Week in Review: Taking center stage
Ditaji Kambundji outshines renown sister with performance in European Champs
Ditaji Kambundji of Switzerland took a big step toward emerging from the shadow of her older sister, Mujinga, when she won the women’s 60-meter hurdles in the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, last Friday.
Running in lane five, the 22-year-old Ditaji had the second-fastest reaction time among any of the eight competitors, was even with co-leader Pia Skrzyszowska of Poland over the first of five hurdles, and had taken the lead after clearing the second barrier. Nadine Visser of the Netherlands, the European champion in 2019 and ’21, closed well, but was unable to catch the winner.
Kambundji’s time of 7.67 seconds was a European record, tied for the second-fastest ever run, and smashed her previous personal best of 7.80 set 20 days earlier. Visser clocked 7.72 and Skrzyszowska placed third in 7.83.
Kambundji’s effort bettered the previous continental record of 7.68 set by Susanna Kallur of Sweden in 2008, and moved her into a tie for second on the all-time performer list. Visser moved into a three-way tie for eighth.
Kallur held the world record at the start of last year, but Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas and Tia Jones of the U.S. each ran 7.67 during February before Charlton clocked 7.65 in winning the World Indoor Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 3.
“I had my cry, I was crying down there,” Kambundji said in a runblogrun.com post. “But I feel like talking to media helps me to digest what just happened. Now I’m realising that I actually broke the European record, that I won and that I did what I wanted to do.
“I knew from the start that it had to be a fast time. Because everybody was going to show up and everybody was going to run fast. I feel like that’s what pushed me. I knew it had to be a really fast time to win. I set myself a goal and I knew what I had to do.”
Mujinga and Ditaji Kambundji are the second and fourth daughters of a Congolese father, Safuka, and a Swiss mother, Ruth.
Mujinga is a 32-year-old sprinter who has been a member of four Swiss Olympic teams and six World championship squads.
She was the bronze medalist in the 200 meters in the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, and a finalist in the 100 and 200 in both the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo and the 2022 global title meet in Eugene, Oregon. But she is best known for winning the women’s 60 in the 2022 World indoor championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Ditaji had won the 100 hurdles in the European U20 and U23 championships in 2021 and ‘23, respectively. But her highest finish in a senior global title meet had been a seventh in the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
She did not advance out of the first round in the Games in Tokyo and she was eliminated in the semifinals of the World Championships in 2022 and in the Olympics last year.
She had advanced to the final of the 60 hurdles in the global indoor championships in 2022, but she did not finish the race after crashing into a barrier.
However, she had won three of her five races this season heading into the European championships, and had produced clockings of 7.80 and 7.82 in her two finals prior to Friday.
She ran 7.92 in a first-round heat in Apeldoorn last Thursday before winning her semifinal in 7.82 on Friday morning, about eight hours before her splendid performance in the final, which came two days before Mujinga won a silver medal in the 60.
“Bringing it home is not always easy,” Ditaji said. “I’m proud of myself that I was able to achieve that under pressure. Seeing my family in the crowd, seeing my mom and my dad waving at me… they’re always there for me. To celebrate this with them is amazing.”
“Every championships, whether it’s good or bad, I always take a lot from it. I always learn a lot from the times where it didn’t go so well or the times where it did go well. I think the mental aspect is really important. It’s important to be mentally ready, to be able to work and perform under pressure. I think that’s something experience teaches you. There was some pressure today, but I’m happy it turned out this way.
“I feel like I had a good indoor season, I felt very ready. I was really looking forward to this competition. I love Championships and I think that’s always where I want to show my best.”
Ditaji’s performance made her one of the the favorites in the 60 hurdles for the World indoor meet in Nanjing, China, from March 21-23, and her excitement about her effort was evident on her Instagram account when she posted the following: European indoor Champion & European Record!🤩🤯 7.67 !!🫢what a crazy night! Still a bit speechless, thank you so much for all the messages❤️🥹
Two for two: While Ditaji Kambundji of Switzerland set her first European record in winning the women’s 60-meter hurdles in the continental indoor championships last Friday, Sander Skotheim of Norway set his second continental best in five weeks when he won the men’s heptathlon on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Skotheim totaled 6,558 points to top his previous European record of 6,484 that he had set while winning a meet in Tallinn, Estonia, during the first two days of February.
Skotheim came from behind in the final event, the 1,000 meters, to win the heptathlon in Apeldoorn. Simon Ehammer of Switzerland placed second with 6,506 points, and Till Steinforth of Germany finished third with 6,388.
Skotheim’s score was the fifth-best ever and moved him to third on the all-time performer list, while Ehammer’s total was the No. 7 performance of all-time and made him the fifth-best performer in history.
The top 11 finishers set personal bests, with Skotheim, Ehammer, Steinforth, fourth-place Johannes Erm of Estonia (6,380), and fifth-place Jente Hauttekeete of Belgium (6.259) all setting national records.
Skotheim had totaled a personal best of 8,635 points in finishing second in the decathlon in the European Athletics Championships last year, but he finished 18th in the Olympic Games with a score of 7,757 after not clearing his opening height of 4.50 meters (14 feet 9 inches) in the pole vault.
His total of 6,484 points in the heptathlon in Tallinn had topped the previous European record of 6,479 set by Kevin Mayer of France in 2017, but Ehammer gave him a run for his money last weekend.
Skotheim was tied for fifth place after he ran a personal best of 6.93 seconds in the 60-meter high hurdles to begin the competition on Friday and he was in third behind Ehammer and Steinforth after he spanned 7.89 (25-10¾) in the long jump.
Ehammer extended his lead in the shot put when his top mark of 15.15 (49-8½) was better than Steinforth’s 14.95 (49-¾) and Skotheim’s 14.39 (47-2½). But the Norwegian was in first place at the end of the first day with 3,689 points after he cleared 2.19 (7-2¼) in the high jump, while Ehammer and Steinforth each cleared 1.98 (6-6).
Ehammer took a 50-point lead over Skotheim after he ran 7.68 in the 60 high hurdles to Skotheim’s 8.04. And the gap remained the same when each of them cleared 5.10 (16-8¾) in the pole vault.
However, Skotheim picked up 102 points on Ehammer in the 1,000 when he ran 2:32.72 to the Swiss performer’s 2:41.76 to avenge an 11-point loss to gold medalist Ehammer in last year’s World indoor championships.
Afterward, Skotheim said the “atmosphere was crazy.”
Domination personified: Dutch athletes combined to win three individual gold medals, as well as both the men’s and women’s 1,600-meter relays on the fourth — and final — day of the European indoor championships on Sunday. However, no Dutch athlete performed better than Jessica Schilder, who won the women’s shot put with a yearly world-leading mark of 20.69 (67-10¾) and had the top six marks of a competition in which Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye of Germany placed second at 19.56 (64-2¼) and Auriol Dongmo of Portugal finished third at 19.26 (63-2¼).
The 25-year-old Schilder’s top mark — and national record — was the best indoor put in the world since two-time Olympic champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand had produced a 20.81 (68-3¼) effort in 2012.
Schilder had efforts of 19.97 (65-6¼) in both the first and second round before improving to a season best of 20.24 (66-5) in the third stanza.
She followed that with a put of 19.64 (64-5¼) on her fourth attempt before exploding to 20.69 (67-10¾) in the fifth round and capping the competition with an effort of 20.37 (66-10) in the sixth.
It was the fourth time in six meets this season that Schilder has topped 20 meters (65-7½). Three other performers, including Ogunleye, have combined to better 20 meters in four competitions.
Rise continues: Oleh Doroshchuk of Ukraine added two centimeters to his personal best in the men’s high jump when he cleared a yearly world-leading height of 2.34 (7-8) in the European Indoor Athletics Championships last Saturday.
The 23-year-old jumper’s performance left him well ahead of silver medalist Jan Stefela of Czechia and Matteo Sioli of Italy, who each cleared 2.29 (7-6). Stefela finished second because he made 2.29 on his first attempt and Siola needed two tries to make that height.
Doroschuk, who had raised his best to 2.32 (7-7¼) in the Ukrainian championships on Feb. 22, did not have a miss during the competition. He cleared 2.17 (7-1½), 2.22 (7-3¼), 2.26 (7-5), 2.29 (7-6), 2.32 (7-7¼), and 2.34 (7-8) on his first attempts before calling it a day.
Stefela had missed his first two jumps at 2.32 before passing to 2.34, which he missed on his one remaining attempt.
“Each jump was really good,” Doroshchuk said in a runblogrun.com post. “I knew that if I jump everything with the first attempt, I can win the gold. I did not want to risk. I felt pretty good during my all jumps.
“Artur Felfner, our javelin thrower, he is a very good friend of mine, he gave me this advice that I need to clear everything in the first.”
Doroshchuk added that he stopped jumping after he cleared 2.34 because he “became too emotional. It was my personal best so I decided that it is enough. For sure, this was the evening that I will remember for the rest of my life. I hope I made many people at home happy for this victory.”
Ukraine recently entered its fourth year of war with Russia after more than 400,000 Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
From third to first: Andy Diaz Hernandez of Italy won the men’s triple jump in the European Athletics Indoor Championships last Saturday when he bounded an undercover personal best of 17.71 (58-1¼) in the fifth round.
That jump moved him from third place to first in the standings as his previous best of 17.05 (55-11¼) had come in the third round.
The 29-year-old Diaz Hernandez was not particularly sharp during the competition. He leaped 16.37 (53-8½) in the first round before fouling in the second. After leaping 17.05 on his third attempt, he passed on his fourth, hit his winning jump of 17.71 on his fifth, and fouled on his sixth.
Max HeB of Germany, who had defeated Diaz Hernandez in a meet in Metz, France, four weeks earlier, finished second on Saturday with a best of 17.43 (57-2¼). He was followed by bronze medalist Andrea Dallavalle of Italy, who leaped 17.19 (56-4¾).
Jordan Alejandro Diaz of Spain and Pedro Pichardo of Portugal have yet to compete this season after winning the gold and silver medals, respectively, in the Olympic Games while finishing ahead of bronze medalist Diaz Hernandez.
Another world-leading performance: For the second time in five weeks, Saga Vanninen of Finland posted a yearly world-leading total, as well a national record, in the women’s pentathlon in the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Vanninen totaled 4,922 points in the five-event endeavor in which Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands finished second with 4,826, Ireland’s Kate O’Connor placed third with 4,781, and Jade O’Dowda of Great Britain was fourth with 4,751.
Vanninen’s score moved her to 11th on the all-time European performer list, with Dokter and O’Dowda registering personal bests and O’Connor setting a national record.
Vanninen, the silver medalist in last year’s World indoor championships, was in second place in the standings after opening the competition with a time of 8.19 seconds, and she was a close fourth behind O’Dowda, Dokter, and O’Connor after she cleared 1.81 (5-11¼) in the high jump.
She took a 72-point lead after unleashing a competition-leading mark of 15.56 (51-¾) in the shot put and her advantage was 62 points over second-place Dokter after she spanned 6.52 (21-4¾) in the long jump.
She then capped her victory with a time of 2:12.20 in the 800 that increased her lead by 34 points as Dokter ran 2:14.53. O’Connor overtook O’Dowda for the bronze medal as her time of 2:11.42 earned her 944 points in the event, which was 64 more than the 880 that O’Dowda received for her 2:15.91 clocking.
Vanninen’s total topped her previous national record of 4,843 points that was a yearly world-leading mark when she produced it in a meet in Tallinn, Estonia, on Feb. 2.
Two more world-leading performances: Zaynab Dosso of Italy and Jeremiah Azu of Great Britain posted the fastest undercover times in the world this year when they won the women’s and men’s 60-meter dash, respectively, in the European Athletics Indoor Championships last weekend.
The 25-year-old Dosso set a national record of 7.01 while finishing a hundredth of a second in front of 2022 World champion Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland in the final on Sunday. Patrizia van der Weken of Luxembourg edged Ewa Swoboda of Poland for the bronze medal by the same margin when her 7.06 clocking tied her national record that she had set in a semifinal earlier in the day.
It was the fourth victory in five finals this season for Dosso, who was the bronze medalist in the World indoor championships last year. Her 7.01 clocking followed times of 7.06 in the first round and 7.03 in the semifinals, and moved her to seventh on the all-time European performer list.
The 23-year-old Azu won the men’s 60 in 6.49 on Saturday while finishing three hundredths of a second in front of Henrik Larsson of Sweden, whose 6.52 clocking lowered his previous national record of 6.53 that he had run in finishing third in the European championships in 2023.
Andrew Robertson of Great Britain finished third in 6.55, with fourth-place Elvis Afrifa of the Netherlands setting a national record while being credited with the same time as Robertson.
Azu’s victory had come after he posted winning times of 6.58 in the first round and 6.52 in the semifinals earlier in the day.
Three in a row: Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won the men’s 1,500 and 3,000 meters for the third time in a row in the European Athletics Indoor Championships.
The 24-year-old Ingebrigtsen did so while running in his first meet since opening his season by setting world records of 3:29.63 in the 1,500 and 3:45.14 in the mile in the same race in a meet in Lievin, France, on Feb. 13.
Displaying a big kick during the final lap in both races in Apeldoorn, he ran 3:36.56 in the final of the 1,500 on Friday and 7:48.37 in the final of the 3,000 on Sunday.
Azzedine Habz of France placed second in the 1,500 in 3:36.92, followed by Isaac Nader of Portugal in 3:37.10.
George Mills of Great Britain was the silver medalist in the 3,000 with a time of 7:49.71, while Habz earned the bronze medal with a clocking of 7:50.48.
Mills had set a British record of 7:27.92 in the 3,000 while running away from the field in a meet in Val-de-Reuil, France, on Feb. 2, but the pace in the final on Sunday was quite slow for much of the race.
Golden carries: Femke Bol of the Netherlands had a hand in a pair of victories in the European Athletics Indoor Championships when she ran the anchor legs on the victorious Dutch squads in the mixed 4 x 400-meter relay in the first final of the meet on Thursday and in the women’s 4 x 4 in the concluding race of the competition on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Bol had lowered the short track world record in the women’s 400 meters three times during the previous two seasons, with her final lowering coming in the World indoor championships in Glasgow, Scotland, last year when she clocked 49.17.
However, she had announced earlier this year that she would not compete in any individual events during the undercover season.
Nick Smidt had given the Netherlands the lead after the first carry of the mixed race, but the Dutch were trailing Belgium and Great Britain after Eveline Sallberg’s second leg.
The Netherlands was still in third place at the final exchange, but Bol was not more than a stride out of the lead after she received the baton from Tony van Diepen and she quickly moved into second place behind Belgium.
Looking very controlled, she was about three meters behind Belgium’s Helena Ponette at the start of the bell lap, but she began to close in on the lead down the backstretch and moved in front with about 120 meters left in the race.
She was never seriously challenged after that as the Dutch foursome ran 3:15.63, followed by Belgium in 3:16.19, Great Britain in 3:16.49, and Spain in 3:17.12.
The Netherlands led the women’s 4 x 4 from start to finish as Lieke Klaver, who won the 400 in 50.38 on Saturday, gave the Dutch the lead after the first leg. Nina Franke and Cathelijn Peeters kept the team in front after their second and third carries, and Bol extended the lead she was given for her anchor leg.
Amber Anning of Great Britain was inches behind Bol as the pair began the bell lap, but Bol pulled away from her during the final 100 meters of the race as the Netherlands set a national record of 3:24.34 while becoming the third-fastest national team ever.
The next four squads also set national records as Great Britain ran 3:24.89, Czechia clocked 3:25.31, Spain timed 3:25.68, and France finished in 3:25.80.
Great Britain moved to fourth on the all-time nation list with its performance, while Czechia, Spain, and France are now fifth, sixth, and seventh.
Although the Netherlands was initially disqualified after its victory in the women’s race for an obstruction violation during a changeover, that decision was later reversed.
Like mother, like daughter: Larissa Iapichino of Italy won the women’s long jump in the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Saturday, 27 years after her mom, Fiona May, had won the continental indoor title in Valencia Spain.
The 22-year-old Iapichino had two jumps of 6.94 (22-9¼) in a tightly-contested competition in which Annik Kalin of Switzerland finished second with a national record of 6.92 (22-7¾) and Malaika Mihambo of Germany placed third at 6.88 (22-7).
Iapichino’s first 6.94 effort came in the third round and her second occurred in the sixth stanza.
Kalin spanned 6.90 on her first jump and Mihambo, the 2021 Olympic champion and the silver medalist in Paris, hit 6.88 on her final attempt to move from fifth place to third.
“She always tries to push me and wanted me to beat her records, to win much and more,” Iapichino said about her mom in a runblogrun.com post. “She has been so inspiring.”
May, who competed for Great Britain during the first part of her career before jumping for Italy, won seven medals in global championship meets.
She placed first in the World outdoor championships in 1995 and 2001, and also won the World indoor title in 1997. In addition, she was the Olympic silver medalist in 1996 in Atlanta and in 2000 in Sydney, Australia.
Three in a row II: Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine won her third consecutive title in the women’s high jump in the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Sunday while recording her 10th consecutive victory dating back to last year.
The defending Olympic and World outdoor champion cleared 1.99 (6-6¼), with the silver medal going to Angelina Topic of Serbia, who made 1.95 (6-4¾), and the bronze going to Engla Nilsson of Sweden, who got cleared a national record of 1.92 (6-3½).
Mahuchikh made 1.92 (6-3½), 1.95 (6-4¾), and 1.97 (6-5½) on her first attempts before needing two tries to clear 1.99 (6-6¼). She did not attempt to clear a higher height after that.
Two and counting: Angelica Moser of Switzerland won her first continental undercover title in the women’s pole vault in the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Saturday after winning her first outdoor title last year.
The 27-year-old Moser’s winning height of 4.80 (15-9) tied her Swiss record, while Tina Sutej of Slovenia finished second at 4.75 (15-7), followed by Marie-Julie Bonnin of France in third at 4.70 (15-5).
Moser cleared 4.55 (14-11) and 4.65 (15-3) on her first attempts before needing two tries to make 4.70 (15-5) and 4.75 (15-7). She then cleared 4.80 (15-9) on her initial effort before missing three times at 4.89 (16-0½), a height that would have topped her Swiss outdoor record of 4.88 (16-0) by a centimeter.
Two liners: Bozhidar Saraboyukov of Bulgaria won the men’s long jump in the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, last Friday after moving from sixth place to first on his final jump of the competition when he leapt 8.13 meters (26 feet 8¼ inches). That effort improved on his previous best of 7.94 (26-¾) from the third round and left him a centimeter ahead of second-place Mattia Furlani of Italy and third-place Lester Lescay of Spain, who each had a best of 8.12 (26-7¾). . . . . . . Andrei Toader of Romania set a national indoor record of 21.27 (69-9½) in winning the men’s shot put in the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Sunday after heavily-favored Leonardo Fabbri of Italy did not qualify for the final. Toader’s top effort was only two centimeters shy of the Romanian outdoor record of 21.29 (69-10¼) that he set in 2021. . . . . . . Samuel Chapple of the Netherlands set a national record of 1:44.88 in his come-from-behind victory in the men’s 800 meters in the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Sunday. Eliott Crestan of Belgium finished second in 1:44.92 after being overtaken by Chapple late in the race. . . . . . . Agathe Guillemot of France won the women’s 1,500 in 4:07.23 in the European Athletics Indoor Championships last Friday after she was one of three women who overtook Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Bell of Great Britain during the last lap of the race. Salome Afonso of Portugal placed second in 4:07.66 and she was followed by Brits Revee Walcott-Nolan and Bell, who were each credited with times of 4:08.45 while finishing in third and fourth place, respectively.
Two in a row: Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya won the Nagoya Women’s Marathon in Nagoya, Japan, on Sunday after taking control of the race with about six kilometers to go.
Chepkirui, 34, ran 2 hours 20 minutes 40 seconds and she was followed by second-place Sayaka Sato of Japan in a personal best of 2:20:59 and by third-place Eunice Chumba of Bahrain in 2:21:35.
Japan’s Mao Uesugi placed fourth in a personal best of 2:22:11 and she was followed by compatriot Rika Kaseda in 2:23:05.
Chepkirui’s victory followed her win in the New York City Marathon in November of last year when she had pulled away from defending champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya in the final 500 meters of the race.
Chepkirui was part of a lead pack when she went through 10 kilometers in 33:28, 20 kilometers in 1:07:00, and the halfway mark in 1:10:37.
The front group was down to seven runners when she came through 25 kilometers in 1:23:42 and it had been reduced to Chepkirui, Sato, Chumba, and Kaseda when they passed 30 kilometers in 1:40:20.
After Chepkirui and Chumba clocked 1:57:00 at 35 kilometers, with Sato a second behind them, Chepkirui began to open up a lead at the 36-kilometer mark. She was 16 seconds ahead of Sato — and 29 up on Chumba — when she came through 40 kilometers in 2:13:26 after having run the previous five kilometers in 16:26, her fastest 5k split of the race.
“It was a good race. I thank God for giving me energy,” Chepkirui said in a World Athletics post. “I had a positive mind during the training sessions leading up to this race. I am going to rest now and then prepare for the next race.”
Change of venue: The second edition of the World Athletics Road Running Championships will not be held in San Diego from Sept. 26-28.
World Athletics made that announcement in a March 5 press release in which it stated that it was talking to other potential hosts and expected to have another location finalized in the near future.
Although the release provided no details about why San Diego would no longer host the event, Tracy Sundlun, CEO of San Diego 25, was quoted as saying that the organization “really looked forward to welcoming he running world to San Diego this September but sadly it is not to be at this time. For now, all of us here on Team San Diego will do everything in our power to assist World Athletics in the seamless transition of the 2025 Championships to a new venue.”
In a timesofsandiego.com post, a source described as someone with knowledge of the matter said that “San Diego isn’t the problem. (It’s) more the model doesn’t work, same for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. These governing bodies — USATF, WA —want the host cities to cover all the expenses to the tune of millions of dollars and don’t want to help.”
The post also said that Paul Greer, president of the USA Track and Field association in San Diego, wrote in an email that even through the San Diego organizing committee had secured a $3 million title sponsor, “it appears this alone was not enough to keep these World Championships here in San Diego.”
A runningmagazine.ca post stated that an industry source told Canadian Running that the organizing committee planned to rely on three mass races to fund a portion of the event. The goal was to have 10,000 to 15,000 runners sign up to race on the same courses as the professionals, but fewer than 1,000 people had registered.
The inaugural edition of the World Road Running Championships were held in Riga, Latvia, in October of 2023. The event included men’s and women’s races in the mile, 5,000 meters, and half marathon.