Molly Caudery in action in Madrid (© Getty Images)
Global gold medallists Molly Caudery and Chase Jackson were among the stars who secured overall tour titles with wins at the final World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of the season in Madrid on Friday (28).
Patrizia van der Weken, Leyanis Perez and Brian Faust also got tour top spots thanks to their victories at the Gallur track in the Spanish capital, while Enrique Llopis delighted home fans by twice equalling the national record in the men’s 60m hurdles.
The scoring disciplines on the World Indoor Tour rotate each year and in Madrid they included the women’s 60m, 800m, 3000m, pole vault, triple jump and shot put, plus the men’s 400m, 1500m and 60m hurdles. Each athlete’s best three results throughout the season counted towards their overall point score.
Caudery clinched her title in style and gave herself a welcome confidence boost a few weeks out from the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn and the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, where she will defend her global pole vault crown.
The 24-year-old British record-holder cleared a season’s best of 4.85m – just a single centimetre off her indoor PB – on her third attempt to win both the competition and the tour title ahead of Slovenia’s 2022 world indoor bronze medallist Tina Sutej. Caudery had first-time clearances at each height up to 4.75m and was confirmed the victor when Sutej was unable to make it over that bar. Caudery then passed at 4.80m and tried 4.85m, soaring clear on her third and final try.
“I’m really happy with that, it was such a fun competition. I know that I am in good shape, so I’m very excited for the next few weeks,” said Caudery, who was competing off a full approach in Madrid.
“I’ve been dealing with a couple of very small niggles here and there so I’ve been off a short approach for the majority of the season,” she added. “But this is the first day that I was really healthy out there and could express myself, which is what I’ve not been able to do. So, I’m feeling back to my old self, which is nice.”
As was the case in the women’s pole vault, there were also head-to-head battles for the tour titles in the women’s shot put and triple jump.
USA’s two-time world champion Jackson was up against Canada’s world indoor gold medallist Sarah Mitton in the shot put and despite suffering from illness ahead of event day, Jackson managed to throw 19.48m to win by 11cm. That gave Jackson a third set of full points following her victories in Astana and Torun, to take the title ahead of Mitton, who won in Karlsruhe and was third in Torun.
In the triple jump, Cuba’s world indoor silver medallist Perez leapt 14.42m to beat Finland’s Senni Salminen (13.99m) and Slovenia’s Neja Filipic, who had also been in the running for the tour title and finished third on the day with 13.87m.
The men’s triple jump was not a World Indoor Tour scoring discipline but Lazaro Martinez ensured it was a Cuban triple jump double in Madrid. The 2022 world indoor gold medallist put himself ahead with 16.42m in the first round and went even farther with his next attempt, measured at 16.74m. That would have been enough to triumph, but he sealed victory by soaring 17.12m in the fourth round to win by more than half a metre. Burkina Faso’s world champion Hugues Fabrice Zango was second on his season opener, leaping 16.55m.
Van der Weken and Faust storm to titles
Luxembourg’s Van der Weken was rewarded for her consistency this season in the 60m. The world indoor finalist set a national record of 7.07 in January and then won in Ostrava and Karlsruhe, putting her in contention for the tour title.
She secured it with her win in Madrid in 7.09, the joint third-fastest run of her career so far, as she dipped ahead of Great Britain’s Bianca Williams who ran a 7.16 PB and Portugal’s Lorene Bazolo in an equal national record of 7.17. Van der Weken had earlier won her heat in 7.15.
USA’s Faust claimed a commanding win to become the overall World Indoor Tour champion in the 400m. The 26-year-old, who finished fourth at the US Indoor Championships last weekend, added another full set of points to those he gained after winning in Karlsruhe and finishing third in Belgrade to take the tour title ahead of Hungary’s Attila Molnar, who had been due to compete in Madrid but withdrew due to illness.
Faust won unchallenged in 45.74, while the runner-up spot was claimed by Oscar Husillos ahead of his Spanish compatriot Inaki Canal, 46.31 to 46.35.
There were in effect two winners in the men’s 60m hurdles. The first was Olympic fourth-place finisher Llopis, who matched the Spanish record he jointly holds with Orlando Ortega in both the heats and final, clocking 7.48 in each race, much to the delight of the home crowd.
That won him the final ahead of France’s Wilhem Belocian, whose runner-up finish in 7.51 was enough to put him top of the tour standings, just ahead of USA’s Dylan Beard, who finished fourth in the race in 7.54. Spain’s Asier Martinez was third in 7.53.
It was a similar story in the men’s 1500m. Ethiopia’s Melese Nberet surged to victory, celebrating as he reached the finish line in 3:38.22 ahead of Spain’s Pol Oriach (3:39.03) and Luxembourg's Charles Grethen (3:39.32). Sweden's Samuel Pihlstrom started the race top of the tour standings and although he finished seventh in Madrid, he had already done enough to secure the overall tour title.
European indoor champion Adrian Ben ran a well-judged race to win his first 800m of the year. After finishing second in the 1500m at the Spanish Indoor Championships on the same track five days earlier, he returned to run an 800m indoor PB of 1:45.39 to hold off a fast-finishing Jonah Koech (1:45.78) and Great Britain’s Callum Dodds (1:45.86 PB).
Slovenia’s Anita Horvat became a European indoor silver medallist at the last edition of the continental event in 2023 and she will head to the 2025 edition in Apeldoorn in the form of her life, as she won the women’s 800m A race in an indoor PB of 2:00.35. Ethiopia’s Worknesh Mesele kicked past her compatriot Tigist Girma at the bell to take the lead but Horvat went wide off the final bend and Mesele couldn’t respond. Horvat stretched for the line to clinch the win, three tenths of a second ahead of Mesele. Agathe Guillemot of France came through for third place in an indoor PB of 2:00.66.
Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom claimed a dominant win in the 3000m to clinch her first World Indoor Tour Gold race victory. The 19-year-old, who took seven seconds off the world U20 indoor 3000m record with 8:25.37 for third place in Lievin, this time solo ran 8:38.45 to win by more than 12 seconds ahead of her compatriot Lomi Muleta (8.50.78).
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
