There was perhaps no better indication of Marybeth Sant-Price&rsquo;s inexperience on the global stage than when she took to the podium at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
The US sprinter&rsquo;s name was announced, but she hesitated before stepping on to the platform, looking around for some sort of confirmation that that&rsquo;s what she was supposed to do. After a brief nod and smile from her fellow medallists, Sant-Price took her place on the podium and received her bronze medal.
Those hesitant and uncertain few steps on to the podium were somewhat symbolic of the journey she had been on to reach that point. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62556a51192cf24aa77910d1.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Sant-Price&rsquo;s speed was initially discovered on the soccer pitch when she was 10 years old. Raised in the town of Parker, Colorado, she attended Valor Christian High School where she made a name for herself on the school&rsquo;s athletics team.
Before turning 18, and while in her final year of high school, Sant-Price reached the 60m final at the 2013 senior US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, clocking a PB of 7.36. Outdoors, she went on to clock a 100m PB of 11.25 &ndash; the fastest time in the world by an U20 athlete that year.
She also earned an invitation to compete in the high school girls&rsquo; race at the Diamond League meeting in New York, where she placed second, just 0.03 behind Ky Westbrook, who went on to win the world U18 title that year. In a highly competitive field, Sant-Price beat several athletes who went on to achieve great things in the years that followed, including 2021 Olympic 4x100m silver medallist Javianne Oliver, 2014 world U20 200m champion Kaylin Whitney, 2017 world 4x100m champion Aaliyah Brown, and world indoor 60m silver medallist Mikiah Brisco.
But instead of thriving after that season like her fellow competitors, Sant-Price started to struggle.
She was recruited by the University of Oregon at the end of 2013 and she competed on the collegiate circuit throughout 2014. She became the university&rsquo;s lead leg runner in the 4x100m, teaming up with Phyllis Francis, Jenna Prandini and Jasmine Todd. But towards the end of that season, Sant-Price was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her right foot.
The 2015 season played out in similar fashion. Oregon reached the 4x100m final at the NCAA Championships on home soil in Eugene, and Sant-Price ran a strong lead leg for the hosts, but a botched second exchange ended in a disqualification for the team.
Further disappointment came when Sant-Price was diagnosed with another stress fracture, this time in her left shin. A follow-up bone density scan confirmed she had osteopenia (weak bones).
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s when the doctor said to me, &lsquo;for your health further down the road, I think you should consider medically retiring&rsquo;,&rdquo; recalls Sant-Price. &ldquo;So I did; I listened, and I took two years off.&rdquo;
She was put on a &lsquo;medical&rsquo; break, which allowed her to retain her scholarship while continuing to receive treatment for her injuries.
During her time away from competition, she called Karim Abdel Wahab, the sprints coach at Colorado State University (CSU), who had shown interest in Sant-Price when she was a high school athlete. Her sisters, Kristen and Emily, had also studied at CSU, so Sant-Price was familiar with the institution. But Brian Bedard, the head coach at CSU, was somewhat reluctant because of Sant-Price&rsquo;s unproven collegiate seasons to date.
Bedard asked Sant-Price to do a time trial in the summer of 2017 and told her that if she broke 12 seconds then she could join the squad. After Sant-Price clocked just 12.4, Wahab asked Bedard to reconsider and Sant-Price was eventually welcomed on to the team. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62556abf192cf24aa77910d7.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;My time at Oregon was a really tough period of my life,&rdquo; says Sant-Price. &ldquo;There was definitely a point in time where I thought I&rsquo;d never be where I am now. In about 2016, when I was told to medically retire, I thought that I was done. And once I thought I was done, I thought I was never going to reach my goals and dreams and the things I knew I was capable of.
&ldquo;Once I started at Colorado State University and decided to return to track, I feel like that&rsquo;s where my comeback started.&rdquo;
A bone density scan in late 2017 showed clear progress and Sant-Price was given the all-clear to resume training and competing. Although she didn&rsquo;t set any PBs in 2018, her first full season at CSU, she was simply pleased and relieved to be back competing, doing what she loves most.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;d say 2019 was the turning point for me and things started moving in a positive direction,&rdquo; says Sant-Price, who is married to Hunter Price, a decathlete with a PB of 8035 and a fourth-place finish at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships.
When Wahab got a coaching job at South Carolina and left CSU, Sant-Price started training with Ryan Baily, the combined events coach at CSU (not to be confused with the former international sprinter with a similar name), and they clicked almost immediately.
Sant-Price set 60m PBs in her early season races, reducing her best to 7.31, then 7.26 and 7.18. For the first time in her career, she earned an individual spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships, where she competed in the 60m.
Her collegiate career concluded at the outdoor NCAA Championships later that year, where she competed in the 4x100m. CSU may not have reached the finals, but their relay team safely got the baton around in their heat, which went some way towards banishing the demons of Sant-Price&rsquo;s NCAAs experience from four years prior. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62556a95192cf24aa77910d4.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
<h2> World stage</h2>
With her collegiate career &ndash; and her injuries &ndash; finally behind her, Sant-Price embarked on a professional career in 2020.
She competed outside the US for the first time, earning top-five finishes at races in Karlsruhe, Paris and Dusseldorf, and then finished sixth at the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque &ndash; her highest placing at a national championships.
The Covid-19 pandemic effectively put an end to her 2020 competitive campaign, but she re-emerged in 2021, gradually chipping away at her times before clocking a 100m PB of 11.09. It was an ideal launch pad for the 2022 season.
Sant-Price&rsquo;s early season outings were encouraging to say the least. In mid-December last year, she set 60m PBs of 7.15 and 7.12. In January she set world-leading times of 7.11 and 7.08, then went even quicker in Fayetteville in February, running 7.06 and 7.04 to move into the top 30 on the world indoor all-time list.
Because she was still something of an unknown name internationally, she wasn&rsquo;t invited to compete on the international circuit, so all of her races were at collegiate invitational meetings. But Sant-Price was undeterred.
&ldquo;The race in Arkansas really showed me and taught me more about where I&rsquo;m at, the confidence I have in myself, and how fun this whole journey has been,&rdquo; she said at the time. 
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYKd6e_BHrC/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Marybeth (Sant) Price (@_mbprice)</a>
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 She finished second at the US Indoor Championships in 7.08, earning a spot on the US team for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22. And her good form continued in the Serbian capital, winning her heat (7.07), placing second in her semifinal (7.05) and finishing third in a highly competitive and high quality final in an equal PB of 7.04, just behind Mujinga Kambundji and Mikiah Brisco.
In an extremely close finish, four women clocked 7.04 and had to be separated by a photofinish. Sant-Price was two thousandths of a second ahead of pre-event favourite Ewa Swoboda. She also beat the likes of Olympic 100m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson and double world U20 champion Briana Williams.
All the pent-up determination and frustration from her years on the sidelines could well have been what gave Sant-Price the edge over her competitors in that close finish.
&ldquo;It has taken a lot of determination and confidence to mentally and physically get back to the point where I&rsquo;m at now,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really proud of myself and how I went out and competed. It&rsquo;s my first senior team and my first World Championships, so I&rsquo;m happy to be on the podium.
&ldquo;I feel very proud of myself for how I handled the whole situation. We had three rounds and it was a long day, but I came out and competed really well &ndash; even though, physically, my hip didn&rsquo;t feel 100%. I still showed up and performed and that really gave me a lot of confidence.
&ldquo;I feel so vindicated and excited for outdoors and ready for what is next,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;And I know there&rsquo;s more, so that&rsquo;s even more exciting.&rdquo;
<h2>Surprise package</h2>
Usually when Sant-Price tells people she does athletics, they assume she competes in middle or long distances.
Standing at just 1.55m tall (5ft 1in), Sant-Price doesn&rsquo;t look like a typical sprinter. But she enjoys challenging people&rsquo;s perceptions of what a power-based athlete should be. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6255697d192cf24aa77910cb.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;I just don&rsquo;t look the part for a sprinter, but that drives me and makes me excited,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I like to go out and prove to people that you don&rsquo;t have to look a certain way; if you have a talent, you have a talent. I&rsquo;m tiny, but I like to go out there and compete and use my talent.&rdquo;
But with a global medal now in her possession, it won&rsquo;t be long before the wider athletics world starts to take note of the deceptively strong and speedy Sant-Price.
The World Athletics Championships Oregon22 is a huge goal for her. Not just because it&rsquo;s a global event on home soil; but because it is also where, back in 2015, her career as a promising collegiate sprinter started to unravel. To say Sant-Price has unfinished business at Hayward Field is an understatement.
&ldquo;Never let anyone define your path,&rdquo; says Sant-Price, who is still unsponsored but currently exploring her options. &ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m just touching my potential, and I could have been done a long time ago. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62556a31192cf24aa77910ce.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;The possibilities are endless and I&rsquo;m just going to take it meet by meet. I think my form from the indoor season is going to translate really well. I feel like I&rsquo;m running confidently now, I&rsquo;m running healthy now, and I&rsquo;m really excited to see what I can do outdoors.
&ldquo;I feel vindicated now, but I want to feel vindicated in Oregon this year. I want to go back and be on US soil, especially in Eugene where I originally started, and prove to myself and to everybody else that I belong, I&rsquo;m ready and I&rsquo;m here.&rdquo;
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

With years of injuries now behind her, the US sprinter hopes to keep surprising people

Following global medal in Belgrade, Sant-Price ready to prove she belongs on world stage

It has been a long jump in every respect for Marcell Jacobs since he last competed in a major championship on the boards in Belgrade.
Back then, in the mists of 2017, the Texas-born Italian was an also-jumped in his first love in track and field, failing to qualify for the long jump final at the European Indoor Championships.
Five years on, at the climax of the evening programme on day two of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, Jacobs was celebrating a place in the history books as the first reigning Olympic 100m champion to claim the world indoor 60m crown.
The 27-year-old did it in dramatic style, drawing on all of the strength, speed endurance, and killer long jumper&rsquo;s stride that took him to surprise Olympic gold in Tokyo in 9.80 to catch the US pair Christian Coleman and Marvin Bracy and snatch victory on the dip by the slenderest of margins in a European record of 6.41.
Coleman, the defending champion and world record-holder, must have thought that title he had won in Birmingham four years ago was still in his possession until he saw Jacobs flash up on his outside with the line in sight.
Both men were timed at 6.41, a world lead, and the margin was a mere 0.003 &ndash; 6.407 to 6.410, with Bracy taking bronze in 6.44, a lifetime best.
&ldquo;This is fantastic: to be Olympic champion and now world indoor champion,&rdquo; said Jacobs, whose sprint breakthrough came with 60m victory at the European Indoor Championships in Torun 12 months ago.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s amazing to have the European record. I can&rsquo;t wait to go to the outdoors with the Americans.
&ldquo;They are great athletes. We will try to compete fast again outdoors.&rdquo;
In the disappointment of such a narrow defeat &ndash; his first at 60m for six years &ndash; Coleman was consoled by projecting forward to the defence of his 100m title on home ground at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
&ldquo;You want to come out and win,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we put on a good show. We&rsquo;ll be head-to-head outdoors as well.
&ldquo;He [Jacobs] is a great athlete. I think it&rsquo;ll be neck and neck, just like today.
&ldquo;It was a season&rsquo;s best. I executed a good race. I&rsquo;m just excited about carrying this momentum to the outdoor season.&rdquo;
It was the 26-year-old&rsquo;s first loss at 60m indoors since 12 March 2016, when he finished third behind Ronnie Baker and Cameron Burrell in the NCAA final in Birmingham, Alabama.
For Bracy, it was a second podium finish, the former American football wide receiver having taken silver in 2014.
The 28-year-old had been quickest in the morning heats, clocking a PB of 6.46, but in the semifinals Jacobs was the fastest qualifier, equalling the 6.45 world lead held jointly by Coleman and Bahamian Terrence Jones and improving his own national record.
Behind the clear medal winners in the final, Estonian Karl Erik Bazarov took fourth place in 6.58, with Briton Adam Thomas fifth in 6.60, Trinidad&rsquo;s Jerod Elcock sixth (6.63), Bolade Ajomale of Canada seventh (6.63) and Ivorian Arthur Cisse eighth (6.69).
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics 
<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 60m 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;">Marcell Jacobs 🇮🇹 ITA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968; height: 22px;">6.41 AR WL</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;">Christian Coleman 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9; height: 22px;">6.41 SB</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;">Marvin Bracy 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e; height: 22px;">6.44 PB</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/60-metres/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

World Athletics Indoor Championships

Olympic champion scoops world indoor 60m title by narrow margin

Jacobs leaps into history books with golden dip to take 60m in Belgrade

Ewa Swoboda has stormed into the 60m spotlight in 2022, taking her PB down to a world-leading 6.99 during an unbeaten season she aims to cap with victory at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
The Polish 24-year-old is among three athletes on the entry list to have run 7.05 or faster this year and with another two having dipped under 7.10, all signs point to a thrilling clash for the medals.
Swoboda looks a powerful force, however. European indoor champion in 2019, she now leads the world and has the four fastest times so far this year to her name. Her 6.99 moved her into the top 10 on the world all-time list, it being the first sub-seven-second women&rsquo;s 60m since the 6.97 that Murielle Ahoure ran to win the world indoor title in Birmingham in 2018.
Four years on from that competition in Birmingham, where Swoboda reached the semifinals, she had a record-breaking start to her season. Improving her own Polish record at the Orlen Cup in Lodz on 11 February, she ran 7.00 in what was her first competition in almost eight months following injury. She went on to narrowly beat Jamaica&rsquo;s five-time Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Torun, 7.03 to 7.04, and returning to Torun 11 days later she broke seven seconds for the first time to win the Polish title.
While Thompson-Herah won&rsquo;t be racing in Belgrade, the entry list does feature another of this season&rsquo;s 7.04 sprinters in USA&rsquo;s Marybeth Sant-Price. Told by a doctor to consider retirement after suffering a series of injuries, the 26-year-old did step away from the sport but made a comeback and this season has improved her PB from 7.18 to the 7.04 she ran to win in Fayetteville last month.
Two weeks later she lined up at the US Indoor Championships and finished second to Mikiah Brisco to gain her first major championships place.
Before her US title win, 2017 NCAA 100m champion Brisco also triumphed at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in 7.07 and was second at the Millrose Games. She is edging closer to the 7.04 PB she set in 2020 and will also be well in the mix in Belgrade.
As will Switzerland&rsquo;s Mujinga Kambundji, the 2018 world indoor bronze medallist who claimed a 200m medal of the same colour at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Her PB stands at 7.03, run in 2018, and this year she is just 0.02 off that.
Jamaican sprinters have won three of the past five women&rsquo;s world indoor 60m finals, while&nbsp;Thompson-Herah claimed bronze in 2016, and Briana Williams and Shericka Jackson will be looking to challenge to add to that medal tally.
Williams, who won world U18 100m and 200m titles in 2018, is still aged just 19 but improved her 60m PB to 7.09 in the heats at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix and then finished second in the final.
Jackson, meanwhile, might be a multiple world and Olympic 400m medallist but her impressive range means she also has a 60m best of 7.12 to her name.
The list of medal contenders also includes Britain&rsquo;s Daryll Neita, who improved her PB to 7.11 when finishing second behind Thompson-Herah at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Birmingham.
Swoboda&rsquo;s teammate Pia Skrzyszowska, a hurdles specialist, has also improved to 7.12 this season, while Switzerland&rsquo;s Geraldine Frey and Spain&rsquo;s Maria Isabel Perez are others in PB form.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the women's 60m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Swoboda seeks more 60m success in Belgrade sprint showdown

Having shot from international sprint novice to Olympic champion in 2021, Marcell Jacobs stands to make track and field history if he can follow up his surprise 100m victory in Tokyo with 60m gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
Admittedly, it is a rather large if, given the presence in the field of Christian Coleman, the US sprinter who arrives in Serbia as the defending champion, world indoor 60m record-holder, 2022 world leader and reigning 100m world champion outdoors.
Still, Jacobs showed in Tokyo seven months ago that he is capable of rising to a challenge, and snatching the hand of opportunity. And, should the Italian manage to do so again at global level, he would become the first reigning Olympic 100m champion to claim the world indoor 60m crown. (Maurice Greene and Justin Gatlin both struck world indoor gold the year before their Olympic successes).
It was victory in the 60m final at the European Indoor Championships in Torun in March last year that launched Jacobs on the breakthrough path that took him through the 10-second barrier and onwards to Olympic glory in a European record 9.80 on the upward trajectory of his 2021 outdoor season.
The Texas-born former long jumper maintained that form with four meeting victories in the 2022 indoor season (6.51 in Berlin, 6.49 in Lodz, 6.50 in Lievin and 6.55 at the Italian Championships in Ancona), before suffering the first false start disqualification of his career in the Belgrade Indoor Meeting at the Stark Arena on 7 March.
Barring that setback, having won his heat on the world indoor track in 6.56, including preliminaries and finals Jacobs has won nine out of nine 60m races that he has started and finished this year &ndash; making it 14 in a row since he was pipped by Mike Rodgers in Lodz in February last year.
In the squat figure of Coleman, however, the Olympic 100m champ faces a rival who has won his last 20 races at the distance (heats included).
Coleman won the 2018 world indoor title in Birmingham, England, in 6.37, a championship record. That season he set a world record 6.34 at altitude in Albuquerque and now sits jointly on top of the 2022 world list with the 6.45 that took him to the US title in Spokane last month. Bahamian Terrence Jones clocked 6.45 in Lubbock, Texas, in January but is not on the entry list for Belgrade.
Should Coleman prevail, he would be only the second back-to-back winner of the title. Canada&rsquo;s Bruny Surin triumphed in Toronto in 1993 and in Barcelona in 1995.
Apart from Coleman, Jones and Jacobs, 2014 runner-up Marvin Bracy is the only other man to have ducked under 6.50 in 2022. He equalled his PB with 6.48 as runner-up to Coleman at the US Championships and is likely to be contending for another podium placing.
Also look out for Emmanuel Matadi. The 30-year-old, an African 200m bronze medallist six years ago, has rattled off Liberian records of 6.58, 6.56, 6.55 and 6.52 in the past two months but has raced heavily on the US circuit.&nbsp;
The African challenge will be further bolstered by Arthur Cisse, who equalled his Ivorian record of 6.53 in Metz last month. He missed the cut for the final in Birmingham four years ago by a tantalising 0.001.
The field also includes Rikkoi Brathwaite of the British Virgin Isles, runner up in the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, last weekend in a lifetime best 6.52.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's 60m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Jacobs targets world 60m title in Belgrade to go with Olympic gold

Jamaica's five-time Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah is the latest star announced for the ORLEN Copernicus Cup &ndash; a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting &ndash; in Torun, Poland, on 22 February.
She will be joined at the Arena Torun by two athletes with world records in their sights: Ethiopia&rsquo;s Gudaf Tsegay, who set a world indoor 1500m record of 3:53.09 in Lievin last year, and her compatriot Selemon Barega, who moved to third on the world indoor 3000m all-time list with his 7:26.10 performance at the same French meeting.
Thompson-Herah claimed three gold medals in Tokyo &ndash; in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m &ndash; and will be testing her speed this indoor season as she races at the M&uuml;ller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on 19 February before travelling to Torun.
Second on the world all-time list for 100m (10.54) and 200m (21.53), Thompson-Herah has a 60m PB of 6.98, run in 2017. The world record stands at 6.92, set by Irina Privalova in 1993.
Lining up alongside her in Torun will be Poland's 2019 European indoor 60m champion Ewa Swoboda and Switzerland's Ajla Del Ponte, who won the European indoor title last year.
Before Torun, both Tsegay and Barega will return to Lievin on 17 February, with Tsegay contesting the mile and Barega the 3000m.
Also announced for the meeting in Torun are Olympic 400m hurdles bronze medallist Femke Bol and home star Anna Kielbasinska, who earlier this month set a Polish indoor 400m record of 51.10 in Ostrava.
Other athletes already named for Torun include Olympic 100m hurdles bronze medallist Megan Tapper, Olympic pole vault bronze medallist Thiago Braz and Olympic relay medallists Roniesha McGregor, Iga Baumgart-Witan and Natalia Kaczmarek.
The ORLEN Copernicus Cup is the sixth World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2022. There are seven Gold level meetings across the series, starting with Karlsruhe on 28 January and culminating in Madrid on 2 March.&nbsp;
Organisers for World Athletics

Jamaica's five-time Olympic gold medallist is the latest star announced for the ORLEN Copernicus Cup.

Thompson-Herah takes to the track in Torun

Double world champion Noah Lyles headlines the men&rsquo;s 60m at the M&uuml;ller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham &ndash; a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting &ndash; at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on 19 February.&nbsp;
The 24-year-old, who was the fastest man in the world over 200m in 2021 (19.52), is ranked fourth on the global all-time list (19.50). He ran a 60m personal best of 6.56 for victory in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on 6 February and will line up in Birmingham alongside his fellow US sprinter Ronnie Baker, the bronze medallist in the 60m at the 2018 World Indoor Championships. Baker, who has a PB of 6.40 from 2018, opened his season with third place at the Millrose Games on 29 January.
"I&rsquo;ve run on the US indoor circuit this year, and this meet will be the final one for me," said Olympic 200m bronze medallist Lyles, who&nbsp;will compete at the M&uuml;ller Indoor Grand Prix for the first time. "I have seen a lot of fast times come from the Birmingham track, and I&rsquo;m looking forward to running there.&nbsp;
"My main focus this year is on defending my titles at the World Athletics Championships this summer and continuing to get better. Every training session and every race is working towards achieving that goal, and this race fits right into that."&nbsp;
The British contingent in Birmingham will be led by reigning national indoor champion Andy Robertson.
The M&uuml;ller Indoor Grand Prix is the fifth meeting of the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold series. There are seven Gold level meetings across the series, which started with Karlsruhe on 28 January and concludes in Madrid on 2 March.&nbsp;
Other athletes set to compete in Birmingham include five-time Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah, Olympic pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis, world indoor 60m hurdles record-holder Grant Holloway, Olympic 1500m silver medallist Laura Muir and Olympic 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson.
Organisers for World Athletics

Noah Lyles and Ronnie Baker have been announced for the men’s 60m.

World champion Lyles targets fast finish to season in Birmingham

Organisers of the Millrose Games have announced that double Olympic medallist Gabby Thomas will headline the 60m field for the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in New York on 29 January.
Thomas ran 21.61 to win the 200m at last year&rsquo;s Olympic Trials, making her the second-fastest woman in history at that time. She went on to claim the bronze medal in Tokyo in 21.87, the second-fastest time of her career, before adding a silver medal in the 4x100m.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited to open my 2022 season at Millrose in the 60m,&rdquo; said Thomas, who has a 60m PB of 7.21. &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be a great opportunity to work on my speed against some of the top competition in the country.&rdquo;
Thomas will be challenged by Jamaica&rsquo;s 2018 double world U20 champion and Olympic 4x100m champion Briana Williams, 2016 Olympic 4x100m champion English Gardner, 2020 NCAA champion Mikiah Brisco &ndash; fastest in the field with a PB of 7.04 &ndash; world 4x100m bronze medallist Kiara Parker, 2019 NCAA 400m silver medallist Chloe Abbott, and 16-year-old Shawnti Jackson, who will be chasing the US high school record of 7.19.
Other top athletes so far announced for the Millrose Games include 2016 world indoor 60m champion Trayvon Bromell, world 100m hurdles record-holder Kendra Harrison, Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser, world shot put champion Joe Kovacs, Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu, Olympic pole vault champion Katie Nageotte, world indoor pole vault champion Sandi Morris and Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Josh Kerr.
Organisers for World Athletics

Double Olympic medallist will test her speed over the short sprint

Thomas tackles 60m at Millrose Games

Organisers of the Millrose Games have announced that Trayvon Bromell, the fastest man in the world over 100m in 2021, will form part of a high-quality men&rsquo;s 60m field for the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting on 29 January.
Bromell, the world indoor 60m champion in 2016, clocked a 100m PB of 9.77 in June, then won the US Olympic Trials in 9.80. In Nairobi in September, in what was his final race of the season, he improved his world-leading time to 9.76.
&ldquo;This will be my first time at Millrose and I&rsquo;m looking forward to something great,&rdquo; said Bromell, who ran his PB of&nbsp;6.47 to win his world indoor title.
His fellow US sprinters Ronnie Baker and Noah Lyles have also been added to the field, with Baker the third-fastest 60m sprinter in history thanks to his 6.40 PB set in 2018, and world 200m champion Lyles, who has a 60m best of 6.57, returning to the Millrose Games after his runner-up finish in 2018.
Baker finished fifth in the Olympic 100m final last year, while Lyles claimed 200m bronze in Tokyo.
They will be joined by world 100m champion Christian Coleman and Jamaica&rsquo;s 2016 Olympic 110m hurdles champion Omar McLeod. Coleman holds the world indoor 60m record at 6.34, while McLeod &ndash; a sub-10-second sprinter over 100m &ndash; has a 60m PB of 6.61.
Other top athletes so far announced for the Millrose Games include world 100m hurdles record-holder Kendra Harrison, Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser, world shot put champion Joe Kovacs, Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu, Olympic pole vault champion Katie Nageotte and world indoor pole vault champion Sandi Morris.
Organisers for World Athletics

World 100m leader will face Ronnie Baker and Noah Lyles

Bromell leads quality 60m line-up for Millrose Games

Organisers of the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais have confirmed that Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs will compete at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin on 17 February.
The Italian sprinter achieved his first victory of 2021 in the French town last year, winning the 60m in 6.54, a PB at the time. He went on to improve his 60m best to a world-leading 6.47 one month later when winning the European indoor title in Torun.
That was just a taste of what was to come, though. His breakthrough continued outdoors with an Italian 100m record of 9.95 in Savona, then a victory in Silesia before a couple of top-three placings in Diamond League meetings. He timed his peak to perfection in Tokyo, winning 100m gold in a European record of 9.80.
Five days later, he formed part of Italy&rsquo;s victorious 4x100m squad, winning another Olympic gold in a world-leading national record of 37.50.
The Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais is one of seven Gold-level World Indoor Tour meetings this year. Last year&rsquo;s edition was highlighted by a world indoor 1500m record from Gudaf Tsegay as well as world-leading performances from Jakob Ingebrigtsen over 1500m and Getnet Wale over 3000m.

Olympic 100m champion will compete over 60m on 17 February

Jacobs ready to return to Lievin

The set-up and atmosphere may have felt slightly unusual at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, but the action and excitement didn&rsquo;t suffer at the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021 on Friday (29).
World 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith was the first athlete to arrive in Karlsruhe earlier this week, and she was first to finish in the 60m. Having sped to a controlled 7.11 to win her heat earlier in the programme, she returned to the track one hour later and went even faster.
Her winning time of 7.08 equalled the PB she first set in 2015 and tied in 2018. The Briton plans on having a full indoor season, so it doesn&rsquo;t seem unreasonable to expect her to continue to chip away at that time and perhaps break the national record of 7.06.
France&rsquo;s Orlann Ombissa-Dzangue was second in 7.16, just 0.01 of Switzerland&rsquo;s Ajla del Ponte, who equalled her PB.
&ldquo;Obviously it has been a strange year and a long time since I&rsquo;ve competed on the international stage, so I didn&rsquo;t know what to expect,&rdquo; said the triple European champion. &ldquo;But to open with my fastest opener ever and equal my PB was really good.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been working hard in training and I&rsquo;m happy to see some of those elements coming through. The indoor season is really important this year, more than ever, because we&rsquo;ve missed a whole year of high-level competitions. I&rsquo;m excited for what my next races bring.&rdquo;
<h3>Meeting records for Lavillenie and Dongmo</h3>
Buoyed by his promising 5.92m season opener from two weeks ago, former world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie continued that momentum in Karlsruhe and put together one of his best indoor series for a long time.
He went straight into the lead with his opening height of 5.62m and consolidated it at 5.80m, also getting over on his first attempt. Germany&rsquo;s Torsten Blech and USA&rsquo;s Cole Walsh exited the competition at that stage, while USA&rsquo;s Matt Ludwig got over it on his second try.
Ludwig was unable to go any higher, but Lavillenie popped over 5.88m and 5.95m with his first attempts, breaking his own meeting record from 2016. After two unsuccessful tries at 6.00m, the 2012 Olympic champion called it a night; a highly satisfying one at that. The last time the 34-year-old vaulted higher than 5.95m was in the 2016 Olympic final.
&ldquo;It was a long competition but a good one,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Honestly I didn&rsquo;t expect to jump that high today. I was going to jump off a shortened approach of 16 steps and couldn&rsquo;t find my rhythm, so in my warm-up I moved to 20 steps and found that my rhythm returned, so I went with that.&rdquo;
Portugal&rsquo;s Auriol Dongmo picked up in 2021 where she left off last year &ndash; as the world leader in the shot put. 
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Auriol Dongmo, winner of the shot put at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
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The 30-year-old opened her series with an indoor PB and meeting record of 18.81m, which would have ultimately been sufficient to win, but she went on to unleash an outright lifetime best of 19.65m in round two. Since the 2016 World Indoor Championships, only one athlete &ndash; two-time world champion Gong Lijiao &ndash; has thrown farther indoors.
Dongmo followed it with two more throws beyond 19 metres and could not be caught. Sweden&rsquo;s Fanny Roos produced a national record of 18.64m in the final round to finish second, overtaking Britain&rsquo;s world finalist Sophie McKinna. Germany&rsquo;s 2015 world champion finished down in fifth with 18.27m.
&ldquo;This is what we had been waiting for,&rdquo; said Dongmo. &ldquo;My coach and I have been working a lot on my technique because in the past it wasn&rsquo;t very good. But each day I try to improve it and this is the result.&rdquo;
<h3>Birgen and Chepkoech triumph over 3000m</h3>
Kenya&rsquo;s Bethwell Birgen and Beatrice Chepkoech were both victorious over 3000m, but they went about it in different ways.
Birgen took off in the final kilometre, having been paced through 2000m in 5:06.44. His lead looked insurmountable with a couple of laps to go, but Spain&rsquo;s Mohamed Katir started to make up significant ground in the closing stages.
Birgen held on, though, and won in 7:34.12, moving him into the top 10 on the Kenyan indoor all-time list. Katir was rewarded with a huge PB of 7:35.29, nine seconds faster than his outdoor best.
While Birgen ran solo for last kilometre, Chepkoech had company over the final few laps. The steeplechase world champion and world record-holder controlled the pace in the second half and maintained a consistent tempo. 
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Beatrice Chepkoech wins the 3000m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
&nbsp;
With one lap to go, Britain&rsquo;s Melissa Courtney-Bryant tried to make a move, as did Fantu Worku, the 3000m winner in Karlsruhe last year. But Chepkoech managed to hold off both challenges and crossed the line in 8:41.98. Worku was second (8:42.22), just ahead of Courtney-Bryant (8:42.41).
Elliot Giles timed his run to perfection in the men&rsquo;s 800m. Once the pacemaker stepped to one side, Sweden&rsquo;s Andreas Kramer &ndash; a known front-runner &ndash; led the strung-out field through 600m in 1:18.04. With about half a lap left, Giles kicked into the lead and opened up a significant gap on Kramer, striding all the way to the finish in a world-leading 1:45.5. Due to a fault in the timing system, performances in this race were hand-timed. 
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Elliot Giles wins the 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
&nbsp;
&ldquo;What happened during the race was kind of funny,&rdquo; said Giles. &ldquo;It was like the daily traffic in Paris and I was the scooter trying to pass through the cars.&rdquo;
France&rsquo;s Benjamin Robert came through to take second in a PB of 1:46.3 while 2017 world champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse finished third in 1:46.4, just 0.15 shy of his indoor PB.
<h3>Belocian and Neziri take top honours in hurdles</h3>
France&rsquo;s Wilhem Belocian was a class apart in the men&rsquo;s 60m hurdles. The 2016 European bronze medallist sped to a lifetime best of 7.48 to win his heat and then almost matched that time to win the final in 7.49. 
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Wilhem Belocian in the 60m hurdles at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
&nbsp;
He finished a metre clear of USA&rsquo;s Aaron Mallett (7.59) with world indoor bronze medallist Aurel Manga taking third in 7.64.
Belocian&rsquo;s victory in the final wasn&rsquo;t completely unexpected after the heats, but the same can&rsquo;t be said of Finland&rsquo;s Nooralotta Neziri in the women&rsquo;s event.
Neziri had progressed to the final as a non-automatic qualifier after finishing third in her heat in 8.01. But the 28-year-old, drawn in lane eight, put together the race of her life to win the final in 7.92, taking 0.05 off her own national record.
African champion Tobi Amusan was second in 7.94, just ahead of Nadine Visser (7.96) and Elvira Herman (7.99). 
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Liadagmis Povea, winner of the triple jump at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
&nbsp;
Cuban duo Liadagmis Povea and Juan-Miguel Echevarria secured a horizontal jumps double. Povea bounded out to a world-leading PB of 14.54m in the second round of the women&rsquo;s triple jump to take a comfortable victory ahead of Finland&rsquo;s Kristiina Makela (14.13m).
Echevarria, meanwhile, landed just three valid jumps but his opening effort of 8.18m was enough to win by 10 centimetres from compatriot Maykel Masso.
Elsewhere, Germany&rsquo;s Marvin Schlegel finished strongly to win the 400m in a PB of 46.61, beating France's Thomas Jordier by 0.07.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

The set-up and atmosphere may have felt slightly unusual at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, but the action and excitement didn’t suffer at the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021 on Friday (29).

Dominant displays from Asher-Smith, Birgen and Lavillenie in Karlsruhe

Dozens of the world&rsquo;s best athletes will be in action at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on Friday (29) for the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021.
World champions Beatrice Chepkoech and Dina Asher-Smith lead an all-star cast that also features several other winners of major titles, including 2012 Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie, 2015 world shot put champion Christina Schwanitz, three-time world indoor 400m champion Pavel Maslak, world indoor long jump champion Juan Miguel Echevarria, and 2017 world 800m champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse.
Given the ongoing restrictions brought on by the global Covid-19 pandemic, meeting organisers continue to face near unprecedented challenges as they work to ensure their meetings take place in the safest possible settings and circumstances.
&ldquo;I have been in a process of constant idea sharing with international colleagues to collect as much experience for the Indoor Meeting as possible,&rdquo; said Alain Blondel, the athletes' liaison for Karlsruhe. &ldquo;We have a major responsibility towards our fans, the athletes as well as the numerous helpers, to carry out the meeting as best we can."
A meeting &lsquo;bubble&rsquo; has been formed for Karlsruhe &ndash; as will be the case for all other World Athletics Indoor Tour meetings &ndash; and the total number of people allowed access to Karlsruhe&rsquo;s Europahalle has been capped at 200, 120 of those athletes, and no spectators.
Such arrangements have, of course, become the norm over the past nine months, and it hasn&rsquo;t prevented the world&rsquo;s best athletes from producing stunning performances.
World steeplechase champion Chepkoech, who was able to piece together a respectable string of performances throughout 2020, will be making her 2021 debut in Karlsruhe and leads a strong 3000m line-up.
The 29-year-old Kenyan has raced in the German city twice before, both times over 1500m, finishing third in 2018 and fourth in 2020. She holds the Kenyan indoor record for 1500m (4:02.09) and has the fastest outdoor 3000m PB of the entire field (8:22.92, set last year).
Compatriot Gloria Kite and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Fantu Worku will provide stiff opposition. Kite has an outdoor PB of 8:29.91, while Worku has notched up sixth-place finishes in her two most recent global championship appearances.
European indoor bronze medallist Melissa Courtney-Bryant, steeplechase specialist Mirusa Mismas and Germany&rsquo;s Elena Burkard should all be in contention too.
World 200m champion Asher-Smith is another standout athlete set to race in Karlsruhe.
The 25-year-old, who hasn&rsquo;t competed indoor for three years, has raced in Karlsruhe on three previous occasions, winning in 2015, placing third in 2016 and finishing second in 2017. She set her lifetime best of 7.08 when finishing second at the 2015 European Indoor Championships in Prague, and she matched that time in Glasgow in 2018 in what was her most recent indoor appearance. 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/6cb3dbbc-e086-4cca-875c-3d0fa90c8e13.jpg?cachebuster=43da5caf-8074-47a3-ba10-7d2896003431" alt="" width="600" height="600" />
 Asher-Smith&rsquo;s opponents in Karlsruhe will include Ajla del Ponte of Switzerland, 2017 European indoor champion Asha Philip and world indoor finalist Carolle Zahi.
Philip, the British record-holder, is the fastest in the field with a PB of 7.06. Del Ponte will be looking to revise her indoor PB of 7.17 after enjoying a breakthrough during the 2020 outdoor season. Zahi, meanwhile, recently clocked 7.19, her fastest time for three years.
Schwanitz last weekend returned from a 15-month break &ndash; during which she had knee surgery &ndash; and went straight to the top of the shot put world list with a 19.11m victory in Chemnitz.
The 35-year-old, who won in Karlsruhe in 2017, will face her first big test of the year as she takes on a field that includes 2020 world leader Auriol Dongmo of Portugal, three-time US champion Chase Ealey and 2016 Olympic fifth-place finisher Raven Saunders of the US. 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/544b1c49-ad07-4151-a023-3a513bfc7398.jpg?cachebuster=0775c7a4-6533-46d0-899d-d221f58c9814" alt="" width="600" height="600" />
 Cuba&rsquo;s Juan Miguel Echevarria will return to the scene of his first ever indoor long jump competition. Three years ago, still aged just 19, Echevarria won in Karlsruhe with 7.97m, then one month later went on to win the world indoor title with 8.46m. His momentum continued outdoors and he flew to a wind-assisted 8.83m and a wind-legal PB of 8.68m.
After a shortened season in 2020, the 22-year-old hopes to return to winning ways in Karlsruhe when he lines up against European champion Mitliadis Tentoglou of Greece, European indoor silver medallist Thobias Montler of Sweden and European silver medallist Fabian Heinle of Germany.
<h3>Eaton and Mallett take on top French trio</h3>
Two men&rsquo;s sprint events are among the 11 scoring disciplines on this year&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Tour, and both will be contested in Karlsruhe. 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/d01c2b4d-7aab-4ac0-b495-815ca293be9f.jpg?cachebuster=9a4c524f-188d-439a-8fc5-5fa3dcbe2861" alt="" width="600" height="600" />
 The 60m hurdles features world indoor silver medallist Jarret Eaton and his US compatriot Aaron Mallett, who enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2020. But they face a formidable French trio in the form of European champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, world indoor bronze medallist Aurel Manga and 2016 European bronze medallist Wilhem Belocian.
In the 400m, world indoor champion Pavel Maslak takes on Spain&rsquo;s Oscar Husillos. It will be just the second time they&rsquo;ve faced each other indoors since the fateful 2018 World Indoor Championships final, where Husillos was first to cross the line but was later disqualified for a lane violation, promoting Maslak to gold.
Asian champion Yousef Karam of Kuwait and Spain&rsquo;s Samuel Garcia, winner in Madrid last year, should also be in contention. Germany&rsquo;s Marvin Schlegel, who set a PB of 46.66 last weekend, is the fastest in the field based on times this year. 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/4814c974-e7de-452b-bf1d-ef022259cd0b.jpg?cachebuster=8ce42c1a-fa3e-4876-b416-7da607512fd1" alt="" width="600" height="600" />
 The women&rsquo;s triple jump, another World Indoor Tour scoring discipline in Karlsruhe, has a similarly strong line-up featuring North American record-holder Tori Franklin, European champion Paraskevi Papachristou, European indoor champion Ana Peleteiro and Cuba&rsquo;s Liadagmis Povea.
<h3>Strong fields for pole vault, hurdles and middle-distances</h3>
Along with the seven scoring disciplines, there will be five non-scoring disciplines taking place in Karlsruhe.
Former world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie, world bronze medallist Piotr Lisek and 2013 world champion Raphael Holzdeppe headline a strong men&rsquo;s pole vault field. Lavillenie got his season off to a flying start earlier this month, vaulting 5.92m in Bordeaux.
The women&rsquo;s 60m hurdles will feature African champion Tobi Amusan, 2015 world bronze medallist Alina Talay, European indoor champion Nadine Visser and European champion Elvira Herman.
France&rsquo;s 2017 world 800m champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse doesn&rsquo;t often race indoors, but he has fond memories of Karlsruhe as it is where he set his indoor PB of 1:46.25 in 2016. On Friday the 28-year-old will line up against 2016 European bronze medallist Elliot Giles, Swedish record-holder Andreas Kramer and two-time European indoor medallist Kevin Lopez.
Elsewhere on the track, Kenya&rsquo;s Bethwell Birgen takes on French steeplechaser Djilali Bedrani and Morocco&rsquo;s Abdelaati Iguider in the 3000m, while Uganda&rsquo;s Winnie Nanyondo will clash with Ireland&rsquo;s Ciara Mageean and world steeplechase medallist Gesa Felicitas Krause in the 1500m.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

Dozens of the world’s best athletes will be in action at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on Friday (29) for the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021.

Global champions set to converge in Karlsruhe

Almost three years since her last 60m race, world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith will line up for the short sprint at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021, on 29 January.
The 25-year-old has raced in Karlsruhe on three previous occasions, winning in 2015, placing third in 2016 and finishing second in 2017. She set her lifetime best of 7.08 when finishing second at the 2015 European Indoor Championships in Prague, and she matched that time in Glasgow in 2018 in what was her most recent indoor appearance.
Later that year she went on to win gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m at the European Championships in Berlin. Along with her 200m gold medal in Doha, she also earned silver medals in the 100m and 4x100m.
Asher-Smith&rsquo;s opponents in Karlsruhe will include European indoor champion Ewa Swoboda of Poland, Ajla del Ponte of Switzerland and Tatjana Pinto of Germany.
Swoboda won in Karlsruhe in 2019 en route to taking the overall 60m title in that year&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Tour. She set her lifetime best of 7.07 as a teenager in 2016, breaking the world U20 record in the process. Her 7.08 clocking in Karlsruhe in 2019 was just 0.04 shy of the meeting record.
Del Ponte opened her 2020 campaign with a second-place finish in Karlsruhe and went on to enjoy a breakthrough season outdoors, winning at the Diamond League meetings in Monaco and Stockholm.
Pinto won in Karlsruhe in 2018 with 7.10. Two weeks later, she clocked a lifetime best of 7.06, which makes her the fastest woman in the field for this year&rsquo;s race.
<h3>World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold</h3>
29 Jan &ndash; Karlsruhe, Germany 9 Feb &ndash; Lievin, France 13 Feb &ndash; Boston, USA 17 Feb &ndash; Torun, Poland 24 Feb &ndash; Madrid, Spain

Almost three years since her last 60m race, world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith will line up for the short sprint at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021, on 29 January.