London, Mar 16 (IANS): The World Athletics Indoor Tour organised 25 competitions in 11 different countries across Europe and North America. In all, 1,353 athletes from 84 countries competed in the wider series of Gold, Silver and Bronze level meetings with all six continental areas represented, said to World Athletics, the global governing body.
At the end of the five Gold-level meetings 11 series winners -- representing seven countries and three continental areas -- were confirmed, each earning wildcard entries to the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade22.
They are:
Women's 60m - Javianne Oliver (USA)
Women's 800m - Habitam Alemu (Ethiopia)
Women's 3000m - Lemlem Hailu (Ethiopia)
Women's pole vault - Iryna Zhuk (Belarus)
Women's triple jump - Liadagmis Povea (Cuba)
Women's shot put - Auriol Dongmo (Portugal)
Men's 400m - Pavel Maslak (Czech Republic)
Men's 1500m - Selemon Barega (Ethiopia)
Men's 60m hurdles - Grant Holloway (USA)
Men's high jump - Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy)
Men's long jump - Juan Miguel Echevarria (Cuba)
Four senior world indoor records were broken this year, three of them coming in at World Athletics Indoor Tour meetings:
Women's 1500m - 3:53.09 Gudaf Tsegay (Ethiopia) Lievin
Men's 60m hurdles - 7.29 Grant Holloway (USA) Madrid
Men's triple jump - 18.07m Hugues Fabrice Zango (Burkina Faso) Aubiere
Men shot put - 22.82m Ryan Crouser (USA) Fayetteville
World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold series records were broken in 10 disciplines this year:
Women's 400m - Shaunae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas) 50.21, Staten Island (Boston)
Women's 800m - Habitam Alemu (Ethiopia) 1:58.19, Torun
Women's 1500m - Gudaf Tsegay (Ethiopia) 3:53.09, Lievin
Women's 3000m - Gudaf Tsegay (Ethiopia) 8:22.65, Madrid
Women's shot put - Auriol Dongmo (Portugal) 19.65m, Karlsruhe
Men's 400m - Michael Norman (USA) 45.34, Staten Island (Boston)
Men's 800m - Elliot Giles (Great Britain) 1:43.63, Torun
Men's 3000m - Getnet Wale (Ethiopia) 7:24.98, Lievin
Men's 60m hurdles - Grant Holloway (USA) 7.29, Madrid
Men's triple jump - Hugues Fabrice Zango (Burkina Faso) 17.82m, Lievin
The five World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold fixtures came out on top in the list of indoor invitational meetings in World Athletics' competition performance rankings. Lievin's score is the highest ever mark for a one-day indoor competition.
47,424 Lievin
45,691 Torun
45,288 Staten Island (Boston)
44,857 Karlsruhe
44,215 Madrid
"Outside of the World Athletics Indoor Tour, dozens of other indoor competitions took place, including national championships and major international events. The Polish city of Torun hosted the European Indoor Championships while Fayetteville, Arkansas last weekend played host to the NCAA Indoor Championships," said World Athletics.
"While the world slowly navigates its way out of the Covid-19 pandemic, competition organisers are continually adapting to find new ways of operating. But the action-packed indoor season gives much hope that the bulk of the international outdoor calendar will be able to go ahead safely, leading up to this year's Tokyo Olympic Games and beyond," it said.