User:Habst/World Athletics Indoor Championships concludes in Glasgow with new world records and significant wins

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The men's 60 metres final
Image: Erik van Leeuwen.
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Last weekend, 26 gold medals were awarded and two world records were set at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Statement wins were recorded by Christian Coleman and Julien Alfred in the short sprints, and two U.K. athletes secured home-town victories Saturday evening against the world's best. After Femke Bol broke her 400 metres short track record, Devynne Charlton eclipsed her 60 metres hurdles world record on the final day of the championships Sunday. Overall, the United States topped the medal tables in a good sign for American hopes at the 2024 Olympic Games.

The World Athletics Indoor Championships is the highest-level global indoor competition, typically held once every two years. The U.S. won the most medals at the preceding indoor and outdoor championships as well.

Indoor athletics is much like its outdoor equivalent contested at the Olympics, but the track oval is half the size (200 m compared to 400 m outdoors), with banked turns to compensate for the tighter curves. Rather than contesting straight events like the 100 metres on the perimetre, indoor tracks have a 60-metre straightaway in the center of the track where sprint and hurdles events are contested. Although the World Indoor Championships doesn't directly qualify athletes for the Olympics this summer, if the athletes run, jump, or throw far or fast enough at these championships, they can improve their World Athletics Ranking or hit qualifying standards that will make it easier for them to make their countries' national teams this summer.

Though most Olympic athletics competitors compete in indoor track and field meets from January to March in preparation for the outdoor season over the summer, not all top Olympic athletes competed at World Indoors this year. 400 metres hurdles world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone typically doesn't run a full indoor season, preferring to race sparingly only two or three times outside the necessary Olympic qualification meetings. Likewise, reigning 100 metres world champion Sha'Carri Richardson doesn't usually run the shorter 60 metres indoor distance, choosing instead to wait until after the indoor season is over.

Coleman turns tables on Lyles, Alfred wins first-ever St. Lucian gold just minutes after Hobbs taken off in a wheelchair[edit]

Alfred out-leaned Swoboda at the line
Image: Erik van Leeuwen.
It was a little rough. I had to get going. I don’t know. My legs feel heavy for some reason, but we got that one out of the way.

—Aleia Hobbs

Exactly one year ago, Aleia Hobbs would have been considered a clear favorite to win the women's 60 metres world title. Her time of 6.94 seconds at the 2023 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships remains the American record, making her the second-fastest performer of all time over the shortest athletics championship distance. Though she lagged behind leader Ewa Swoboda in qualifiers, she still had a good chance to claim her first senior international gold medal going in to the finals.

Just as the athletes were set to begin, before the starting pistol was raised disaster struck as Hobbs clutched her leg in pain. This came after Hobbs was seen limping after her semi-final, telling Citius Mag, "It was a little rough. I had to get going. I don’t know. My legs feel heavy for some reason, but we got that one out of the way". The race was delayed by several minutes as a medic approached Hobbs, and ultimately she was escorted off the track in a wheelchair leaving an empty lane in the finals. She later posted on X, "Yea I'm good, I was just cramping up bad".

Not to be distracted, reigning 2023 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winner Julien Alfred took advantage of Hobbs' absence to win the first ever Indoor Championships medal of any color for Saint Lucia. She had to out-lean Poland's Ewa Swoboda at the line, winning by 0.02 seconds in a time of 6.98.

The men's 60 metres was set to be a match race between reigning 2023 World Athletics Championships 100 metres winner Noah Lyles and 60 metres world record holder Christian Coleman. Despite the slow-starting Lyles running down Coleman at the U.S. championships, Coleman had the faster time in the semi-finals earlier on Friday, making for an anticipated match-up.

Coleman burst out of the starting blocks in typical fashion, with Lyles far behind 20 metres in. Though Lyles made up significant ground in the final 40 metres, it was not enough as Coleman won his second World Indoor title and Lyles had to settle for silver.

Charlton and Holloway wrap up world record-breaking seasons with wins[edit]

Holloway was the clear winner in the men's hurdles
Image: Erik van Leeuwen.

Before this February, Susanna Kallur's 7.68 60 metres hurdles record had stood since 2008 uncontested. But now, in just one month, it's been broken three times, by two different athletes. First at the 2024 Millrose Games in New York City last Saturday, Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas broke the mark by 0.01 seconds with a 7.67 clocking. Then at the 2024 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships during the 60 m hurdles semi-finals, American Tia Jones equaled Charlton's newly-minted record. With Jones withdrawing from World Indoors due to injury, the stage was set for Charlton to reclaim her un-tied world record.

Charlton delivered, running 7.65 in the finals to break the tie and cement herself as the fastest-ever short hurdler. She beat the defending champion Cyréna Samba-Mayela by nearly a full tenth of a second, as Pia Skrzyszowska was happy to walk away with the bronze.

Though Charlton won her first global gold medal in Glasgow, in the men's race Grant Holloway was aiming for his fifth. Holloway was already an established world-beater in athletics, and he had run close to his 2021 7.29-second mark on several occasions before breaking it at the U.S. Championships last month in 7.27. Maintaining one of the longest-ever winning streaks in athletics, Holloway beat the field by 0.14 seconds to win his 63rd-straight 60 metres hurdles race since his last loss in 2014. His time of 7.29 seconds was just off his new record, giving Holloway all four of the four-fastest marks of all time in his event.

Bol breaks the world record in a Dutch 1-2 as both her and Doom win double gold in the relay[edit]

Bol celebrated pointing to the camera after her 400 metres world record
Image: Erik van Leeuwen.
My coach said to me, 'You can run faster', but to be honest I just wanted to win.

—Femke Bol

The story of the World Athletics Championship last year was Dutch athlete Femke Bol, who tripped and fell ten metres from the finish to ruin a potential world record and win in the mixed 4 × 400 m relay but then came back to win both the 400 m hurdles and the women's 4 × 400 in a show of redemption. In Glasgow this weekend, Bol didn't give up any ground as she led wire-to-wire to win the women's 400 metres in a new world record of 49.17 seconds, breaking her own mark from the Dutch Indoor Athletics Championships last month. After the race, Bol told World Athletics, "My coach said to me, 'You can run faster,' but to be honest I just wanted to win." Bol's countrywoman Lieke Klaver took the silver medal in a 1-2 sweep for the Netherlands.

A much less certain winner came in the men's race, as Alexander Doom of Belgium beat pre-race favorite and 400 metres hurdles record-holder Karsten Warholm. After Warholm crossed 200 m in a quick 21.30, Doom passed the Norwegian on the final bend to pull off the upset victory. "It's amazing. I never expected this, because we didn't really have this in our sights", Doom later said.

In the two 4 × 400 metres relay races at the end of the championships, Bol and Doom backed up their individual titles with team victories, both running on the anchor legs for their countries. Doom's race was particularly significant as 2023 World Athlete of the Year Noah Lyles ran for the U.S. team on third leg, maintaining the U.S. lead but not putting enough distance ahead of the Belgian team to fend off Doom from taking the lead on the final bend again. Lyles, typically a 60 m to 200 m runner who did not run in the relay rounds, admitted his reasoning to run the relay finals was to convince USA Track and Field to select him for the Olympic 4 × 400 and give himself a chance to win four gold medals. His selection did not come without controversy as rival Fred Kerley tweeted, "@usatf y’all play that favoritism like mf. Yall like puppets. For sure yes man [...] Man I tell you last 3 year we been asking to be in that ish f*** that Olympic storyline s*** yall puppets no in between either". Lyles responded after the team's runner-up finish, "He could be here, but he ain't [...] If he mad at that, come on out here".

Caudery and Kerr win two U.K. gold medals for the Scottish crowd[edit]

Caudery clears the bar to win the championships
Image: Erik van Leeuwen.

The United Kingdom has a habit of overperforming for home-town championships – despite winning zero gold medals at the last two non-UK world indoor championships in the U.S. and in Serbia, Andrew Pozzi and Katarina Johnson-Thompson stepped up to win two gold medals the last time the U.K. hosted World Indoors six years ago in Birmingham. This tradition continued last weekend as Josh Kerr and Molly Caudery won their first global indoor titles in the 3000 metres and pole vault respectively for the home-town crowd.

Though Kerr had established himself as a global force by upsetting Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the 2023 World Championships 1500 m, despite his two miles world record at the 2024 Millrose Games he had yet to prove himself in a tactical 3000 m competition. After Olin Hacker pushed the pace mid-race, Kerr took a late lead and stretched out the field enough to prevent U.S. mile record-holder Yared Nuguse from out-kicking him in the final lap. Rather than fly the traditional Union Jack flag, Kerr, a Scotland native, picked up a Scottish flag from a fan during his victory lap.

The other U.K. victory came from Molly Caudery, who upset reigning Olympic champion Katie Moon to win the women's pole vault. Caudery only missed once at 4.75 m and once at 4.80 m before clearing both heights and failing all her attempts at 4.85 m, which gave her a better record than Eliza McCartney and Moon who settled for silver and bronze respectively. The final took more than two hours to complete, as Margot Chevrier suffered an ankle injury that unexpectedly paused competition, but this delay only served to heighten the crowd response as Caudery's victory was confirmed just 34 minutes after Kerr's victory.


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