Kishane Thompson wins the 60m in Astana (© Alexey Gubanov)
Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson got his indoor season off to a winning start at the Astana Indoor Meet for Amin Tuyakov Prizes – the opening World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2025 – in the Kazakh capital on Saturday (25).
But there was a slight fright as the 23-year-old grimaced over the line in the 60m and limped momentarily in the aftermath of a final he won in a time of 6.56.
The Olympic 100m silver medallist, denied agonisingly by just 0.005 by Noah Lyles last summer in Paris, had marked himself out as a serious threat to the US sprinter yet again in 2025 with a season-opening 6.48 outdoors back in Jamaica last weekend.
A week on after a 32-hour journey to the Kazakh capital, he was less assured, struggling with his start in the heats and again looking forced in his running but it was still enough to take a deserved win.
In the heats, Thompson was slow out of the blocks but still booked his place in the final comfortably with 6.58. He let out a roar as he was announced to the crowd for the meeting’s finale, so too as he was called to his marks, and then he used his power to take a clear win.
Hopes of a duel with 2021 Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse were denied. The Canadian had always warned that 60m was probably too short a distance for him and he had to make do with fifth place in the final as Oman’s Ali Anwar Baluchi was second to Thompson and Japan’s Shuhei Tada third in 6.60 and 6.62 respectively.
De Grasse’s partner Nia Ali had, on paper, been the star attraction in the women’s 60m hurdles but, despite qualifying for the final, did not take up her place in the eight-woman line-up because of injury.
In her absence, Yuri Tanaka clocked a personal best 8.05 with a big dip to the line ahead of Finland’s Nooralotta Neziri and Klaudia Wojtunik of Poland.
In the other 60m final, Tia Clayton broke the meeting record, clocking 7.18 for a comfortable win while twin sister Tina, a double world U20 champion, who matched her in the opening 20 metres, struggled in the latter stages and had to make do with third. The siblings, like compatriot Thompson coached by Stephen Francis, were separated by Portugal’s Lorene Bazolo.
The women’s 3000m was a testament to youth as a 16-year-old Marta Alemayo out-kicked her fellow Ethiopian Shito Gumi, herself just 17, to shatter the world U18 best for the distance.
The world U20 cross-country champion sliced more than six seconds off the mark, which had stood for 12 years, to cross the line in 8:39.80.
The teenager had tried to force her way into the lead by going up the inside but, when she found that blocked by Gumi, and Axumawit Embaye, the third Ethiopian in the field, she showed age-defying maturity to go round the outside to take the win.
Marta Alemayo wins the 3000m in Astana (© Alexey Gubanov)
As a two-time world champion outdoors, Chase Jackson had looked a class apart going into the shot put and so it proved, the only athlete capable of throwing beyond 19 metres.
Her second-round effort of 19.13m was an early world lead and proved a strong start to 2025 having endured the disappointment of failing to qualify for the final of the event at the Paris Olympics last year.
Britain’s Alex Haydock Wilson, a double Olympic relay medallist last year, held off the challenge of Chidi Okezie to win the 400m. His time of 46.47 was an improvement of half a second of his run in Luxembourg just a few days earlier.
World and Olympic medallist Sada Williams of Barbados navigated her way through the field on the second lap of the women’s 400m to win in 53.51.
Just two centimetres separated the top three in the men’s long jump, as Lester Lescay’s 7.91m took the win ahead of US duo Marquis Dendy and Isaac Grimes.
Local favourite Nadezha Dubovitskaya, who cleared two metres back in 2021 and was a 2022 world indoor medallist, could only finish fourth in a women’s high jump competition which Japan’s Nagisa Takahashi won with a clearance of 1.88m. The men’s event, meanwhile, was won by Luis Castro for Puerto Rico after clearing 2.15m.
Astana is one of nine Gold level World Indoor Tour events in 2025, with the series also taking in the likes of Boston, New York, Madrid and Belgrade.
Matt Majendie for World Athletics
