The Biggest Winners, Upsets of The 2022 World Indoor Championships

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Hello, friends. Apologies for the delay in sending out my weekend recap. I spent much of yesterday packing and getting ready for a weeklong trip to Flagstaff, Arizona for #content.

The indoor track season finished with a bang this weekend as two world records fell and a handful of medals were handed out in Belgrade, Serbia at the World Indoor championships. Mondo Duplantis and Yulimar Rojas broke their own all-conditions world records in the men’s pole vault and the women’s triple jump, respectively, and American Grant Holloway gave his own world record in the 60m hurdles a scare. There were big upsets in the men’s shot put and 1500m, a long-awaited showdown in the men’s 60m dash, an even longer-awaited gold in the women’s 800m and the feel-good story of the weekend in the women’s high jump.

Give it up for photographer Johnny Zhang, who was CITIUS MAG’s boots-on-the-ground in Serbia all week. He captured all of the photos that we shared on our social media pages throughout the weekend and the ones in this newsletter. Be sure to give him a follow.

Here’s a quick summary of how the medals shook out in Belgrade (full results here):

Men’s 60m: Marcell Jacobs Beats Christian Coleman, Bracy Gets Bronze

Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs backed up the “world’s fastest man” title he earned last summer, edging out Christian Coleman by a mere 0.003 seconds in the 60m final. Jacobs and Coleman both crossed the line in 6.41 seconds but had to wait for the official results to learn who won. Bracy, who clocked a personal best in the semifinal, was third in another personal best of 6.44.

Women’s 60m: Mujinga Kambundji Upgrades To Gold

Most eyes were on Poland’s Ewa Swoboda headed into the meet, but Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji pulled off the upset out of Lane 8 with a 6.96-second win. In 2018, she earned a bronze medal in this event. Team USA managed to go 2-3 with Mikiah Brisco in 6.99 and Marybeth Sant-Price in 7.04. Swoboda ended up fourth. Brisco became the third American woman ever to break 7 seconds and the first in over 20 years.

Men’s 400m: Jereem Richards Pays Tribute To Deon Lendore

Jereem Richards captured Trinidad and Tobago’s first gold medal at the World Indoor Championships with his 45.00 win. He also broke his national record, which was previously held by his friend Deon Lendore – who tragically died in a car accident in Texas in January. U.S. champion Trevor Bassitt took silver in 45.05 to lower his own NCAA Division II record. Sweden’s Carl Bengstom earned bronze in 45.33.

Women’s 400m: Shaunae Miller-Uibo Now A World Indoor Champion

Shaunae Miller-Uibo has two Olympic gold medals and now added a World Indoor Championship gold medal to her collection with a 50.31 victory to hold off Femke Bol of The Netherlands. Miller-Uibo, who despite her 7 global medals is still only 27 years old, showed no rust in her only competition of the indoor season and her first race since Tokyo. Stephenie Ann McPherson took bronze in a Jamaican record of 50.79.

Men’s 800m: Mariano Garcia Prevails For Spain

Spain’s Mariano Garcia took control of the race early on and never let up to win in 1:46.20. Kenya’s Noah Kibet made history right behind him as the 17-year-old became the youngest-ever World Indoor Championship medalist. Keep an eye on him this upcoming outdoor season. Team USA kept its three-championship podium streak alive with Bryce Hoppel’s bronze – his first global championship medal.

Women’s 800m: Ajee’ Wilson Is Finally A World Champion

Ajee’ Wilson took silver in the last two editions of the world indoor championships and has two bronze medals from the last two editions of the world outdoor championships. For several years, she chased the likes of Caster Semenya who held a tight grip on gold from 2012 to 2018 (when World Athletics implemented rules limiting testosterone levels for athletes competing in women’s events from 400m to the mile), and then faced Athing Mu’s meteoric rise over the past two years. Wilson has not missed a U.S. national team since 2013 and has consistently been in the mix for a medal. Her win in 1:59.09 was a well-deserved and long-awaited moment. Her race was tactically brilliant, as Wilson patiently waited in fifth place until one lap remained before making a decisive move to drop the field, with Ethiopia’s Frewyni Hailu (2:00.54) and Uganda’s Halimah Nakaayi (2:00.66) kicking hard behind her to round out the medals.

Men’s 1500m: Samuel Tefera Defends His Crown; Takes Down Jakob Ingebrigtsen

Samuel Tefera was 0-for-9 in his career against Jakob Ingebrigtsen heading into Sunday’s 1500m final, most recently losing his indoor 1500m world record to Ingebrigtsen in Lievin. Tefera, the defending champion, was favored to medal but the odds of beating the Olympic gold medalist were long. He let Ingebrigtsen take the lead just before 400m and then waited to make his pass in the final lap, winning the final sprint 27.46 to 27.61. Helped by Ingebrigtsen’s hot early pace, Tefera’s 3:32.77 was a new World Indoor Championship record. Ingebrigtsen was visibly disappointed with silver in 3:33.02 and later posted on social media that he had tested positive for COVID-19 shortly following the meet. Kenya’s Abel Kipsang snagged a medal with his 3:33.36, upgrading to bronze after taking fourth at the Tokyo Olympics last summer.

Women’s 1500m: Gudaf Tsegay Leads An Ethiopian Sweep

Gudaf Tsegay left nothing to chance and just charged wire-to-wire for the win in a championship record of 3:57.19. She is the only woman to break four minutes for the 1500m indoors this season, which she has done three times in the last 26 days. Compatriots Axumawit Embaye followed suit in 4:02.29 for silver and Hirut Meshesha ran 4:03.39 for bronze. Team USA’s Josette Norris, who was competing in her first world championship, took fifth in 4:04.71.

Men’s 3000m: Selemon Barega Outkicks Lamecha Girma

Selemon Barega upgraded from his silver medal from 2018 as he outkicked his compatriot Lamecha Girma in the final lap. He was 1-for-3 in his three previous races against Girma this indoor season but managed to have a better close in Serbia and won by 0.25 seconds. Great Britain’s Marc Scott took bronze in a personal best of 7:42.02 to capture his first global championship medal. American Dillon Maggard finished 9th, but his time of 7:46.18 was a personal best.

Women’s 3000m: Lemlem Hailu Wins, Elle Purrier Kicks For Silver

This was one of the events where an Ethiopian sweep was a strong possibility coming into the meet. The Ethiopian contingent pressed from the front but the early pressure could not keep U.S. indoor champion Elle Purrier St. Pierre and Canadian record holder Gabriela Debues-Stafford from hanging with them. Dawit Seyaum, the pre-race favorite, was the first of the Ethiopian bunch to falter and ended up in fifth place. Lemlem Hailu hung on for the win in 8:41.82 but Purrier St. Pierre was hot on her heels. After spending much of the race tucked on the rail, she blasted her final 200m to end up second in 8:42.04, taking home her first global championship medal. She is just the sixth American woman to earn a medal in this event. Ejgayehu Taye just beat out Debues-Stafford for the bronze.

Men’s 60m Hurdles: Grant Holloway Ties His WR In The Semis

In the semifinal round of the competition, Grant Holloway turned heads when he tied his own world record with a blistering 7.29, a massive 0.23 seconds faster than the next best semi time. Unfortunately, the record lived to fight another day as Holloway skimmed a hurdle in the final round and “only” managed a 7.39, winning his third global medal (second gold) in his 57th-straight 60m hurdles victory.

Pascal Martinot-Lagarde won his fifth global medal (and third indoor silver) in 7.50 and veteran American Jarret Eaton picked up the bronze in 7.53.

Women’s 60m Hurdles: Favorites Falter As Samba-Mayela Emerges

This was perhaps the most topsy-turvy event of the weekend as world leader Danielle Williams of Jamaica did not advance out of the first round and her compatriot Britany Anderson, the #2 seed, finished fourth. The winner was Cyréna Samba-Mayela of France, who scratched from the 100m hurdles in Tokyo but picked up some redemption in Belgrade, taking home the gold in 7.78, a new national record. Bahamian Devynne Charlton broke her own national records as well, taking silver in 7.81, and American Gabbi Cunningham, who finished 7th in Tokyo, picked up her first global medal, a bronze, in 7.87.

Men’s High Jump: Sanghyeok Woo Makes History

Sanghyeok Woo of South Korea made history as he became the first-ever World Indoor Championship medalist for his country by winning the men’s high jump as the only athlete over 2.34m. He was fourth at last summer’s Olympics. Switzerland’s Loïc Gasch took silver in ​2.31m. Olympic co-champion Gianmarco Tamberi is all about sharing as he split the bronze medal with New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr.

Women’s High Jump: Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh Wins Big For Her Country

The most inspiring performance of the World Indoor Championships was Yaroslava Mahuchikh. The 20-year-old spent days in a shelter after fleeing her home in Dnipro following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It took her three days to get to Serbia and she didn’t know if she would be capable of jumping well while her mind and heart were focused on her country in conflict. Nevertheless, she jumped 2.02m to claim the win and add another medal to her collection that includes a world championship silver from 2019 and Olympic bronze from Tokyo.

Australia's Eleanor Patterson took silver and Nadezhda Dubovitskaya of Kazakhstan claimed the bronze. Patterson later told the media that she wore blue and yellow nail polish to show solidarity with Mahuchikh and her home nation.

Men’s Pole Vault: Mondo Duplantis Sets Another World Record

Unfortunately, some viewers abroad missed out on a truly special performance as Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record of 6.19m (which he set earlier this month in the same stadium) by clearing 6.20m on his final jump of the day. The BBC broadcast of the competition ended before Duplantis’s final attempt, leaving many to flock to Twitter for clips of the greatest pole vaulter in history’s new personal best.

2016 Olympic champion Thiago Braz earned silver with a 5.95m clearance. Team USA’s Chris Nilsen finished third with a best of 5.90m for the day, his second global podium after taking silver in Tokyo.

Women’s Pole Vault: Sandi Morris and Katie Nageotte go 1-2

Just like the U.S. Indoor Championships, it was the Sandi Morris and Katie Nageotte show in the women’s pole vault. Morris cleared 4.80m for the win. Nageotte earned silver with a 4.75m performance. Tina Šutej of Slovenia earned bronze and nearly broke up the U.S. 1-2 but lost to Nageotte on the countback with two misses at 4.70m.

Men’s Long Jump: Miltiadis Tentoglou Shines For Greece Again

Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou cemented his place as a championship jumper by earning another gold medal. He leaped 8.55m in the second round, well clear of the competition. Thomas Montler finished second for silver with a Swedish indoor record of 8.38m. Marquis Dendy found another podium with his third-round jump of 8.27m for bronze, his third indoor championship medal.

Women’s Long Jump: Ivana Vuleta Does It For Her Home Crowd

The Serbian fans turned out to Stark Arena to watch Ivana Vuleta leap to gold in front of a home crowd. She took the lead in the second round with a 6.89m mark before jumping 7.06m for a world-leading mark on her fourth jump of the day. The announcers remarked that her victory lap was the loudest the stadium had been all weekend. Nigeria’s Ese Brume took silver in 6.85m. Great Britain’s Lorraine Ugen earned bronze with a 6.82m jump.

Men’s Triple Jump: Làzaro Martínez Wins From The Stars

Làzaro Martínez of Cuba capped the best season of his life with a 17.64m jump on his first attempt to win his first global championship medal. No one could come close to that mark in any of the following rounds. Portugal’s Pablo Pichardo jumped 17.46m for a national record and a silver medal. U.S. champion Donald Scott took bronze in 17.21m to just beat out compatriot Will Claye (17.19m).

Women’s Triple Jump: Yulimar Rojas Destroys Her World Record

Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, the prohibitive favorite, still found new ways to wow the world, jumping 15.74m to shatter her own indoor and outdoor world record on her final attempt. She went 15.67m to win gold in Tokyo last summer. Her previous indoor world record was 15.43m. She has floated the idea of going for the double in the long and triple jump for the world outdoor championships and hasn’t been shy about voicing her goal of 16.00m.

Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk notched a personal best of 14.74m to take silver. Jamaica’s Kimberly Williams earned bronze with a 14.62m personal best.

Men’s Shot Put: Darlan Romani Upsets Ryan Crouser

Arguably the biggest upset of the weekend was Ryan Crouser losing his first competition since the 2019 world outdoor championships. Crouser started out strong with a 22.44m opening throw to break the World Indoor Championship record but didn’t improve in the rest of his series. Brazil’s Darlan Romani launched a 22.53m throw in the third round to break that record and take the lead. It was Romani’s first-ever global championship medal. He is now No. 4 on the all-time list behind Crouser, Randy Barnes and Ulf Timmerman. Reigning indoor champion Tom Walsh took bronze with a 22.31m throw.

Women’s Shot Put: Auriol Dongmo, Chase Ealey Battle

The women’s shot put competition featured great performances by Portugal’s Auriol Dongmo and U.S. indoor champion Chase Ealey. They both threw farther than 20.00m for the first time in their careers. Dongmo ended up with the win with a best of 20.43m. Ealey’s 20.21m for silver is an American indoor record. Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands threw 19.43m for bronze.

Men’s 4x400m Relay: Harris’s First-Round Heroics Couldn’t Carry USA

Disaster struck in the first round of the heats of the men’s 4x400m for Team USA as Isaiah Harris, doubling back from the men’s 800m final the day before, pulled a muscle with 150 meters to go on the anchor leg, but still gutted out a 48.09 split to hang onto second place. Sadly, the Herculean effort was not enough to make the final as the U.S. team finished two spots and 0.81 seconds outside the qualifiers.

The Belgium team, anchored by Kevin Borlée, took gold in the final in 3:06.52, beating out Spain (3:06.82) and the Netherlands (3:06.90) for silver and bronze, respectively.

Women’s 4x400m Relay: A Tight Finish Pushes U.S. Off Podium

As the saying goes, you could have thrown a blanket over the top four finishers of the women’s 4x400m relay, as only 0.23 seconds separated first from fourth place in a thrilling finish. A Jamaican quartet anchored by 400m bronze medalist McPherson emerged victorious in 3:28.40, followed by the Netherlands (anchored by silver medalist Bol) in 3:28.57 and Poland in 3:28.59. The U.S. team faded from second to fourth in the final meters to finish in 3:28.63, missing the medals by only four-hundredths of a second.

That’s it from me today. As always, thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, learned something new, or have any questions or commentary on anything featured in this issue, feel free to hit my inbox by replying or writing to [email protected]

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