Polish hurdler Jakub Szymański (© World Athletics 
Adam Nurkiewicz)
Jakub Szymański continued his preparations for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26 on home soil by clocking a Polish 60m hurdles record of 7.37 at the ISTAF Indoor – a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting – in Berlin on Friday (6).
The performance moves the European indoor champion to joint seventh on the world all-time list and extends his 60m hurdles win streak to 11 races this season.
World shot put champion Jessica Schilder also achieved a world lead, throwing 20.69m to match the Dutch record she set when winning the European indoor title on home soil in Apeldoorn last year. That result in Apeldoorn had been the farthest indoor throw in the world since 2013.
The 26-year-old’s 20.69m in Berlin adds 20 centimetres to her own world lead that had also been set in Apeldoorn, last month. Schilder now owns three of the four farthest winning marks of the season and is unbeaten so far in 2026.
Her first valid mark of the competition was 20.38m from the third round and she followed that with a throw of 20.03m. She closed her campaign in style, throwing 20.69m from her final attempt.
Szymański maintained his own win streak in Berlin and with that 7.37 he now sits alongside US indoor champion Dylan Beard and silver medallist Trey Cunningham at the head of the season top list.
Only one European athlete has ever gone quicker – Great Britain’s former world record-holder Colin Jackson with his marks of 7.30 and 7.36 from 1994.
Szymański’s previous national record was 7.39, set in Łódź in February last year. The 23-year-old will look to take this impressive form with him to Toruń when the World Indoor Championships take place from 20-22 March.
It was a Polish 1-2 in Berlin, as Damian Czykier was second in the final in 7.55.
In other action in Berlin, Great Britain’s Jeremiah Azu ran a PB and meeting record of 6.47 ahead of his world indoor 60m title defence in Kujawy Pomorze. He now sits joint fifth on the season top list. Emmanuel Eseme was second in 6.55.
Dutch 2018 world indoor bronze medallist Nadine Visser pipped Switzerland’s world 100m hurdles champion Ditaji Kambundji in the women’s 60m hurdles – 7.81 to 7.82. Canada’s Sade McCreath won the 60m in 7.12.
