Great Britain enjoyed a successful night at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, as Josh Kerr and Molly Caudery both claimed gold medals. Kerr won the men’s 3,000m in 7 minutes 42.98 seconds in front of a raucous home crowd to become the first Scottish athlete in 31 years to secure a world indoor gold. Less than 40 minutes later, Caudery won the women’s pole vault crown with a clearance of 4.80m, pipping New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney on countback.
In the women’s 400m final, Femke Bol of the Netherlands set a new world record of 49.17 seconds to claim gold, whilst Great Britain’s Laviai Nielsen ran a personal best of 50.89 seconds, but narrowly missed out on a podium spot, finishing fourth. Great Britain’s Laura Muir also missed out on a medal, finishing fifth in the women’s 3,000m, which was won by America’s Elle St Pierre.
Kerr, the outdoor 1500m world champion, who had made it clear that his aim for the year was to win gold at this year’s Olympics in Paris, put in a flawless performance, overhauling Ethiopia’s defending champion Selemon Barega. Kerr arrived in Glasgow with confidence high, after winning the British Indoor Championships by nearly four seconds, and breaking Mo Farah’s world indoor two-mile record in the process.
Caudery, a breakout star for GB last year in Budapest when she produced a personal best to finish fifth on her global championships debut, continued her upward trajectory in this year’s competition in which she has set three world leads and personal bests en route to winning gold in Glasgow. Following her victory, Caudery was keen to emphasise that she was living the dream, asserting herself as a serious medal contender for the Paris Olympics.
Elsewhere, pedigree was the order of the day, with American Grant Holloway successfully defending his world indoor men’s 60m hurdles title in a championship-record 7.29 seconds. Great Britain’s David King did not qualify for the final after finishing fifth in his semi-final, whilst Tade Ojora did not progress from his heat. In the women’s 60m final, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred won gold in 6.98 seconds, overcoming Ewa Swoboda who finished in 7.00 seconds and equalled the world lead time set by the Pole in the semi-finals
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