World leads for Werro and Sarâboyukov in Belgrade

World-leading performances by Bozhidar Sarâboyukov and Audrey Werro were among the highlights at the Belgrade Indoor Meeting – the sixth World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event of the season – in the Serbian capital’s Atletska dvorana on Wednesday (11).

Sarâboyukov won a thrilling long jump clash with a leap of 8.45m – improving on the Bulgarian record and joint world lead of 8.39m he set just three days ago in Metz – while Werro dominated the 800m in a Swiss short track record of 1:57.27. Both were among a series of national and meeting records set as athletes ramp up their preparations for the World Indoor Championships in Poland next month.

European indoor champion Sarâboyukov and multiple global gold medallist Miltiadis Tentoglou traded the lead in the long jump but ultimately the Greek champion had no response to Sarâboyukov’s 8.45m in the penultimate round.

Sarâboyukov started strongly, opening with 8.23m and then going three centimetres farther in the second round, but Tentoglou improved that mark by a single centimetre with his own second jump to take the lead.

But Sarâboyukov was just getting warmed up and the 21-year-old improved to 8.29m in the fourth round and 8.45m in the fifth. Tentoglou closed with 8.26m but had to settle for second place, while Jamaica’s 2024 world indoor bronze medallist Carey McLeod was third on 8.22m. That 8.45m leap moves Sarâboyukov to joint ninth on the world indoor all-time list.

The men’s shot put offered another key clash and saw world indoor silver medallist Roger Steen defeat his US compatriot Jordan Geist, who started as the world leader.

Not only did Steen clinch the win, but he also achieved the farthest indoor throw in the world so far this year, improving on the 22.04m thrown by Geist in Ostrava earlier this month by three centimetres, managing 22.07m in the final round. Steen launched himself into the lead in the third round with 21.50m and improved to 21.60m in the fourth round before that 22.07m from his final attempt. Geist was second with 21.51m this time and Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi was third on 21.28m.

Ivana Španović gave the home crowd cause for early celebration as she twice improved the meeting record in the triple jump. Serbia’s 2023 world long jump champion is now focusing on the triple jump and she recorded 14.19m from her opening attempt before improving to 14.27m in the third round.

It secured her a second win of the season, following the national indoor record of 14.41m she set when competing in the same Atletska dvorana arena last month. Sweden’s double 2021 world U20 champion Maja Åskag finished second on 13.79m.

The field action opened with a home win and closed with one, too, as Serbia’s world bronze medallist Angelina Topić topped the high jump with her third-time clearance of 1.96m, equalling the meeting record. She decided to end her competition after that successful jump and took the win ahead of Montenegro’s Marija Vuković (1.94m). Milica Gardašević also got a win for Serbia, equalling her season’s best with 6.61m in the long jump.

Meeting records fall

On the track, Diamond League champion Werro secured her third 800m win in as many races this month, improving her own Swiss short track record to 1:57.27. It is the second time the 21-year-old has dipped under 1:57.50 in 11 days, following her 1:57.49 in Val-de-Reuil, and the performance moves her to eighth on the world short track all-time list.

With a solo run she won the race by more than four seconds and beat the meeting record of 1:59.66 that had been set by Tsige Duguma in 2024. Caroline Bredlinger was second in 2:01.80.

"It’s really a great reward, because I trained hard this winter and I felt ready to do a big time today," said Werro.

Joceline Wind secured another win for Switzerland in the 1500m. The World University Games champion surged into the lead with 500 metres remaining and could not be caught, setting a meeting record of 4:08.87. Italy’s Marta Zenoni chased her over the finish line in 4:09.40.

The meeting record also fell in the men’s 3000m, which came down to a sprint between South Africa’s Tshepo Tshite and Kenya’s Ishmael Kipkurui. Former 800m specialist Tshite clocked 7:50.87 in a tactical race, holding off world 10,000m fourth-place finisher Kipkurui (7:51.05). Ethiopia’s Hailemariyam Amare was third in a PB of 7:55.06. 

Italy’s two-time world indoor medallist Zaynab Dosso also twice improved the meeting record in the 60m, running 7.05 in the heats and 7.02 in the final to improve her own mark and miss her national record by just 0.01. Great Britain’s world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt was second in 7.09, equalling her PB.

After a series of call backs, the men’s 60m final got under way at the fifth time of asking and was won by Hungary’s Dominik Illovszky in a meeting and national record of 6.52 ahead of Toluwabori Akinola in an Irish record of 6.54.

Poland’s European indoor champion Jakub Szymański maintained his season win streak in the 60m hurdles, setting a season’s best and meeting record of 7.43 – the joint third-fastest time of his career. USA’s world and Olympic 110m hurdles medallist Daniel Roberts was second in 7.57.

Denmark’s Ida Beiter Bomme won the women’s final in 7.96 ahead of Hungary’s Luca Kozák in 7.98. Norway’s Elea Jørstad Bock went fastest in the heats, clocking 7.97, and she finished third in the final in 8.02.

Germany’s Jean Paul Bredau went quickest in the 400m, winning the first of the two finals in 46.42. Belgium’s 2024 world indoor champion Alexander Doom won the second final in 46.84.

Results