Ethiopia&rsquo;s Lamecha Girma, who has one Olympic and two world silver medals at the 3000m steeplechase, had a golden moment at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais on Wednesday (15), breaking the world indoor 3000m record with a stunning&nbsp;7:23.81* run at the&nbsp;World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold&nbsp;event.
After a prolonged&nbsp;mano-a-mano challenge with Spain&rsquo;s Mohamed Katir, both athletes dipped under the previous world record of 7:24.90 set by Kenya&rsquo;s Daniel Komen in Budapest on 6 February 1998, Katir finishing second in a European record of 7:24.68.
It was fourth time lucky in Lievin for Girma, who had contested the 3000m at this meeting for the past three years. In 2020 he missed out on a top-three finish. In 2021 he ran 7:27.98, one of the fastest times in history, but finished some way behind compatriots Getnet Wale and Selemon Barega. Girma then won the 3000m here in 2022 but was a couple of seconds shy of his PB.
This time, though, the world indoor silver medallist was the man of the moment.
"I am so happy with this result," said Girma. &ldquo;I was talking about this world record attempt for the past three days. My brother is my coach. He told me I had it in me and of course I believed him. I felt really good in training and it was my best form ever, plus the crowd was very supportive today.&nbsp;
"The pacers and the Wavelight were perfect &ndash; it all clicked. I have raced here several times in this meeting. The atmosphere and the crowd never disappoint. I hope the record stays for a long time."
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Paced through 1000m in 2:28.49, the leaders were right on schedule. As Girma took over, the clock showed 4:58.38 as he passed 2000m and he went on to race to a time of 7:23.81, taking more than a second off Komen's 25-year-old mark.
It was the 11th world record to have been set at the Arena Stade Couvert since home runner Bruno Marie-Rose won the European indoor 200m title in 20.36.
And this epic race, in which Katir shadowed the Ethiopian without managing to get past him, provided the crowning moment of a fifth World Indoor Tour Gold meeting of the season which saw six athletes &ndash; Keely Hodgkinson, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Gudaf Tsegay, Miltiadis Tentoglou, Liadagmis Povea and Katie Moon&nbsp;&ndash; set world-leading marks.
Both 400m meeting records were re-written by 400m hurdles specialists as Femke Bol of the Netherlands clocked 50.20 in the women&rsquo;s race and Norway&rsquo;s Karsten Warholm rounded off the night with a typically barnstorming effort to clock 45.51 in the men&rsquo;s race.
And there was defeat in the men&rsquo;s 60m for Italy&rsquo;s Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs, who had to give best to an effervescent Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya.
All in all, a full evening of excitement for a capacity crowd of 5000.
Ingebrigtsen, returning to the track where he set the world indoor 1500m record of 3:30.60 last year, had suspected he would not be operating in that region after missing more than a month&rsquo;s training because of a viral infection.
But after working hard for a victory in 3:32.38 that took him past the 3:33.22 set by Yared Nuguse of the United States at the top of this year&rsquo;s world list, he had the look of a relieved and happy man.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63ed67f678366e95e18346bd.jpg" alt="Jakob Ingebrigtsen on his way to 1500m victory in Lievin" />
Jakob Ingebrigtsen on his way to 1500m victory in Lievin (&copy; Dan Vernon)
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Before the race the 22-year-old Norwegian had declared: &ldquo;My main goal is to figure out where I am at.&rdquo; Job done. And in March he will be in Istanbul for the European Indoor Championships.
&ldquo;It was a tough race, but it&rsquo;s good to get one race in and I am very happy with it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So now I&rsquo;m looking forward to defending my 1500m and 3000m titles at the European Indoors.&rdquo;
Home runner Azeddine Habz took second place in a personal best of 3:35.27 ahead of Spain&rsquo;s Adel Mechaal, who recorded 3:36.55.
Tsegay, as expected, was in a race of her own over the second half of the women&rsquo;s 1500m, but the green snake of lights indicating the world record pace she had set on this track two years ago, when she ran 3:53.09, slithered just beyond her reach.
She was gritting her teeth as she came through for the bell but hung on to lower her world-leading mark of the season, set at 3:59.48 en route to her second-fastest indoor mile of all time in Torun a week ago, with a time of 3:57.47.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63ed6e5d054a34f637120f04.jpg" alt="Gudaf Tsegay races the 1500m in Lievin" />
Gudaf Tsegay races the 1500m in Lievin (&copy; Dan Vernon)
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Britain&rsquo;s Hodgkinson was steely in the women&rsquo;s 800m as she disposed of the challenge of Kenya&rsquo;s Mary Moraa, who beat her to the Commonwealth title in Birmingham last summer, to win in 1:57.71, bettering her own world lead of 1:57.87 set in Torun seven days ago.
The 22-year-old world and Olympic silver medallist had said she was &ldquo;a bit disappointed&rdquo; with her time in Poland, and she looked thoughtful rather than triumphant after a victory that was effectively established as the pacemaker peeled away shortly before the 600m mark.
Moraa finished well back, but still earned a personal best of 2:00.61, with French-based 37-year-old Noelie Yarigo of Benin taking third place in 2:01.47.
Tentouglou, Greece&rsquo;s Olympic and world indoor champion in the men&rsquo;s long jump, produced a mark of 8.32m with his first attempt and added five centimetres to it in round two.
He didn&rsquo;t stop there either, raising his best on the night to 8.41m with his fourth attempt, at which point he retired from the competition. Sweden&rsquo;s Thobias Montler was the only other jumper able to operate in 8.00m-plus territory, leaping 8.06m.
The women&rsquo;s triple jump produced a similar turn of events as Cuba&rsquo;s Povea improved the world lead of 14.64m she had managed in the opening World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe with a third-round effort of 14.81m.
The result in Germany was replicated as her compatriot Levanis Perez Hernandez took second place with a personal best of 14.65m ahead of Ukraine&rsquo;s European champion Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk on 14.01m.
In the women&rsquo;s pole vault, USA&rsquo;s Olympic and world champion Moon was all smiles after winning with a mark of 4.83m from Tina Sutej of Slovenia, who cleared 4.78m.&nbsp;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63ed67bd78366e95e18346ba.jpg" alt="Katie Moon celebrates her world-leading pole vault performance in Lievin" />
Katie Moon celebrates her world-leading pole vault performance in Lievin (&copy; Dan Vernon)
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Omanyala, also a smiling winner after his men&rsquo;s 60m heat, maintained his happy mood by defeating Olympic 100m champion Jacobs in the final in a national record of 6.54, with the Italian equalling his season&rsquo;s best of 6.57 in second place ahead of Arthur Cisse of the Ivory Coast, who clocked 6.59.
Four days after reducing the Dutch indoor 400m record to 49.96 in Metz, Bol was in dominant form once again. Just unable to get under 50 seconds once more, she came home more than a second clear of Poland&rsquo;s Anna Kielbasinska in a meeting record of 50.20.
&ldquo;I would have liked to get 49,&rdquo; the 22-year-old said. &ldquo;I think it was the second lap that made the difference. It was a tough last 50 metres. But now I will do Europeans for sure.&rdquo;
Warholm, who opened his season with a 45.31 clocking at his home meeting in Ulsteinvik, had thoughts of bettering the European record of 45.05 he shares with East Germany&rsquo;s Thomas Schoenlebe. After passing 200m in 21.3, bang on target, he was unable to find the required pace over the second lap in what was nevertheless another highly encouraging pointer for the world 400m hurdles record-holder&rsquo;s prospects at this summer&rsquo;s World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Meanwhile Olympic, world and European men&rsquo;s pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis maintained his winning momentum in his third event of the season but cut short his activities after clearing 6.01m at his second attempt, leaving an attempt at bettering his world record of 6.21m for another day.
Duplantis had seemed less than happy from his first effort, at 5.64m, where he sailed over but left a trailing knee close to the bar on the way down. After passing at 5.73m, a first-time clearance at 5.82m established him as joint-leader with Italy&rsquo;s Claudio Stecchi, who had also managed 5.82m, a personal best, with his first effort.
A rare blemish occurred on the Duplantis scoresheet as he took two attempts to clear 5.91m, but as all four remaining rivals went out at that point it was hardly critical, with Stecchi finishing second on a night he will long remember.
Australia&rsquo;s double Commonwealth champion Kurtis Marschall and Jacob Wooten of the United States finished joint third, with countback consigning Chris Nilsen to fifth place, all on 5.82m.
The pugnacious figure of Benjamin Robert shadowed Sweden&rsquo;s Andreas Kramer at the bell in the men&rsquo;s 800m before bustling past him just before the final bend and holding position to win in 1:46.78 &ndash; to loud acclamation.
As Kramer faded he was passed by Belgium&rsquo;s Eliott Crestan, who clocked 1:47.23, and 2019 world silver medallist Amel Tuka of Bosnia and Herzegovina, third in 1:47.86.
As it turned out, the Frenchman&rsquo;s winning time was slower than those recorded by the first two home in the previous men&rsquo;s B race, where Tony van Diepen of the Netherlands won in a personal best of 1:46.36 from Morocco&rsquo;s Moad Zahafi in 1:46.64.
Grant Holloway&rsquo;s incredible unbeaten indoor run in the 60m hurdles, stretching back to 2014 when he was 16, abides. The two-time world 110m hurdles champion from the United States, a peerless starter, was first to hurdle one once again and proceeded to win in 7.39, just 0.01 outside his current season-leading mark.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63ed6db7054a34f637120f01.jpg" alt="Grant Holloway wins the 60m hurdles in Lievin" />
Grant Holloway wins the 60m hurdles in Lievin (&copy; Dan Vernon)
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Compatriot Daniel Roberts was second in a season&rsquo;s best of 7.43 ahead of home runner and 2018 European champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde in 7.52.
The heats had seen another local hero Kevin Mayer, decathlon&rsquo;s world champion and record-holder, finish fifth in 7.80 in a race won by Holloway in 7.40, comfortably the fastest qualifying time.
With 1000m remaining in the women&rsquo;s 3000m, the race was between Ethiopia&rsquo;s Diribe Welteji and Lemlem Hailu, 30 metres clear of their nearest challengers.
At the bell, Hailu charged ahead of her compatriot but failed to move clear and Welteji produced a final effort over the last 20 metres that took her to victory in 8:34.84, with Hailu clocking 8:35.15. An Ethiopian top three was achieved as Mizam Alem came home in a personal best of 8:39.03 from Uganda&rsquo;s Sarah Chelangat, whose 8:41.16 was also a personal best.
Poland&rsquo;s Natalia Kaczmarek won the women&rsquo;s 400m B final in a personal best of 50.90.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure

Lamecha Girma takes down the 25-year-old record at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting

Girma breaks world indoor 3000m record with 7:23.81 in Lievin

World and Olympic gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen aims to extend his legacy at the Meeting de Madrid, the sixth stage of the 2023 World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold, at the Centro Deportivo Municipal Gallur on 22 February.
The Norwegian will target his second world indoor record, this time in the 3000m after breaking the 1500m record with&nbsp;3:30.60 earlier this year in Lievin.
Despite being just 22 years of age,&nbsp;Ingebrigtsen is already one of the most successful European middle distance athletes of all time. He is the reigning Olympic 1500m and world 5000m champion, and a nine-time European senior champion between the 1500m and 5000m outdoors, 1500m and 3000m indoors, and cross country.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Next he takes a shot at the world indoor 3000m record, in what will be his first ever track race on Spanish soil. The time to beat is 7:24.90, which was set by Kenya&rsquo;s Daniel Komen in Budapest in 1998.&nbsp;
As well as the world indoor 1500m record,&nbsp;Ingebrigtsen also owns the Olympic 1500m record with 3:28.32 and the European 1500m (3:28.32), 2000m (4:50.01) and 5000m (12:48.45) records.&nbsp;
A total of seven meetings feature in the 2023 World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold series, which starts in Karlsruhe, Germany, on 27 January before stops in Boston, Torun, New York, Lievin, Madrid and Birmingham.
For further information on the World Indoor Tour Madrid meeting, visit the <a href="https://www.madridindoorathletics.es/en/2022/12/22/jakob-ingebrigtsen-to-target-world-indoor-3000m-record-in-madrid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">event website</a>.
Organisers for World Athletics

World and Olympic gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen aims to extend his legacy at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting

Ingebrigtsen to target world indoor 3000m record in Madrid

The wait is almost over. The Pascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium is ready to welcome the world&rsquo;s best teenage athletes for the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22, taking place from 1-6 August.
The action-packed six-day programme gets under way on Monday with two finals, decathlon competition and a whole host of qualification rounds and heats.
<hr />
<h3><a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-u20-championships/cali22/highlights" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full daily highlights at a glance</a></h3>
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Here are three things to follow on day one. 
<h2>First crown to be claimed</h2>
The first winner of the&nbsp;World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 will be crowned in the women's 3000m. Aged just 15, Tsiyon Abebe has already made a mark on the world U18 all-time list and now the Ethiopian talent looks to leave an impression on the world U20 stage.
Racing at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rabat at the start of June, Abebe clocked 8:44.82 to improve on the 9:09.5 she recorded to win the Ethiopian U20 title in March. That performance in Rabat moved her to ninth on the world U18 all-time list and makes her the quickest on the start line in Cali.
She faces some strong competition for the title, however. Betty Chelangat and Nancy Cherop will be looking to follow in the footsteps of their compatriot Teresiah Muthoni Gateri, who won the 3000m title for Kenya on home soil last year, and they have also dipped below nine minutes for the discipline this year. So too has Abebe's compatiot Bertukan Welde, with 8:59.10 recorded at the Diamond League meeting in Doha. Finland&rsquo;s Ilona Mononen will also be on the hunt for a medal, looking to improve on her fifth-place finish in Nairobi last year. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62e71c944e6e94992dcbcf6f.jpg" alt="Tsiyon Abebe races behind Mercy Cherono and Medina Eisa in the 3000m at the Wanda Diamond League in Rabat" />
Tsiyon Abebe races behind Mercy Cherono and Medina Eisa in the 3000m at the Wanda Diamond League in Rabat (&copy; Geoffroy Van der Hasselt for Diamond League AG)
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<h2>From Oregon to Cali</h2>
Some of the rising stars in action at the recent World Athletics Championships Oregon22 will take to the track again as they go for U20 gold in Cali. Eritrea&rsquo;s Merhawi Mebrahtu and Uganda&rsquo;s Peter Maru both raced in the 5000m heats in Eugene, while Mebrahtu&rsquo;s teammate Samuel Habtom finished 17th in the 10,000m final.
National U20 record-holder Mebrahtu was fifth in the 5000m and fourth in the 3000m at the last edition of the World U20 Championships and will be targeting his first podium place, while Habtom claimed 3000m bronze in Nairobi and then finished one place behind his compatriot in the 5000m final the following day. Maru also seeks a first global medal after finishing fifth in the 1500m in Nairobi last August.
Despite their impressive performances so far, this trio does not feature the fastest in the field &ndash; that top spot is filled by Ethiopia&rsquo;s Addisu Yihune, who finished fourth in Nairobi. He ran his 12:58.99 PB in June 2021 and clocked 13:02.10 to win in Grosseto in May.
In a competitive clash, this quartet will be joined by athletes including Maru&rsquo;s teammate Rogers Kibet, Japan&rsquo;s Keita Sato and Kanya&rsquo;s Samuel Kibathi.&nbsp; 
<h2>10 events, one winner</h2>
Some of the world&rsquo;s best U20 combined events athletes will get their campaigns under way on Monday, when the morning session hosts the decathlon 100m, long jump and shot put, before the high jump and 400m in the afternoon. 
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 Five of the entries have surpassed 7500 points this season, led by Jacob Thelander with the Swedish U20 record of 7823 he achieved in Ljungby in May. Look out for him on Monday afternoon, as the high jump is among his strongest events &ndash; he set a 2.10m PB in that discipline earlier this year and also has a wind-legal long jump best of 7.36m.
Pol Ferrer won this year's Spanish U20 title with a score of 7623, while Yoram Vriezen claimed the Dutch U20 title with a 7592 PB. French teammates Pierre Blaecke and Sacha Rifflart have respectively set PBs of 7584 and 7571 this year.
The winner will be crowned on day two.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

World Athletics U20 Championships

The wait is almost over.

Three things to follow on day one in Cali: on your marks…

More than 1500 athletes from 145 teams are set to compete at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 between 1-6 August.
Here we take a look at the women's and men's distance events at the Pascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s 800m</h2>
USA appears to hold the strongest hand in the women&rsquo;s 800m due to the formidable duo they are sending to Cali: Juliette Whittaker and Roisin Willis. Whittaker, 18, ran her PB of 1:59.04 to take the US U20 title in Eugene last month, the second time this year she has run below two minutes. Willis &ndash; whose mother Breda Dennehy-Willis was a 5000m Olympian for Ireland in the Sydney Olympics &ndash; finished second to Whittaker at the US U20 Championships in 2:00.32 and ran her PB of 2:00.03 in early June. The 17-year-old rising star also won the US high school 400m title last month in 52.64.
Going up against them are several strong candidates for gold, among them Switzerland&rsquo;s Audrey Werro, who won the European U20 title last year at this distance and who lowered her PB to 2:00.28 in Geneva last month, a Swiss U23 record. Slovenia&rsquo;s Veronika Sadek should also feature, a 2:01.52 athlete this year.
Ethiopia will have Ksanet Alem, who ran 2:01.61 for 800m and 4:06.29 for 1500m in Spain last month. Britain&rsquo;s Abigail Ives should also be in the mix, a 2:01.88 athlete this year. Kenya&rsquo;s Nelly Chepchirchir looks the stronger of their duo &ndash; she has run 2:02.00 this season. Australia&rsquo;s Claudia Hollingsworth and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Wezam Tesfay should also go close, with season&rsquo;s bests below 2:03. 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s 800m</h2>
Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ermias Girma appears to have a great shot at winning his first major international title when the 17-year-old takes on the world&rsquo;s best teenagers in Cali. He clocked a hugely impressive 1:44.36 in Lokeren, Belgium, in May and lowered his 1500m best to 3:36.28 later that month. However, his sole race since then came at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon where he was knocked out in the 800m heats after finishing fourth in 1:49.36.
Kenya&rsquo;s Noah Kibet could be the biggest danger. The 18-year-old won bronze in this race last year and clocked a season&rsquo;s best of 1:44.89 in Ostrava in May before reaching the 800m semifinals at the World Championships in Oregon. &nbsp;
Poland&rsquo;s Kacper Lewalski should also have a huge say in the medal shake-up. The 19-year-old was sixth in the world U20 800m final in Nairobi last year and won silver at the European U20 Championships. He clocked 1:44.84 on home turf in Silesia at the end of last season and this year he has a best of 1:45.48.
Eritrea will have a big contender in Abderezak Suleman, who has run 1:46.56 this year, while Djibouti&rsquo;s Abdo-Razak Hassan should also feature, a 1:46.75 athlete this year. Three other athletes in the entries &ndash; which total a whopping 62 competitors &ndash; have run under 1:47 this year: Italy&rsquo;s Francesco Pernici, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Mersimoi Kasahun and USA&rsquo;s Samuel Rodman. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s 1500m</h2>
Ethiopia has the two quickest U20 women in the world this year and, as such, Birke Haylom and Mebriht Mekonen will be hoping to lead the field home in Cali. Haylom, 16, ran her PB of 4:02.25 at altitude in Nairobi back in May, which given the thin air of the Kenyan capital suggests she can go much quicker. Her 17-year-old teammate Mekonen ran her PB of 4:03.29 to finish seventh in Ostrava back in May, and she followed that up with a 4:03.60 in Montreuil, France, just two days later. Kenyan duo Brenda Chebet and Purity Chepkirui could put up the strongest fight. Chebet is a 4:05.50 athlete this year while Chepkirui is the reigning world U20 champion who has run 4:08.08 this year. She also won silver at the African Championships last month.
The European charge will be led by Norway&rsquo;s Ingeborg Ostgard, the European U20 champion who lowered her PB to 4:09.91 in Oslo in June. Spain&rsquo;s Mireya Arnedillo is also a contender, given she was sixth in the world U20 1500m final last year and has since lowered her PB to 4:11.06. USA will be represented by Addison Wiley and Mia Barnett. Wiley is the US U20 champion and has run 4:15.53 this year, while Barnett has run 4:11.32. Others of note include South Africa&rsquo;s Danielle Verster, Switzerland&rsquo;s Lilly Nageli, Australia&rsquo;s Nicola Hogg and Japan&rsquo;s Azumi Nagira, who have all run 4:15 or faster this year.&nbsp; 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s 1500m</h2>
Kenya&rsquo;s Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot looks the standout athlete in the men&rsquo;s 1500m field, possessing a PB of 3:34.02 which he ran in Heusden, Belgium, earlier this month. Before that he had finished a close fourth in the Kenyan Trials for the World Championships in Oregon, clocking 3:34.77 at altitude in Nairobi. His teammate Daniel Kimaiyo will also have eyes on gold in Cali &ndash; the 17-year-old clocked his PB of 3:36.09 to win the Kenyan Trials for Cali in Nairobi earlier this month.
Ethiopia will send a strong pair into the event in Ermias Girma and Adihana Kasaye. Girma is also entered for the 800m in Cali and he possesses a PB of 1:44.36 in that event, speed which could be put to great use in the 1500m final. He has a 1500m best of 3:36.28 which he ran in May. Kasaye recently finished third in the African Championships in 3:38.27 and his PB of 3:36.38 was run indoors in February.
USA&rsquo;s Nathan Green ran his PB of 3:37.46 to reach the NCAA final in June and he went on to take the US U20 title at the same track in Eugene last month. Luxembourg&rsquo;s Vivien Henz has broken his PB four times this year and it currently stands at 3:38.89, while Hungary&rsquo;s Ferenc Soma Kovacs has run 3:39.88 and should also feature in the final. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s 3000m</h2>
Ethiopia appears to have a great chance of reclaiming this title from Kenya as they send to the line the two fastest U20 women in the world this year in Medina Eisa and Tsiyon Abebe. Eisa, 17, clocked 8:41.42 to finish third at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rabat last month, where Abebe, 15, lowered her best to 8:44.82 in sixth.
Kenya will have high hopes of retaining the title won last year by Teresiah Muthoni Gateri and they look to have two great chances with Betty Chelangat and Nancy Cherop, who have run 8:51.33 and 8:52.86 this year.
Finland&rsquo;s Ilona Mononen is the fastest European with the 9:02.00 she ran last month and the reigning European U20 champion will be looking to improve on her fifth-place finish in last year&rsquo;s world U20 final.
There are five other athletes in the field who have run below 9:20: Agate Caune of Latvia, Ina Halle Haugen of Norway, Siona Chisholm of Canada, Kate Peters of USA and Sofia Benfares of Germany. 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s 3000m</h2>
Ethiopia&rsquo;s Diriba Girma looks to hold a strong chance of retaining this title for his nation following Tadese Worku&rsquo;s victory in Nairobi last year. The 19-year-old is the quickest in the field this year via the 7:38.79 he ran indoors, and he will be joined in Cali by Melkeneh Azize, who ran 7:42.95 indoors.
Uganda also has a strong contender for gold in Dan Kibet, who has run 7:45.73 for 3000m and 13:19.38 for 5000m this year. Kenya&rsquo;s challenge is led by Edwin Kimosong Kisalsak, who has run 7:50.71, while teammate Felix Kiptarus Korir should also put in a bold showing.
There is a pair of strong entrants from Europe in Ireland&rsquo;s Nick Griggs and Denmark&rsquo;s Joel Ibler Lilleso. Griggs was European U20 champion over 3000m last year and clocked a European U20 indoor mile record of 3:56.40 in March before smashing the Irish U20 record with 7:53.40 this month. Lilleso was European U20 champion at 5000m last year and clocked 7:48.34 for 3000m indoors. He lowered his 5000m best to 13:29.58 last month.
Sweden&rsquo;s Jonathan Grahn has clocked 7:54.66 indoors this year, while Australia&rsquo;s Thomas Diamond, Djibouti&rsquo;s Hassan Idleh Diraneh and Mexico&rsquo;s Ian Sanchez are the others who have dipped under the eight-minute barrier this year. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s 5000m</h2>
Ethiopia scored a 1-2 in this event at last year&rsquo;s championships in Nairobi via Mizan Alem and Melknat Wudu and they look capable of repeating that feat in Cali. Wudu, the silver medallist at 5000m and bronze medallist at 3000m last year, tops the entries with the 15:08.65 PB she ran to finish fourth at the African Championships last month, while she also set a 3000m PB of 8:45.76 in Doha in May. She will be joined in Cali by teammate Medina Eisa, who lowered her PB to 15:14.01 last month.
Uganda&rsquo;s Prisca Chesang won bronze in this race last year in Nairobi and the 18-year-old is sure to put in another strong showing after clocking 15:34.19 at altitude in Kampala, Uganda, last month. She clocked her PB of 15:05.39 in Hengelo last year.
Spain&rsquo;s Carla Dominguez was fifth in the world U20 final last year and the European U20 champion showed strong form earlier in the summer, clocking a 5000m PB of 15:38.61, though she didn&rsquo;t finish a couple of 5000m races she lined up for in June.
Kenya is sure to have its typical strong showing and they&rsquo;ll be represented here by Maureen Cherotich and Jane Ghati Chacha. Cherotich was sixth in the world U20 final last year and clocked a PB of 15:41.26 at altitude in Nairobi earlier this month, where Chacha was runner-up in 15:50.53. Also among the entries is Finland&rsquo;s Ilona Mononen, who has run 15:43.20 this year. She is also entered for the 1500m and 3000m. 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s 5000m</h2>
Ethiopia&rsquo;s Addisu Yihune finished fourth in the world U20 5000m final in Nairobi last year, but the 19-year-old looks likely to leave Cali with a medal &ndash; quite possibly gold. He&rsquo;s the quickest U20 in the world this year with the 13:02.10 he ran in Grosseto, Italy, in May, and he will be backed up here by teammate Gebeyehu Belay.
They will face stiff competition from an athlete beaten into fifth place in Nairobi last year, Eritrea&rsquo;s Merhawi Mebrahtu, who also finished fourth in the 3000m at those championships. He clocked an Eritrean U20 5000m record of 13:04.49 in Huelva, Spain, in May and was knocked out in the heats of the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. Mebrahtu&rsquo;s compatriot Samuel Habtom should also feature strongly &ndash; the 18-year-old was the world U20 bronze medallist at 3000m last year and lowered his 5000m best to 13:13.74 in May, then finished 17th in the world 10,000m final in Oregon.
Uganda&rsquo;s hopes are led by Peter Maru, who was fifth in the world U20 1500m final in Nairobi last year and who lowered his 5000m PB to 13:07.42 in Oslo last month. He will be joined by teammate Rogers Kibet, the promising 17-year-old who clocked a world U18 lead of 13:14.68 in May.
One to watch from Japan will be Keita Sato, the 18-year-old who set a national U20 record of 13:22.91 in May. Kenya&rsquo;s hopes will be carried by Samuel Kibathi and Nelson Mandela, with Kibathi the faster of the two on personal bests with 13:35.60.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

A look at the women's and men's 800m, 1500, 3000m and 5000m

WU20 Cali 22 preview: distance

The Ethiopian domination of the men&rsquo;s 3000m continued with an eighth gold and a second successive 1-2 in the event, Selemon Barega emerging victorious from a last-lap sprint with compatriot Lamecha Girma in the final morning session at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
Four years ago in Birmingham in 2018, Barega had to settle for silver behind Yomif Kejelcha but that was when he was an 18-year-old junior still learning his craft.
Four years on, with an Olympic 10,000m gold and world 5000m silver back home, the 22-year-old had too much strength and speed when Girma attempted to launch an attack on the back straight of the final lap, crossing the line 0.25 clear in 7:41.38.
As in the Olympic steeplechase final in Tokyo last year, and over the barriers in the 2019 world final in Doha, Girma finished in the silver position again, clocking 7:41.63, with Marc Scott timing his effort to perfection to claim Britain&rsquo;s first medal in Belgrade &ndash; and their first in the event since Rob Denmark&rsquo;s bronze in Seville in 1991.
It was a slow burner of a contest, Barega moving to the front after the opening lap and leading the field to 800m in 2:04.20. At that point, however, he was content to drift back as Kenyans Daniel Ebenyo and Jacob Krop assumed the lead but without ever threatening to make a decisive break.
At the bell Barega was back in front with six others still in the hunt but none of them could match him &ndash; even Girma, who had got the better of him earlier in the season in Lievin and Torun.
&ldquo;We came to Belgrade aiming to make history for Ethiopia,&rdquo; said Barega. &ldquo;I have had a good season, so I was ready both physically and mentally to fight for gold. With Girma we discussed the possibility of helping each other make the podium. Our tactic has paid off.
&ldquo;It was a tough race in which we were focused mostly on the Kenyan guys,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I decided to lead the race from the beginning because many runners in this final are 1500m specialists. I just wanted to make the pace fast and comfortable. Then I slowed down to save some energy for the finishing kick. It was a good plan and another great experience for me.&rdquo;
And so the Ethiopian with the awesome range found himself emulating his celebrated compatriots Haile Gebreslassie and Kenenisa Bekele as an Olympic champion at 10,000m and a world indoor winner at 3000m
Gebrselassie, of course, also struck world indoor gold as a 1500m runner in Maebashi in 1999 &ndash; as well as taking the 3000m crown in 1997, 1999 and 2003.
The other Ethiopian 3000m golds came from Bekele in 2006, Tariku Bekele in 2008, and Kejelcha in 2016 and 2018.
Scott took the bronze in 7:42.02, 0.95 ahead of Ebenyo in fourth, with Krop in fifth, Zouhair Talbi of Morocco in sixth and Spain&rsquo;s Adel Mechaal seventh.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid; height: 110px;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center; height: 22px;" colspan="3">MEN'S 3000m MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center; height: 22px;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968; height: 22px;">Selemon Barega 🇪🇹 ETH</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968; height: 22px;">7:41.38</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center; height: 22px;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9; height: 22px;">Lamecha Girma 🇪🇹 ETH</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9; height: 22px;">7:41.63</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center; height: 22px;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e; height: 22px;">Marc Scott 🇬🇧 GBR</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e; height: 22px;">7:42.02 SB</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 22px;">
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left; height: 22px;" colspan="3"><a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-indoor-championships/belgrade22/results/men/3000-metres/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

World Athletics Indoor Championships

Olympic champion takes 3000m crown

Barega upgrades to 3000m gold in Belgrade in one-two for Ethiopia

Lemlem Hailu maintained Ethiopia&rsquo;s stranglehold on the women&rsquo;s 3000m title at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 with a composed, classy performance on Friday night (18), the 20-year-old kicking off the front on the final lap to win in 8:41.82.
Her victory meant the title went home to the distance-running superpower for the ninth time in the last 10 editions. USA&rsquo;s Elinor Purrier St Pierre took silver in 8:42.04 with Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ejgayehu Taye taking bronze in 8:42.23.
With a large field of 20 toeing the line for the straight final, there was unsurprisingly many clipped heels during a cagey opening kilometre, with Ethiopia&rsquo;s Dawit Seyaum taking over from Canada&rsquo;s Gabriela Debues-Stafford on the fifth lap and passing 1000m in a relatively pedestrian 3:03.31.
Her teammate, Taye, took over at the halfway stage, towing the bunched field through 2000m in 5:59.09. Slowly but surely, the gears began to shift among the main contenders, with Hailu hitting the front with three laps to run.
At the bell, Seyaum surged up to Hailu&rsquo;s shoulder, but the 20-year-old Hailu quickly responded. Purrier St Pierre, who&rsquo;d sat buried in the leading back for much of the race, then unleashed her surge with 150 metres to run, overtaking Taye for second and doing her best to chase down Hailu. But she couldn&rsquo;t get to her, the US athlete having to settle for silver as Hailu sealed a memorable win &ndash; her first global medal as a senior athlete.
Hailu had been world U18 champion over 1500m back in 2017 and set a world U20 indoor record of 4:01.57 in 2020, and in Belgrade she utilised that background to great effect to take gold.
&ldquo;We were cooperating together and competing at the same time,&rdquo; said Hailu of her teammates. &ldquo;It helps us to achieve such performances. If I have the chance, I would like to say big thank you to my husband Jonas and my coach, who is here supporting me. This medal belongs to them.&rdquo;
For Purrier St Pierre, silver felt like a sweet success, the 27-year-old claiming her first global medal.
&ldquo;It feels pretty freaking amazing, I&rsquo;m not going to lie,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Jenny Simpson told me it&rsquo;s the best feeling in the world to wear a flag around your shoulders and I agree.&rdquo;
Purrier St Pierre is also better known as a 1500m specialist but fell short of qualifying for that event in Belgrade when slowing up before the finish at the US Indoor Championships, finishing third. But she channeled that frustration well to take the US title the next day over 3000m and earn her place here.
&ldquo;It was a huge learning experience for me,&rdquo; she said of that race in Spokane. &ldquo;The 1500m didn&rsquo;t go the way I wanted, but I was really proud of myself for bouncing back. Mentally, that really toughened me up. It worked out well.&rdquo;
Taye was content, if not overjoyed, with her bronze.
&ldquo;I was prepared for higher results, but at the end I'm satisfied,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I came to Belgrade in great shape. That&rsquo;s why the result is definitely below my expectation, but to grab the world indoor bronze is a cool feeling. It will motivate me to work harder and will make me more confident. One day I&rsquo;ll try to beat Hailu.&rdquo;
Debues-Stafford was a close fourth in 8:42.89, with Seyaum fifth in 8:44.55 and Australia&rsquo;s Jessica Hull sixth in 8:44.97.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics 
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S 3000M MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Lemlem Hailu 🇪🇹 ETH</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">8:41.82 SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Elle Purrier St Pierre 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">8:42.04</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Ejgayehu Taye 🇪🇹 ETH</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">8:42.23</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-indoor-championships/belgrade22/results/women/3000-metres/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

Lemlem Hailu maintains Ethiopian dominance

Hailu kicks to thrilling 3000m victory in Belgrade

Ethiopia has enjoyed astonishing dominance in this event over the past two decades, winning eight of the past nine women&rsquo;s 3000m titles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships. In Belgrade, they look poised to continue that success through the formidable trio of Dawit Seyaum, Ejgayehu Taye and Lemlem Hailu, though they'll have to defeat a trio of strong North American challengers to do so.
Hailu secured her wild card spot by taking 3000m victory on last year&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Tour, while Seyaum and Taye ensured selection by going 1-2 in Lievin last month, clocking 8:23.24 and 8:26.77 respectively.
Seyaum is better known as a 1500m runner, winning world indoor silver as a teenager back in 2016, but after missing last year&rsquo;s track season she honed a strong endurance base for 2022 with a series of road races through the autumn. She looked back to her best when returning to the track last month, following her Lievin 3000m win with a 1500m victory in Birmingham in 4:04.35.
Taye was fifth in the Olympic 5000m final last year and ran an Ethiopian 3000m record of 8:19.52 weeks later, a performance that makes her a strong gold medal contender here. Hailu has raced just once this year, finishing second to Gudaf Tsegay over 1500m in Torun in 4:02.25.
Their biggest challenge could come from Canada&rsquo;s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, who produced two outstanding runs last month, winning over 3000m on Staten Island in a national record of 8:33.92 before setting a North American indoor 5000m record of 14:31.38 in Boston. She has yet to win a global championship medal, finishing fifth in the Olympic 1500m final last year and sixth in the world 1500m final in 2019, but this looks a great opportunity to do so.
The US challenge will be led by Elinor Purrier St Pierre, who defeated Alicia Monson to take the US indoor title last month in 8:41.53. Monson was highly impressive at the Millrose Games back in January, running a PB of 8:31.62 to win, while Purrier&rsquo;s ability at shorter distances &ndash; she&rsquo;s run sub-two for 800m and sub-four for 1500m &ndash; should be put to good use in Belgrade.
Kenya&rsquo;s hopes will rest on Beatrice Chebet and Edinah Jebitok. Chebet raced four times over cross country at the start of the year with just one outing on the track &ndash; a fourth-place finish in Lievin over 3000m in 8:41.92. She was an 8:27.49 performer outdoors last year so will be feared if back to her best, while Jebitok clocked a PB of 8:45.46 last month.
Australia&rsquo;s Jessica Hull was NCAA indoor champion over this distance in 2019 and she started 2022 in flying form, with a national indoor record of 8:39.79 in College Station, USA, followed by an Oceanian indoor mile record of 4:24.06 in New York.
Others who shouldn&rsquo;t be far away include British champion Amy-Eloise Markovc, the European indoor 3000m champion, who ran a PB of 8:44.15 in Staten Island last month, and Mexico&rsquo;s Laura Galvan who has run 8:42.29 this year. Canada&rsquo;s Julie-Ann Staehli clocked a PB of 8:43.55 last month and is a 4:04.82 1500m performer outdoors.
Spain&rsquo;s Marta Perez and Germany&rsquo;s Hannah Klein are better known as 1500m runners but both were impressive when winning their respective national titles at this distance last month and could be dangerous in a slower race.
Others of note include Israel&rsquo;s Selamawit Teferi, an Olympic finalist over 5000m last year, and Sweden&rsquo;s Meraf Bahta, who started the year with a national 10km record on the road of 31:22 and who recently won the Swedish indoor 3000m title in 8:55.75.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the women's 3000m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Seyaum and Taye look to maintain Ethiopian dominance of 3000m in Belgrade

The men&rsquo;s 3000m has offered some of the most exciting racing of this indoor season so far, with top clashes demanding the spotlight at many of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meetings. The protagonists will now battle for medals at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
The season started with a bang at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe on 28 January, when Ethiopia&rsquo;s Berihu Aregawi solo ran 7:26.20 for the fifth-fastest indoor 3000m in history. For much of the race it had looked as though the 21-year-old was on track for his second world record in the space of a month, as he targeted Daniel Komen&rsquo;s 24-year-old mark of 7:24.90. In the end the record survived another day, but such was the strength of the performance that no one has come within four seconds of that world-leading time since.
Having run 12:49 to take two seconds off the world 5km record on the roads of Barcelona on New Year&rsquo;s Eve, Aregawi has more than proven his speed and now, having missed out on the 10,000m podium by one place in Tokyo, will be looking to show his major medal-winning ability.
While Karlsruhe was Aregawi&rsquo;s only race of the season so far, his compatriots Selemon Barega and Lamecha Girma have not shied away from going head-to-head. Girma, the world and Olympic steeplechase silver medallist, won in Lievin and Torun to beat Barega on both occasions but the Olympic 10,000m champion turned the tables in Madrid, pipping his rival on the line.
Girma&rsquo;s performance in Spain did secure him the overall World Indoor Tour title, however, and with it a wild card entry to the competition in Belgrade. As a result, Ethiopia has the chance to go for a sweep of the medals. Yomif Kejelcha and Barega &ndash; aged just 18 at the time &ndash; claimed the top two spots in Birmingham four years ago, but never before has a nation swept the medals in this event.
In Lievin last year, Barega was second in the race that saw his compatriot Getnet Wale miss the world record by just 0.08, as he clocked 7:26.10 himself for the third-quickest ever time, and Girma ran 7:27.98 in third. This year, however, they have been more focused on racing each other, rather than chasing those times.
Given the depth of the talent involved, the men&rsquo;s 3000m in Belgrade could prove a highly tactical affair. Of the 35 athletes entered, 11 of them have gone sub-7:40 this year. Leading the challengers for a podium place is Spain&rsquo;s Adel Mechaal, who has shown that variety is key when it comes to his own preparations. The Olympic 1500m fifth-place finisher has raced on the track, cross country and road already in 2022 and best of the lot was his European indoor 3000m record of 7:30.82 to win on Staten Island on 6 February.
Another looking to spoil Ethiopia&rsquo;s party will be Kenya&rsquo;s Jacob Krop, the 2019 world 5000m finalist who was third in both Karlsruhe and Torun, clocking 7:31.90 at the latter. He is joined by his compatriot Daniel Simiu, who won the 10K Valencia Ibercaja in January in 26:58 and clocked a 3000m PB of 7:37.86 in Metz.
The next 13 athletes on the entry list have all also run their best ever 3000m times this year and will be looking to maintain that momentum in Serbia. They include Geordie Beamish, who ran a New Zealand record of 7:39.50 after a well-judged race to win at the Millrose Games.
Australia&rsquo;s Matthew Ramsden, who ran 7:35.65 in Gateshead last summer, makes his career indoor debut, but Andreas Almgren, who improved the Swedish record to 7:34.31 in Lievin, is a late withdrawal due to a tendon injury.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's 3000m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Ethiopian trio targets unprecedented 3000m medal sweep in Belgrade

The Kidane Mihret Church in the Kotobe neighbourhood in Addis Ababa is busy most afternoons. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians in the area often come to pray or give money and food to homeless who congregate around the church&rsquo;s gates. Many wear gabi &ndash; a traditional white homemade cotton cloth &ndash; draped over their heads and shoulders.
Nearly every afternoon Berihu Aregawi can be seen walking, often in his orange and blue tracksuit, to his afternoon training session.
Kidane Mihret sits neatly at an important crossroads to get to the Yeka Forest in Addis Ababa, a small runner&rsquo;s oasis reachable by a quick 15-minute walk from a bustling neighbourhood. Between 4-6pm dozens of Ethiopian athletes go to the forest to do their famous zig-zag jogs through eucalyptus trees, a tradition that&rsquo;s well sedimented in the soil, with clearly-trodden paths.
Over the course of the past eight years, Aregawi has seldom missed one of these sessions. He made this daily journey long before he followed up a fourth-place finish at the Olympics with a Wanda Diamond League victory in Zurich in 2021. It was true leading up to his world 5km record on the final day of 2021 when he ran 12:49 in Barcelona. It was true before running his world indoor lead of 7:26.20 over 3000m in Karlsruhe. And it will continue to be true as the 20-year-old prepares for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, and competitions moving forward. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6138f4318000f1faf99b1a18.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Berihu Aregawi wins the 5000m at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (&copy; Matt Quine)
&nbsp;
Many Ethiopian athletes pursue long distance running to change their lives, and as soon as they come into some money, they start making investments to accrue more wealth and status. Aregawi is in no rush to do so.
&ldquo;Not yet, not yet,&rdquo; he commonly refrains, when asked about buying a home, a car, or even a television. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t do much outside of training besides resting, but I do like to watch training videos and running content on YouTube.&rdquo;
Aregawi uses his phone and has been inspired, amid a lot of running content, by the well-known Spartan lifestyle Eliud Kipchoge has become famous for. He&rsquo;s watched many of the short documentaries where understanding English is not a prerequisite for getting a sense of the humility that some of the world&rsquo;s top athletes share.
He also studies racing tactics by his Ethiopian role models, Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebreselassie, and, notably, Hagos Gebrhiwet.
Like Aregawi, Gebrhiwet is also from the Tigray region of Ethiopia &ndash; the northern most state in Ethiopia that has been embroiled in a civil war since November 2020. Aregawi grew up with five younger sisters and one younger brother in the countryside and began running in local competitions, much to the chagrin of his father, who viewed the pursuit as too risky of an endeavour. Sceptical of the athletic profession, Aregawi&rsquo;s father wanted him to take a more traditional path and ensure he could help to take care of the family. But once he was offered a club position in Addis, his father&rsquo;s mind gradually changed. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/613641843657d6a7f76ad79d.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Berihu Aregawi and Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Lausanne (&copy; Matt Quine)
&nbsp;
&ldquo;When I was starting out I really wanted to be like Hagos,&rdquo; Aregawi said, &ldquo;He was really the first from my region and it&rsquo;s easier to identify with someone that comes from the same place you come from.&rdquo;
Not too long later, he became Gebrhiwet&rsquo;s training partner, &ldquo;Training with Hagos on the national team has given me big steps in my training. He&rsquo;s also been a really good friend to me, and always offered me help when I have adversity.&rdquo;
After training for two years in Addis Ababa, Aregawi was selected for his first national team in 2018, when he competed at the World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland. Aregawi finished third in the 10,000m, behind Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya and Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda.
&ldquo;To represent Ethiopia for the first time and come in third was a really big deal,&rdquo; he remembers of his first international trip. Finland in July could not have been more different to Ethiopia at that time of year. Ethiopia&rsquo;s geographical position means the sun rises and sets at about the same time throughout the year, and July and August are characterised by heavy, sometimes torrential, rains. Mid-July in Tampere, by contrast, was sunny, temperate, and had only a few hours of darkness each day.
After his first podium finish in Tampere, Aregawi signed his first contract and returned to Ethiopia with the goal of representing the country at the Olympics. His incremental improvement has evidently been working, but until this past year, his progression has been overshadowed by some of his Olympic teammates, like Selemon Barega, who won the Olympic 10,000m title.
While many Olympians began to tire on the Wanda Diamond League circuit, Aregawi appeared to gain steam, culminating in a victory at the final 5000m held for the first time on the track built around Zurich&rsquo;s city centre.
Since winning the Diamond League title, Aregawi has made some more changes relating to his training, returning to regular training with his club, Ethiopia Electric, and coach Melaku. His training partners are not big names, yet, but he&rsquo;s enjoying working with Solomon Berihu and Haftam Abadi, two of several members of his club. Other changes in lifestyle can remain on the backburner.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to stay humble and patient,&rdquo; Aregawi said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to rush into the next stage of life because I still have big goals I haven&rsquo;t accomplished.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61d0380fd77b4b9c34dd36e9.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Berihu Aregawi breaks the world 5km record in Barcelona (&copy; Xavi Ballart)
&nbsp;
The changes appeared to have worked. In November, he thought he broke Joshua Cheptegei&rsquo;s world 5km record when it appeared he finished under 12:50 in Lille, France, but the official results showed 12:52. One month later, on New Year&rsquo;s Eve, he ran 12:49 in Barcelona to claim the record alongside Ejegayehu Taye, another Ethiopian rising distance talent.
Then, in January 2022, Aregawi claimed the world&rsquo;s top indoor time over 3000m in Karlsruhe, Germany, running the second half of his race completely alone. His time of 7:26.20 puts him fifth on the world indoor all-time list and gives him the top time heading into the World Indoor Championships.
Due to the conflict in Tigray, Aregawi has had minimal contact with his family members over the past two years. With phone and internet mostly disabled in Tigray, Aregawi has been running, and excelling, looking forward to a time when he can share his success his family.
Until then, when asked about lavish celebrations, Aregawi&rsquo;s response is one of caution and gradualness. &ldquo;Not yet, not yet,&rdquo; he continues to say &ndash; an odd refrain beckoning for slowness from one of the world&rsquo;s fastest runners.
Hannah Borenstein for World Athletics

Diamond League winner and world record-holder is just getting started

Aregawi – fast times on the track, but slow and steady approach off it

There are many metrics that can make a good distance runner: a high VO2 max; a wealth of slow-twitch muscle fibres; a hyper-efficient running economy. But beyond all of those, there&rsquo;s a key ingredient that&rsquo;s far more difficult to quantify: the ability to hurt.
In the summer of 2020, Dathan Ritzenhein first learned how good Alicia Monson was in that latter department.
&ldquo;Until you spend the time with her, you don&rsquo;t realise how special an athlete she is,&rdquo; says Ritzenhein, the former US record holder at 5000m who&rsquo;s now head coach of On Athletics Club. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s a real nice, sweet girl, but she&rsquo;s a killer on the track. Alicia has this amazing instinct and ability to push herself to a different place and is one of the toughest people I know. I don&rsquo;t know many who can go to that dark place.&rdquo;
Monson laughs as her coach&rsquo;s assessment is put to her.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;d agree with that,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really uncover that (ability) until the past year. But training at a higher level as a pro has shown me I can push even harder during workouts, I can run faster for longer. It became clear at the (US Olympic) Trials I could do that when I literally almost ran myself unconscious.&rdquo;
That race is one that will live long in Monson&rsquo;s memory, even if its aftermath is largely a blur.
Eugene isn&rsquo;t renowned for heat, but in late June last year it was utterly oppressive, with temperatures climbing north of 100&deg;F/37&deg;C on the day of the women&rsquo;s 10,000m final and the race moved to 10am as a result, when temperatures were 85&deg;F/29&deg; but the sun already high in the sky.&nbsp;
Monson, 23, had spent the 10 days prior doing what she could to prepare for it, training with warm jackets on to simulate the overheating she&rsquo;d experience. As she warmed up, Ritzenhein handed her frozen socks to cool her hands and, shortly before taking to the track, she put some ice cubes inside her racing uniform.
&ldquo;That helped,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Obviously I still ended up with heat stroke, but it helped me go a little farther than I otherwise could have.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61f5d75a3e1a70d20aa9c676.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 It proved a breakthrough race for Monson, who finished third in 31:18.55 to book her spot at the Tokyo Olympics. But she didn&rsquo;t have much time to celebrate. Monson wobbled around following the race and blacked out on her lap of honour. After a period in a cold-water tank she became hypothermic, an ambulance transporting her to hospital, where she spent the night.
&ldquo;It was weird to go to the hospital,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;People were taking care of me and my Mom was like, &lsquo;she just made an Olympic team!&rsquo; They were all happy but I was like, &lsquo;yeah, here I am in a hospital&rsquo;.&rdquo;
It had been a long road to reach that point.
Monson grew up in Amery, Wisconsin, and found athletics in middle school, following the lead of her older sister and joining the local club. State titles at cross country and on track as a high school senior earned her a scholarship to the University of Wisconsin, where she matured into one of the brightest distance-running prospects in the NCAA.
In 2019 she won the NCAA indoor 5000m title and finished second at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, and the following year she turned pro, joining the On Athletics Club in Boulder, Colorado.
Much of that decision was based on her Wisconsin teammate, Ollie Hoare, committing to the same group, though given Ritzenhein&rsquo;s limited coaching experience at the time, Monson also reached out to Leah Falland, who&rsquo;d been working with him since 2018.
&ldquo;Leah had all good things to say,&rdquo; says Monson, who moved to Boulder in June 2020 and finished her final semester of classes online. Over the past 18 months, Ritzenhein has steadily built her aerobic engine with an emphasis on consistency, with Monson averaging 82 miles (131km) a week since October.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like to take them to the well too much in practice, but you never have to worry she won&rsquo;t get the most out of herself,&rdquo; says Ritzenhein. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s been very healthy and that&rsquo;s something I&rsquo;m conscious of. She had success in college but most seasons she was injured in the spring so I&rsquo;m trying to maintain growth because she&rsquo;s young and has a bright future.&rdquo;
Monson&rsquo;s choice of coach is one she&rsquo;s never regretted.
&ldquo;He's very hands-on as a coach,&rdquo; she says of Ritzenhein. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s really good at knowing what each athlete needs. It&rsquo;s not one-size-fits-all training and he tailors specifically to each of us. He made three Olympic teams so he knows exactly what it takes.&rdquo;
Monson had virtually no 10,000m experience before December 2020, but after a strong block of base training she clocked 31:10.84 in San Juan Capistrano to put herself in contention for an Olympic place.
&ldquo;I was like, &lsquo;okay, I&rsquo;m actually good&rsquo;,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;We shifted our mindset to what it would take to make the Olympic team and what sort of training and races that would look like.&rdquo;
The shutdown of racing in 2020 actually worked to her advantage, giving her &ldquo;a chance to just train and get better,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Coming out of college there are just so many people who are better than you, so to have Dathan&rsquo;s experience was helpful. A lot of time people have difficulties in their first year (as a pro) so it was a helpful transition.&rdquo;
Ahead of the Tokyo Games, Monson was nervous about the combination of heat and humidity, particularly just six weeks after she suffered heat stroke in Eugene. But in her international debut she turned in a strong showing, finishing 13th in the women&rsquo;s 10,000m in 31:21.36. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62192177397c54ec58a1d121.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;It was about as good as I could expect,&rdquo; she says of her Olympic run. &ldquo;Obviously I wanted to do better, but this was literally my first international competition and I had so much potential to get better. I was happy with it but also hungry for more.&rdquo;
After lowering her 5000m PB to 14:42.56 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Brussels and finishing sixth at the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York, she took her end-of-season break. She strung together an uninterrupted block of base training in the autumn, then emerged in 2022 looking better than ever, winning the US Cross Country title by 17 seconds in January before smashing her 3000m PB to win at the Millrose Games in New York, clocking 8:31.62.
After a brief training stint in Florida, she returned to Colorado, where she&rsquo;s preparing for the 3000m at the US Indoor Championships on 26-27 February in Spokane, Washington. Monson is targeting qualification for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 but admits the &ldquo;3000m team is going to be so hard to make.&rdquo; 
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OK_0geuL3rA" width="100%" height="475" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 After that, her big goal is to secure qualification for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, with Monson targeting the US 10,000m trial on 27 May, which will be held in conjunction with the Prefontaine Classic, a Wanda Diamond League meeting. She&rsquo;ll then have four weeks to prepare for the US Championships, but she&rsquo;ll wait until after the 10,000m trial to decide on a tilt at 5000m.
And beyond that?
&ldquo;I see her one day being a marathoner,&rdquo; says Ritzenhein. &ldquo;But she&rsquo;s so young and has so many other things to do that if we keep getting her faster at 5K and 10K, she has all the tools to one day be good at the marathon. But it&rsquo;s a long way off.&rdquo;
For now, both coach and athlete are building on last year&rsquo;s breakthrough and looking to climb a few steps higher on the global ladder. During his career Ritzenhein &ndash; a medallist at the World Cross Country Championships as an U20 and World Half Marathon Championships as a senior &ndash; was renowned for being able to run himself to a standstill, and his promising protegee clearly has a similar pain tolerance.
&ldquo;She has more of that than me,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;She trusts me a lot and has all the tools to be as good as she wants. She&rsquo;s surprisingly fast, she&rsquo;s strong, she&rsquo;s tough. She&rsquo;s kind of got the whole package.&rdquo;
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

After making her Olympic debut in 2021, Alicia Monson looks set for a bigger year in 2022

Monson looks to build on breakthrough with tilt at two global championships in 2022

Exactly 30 years have passed since Moses Kiptanui ran 7:37.31 to obliterate Emil Puttemans&rsquo; world indoor 3000m record.
The Placido Fernandez Varga Memorial indoor meet in Seville on 20 February 1992 was an opportunity for Kiptanui to lay down an early marker in the year of the Barcelona Olympics. It proved to be the first mark that the burgeoning young Kenyan army officer would make on the world record books &ndash; and not the last.
Kiptanui had already made a major impression on the international stage. The previous August, a month before his 21st birthday, he had claimed the 3000m steeplechase title at the World Championships in Tokyo.
That year, 1991, had been his debut season over the barriers.
In 1990 Kiptanui struck world U20 gold as a 1500m runner in Plovdiv, making his debut appearance on the European circuit just five days later &ndash; in the classic Emsley Carr Mile at Gateshead. The new boy finished seventh in 3:57.70, two places behind New Zealand&rsquo;s former world record-holder John Walker, in a race won by England&rsquo;s Commonwealth 1500m champion Peter Elliott (in 3:55.51).
Kiptanui soon shared the same manager and mentor as Elliott: Kim McDonald, a 4:02 miler who had been a long-time rival of Sebastian Coe in their youth together in the northern English county of Yorkshire.
On a flight from Nairobi to London at the start of the 1991 European outdoor season, McDonald told Kiptanui he was not sure he could guarantee him a lane in the 1500m in the Dagens Nyheter Galan meeting in Stockholm. Eager to compete, Kiptanui asked if he could try the steeplechase instead.
A month earlier he had first dipped a toe into the water of the 3000m steeplechase at the Kenyan Armed Forces Championships in Nairobi, winning in 8:31.0. When he arrived in the Swedish capital, the 1500m was full but there was one vacant place in the steeplechase.
It was so &lsquo;last minute&rsquo; that Kiptanui&rsquo;s name was absent from the start list, so the stadium announcer and the media had no idea about the identity of the young Kenyan who proceeded to charge away from the loaded field.
The line-up included reigning Olympic champion Julius Kariuki and two other Kenyans who were to get on the podium at the following year&rsquo;s Olympic Games in Barcelona: Patrick Sang and William Mutwol. Kiptanui finished four seconds clear in 8:07.89, within striking distance of the world record figures set in the same 1912 Olympic Stadium three years previously by Peter Koech, 8:05.35.
A month later Kiptanui was a clear winner at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich, despite falling on the last lap. Then, at the end of August, he claimed the world title in Tokyo ahead of Sang. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/621235ebe01d39ee82efe8ee.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
&nbsp;
<h2>From also-ran to record breaker</h2>
Travelling to the Palacio Municipal de Deportes in Seville in February 1992, Kiptanui had reason to reflect on his meteoric nature rise to global champion status. Eleven months previously he had been an also-ran at the World Indoor Championships in the same arena, finishing fifth in his 3000m heat in 7:53.02 and failing to make the cut for the final.
This time round in the Andalusian capital, Kiptanui proceeded to underline his world-beating pedigree. Passing 1000m in 2:35.72 and 2000m in 5:09.59, he crossed the finish line in 7:37.31 &ndash; eight seconds clear of runner up Fermin Cacho, the future Olympic 1500m champion, and, more importantly, comfortably inside the ancient world indoor 3000m record.
Those figures, 7:39.2, dated back 21 years and two days, to 18 February 1973, when the brilliant Belgian Emiel Puttemans blazed round the wooden 190m Deutschlandhalle track in West Berlin en route to a two mile world best time of 8:13.2. Puttemans had been in his prime at the time. During 1972 he took Olympic 10,000m silver behind the Finnish phenomenon Lasse Viren and set world records outdoors at 3000m and 5000m.
For Kiptanui, having followed world outdoor gold with a world indoor record, Olympic greatness appeared to beckon in 1992. Sadly, for him, it was not to be.
At the time of the Kenyan trials in June, Kiptanui was suffering from a knee injury and a strained tendon. He trailed home fourth in a race won by Matthew Birir, the latest prot&eacute;g&eacute; of Colm O&rsquo;Connell, the Irish distance running coach extraordinaire at St Patrick&rsquo;s High School in Iten, with Sang second and Mutwol third.
&ldquo;There was nothing I could do about it,&rdquo; Kiptanui reflected in later years. &ldquo;I knew there was going to be no gold medal that year, so I decided to break some world records instead.&rdquo;
On 7 August, Birir led a Kenyan sweep of the medals in Barcelona, ahead of Sang and Mutwol. Four days later, Kiptanui beat all three in a 3000m steeplechase in Monaco, then moved on to Cologne, where he captured the outdoor world record for the flat 3000m &ndash; knocking 0.49 off the three-year-old mark set by Morocco&rsquo;s Said Aouita at the 1989 edition of the same &lsquo;Weltklasse in Koln&rsquo; meet on the same Mungersdorfer Stadium track.
Three days after that, Kiptanui had Koech&rsquo;s steeplechase world record in his sights at the Zurich Weltklasse meeting. He smashed it by 3.27, his 8:02.08 suddenly bringing the prospect of breaching the eight-minute barrier, over the barriers, into the realms of possibility.
&nbsp;
<h2>Eight-minute barrier is broken</h2>
It took him a further two years to turn that once-fantastical feat into a reality but Kiptanui got there &ndash; after completing a hat-trick of outdoor world titles, with victories in Stuttgart in 1993 and in Gothenburg in 1995, and after breaking Haile Gebrselassie&rsquo;s 5000m world record with a stunning 12:55.30 run in Rome in June 1995.
In a thrilling display in the final in Gothenburg, Kiptanui had operated at world record pace for much of the race before winning by more than five seconds in 8:04.16. Five days later, he lined up in Zurich determined to break his record &ndash; and possibly the eight-minute barrier &ndash; by his own means, insisting on the absence of pacemakers.
Passing the opening kilometre in 2:41.3, Kiptanui was slightly down on schedule as he reached 2000m in 5:22.2. At that stage, he still had compatriot Christopher Koskei and Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s Saad Shaddad Al Asmari, silver and bronze medallists respectively from Gothenburg, in tow. In the final kilometre, however, he moved up a gear.
Digging deep to tear round the final lap in 60.10, he crossed the line in 7:59.18. The modest soul from the Marakwet district had become the Roger Bannister of the 3000m steeplechase. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/604eb5c75227fa7ab644075c.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;I have planned this world record since 1992,&rdquo; said Kiptanui. &ldquo;To be the first man under eight minutes is more important for me than winning the gold medal at the World Championships.&rdquo;
There were to be no more gold medals for the intrepid Kiptanui. He had to settle for silver behind compatriots Joseph Keter at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and Wilson Boit Kipketer at the 1997 World Championships in Athens.
Still, after retiring in 2001, Kipketer entered the annals of his sport as only the second man in history to set outdoor world records at 3000m, 5000m and the 3000m steeplechase &ndash; after fellow Kenyan Henry Rono. He was also the first man to run both sub-eight in the steeplechase and sub-13 in the 5000m.
Kiptanui went on to make his name as a coach, taking charge of the Kenyan national team and guiding Ezekiel Kemboi to four successive steeplechase world titles (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) plus two Olympic golds (2004, 2012). He also became a successful real estate owner and agriculturalist, specialising in milk production in the Rift Valley.
&nbsp;
<h2>Indebted to McDonald</h2>
What made Kipketer&rsquo;s running career all the more remarkable was the fact that he did not start out in the sport until he had left school. &ldquo;I started running late, not like many others in Kenya,&rdquo; he told Athletics Weekly in 2018. &ldquo;I started when I was 19, when I was in the army. I joined the athletics team and then I wanted to make running my job.&rdquo;
It was Kim McDonald who helped to make running not only Kiptanui&rsquo;s profession but a burgeoningly successful one.
&ldquo;I first met Kim when I ran at Gateshead after the World Junior Championships in 1990,&rdquo; Kiptanui recalled when his manager and mentor died suddenly in 2001, at the tragically young age of only 45.
&ldquo;I thought he was the owner of McDonald&rsquo;s!
&ldquo;Kim changed my life, as well as my journey in athletics. He played a big role in my success as an athlete.&rdquo;
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage

Remembering Moses Kiptanui's world indoor 3000m record of 7:37.31

From Seville to Seville, the meteoric world record rise of Moses Kiptanui

Two world record-holders commanded the spotlight as this year&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold action kicked off in Karlsruhe, with Berihu Aregawi and Mondo Duplantis starting their seasons in style.
At the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on Friday (28), Aregawi solo ran his way to the fifth-fastest indoor 3000m in history, while Duplantis achieved his aim of becoming the first pole vaulter to clear six metres at the German meeting.
For much of the men&rsquo;s 3000m it looked as though Aregawi was on track for his second world record in the space of a month, with his sights set on Daniel Komen&rsquo;s almost 24-year-old mark of 7:24.90.
Although the record has been under attack over the past year, it ultimately survived another day as the 20-year-old ran 7:26.20 to move to fifth on the world indoor all-time list behind Kenya&rsquo;s Komen &ndash; who achieved his world record in Budapest in 1998, three years before Aregawi was born &ndash; and his Ethiopian compatriots Getnet Wale, Selemon Barega and Haile Gebrselassie. It was in Karlsruhe that&nbsp;Gebrselassie had recorded that mark, his&nbsp;7:26.15 meeting record &ndash; then a world record &ndash; having been run in 1998.
Aregawi had run 12:49 to shave two seconds from the world 5km record on the roads of Barcelona on New Year&rsquo;s Eve and that, together with his fine track performances in 2021, meant his 2022 debut in Karlsruhe was highly anticipated.
Following the pacemakers through 1000m in 2:27.20, he was on world record pace, and when the second pacer left the track with seven laps to go, Aregawi forged on. He passed 2000m in 4:56.87 and was roared around the final lap as he crossed the finish line with 7:26.20 on the clock.
His previous PB had been the 7:29.24 he ran in Lievin last year &ndash; the fastest ever indoor performance by a teenager &ndash; and he was followed over the finish line in Karlsruhe by Spain&rsquo;s Adel Mechaal and Kenya&rsquo;s Jacob Krop, who clocked respective times of 7:36.57 and 7:38.15.
Duplantis, meanwhile, had started the year with two main aims for 2022: to break his own world record and win the world title in Oregon. The 22-year-old attempted the first of those goals in Karlsruhe, with three tries at 6.19m &ndash; a mark one centimetre higher than the world record he achieved in Glasgow in February 2020. Although that aim remains, Duplantis is targeting a full indoor season so will not be short of opportunities to give it another go, and by clearing 6.02m he did manage his secondary goal of breaking the meeting record of 5.95m achieved by Renaud Lavillenie in 2021. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61f43dae5d4daaed561326d2.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Mondo Duplantis in action in the pole vault at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe (&copy; Getty Images)
&nbsp;
Duplantis entered the competition at 5.51m, which he cleared with ease, and went on to soar over 5.71m and 5.89m on his first attempts. Choosing to pass 5.96m, the bar then moved to 6.02m and Duplantis also cleared that on his first go. With victory secured, he then attempted 6.19m &ndash; a height he tried at 12 of his competitions in 2021 &ndash; before applauding the crowd.
His fellow six-metre-plus vaulter KC Lightfoot, who finished joint fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, cleared 5.89m to finish second, while Valentin Lavillenie was third thanks to a 5.71m clearance.
&ldquo;I shouldn&rsquo;t complain too much when I jump six metres, and so I&rsquo;m happy with that,&rdquo; said Duplantis. &ldquo;When I found out that nobody had jumped six metres in Karlsruhe, I felt like it was about that time that somebody did it.
&ldquo;It felt pretty close,&rdquo; he added, on his 6.19m attempt. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough because it&rsquo;s really high up there and it demands perfection out of you. I know what I have to do though, and I think it&rsquo;s coming soon.&rdquo;
A total of seven men cleared 5.71m in the competition &ndash; the best depth ever for a World Indoor Tour meeting.
Like the men&rsquo;s 3000m, the women&rsquo;s 1500m had started off fast. The pacemaker had gone through 400m in a blistering 1:01.80, before Ethiopia&rsquo;s Hirut Meshesha took over at the front. She led through 800m but by that time it had turned from a time trial to a race, with 2:10.23 on the clock.
After the ambitious start, 2014 world indoor silver medallist Axumawit Embaye surged ahead and hit the bell in the lead, going on to win in a world-leading PB of 4:02.12. Just behind, her compatriots Meshesha and Olympic fourth-place finisher Freweyni Hailu ran 4:02.14 and 4:02.66 respectively ahead of Uganda&rsquo;s Olympic and world finalist Winnie Nanyondo, who broke her own national indoor record with 4:04.25. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61f45eafbf41c4339e88dda3.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Axumawit Embaye holds off Hirut Meshesha to win the 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe (&copy; Getty Images)
&nbsp;
A close women's 60m hurdles final was won by Jamaica&rsquo;s 2015 world 100m hurdles champion Danielle Williams, as she ran 7.84 to win in a photo finish ahead of France&rsquo;s Cyrena Samba-Mayela, who recorded the same time. Finland&rsquo;s Reetta Hurske finished third in 7.96, with the top three all improving their PBs.
"It was fast, of course, but I am never satisfied. I always want to run faster," said&nbsp;Williams, who had started her season with a&nbsp;7.92 performance in Clemson earlier this month. "Nevertheless, the personal best gives me a good feeling for the upcoming season."
After equalling the men&rsquo;s world 60m hurdles lead with 7.56 in the heats, France's Pascal Martinot-Lagarde went 0.02 better to take the final, dipping to ensure a winning start to his season. Making his fifth appearance in Karlsruhe, the three-time world medallist claimed his first win at the meeting as he finished ahead of Spain&rsquo;s Enrique Llopis and Poland&rsquo;s Jakub Szymanski, who clocked respective PBs of 7.59 and 7.60. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61f45f92bf41c4339e88dda6.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
Danielle Williams in action in the women's 60m hurdles (above) and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde on his way to winning the men's 60m hurdles (below) at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe (&copy; Getty Images)
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61f46322b3561d0a362992ae.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 A year after becoming the second-fastest indoor 800m runner in history, Britain&rsquo;s Elliot Giles started his season with another strong performance, clocking 1:46.78 to win ahead of Swedish record-holder Andreas Kramer with 1:46.83.
Following the pacemaker through 400m in 51.74, Giles attacked with 100m to go and was delighted with his victory.&nbsp;&ldquo;I enjoyed it, it was good fun. You miss it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I have just come back from a small stint in Dubai and I just thrive off the warmer weather. I got back to the UK and it was freezing! I laid some good foundations last year but this is a whole different year. I&rsquo;m open-minded and I just figured, if I can just keep winning races, I&rsquo;ll be in good stead.&rdquo;
Morocco&rsquo;s Mostafa Smaili secured third place in 1:47.00.
The world champion claimed victory in the women&rsquo;s 800m, with Uganda&rsquo;s Halimah Nakaayi cruising clear on the last lap to clock 2:02.81 ahead of multiple German champion Christina Hering, who ran 2:03.73. Hering&rsquo;s compatriot Tanja Spill finished third in 2:04.39.
Poland&rsquo;s 2019 European indoor 4x400m gold medallist Anna Kielbasinska was another to start her season with a win, running the fastest 400m so far this year with a PB of 51.92 to take the first of the two women&rsquo;s 400m finals. Ireland&rsquo;s Phil Healy was second in 51.97, while the second final was won by Lieke Klaver of the Netherland in 52.41. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61f46969da35f8cba8ce3646.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Anna Kielbasinska, winner of the 400m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe (&copy; Gladys Chai von der Laage)
&nbsp;
Spain&rsquo;s Maria Isabel Perez equalled her recently-set national record to win the women&rsquo;s 60m, running 7.21 to triumph ahead of Patrizia van der Weken of Luxembourg, who clocked 7.29, and Tristan Evelyn of Barbados, who ran 7.33. Two-time national 100m champion Perez had earlier run 7.22 to win her heat.
Sweden&rsquo;s Olympic finalist Thobias Montler soared beyond eight metres to win the men&rsquo;s long jump, his 8.02m leap coming in the final round and following a mark of 8.00m in round four.
France&rsquo;s 18-year-old Erwan Konate had improved his PB to 8.12m to win the world U20 title in Nairobi last August and his aim had been to achieve another eight metre-plus performance in Karlsruhe. He came incredibly close, jumping an indoor PB of 7.98m to improve on his previous best of 7.37m and finish second, with Germany&rsquo;s Maximilian Entholzner third with 7.92m. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61f4622db3561d0a362992ab.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Thobias Montler in the long jump at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe (&copy; Gladys Chai von der Laage)
&nbsp;
&ldquo;You never know what to expect in the first competition, so 8.02m, it&rsquo;s good," said&nbsp;Montler. "I&rsquo;m planning to do a pretty much full indoor season, with a focus on the Swedish Championships and the World Indoor Championships."
Konate's 7.98m ranks him eighth on the European U20 indoor all-time list. Pending ratification by the European Athletics Association, however, it will be considered a European U20 indoor record as it surpasses the current ratified mark of 7.93m, which was set by Konate&rsquo;s coach Robert Emmiyan in 1984.
"I&rsquo;m feeling good," said Konate. "I had discomfort in my foot when training and I thought &lsquo;oh no, seriously, not now!&rsquo; But I told myself, &lsquo;it&rsquo;s your time, just go, just jump.' And I jumped 7.98m."
Andreas Pantazis of Greece was another to enjoy his best ever indoor leap in Karlsruhe, with the 21-year-old jumping 16.79m to triumph in a close triple jump competition ahead of Azerbaijan&rsquo;s European indoor champion Nazim Babayev, who leapt 16.76m, and Germany&rsquo;s 2016 world indoor silver medallist Max Hess, who managed 16.73m. Just eight centimetres separated the top four, with Finland&rsquo;s Simo Lipsanen finishing fourth with 16.71m.
There was a shared victory in the women&rsquo;s high jump as Britain&rsquo;s Emily Borthwick and Germany&rsquo;s Imke Onnen both cleared a world-leading height of 1.91m and could not be separated on countback.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Berihu Aregawi runs 7:26.20 for 3000m, moving to fifth on the world indoor all-time list