Gudaf Tsegay wins the 3000m in Lievin (© Dan Vernon)
Just half a second stood between Gudaf Tsegay and the world indoor 3000m record when she competed at last year’s Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Trophee EDF. The two-time world champion returns to the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin on Thursday (13) with a view to breaking the mark once and for all.
She has come close to it on several occasions, including her 8:16.69 PB clocking in Birmingham two years ago, just 0.09 shy of the world indoor record. She owns four of the seven fastest indoor performances in history for the distance and has several fond memories of competing in Lievin, having set the world indoor 1500m record there in 2021.
No one was able to stick with Tsegay in the closing stages in Lievin last year, but that may not be the case on Thursday as she’ll be up against world indoor 1500m champion Freweyni Hailu, who holds the world-leading mark for 3000m following her 8:24.17 run in Ostrava earlier this month. Olympic silver medallist Nadia Battocletti and Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom also possess the tools to run a fast time.
Tsegay and Hailu are two of the 10 reigning global champions who’ll be in action in Lievin on Thursday.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is another. The Olympic 5000m champion from Norway would have watched with interest as his US rival Yared Nuguse broke the world indoor mile record at the Millrose Games last weekend with 3:46.63. Those figures will be Ingebrigtsen’s main target on Thursday when he lines up for the mile, racing on the track on which he set the world indoor 1500m record three years ago.
World road mile bronze medallist Sam Prakel, Britain’s Elliot Giles and Kenya’s Festus Lagat are also in the field.
The athletes contesting the 3000m in Lievin would have also been tuned into the Millrose Games, where the world indoor record for that distance fell. The field on Thursday features a strong Ethiopian contingent, including world road 5km champion Hagos Gebrhiwet, Olympic finalist Biniam Mehary, two-time world indoor 1500m champion Samuel Tefera, Getnet Wale and Kuma Girma.
The 800m fields are led by the world indoor champions. In fact, the women’s line-up boasts the full podium from last year’s World Indoors.
Tsige Duguma, the gold medallist on that occasion and silver medallist at the Olympics in Paris, will renew her rivalry with Britain’s Jemma Reekie and world indoor bronze medallist Noelie Yarigo. Shafiqua Maloney, who was a convincing winner at the Millrose Games, will also provide stiff opposition, as will South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso.
In the men’s race, world indoor champion Bryce Hoppel takes on Eliott Crestan, winner in Lievin last year, and Algeria’s Slimane Moula.
As is the case in both 3000m races, there’ll be a strong Ethiopian presence in the women’s 1500m as Tigist Girma, Diribe Welteji, Habitam Alemu and Worknesh Mesele all clash over seven-and-a-half laps of the track.
With Ingebrigtsen contesting the mile in Lievin, it gives Azeddine Habz a good chance of victory in the men’s 1500m. The French record-holder, who last weekend broke the European indoor mile record, will face the likes of Sweden’s Samuel Pihlstrom and Portugal’s Isaac Nader.
Holloway faces Szymanski
World and Olympic champion Grant Holloway is seeking a fifth consecutive win in Lievin, but his 10-year winning streak in the 60m hurdles could come under threat by Poland’s Jakub Szymanski, who has been in sensational form this year and enters the race with the quickest season’s best (7.39).
The women’s race will be similarly competitive as world indoor champion Devynne Charlton takes on USA’s Grace Stark, Jamaican record-holder Ackera Nugent, Laeticia Bapte of France, Nadine Visser, Pia Skrzyszowska and Ditaji Kambundji.
One year on from clocking 20.21 on his indoor debut, Erriyon Knighton returns to contest the men’s 200m. He’ll face world leader Erik Erlandsson and Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic.
In the women’s 400m, world indoor silver medallist Lieke Klaver lines up against USA’s Rosey Effiong and Britain’s Laviai Nielsen.
Moon on the rise
Fresh from a world-leading clearance of 4.82m in New York, world champion Katie Moon takes on world indoor champion Molly Caudery and Slovenia’s Tina Sutej in the women’s pole vault.
The men’s event, meanwhile, features world leader Chris Nilsen, two-time world champion Sam Kendricks and world silver medallist Ernest Obiena.
Following an uncharacteristic fourth-place finish in Belgrade last month, world and Olympic long jump champion Miltiadis Tentoglou is seeking his first victory of the year, but young Chinese talent Shu Heng could cause a surprise.
In the men’s shot put, European champion Leonardo Fabbri will clash with European indoor champion Zane Weir and Olympic bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell.
Meanwhile, in the women’s triple jump, Cuban duo Liadagmis Povea and Leyanis Perez Hernandez, the two best performers in the world this year, will take on European indoor champion Tugba Danismaz.
