Action in the 60m at the World Indoor Championships (© AFP / Getty Images)
In just a matter of hours, athletes will take to the start line for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25, the first global athletics event of the year.
Action will come thick and fast as five champions will be crowned on the first day, while qualifying rounds of several other disciplines get under way.
Fabulous five
The first action of the day – and, indeed, the championships – comes in the form of the women’s pentathlon 60m hurdles. The combined eventers will contest three disciplines in the morning, then two more in the evening, culminating with the 800m.
European indoor champion and world Saga Vanninen will start as the favourite as she bids to become the first Finnish woman to win a senior global combined events title, but anything can happen over the course of five disciplines.
Fast and furious
The first day draws to a close with the final of the men’s 60m, the shortest discipline on the programme but also often the most intense. There is little room for error in just six-and-a-half seconds of sprinting. And with no past winners entered for Nanjing, a new champion is guaranteed to emerge.
European indoor champion Jeremiah Azu takes on USA’s Ronnie Baker, a world indoor bronze medallist back in 2018. But with such fine margins, there’s scope for other contenders to come through and sneak a medal.
Shots fired
The women’s shot put is as competitive as it has been for a long time. Four of the athletes competing in Nanjing have won global titles in recent years. And seven athletes in the field have PBs beyond 20 metres.
Defending champion Sarah Mitton and newly crowned European indoor champion Jessica Schilder have this year produced the longest indoor throws in 12 years. The battle for gold won’t just be between those two, though. Two-time world champion Chase Jackson will also want to have a say, as will 2021 Olympic champion Gong Lijiao, perhaps the host nation’s best chance of a medal.
Triple threat
The first title will be decided during Friday’s morning session with the final of the men’s triple jump.
World leader and Olympic bronze medallist Andy Diaz Hernandez takes on world champion Hugues Fabrice Zango, 2022 world indoor champion Lazaro Martinez and European indoor silver medallist Max Hess. But also keep an eye on Chinese duo Zhu Yaming and Su Wen, who could get among the medals.
In the heights
The evening session starts with the men’s high jump final, where the last two winners of this title – Hamish Kerr and Woo Sanghyeok – will renew their rivalry.
Kerr knows how to peak when it matters; last year he jumped 2.36m to win the world indoor title in Glasgow, then equalled that PB to take Olympic gold in Paris.
Woo is also a proven championship performer. And so is Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk, who recently took European indoor gold with a world-leading 2.34m.
