Coleman turns tables on Lyles
World record-holder defeats rival for men's 60-meter title in World indoor champs
Christian Coleman ran so smooth and efficiently in the final of the men’s 60-meter dash in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on Friday that he forced Noah Lyles to do something he’s done very little of in the last year.
He made him tighten up at the end of a race.
The 26-year-old Lyles had won his first World title in the 100 meters in Budapest, Hungary, last August by running faster than anyone over the final 25 meters of the race while staying more relaxed than any of his competitors, including fifth-place Coleman.
The same thing occurred in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Feb. 17 when he ran down the fast-starting Coleman in the final 15 meters the 60-meter final.
But in Glasgow on Friday, on the first day of the three-day meet, it was the 27-year-old Coleman who got off to one of his typically stellar starts and then maintained his form all the way through the finish line while winning the second World indoor title of his career.
Coleman’s time of 6.41 seconds was the fastest in the world this year, tied for the fourth fastest of his career, and gave him a comfortable margin of victory over second-place Lyles at 6.44 and third-place Akeem Blake of Jamaica at 6.46. Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya and Henrik Larsson of Sweden finished fourth and fifth, each with a time of 6.56.
Lyles, whose time was only a hundredth of a second off the personal best he had set in the national championships, made up some ground on Coleman over the last half of the race. But he was unable to overtake his fellow American in the same manner in which he had in Albuquerque. And in the televised replay of the race, he was visibly straining in his face and shoulders during the last 15 meters of the race.
“I had a lot of confidence in myself coming in. You have to feel confident in yourself,” Coleman said in a World Athletics post. “I set my mind on letting my body do what I have been doing in practice and I came out with a win. I can look forward to the rest of the summer. I've got so many things to work on and I am just looking forward to these opportunities. When you get these opportunities, you have got to take them.”
Coleman, who ran 6.49 and 6.43 in his qualifying heat and semifinal earlier in the day on Friday, had won his first World 60-meter title in the 2018 championships in Birmingham, England. But he finished second to Marcell Jacobs of Italy in the 2022 meet in Belgrade, Serbia.
He led Jacobs for the first 50 meters of that race, but the Olympic 100 champion was more relaxed than Coleman during the final stages of the contest and that contributed to a narrow victory as each of them were credited with times of 6.41.
With his 6.41 clocking on Friday, Coleman has now run five of the top 12 times in history, including the top three at 6.34, 6.37, and 6.37, which all came during the 2018 season.
“Even a few weeks ago I was having a few hiccups in my training but I feel like I am made for these types of moments,” Coleman said in a post on The Guardian site. “I think I am the greatest 60m runner ever, 100%. But the exciting part is that I feel like my ceiling is so much higher.”
Coleman was one of five individuals who won gold medals at Emirates Arena on Friday.
The others were Ryan Crouser of the U.S. in the men’s shot put, Sarah Mitton of Canada in the women’s shot put, Nicola Olyslagers of Australia in the women’s high jump, and Noor Vidts of Belgium in the women’s pentathlon.
Crouser, winner of the last two Olympic and World outdoor championships, entered the meet looking for his first global indoor title and he accomplished that in dominant fashion by producing the top four puts of the competition and five of the top six.
The 31-year-old Crouser’s first put of 22.36 meters (73 feet 4½ inches) turned out to be good enough to win the competition. But he topped that effort with puts of 22.51 (73-10¼) in the fourth round, 22.77 (74-8½) in the fifth, and 22.69 (74-5½) in the sixth.
His 22.77 best was only five centimeters shy of the world indoor record of 22.82 (74-10½) that he had set in 2021.
Tom Walsh of New Zealand finished second at 22.07 (72-5) and Leonardo Fabbri of Italy placed third at 21.96 (72-0¾). Countryman Zane Weir finished fourth at 21.85 (71-8¼), followed by Jacko Gill of New Zealand at 21.69 (71-2).
Crouser was very pleased with his victory as he was favored to win the 2022 title in Belgrade, but he had been upset by Darlan Romani when the Brazilian set a national record of 22.53 (73-11).
“It’s a big honour,” Crouser said in a World Athletics post. “There’s a fantastic atmosphere tonight – a great energy to feed off.
“It’s a great stepping stone to the Olympics for me. Technically, it was a bit iffy at times, but the power was there.”
While Crouser led from the first round onward in the men’s shot put, Mitton came from behind to win the women’s event.
Yemisi Ogunleye of Germany crushed her personal best with a put of 20.19 (66-3) in the first round and that held up for the lead until Mitton unleashed a 20.20 (66-3¼) effort in the fourth round. She then topped that mark with a 20.22 (66-4¼) effort on her sixth attempt.
Ogunleye, who entered the meet with a personal best of 19.57 (64-2½), topped that mark with a 19.71 (64-8) put in the third round, but she fouled on each of her final three attempts.
Chase Jackson – nee Ealey of the U.S., the two-time defending World outdoor champion, finished third at 19.67 (64-6½), followed by Maddison-Lee Wesche of New Zealand at 19.62 (64-4½), and fifth-place Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands at 19.37 (63-6¾).
Jackson and Schilder had produced puts of 20.02 (65-8¼) and 20.31 (66-7¾) in winning their respective national championships last month, but they were unable to replicate those performances on Friday.
Mitton’s victory gave her her first global title after she finished second in the World outdoor championships last year and fourth in 2022.
“To be the world champion, that sounds amazing,” the 27-year-old Mitton told Reuters. “I was not able to say that before and now, I am probably never going to stop saying it. This is the moment that cannot be taken away from you.
Olyslagers can no doubt relate to what Mitton said for the Aussie won her first global title in the women’s high jump on Friday after finishing second in the Olympic Games in 2021, fifth in the World outdoor championships in 2022 and third in last year’s meet in Budapest.
Like Mitton, she too came from behind for her victory.
Olyslagers had cleared 1.88 (6-2), 1.92 (6-3½), and 1.95 (6-4¾) on her first three attempts of the competition. But she found herself in second place after needing two tries to make 1.97 (6-5½).
Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, the defending World indoor and outdoor champion, had not looked super sharp up to that point in the competition, but she was in first place after clearing 1.92, 1.95, and 1.97 on her first attempts.
She was still in the lead after she and Olyslagers had missed their first two attempts at 1.99 (6-6¼). But Olyslagers moved into the lead with a clean clearance on her third try and Mahuchikh had to settle for the silver medal after she brushed the bar off the standards on her third attempt.
With the gold medal secured, the 27-year-old Olyslagers then missed all three of her tries at 2.02 (6-7½). Lia Apostolovski of Slovenia and Christina Honsel of Germany each cleared 1.95, but Apostolovski won the bronze medal because she had fewer misses during the competition than did Honsel.
Angelina Topic of Serbia and Morgan Lake of Great Britain each cleared 1.92, but Topic placed fifth and Lake finished sixth because Topic had fewer total misses than Lake.
“I felt today was going to be a big challenge because I hadn't competed indoors since 2017,” Olyslagers said in a World Athletics post. “I came here today because I knew I had to get outside my comfort zone, outside of Australia.
“With that mindset, and the track being so fast, I had to fight for every jump. Then the bar went up to 1.99m and I remembered I had jumped the same height on a cold, windy night in Melbourne two weeks ago.
“The goal today wasn't to win, it was to jump high and I just happened to get the title out of it.”
Vidts won her second consecutive World indoor title in the pentathlon after having finished fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, in the heptathlon in the Olympic Games in 2021, and in the World outdoor championships in 2022 and ’23.
She had a very solid competition as she was never lower than second place in the overall standings after the second event while on her way to a winning total of 4,773 points.
Saga Vanninen of Finland finished second with a national record of 4,697 points, followed by Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands with 4,571. Sveva Gerevini of Italy placed fourth with 4,559 points, followed by Verena Mayr of Austria with 4,466.
Vidts ran 8.27 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles in the first event of the competition and she followed that with marks of 1.79 (5-10½) in the high jump, 14.26 (46-9½) in the shot put, and 6.50 (21-4) in the long jump.
She trailed the 20-year-old Vanninen by nine points in the standings entering the 800 meters, the final event of the competition, but her personal best in the event was much faster than Vanninen’s so it was not a surprise when her 2:12.99 effort was more than seven and a half seconds faster than the Finn’s 2:20.54.
Vanninen had taken the lead when she put the shot 15.01 (49-3) and she maintained it with a 6.41 (21-0½) effort in the long jump.
“It’s quite crazy,” Vidts said in a World Athletics post about winning her second consecutive global pentathlon title. “I’m really happy. It’s been a long, hard day.”
In addition to the five finals on Friday, preliminary races were contested in the women’s and men’s 400, 800, and 1,500 meters.
Qualifying heats and semifinals were run in the men’s and women’s 400 in advance of the finals on Saturday.
World record-holder Femke Bol and Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands ran 50.66 and 51.18, respectively, in winning their semifinals, with Alexis Holmes finishing second behind Bol in 50.99 and American teammate Talitha Diggs placing second to Klaver in 51.28.
Karsten Warholm of Norway, the world record-holder in the 400 intermediate hurdles, won the second semifinal of the men’s 400 in 45.68 after Alexander Doom of Belgium took the first in 45.69.
Joao Coelho of Portugal finished second behind Doom in a national record of 45.98 ad Rusheen McDonald of Jamaica placed second to Warholm in 46.02.
Five qualifying heats were held in the women’s and men’s 800, with the semifinals to be contested on Saturday.
Jemma Reekie of Great Britain posted the fastest time in the first round of the women’s 800 when she won the third heat in 1:59.45, ahead of the 1:59.76 personal best of second-place Eloisa Coiro of Italy.
Ethiopians Habitom Alemu and Tsige Duguma each ran 2:00.50 in winning the first and fourth heats, respectively.
Defending champion Mariano Garcia of Spain posted the fastest time in the first round of the men’s 800 when he won the fifth heat in 1:45.81.
Other heat winners were 2022 bronze medalist Bryce Hoppel of the U.S., who ran 1:46.15, and Mohamed Attaoui of Spain, who clocked 1:46.20.
Noah Kibet of Kenya, the silver medalist from 2022, did not advance to the semifinals as he finished third in his heat in 1:46.90.
In the women’s 1,500 meters, Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. and Georgia Bell of Great Britain posted the two fastest times when they ran 4:04.34 and 4:04.39 in finishing 1-2 in the second of four heats that were used to determined the finalists for Sunday.
Ethiopia will have three finalists as Diribe Welteji (4:07.17) and Freweyni Haile (4:12.38) won their heats, and compatriot Birke Haylom placed second in her heat in 4:11.54.
In the men’s 1,500, Vincent Kibet Keter of Kenya and Cole Hocker of the U.S. were the two fastest winners of the four heats as Keter ran 3:38.96 and Hocker clocked 3:39.32.
Narve Gilje Nordas of Norway, the bronze medalist in last year’s World Championships, won his heat in 3:42.09, and defending champion Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia advanced to the final on Sunday by running 3:39.66 to place third in the heat won by Hocker.
Hobbs Kessler of the U.S., the fastest entrant in the meet at 3:33.66, ran 3:39.07 while finishing second to Keter in his heat.