German shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye (© Christel Saneh for World Athletics)
Three global champions will clash in a shot put showdown at the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, this season’s fifth World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold fixture, on Friday (7).
At a meeting that features multiple major medallists, the women’s shot put is set to be among the highlights as it brings together Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye, world indoor champion Sarah Mitton and two-time world champion Chase Jackson as they all meet indoors for the first time since last year’s World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
It was Mitton who got gold in Glasgow, the Canadian throwing 20.22m for a mark that remains her indoor best, while Ogunleye set a PB of 20.19m to secure silver ahead of Jackson.
Ogunleye went on to become the Olympic champion in Paris, while Mitton won the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels in September ahead of Jackson and Ogunleye, which was the last time they all went head-to-head.
USA’s Jackson opened her season with a win at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Astana and then was third in Val-de-Reuil, one place behind Mitton in a competition won by Dutch record-holder Jessica Schilder.
Schilder is also among the entries for Karlsruhe and she starts as the world leader thanks to her 19.85m put in Val-de-Reuil. Ogunleye sits second on the top list so far this season with her throw of 19.77m in Nordhausen last month and will look to build on that when she returns to action in front of another home crowd.
Joining them in the line-up are Schilder’s compatriot Jorinde van Klinken and Sweden’s Fanny Roos.
Another home star features in the women’s long jump. Two-time world champion Malaika Mihambo opened her season with a 6.79m leap in Dortmund last month and in Karlsruhe she will go up against her compatriot Mikaelle Assani, who placed fourth at the World Indoor Championships last year, plus Sweden’s Khaddi Sagnia and Serbia’s Milica Gardasevic.
In the women’s pole vault, Great Britain’s world indoor champion Molly Caudery will open her season in a clash against Canada’s Olympic bronze medallist Alysha Newman, European champion Angelica Moser of Switzerland and Slovenia’s 2022 world indoor bronze medallist Tina Sutej.
Global medallists take to the track
World 1500m bronze medallist Narve Gilje Nordas is also among those making his indoor season debut in Karlsruhe, although the Norwegian began his year with a 27:33 10km in Valencia last month.
Nordas races the 3000m on Friday, when he will go up against home athletes Mohamed Abdilaahi, Maximilian Thorwirth and Florian Bremm, and Canada's Charles Philibert-Thiboutot.
Ethiopia’s four-time world indoor finalist Habitam Alemu leads the entries for the women’s 800m. The 27-year-old ran her indoor PB of 1:57.86 when winning at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Torun last year and now she opens her season in Karlsruhe, where she will race a field featuring her compatriot Worknesh Mesele, Switzerland’s Audrey Werro, Slovenia’s Anita Horvat and South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso, who contests the second indoor 800m of her career after making her debut in Belgrade last week.
The women’s 3000m includes Ethiopia’s Olympic steeplechase finalist Lomi Muleta, who finished fifth in Ostrava on Tuesday, plus Portugal’s Mariana Machado and Italy’s Federica Del Buono, who last clashed in the World Cross Country Tour Gold meeting in Albufeira on Sunday.
Kenya’s Collins Kipruto, who won the overall World Indoor Tour title in the 800m in 2020, races the third 1500m of his career and his first ever indoors. He’ll be challenged by Samuel Pihlstrom, who ran a Swedish indoor mile record of 3:54.78 in Ostrava, plus Italy’s Federico Riva and Spain’s Ignacio Fontes.
Three Olympic bronze medallists – 4x100m teammates Gina Luckenkemper, Alexandra Burghardt and Lisa Mayer – star in the 60m in front of a home crowd.
The trio combined with Rebekka Haase to finish third in the relay in Paris and now they will challenge themselves in an event that also features The Gambia’s African 100m champion Gina Mariam Bass Bittaye.
They will face tough opposition from Luxembourg’s Patrizia van der Weken, who pipped Poland’s world indoor silver medallist Ewa Swoboda to victory in Ostrava, missing her recently set PB by just 0.01 with 7.08.
The men’s 60m hurdles should also be highly competitive, as it features Spain’s 2022 world 110m hurdles bronze medallist Asier Martinez, world finalist Wilhem Belocian of France, 2019 European indoor champion Milan Trajkovic of Cyprus and USA’s Jamal Britt, who was fourth at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Boston on Sunday.
In the 400m events, Great Britain’s Lina Nielsen will take on Belgium’s Naomi Van Den Broeck, while Spain’s Oscar Husillos will open his season over the distance against South Africa’s Zakithi Nene and US indoor champion Brian Faust.
