The Madrid meeting, the final of the World Athletics World Indoor Tour, held at the Gallur Municipal Sports Centre, was of a high standard, with great times recorded, up to seven meeting records and one world lead. The public, which filled the stands, was thrilled, as always, by events full of emotion, in a very intense athletic atmosphere.
Men´s shot put
The shot put competition was of a magnificent standard. All eyes were on New Zealander Tom Walsh, the favourite to win, but he was surprised by Jamaican Rajindra Campbell, who in his last attempt went as far as 22.16, a meeting record. Tom Walsh took the lead from the start, with 21.44 for his first throw, 21.80 for his third and 21.95 for his fourth. In that last attempt, Campbell, who was second with 21.75, snatched the first place from Walsh, with 22.16. But Walsh replied with 22.03, not enough to dethrone Jamaican Campbell from first place. Campbell's record is the best achieved in Spain in an indoor competition. Italian Leonardo Fabbri took third place with 21.68. Three more men over 21 metres: Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, from Nigeria, with 21.54; Zane Weir from Italy with 21.38; and Roger Steen from the United States with 21.06. Cantabrian Carlos Tobalina was ninth with 19.36, Madrid native Miguel Gómez was tenth with 19.35, and the Spanish champion, Balearic Island native José Ángel Pinedo, was eleventh with 19.03. New Zealander Tom Walsh was the final winner of the World Indoor Tour.
Women's 60m hurdles
The Bahamian Devynne Charlton, co-world record holder, made us dream for a few seconds. Her victory was clear and incontestable and she stopped the track clock at 7.67, which would have meant equalling her own world record. But the photo finish gave the verdict and set an official time of 7.68, one hundredth of a second off the record. The Dutch Nadine Visser was second with 7.78 and the Polish Pia Skrzyszowska third with 7.83. In the semi-finals, both Charlton and Visser had run in 7.79, a meeting record. Devynne Charlton's final time is, obviously, a meeting record, a World Indoor Tour record and the best time set in Spain. In addition, the Bahamian has won the 2024 World Indoor Tour title. Several Spanish athletes ran in the semi-finals, but they did not manage to qualify for the final. The Catalan Xènia Benach was the best of them, with 8.10, very close to making it to the final. We should also mention the Basque Laura Bankó, who stopped the time at 8.26, and the Madrid natives Carmen Sánchez (8.33) and Sade Tung Maye (8.47).
Men's 60m Hurdles
The men's hurdles event, which is not part of the World Indoor Tour, was very exciting. Just when it seemed that the Spaniards Asier Martínez and Enrique Llopis could take the top two places, the Italian Lorenzo Simonelli emerged from the outside lane, taking the win with 7.46, a personal best. In the central lanes, the Navarrese Martínez stopped the clock at 7.50 and took second place. The Valencian Llopis did one hundredth more, which is a season´s best for him. Next week, at the World Championships in Glasgow, we will see the two Spaniards again battling with the best. Fourth was the Cypriot Milan Trajkovic, with 7.59, and fifth was the Swiss Jason Joseph, the a priori favourite to win due to his history and records, with 7.72.
Men's 800 meters
The final A of the men's 800m had a fast pace and lots of excitement. The race was excellently launched by Guillermo Rojo, who passed the halfway point in 49.96. The Italian Catalin Tecuceanu then took the lead and never let go. He crossed the finish line in a magnificent time of 1:45.00 and took the victory with a meeting record and taking the world lead. Behind them there was a titanic fight between the Spaniards, with various alternatives. When it seemed that the Galician Adrián Ben was going to be the best of ours, the Cantabrian Mohamed Attaoui emerged in the final stretch, taking second place with a time of 1:45.67. Adrián Ben was third and was rewarded with a personal best, with 1:45.72 (6th Spaniard ever). Immediately after them came the Salamancan Álvaro de Arriba, who achieved a very good 1:45.88. Alicante's Javier Mirón finished fifth with a time of 1:46.52. Thanks to his great victory, the Italian Tecuceanu has added 22 points and has taken the win in the World Indoor Tour.
In the B final, the winner was Ugandan Tom Dradriga, who won with 1:47.91, beating Madrid native Pablo Sánchez-Valladares, who clocked 1:48.00. Ronaldo Olivo, also from Madrid, a first-year U23, was very brave and took the lead with 150 metres to go, but finally finished fourth with 1:48.18, a personal best, overtaken in the last metres by Catalan Elvin Josué Canales, with 1:48.08.
Women's 800 meters
The women's 800m was not a World Indoor Tour event. It was a great satisfaction to see Barcelona's Sara Gallego on the track, who was an excellent pacemaker, passing the 400m in 57.43. Behind her was Ethiopia's Worknesh Mesele, who, once Gallego finished her pacemaking tasks, took the lead, a position she never let go. She won with a time of 2:01.01. Behind her, Madrid's Lorea Ibarzabal bravely managed to get into second place, but could not withstand the final rush of Italy's Eloisa Coiro and Ethiopia's Tigist Girma. Coiro was second with a time of 2:01.50 and Girma third with 2:01.61. Lorea Ibarzabal finally took fourth place with a time of 2:01.62. Behind our Spanish champion were Daniela García (6th with 2:03.67) and Barcelona's Zoya Naumov (8th with 2:06.06).
Men's triple jump
Excellent victory for the Spaniard Jordan Alejandro Díaz, our national record holder and who we were unable to see in Ourense, who in his third attempt flew up to 17.52, which is the second best world mark of the year, the best Spanish mark of the season and the best Spanish indoor mark. He started with a foul, followed by a good 16.94, the aforementioned 17.52, did not make the fourth, a fifth of 16.99 and not jumping in the sixth. An enormous performance by Jordan Díaz, which makes us have great hopes for this year 2024. The German Max Hess was close to 17 meters; he got second place with 16.96, followed by the Algerian Yasser Triki with 16.66. Precisely the Algerian Triki has won the World Indoor Tour title. Let us mention Castellón's Pablo Torrijos, sixth with 15.78, and Frenchman Teddy Thamgo, who made a discreet return to competition (15.20) after five years off the track.
Women's 1.500 meters
Exciting women's 1.500-metre race, with an excellent victory for the Italian Ludovica Cavalli with a time of 4:07.01, who took the lead after the pacemaker withdrew along with the Ethiopian Saron Berhe. A nice fight between the two, which went in favour of the Italian; Berhe clocked 4:08.22. The Segovian had a magnificent race that went from less to more and took the prize of a third place and a personal best, with 4:08.40. Marta Pérez from Soria was sixth with 4:11.32, Marina Martínez from Catalonia was seventh with 4:14.43, a personal best, and Marta García from Palencia, who was bravely in third position for a good part of the race, was finally ninth with 4:14.82, a personal best for her. The winner of the World Indoor Tour was Freweyni Hailu from Ethiopia, who was not present today in Madrid.
Women's 400 meters
In the women's 400m, which was not a World Indoor Tour event, another record was set by Romanian Andrea Miklos, with 51.11. Second place went to Irishwoman Sharlene Mawdlesy, with 51.97, followed by Belgian Naomi van den Broeck, with 52.01. An excellent B final in the 400m, with only Spanish representation. And we say excellent because four of the five athletes achieved their personal best. The strongest was Eva Santidrián from Burgos, the current Spanish champion, who passed the 200m in 24.68 and finished in 52.67, improving by two hundredths of a second the time achieved in Ourense, which places her as the fifth Spanish athlete in history. She was followed by Carmen Avilés from Córdoba, with 5; Third place went to Madrid's Daniela Fra, with 53.06, and fourth place to Lérida's Berta Segura, with 53.12; as we said, all of them with a personal best. Fifth place went to Madrid's Blanca Hervás, with 53.35.
Men's 3.000 meters
Norwegian Narve Nordas took the win in the 3.000m, after brilliantly beating Ethiopian Ermas Girma in the final part of the race, who had been following the pacemaker all the way. Nordas set a personal best with 7:41.28, while Girma's 7:41.94 was followed by France's Hugo Hay in third with 7:43.37. Ninth place went to Castellón's Abderrahman El Khayami, with 7:51.47, and tenth place to Catalonia's Àdam Maijó, who ran in 8:02.08. The winner of the World Indoor Tour was Ethiopia's Selemon Barega.
Women´s long jump
Romanian Florentina Iusco was the winner of the long jump; she was the favourite and won with 6.65, just one centimetre more than Serbian Milica Gardasevic. Iusco tied on points with Gardasevic, but the Serbian was ultimately the winner of the World Indoor Tour. Spaniards Fátima Diame and Tessy Ebosele took third and fourth place. The Valencian reached 6.55 in her second attempt (and 6.36 in the fourth) and the Vitorian reached 6.50 in her first jump, not being able to improve it during the rest of the competition.
Women´s high jump
The women's high jump did not perform as expected and the winner of the World Indoor Tour was an athlete who was not present in Madrid, the Lithuanian Urte Baikstyte, who has taken the title. There were several candidates present to dethrone the Lithuanian, but none of them succeeded. The Slovenian Lia Apostolovski was the winner, but with 1.89; if she had achieved 1.92, the height she attempted, she would have won the World Indoor Tour. The same height, 1.89, was achieved by the Finnish Ella Junnila, who finally came second, and the Lithuanian Airine Palsyte, third. Discreet performances by the Australian Eleanor Patterson and the Czech Michaela Hruba, contenders for the victory. The Galician Saleta Fernández was eighth with 1.85, a season´s best for her, failing at 1.89. The Granadan Una Stancev was ninth with 1.80.
Men's pole vault
Poland's Piotr Lisek was the virtual winner of the pole vault at the World Indoor Championships and in Madrid he did nothing but confirm it. He won with 5.70, failing all three of his attempts at 5.80. Portugal's Pedro Buaro was second with a height of 5.60, failing with 5.75. Catalonia's Aleix Pi put in an immaculate competition with 5.10, 5.30 and 5.50. With the bar at 5.60, Aleix was unable to clear it, which would have meant a personal best. Madrid's Juan Luis Bravo was fourth with 5.30, the same height as Catalonia's Artur Coll, who occupied sixth position. Andalusia's Isidro Leyva was seventh with 5.10.
The MVA awards of the meeting were, as expected, won by the Bahamian Devynne Charlton and the Jamaican Rejindra Campbell. As is now traditional, at the beginning of the meeting two inclusive 60-metre events were held, with the winners being Joan Sirera, with 7.22, and Irene Aragón, with 7.89. The meeting also began with an emotional minute of silence in memory of those who died and were injured in the terrible fire that occurred yesterday in Valencia.