BELGRADE, SERBIA, March 18-20 — Whichever way you look at it, the 18th edition of the World Indoor Championships was a huge success, topped off by a myriad of outstanding performances which produced 3 WRs.
Huge kudos to Mondo, Grant and Yulimar for going into record territory in their events; in the case of Duplantis and Rojas their marks in the Serbian capital topped anything ever seen outdoors.
Into the bargain, 7 meet records were notched up and there was rarely a disappointing event — perhaps only the two 4x4s — to a particularly critical eye.
Particularly emotional victories went to Trinidad’s 400 winner Jereem Richards and Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh. Richards was running in memory of the recent loss of several members of his family and close friend Deon Lendore, while Mahuchikh endured an arduous 3-day journey over 1200M to escape her war-torn country (Russian and Belarusian athletes were not allowed in the meet) before arriving in the Serbian capital.
Both athletes deservedly got standing ovations from the crowd for their heart-rending infield speeches after their events had concluded.
The Štark Arena’s capacity in its track meet configuration is officially 18,386, and about two-thirds of that when media, athletes, VIP and officials are subtracted.
It’s a big venue for an indoor champs, even a world one, but although no official figures were issued, paying fans filled up an estimated three-quarters of the available seats. Even the first session, Friday morning, was well attended, and there were not too many empty seats for the Sunday evening climax when local heroine — and the face of the championships — Ivana Vuleta was in action and successfully defended her LJ title from 4 years ago.
Into the bargain, those on hand were also treated to Duplantis getting his second WR in Belgrade in the space of 14 days.
It wasn’t a truly memorable championships for the U.S. although the 19-medal haul was certainly very respectable despite only 3 of them being gold.
Ethiopia topped the wins table for the first time with 4 golds — winning both the men’s and women’s 1500 and 3000 — and also achieved a memorable first WIC sweep, in the women’s 1500, which wouldn’t have been possible prior to ’16 and the introduction of Wild Cards.
Also worthy of note was the fact there has never been a WIC later than this on the calendar — although Portland ’16 was from March 17-20. With next year’s edition in Nanjing, China, scheduled for 17-19 March it may be that this becomes a trend, and the traditionally compact global indoor season is extended by a couple of weeks.
Another trend may be an ongoing return to a 3-day format after the 4-day versions at the last two editions in Portland and Birmingham.
Finally, speaking of Nanjing, a lot of scuttlebutt in Belgrade was focused on China’s deteriorating human rights record, COVID, and just the simple logistics of getting to and from Nanjing.
WA has a lot invested in Asia and has strong links to China, including its Diamond League title sponsor Wanda, but there are palpable rising concerns about how the ’23 WIC will be delivered and, indeed, if it should be.
Our following by-event coverage of World Indoor Championships XVIII is divided into 4 parts, with men’s and women’s sections for both track and field. ◻︎