessed. “I need to be sure I’m careful with that, because my body is not always great on tight bends.”

Third fastest on indoor PBs, behind Wale (7:24.98) and Barega (7:25.82) is Yared Nuguse of the USA, with 7:28.24.

The North American indoor record-holder at 1500m, one mile and 3000m, he followed a 3:47.83 victory in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games – the third fastest time in history – by taking the US indoor 3000m title in Albuquerque in 7:55.76.

Norway's Narve Gilje Nordas took world 1500m bronze last year, finishing just 0.30 behind Kerr. He has raced just once over 3000m this year, winning at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Madrid with an outright PB of 7:41.28. He also showed in Budapest that he is a smart championship racer.

The European challenge will be bolstered by the seasoned Spanish campaigner Adel Mechaal. The 33-year-old has won European indoor gold, silver and bronze medals at the event. He finished fifth in the 2018 world indoor final in Birmingham and seventh in Belgrade two years ago.

Also in the field are Italy’s Pietro Arese and Belgium’s John Heymens, who have improved to 7:38.42 and 7:41.59 this season.

Simon Turnbull for World Athletics