Torun (Poland), March 21 (IANS) World record holder and Paris Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh claimed the first gold medal at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, north-central Poland. lighting up the opening day of the competition.
The 24-year-old high jumper from Ukraine, who had only won bronze medals at last year’s World Indoor and Outdoor Championships, cleared 1.93m on her first attempt and then improved to 2.01m to secure the gold in the morning session on Friday.
Yuliia Levchenko of Ukraine, Nicola Olyslagers of Australia, and Angelina Topic of Serbia failed to clear 2.01 meters, earning joint silver medals with a height of 1.99 meters. After securing the championship, Mahuchikh made three unsuccessful attempts at 2.06 meters, reports Xinhua.
“It was only after arriving in Torun that I realised how much I longed for the gold,” Mahuchikh said after her victory.
American Chase Jackson, holder of two world indoor bronze medals and a silver, secured women’s shot put gold with a fourth-round best of 20.14 meters and became the only competitor to exceed the 20.00 meters mark.
Canada’s defending champion, Sarah Mitton, took silver with a throw of 19.78 metres in the fourth round. The bronze medal went to Sweden’s Axelina Johansson, who improved her own national record to 19.75 meters.
In the men’s triple jump final held later in the evening, Italy’s Andy Diaz Hernandez defended his title with a first-round leap of 17.47 meters, becoming the first back-to-back champion in the event since 2004. Jordan Scott of Jamaica and Yasser Triki of Algeria took silver and bronze, respectively.
In the men’s 60m final, 21-year-old Jordan Anthony of the United States stormed to victory in a world-leading time of 6.41 seconds in his World Indoor Championships debut. Kishane Thompson of Jamaica took silver in 6.45 seconds, while American Trayvon Bromell had to settle for bronze by a margin of one-thousandth of a second.
Elsewhere on the field, Andy Diaz retained his title in the triple jump, leaping a world-leading 17.47m to become the first back-to-back winner since 2004. The Olympic bronze medallist flew to that eventual winning mark in the first round and his rivals had no response.
Jamaica’s Jordan Scott also set a season’s best, soaring 17.33m for silver, his first global medal, while Algeria’s Yasser Mohammed Triki – who started as the world leader on 17.35m – this time jumped 17.30m to add world indoor bronze to his silver from 2024.
USA’s Chase Jackson completed her set of world indoor medals by taking gold in the women’s shot put.
The two-time world champion was the sole athlete to surpass 20 metres, throwing 20.14m in the fourth round to clinch her first global title indoors. She becomes the second US athlete to win this title, after Michelle Carter in 2016.
Canada’s Sarah Mitton secured a silver to go with her two gold medals won in 2024 and 2025 after throwing 19.78m in the fourth round and matching it in the sixth.
Bronze went to Sweden’s Axelina Johansson, who improved her own national record to 19.75m to become her nation’s first ever world medallist in the women’s throws.
The 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championship is scheduled to be held from March 20 to 22 in Torun, Poland.
The second day will feature Swedish pole vault superstar Armand Duplantis, who returns to the city where he earned his first world record of 6.17 meters six years ago. He will face stiff competition from a world-class field, including Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis.
–IANS
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