Deji Ogeyingbo wrote this piece on the highest 5 African athletes to be careful for on the World Indoor Championships. The World Indoors is in Glasgow, Scotland, from March 1-3, 2024.
Deji shall be overlaying the World Champs for World Athletics and RunBlogRun in Glasgow.
High 5 Africans to be careful for at this 12 months’s World Indoor Championships in Glasgow
Africa shouldn’t be recognized for its dominant indoor efficiency primarily due to its lack of races and circuits. Nevertheless, the continent isn’t in need of the standard of athletes it brings to the fore.
For the primary time in its historical past, Ethiopia topped the medals desk on the final World Indoors in Belgrade, Serbia taking residence 4 Gold, three Silver, and two Bronze. Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda had been the one nations featured on the medals desk final time.
This 12 months’s World Indoor Championships will happen in Glasgow, and Africa will look to enhance. Listed below are the highest African tales to be careful for within the Scottish Capital.
Gudaf Tsegay is about to make historical past in Glasgow.
It’s laborious to see a state of affairs the place Gudaf Tsegay doesn’t win the ladies’s 3000m title in Glasgow. Contemplating that her nation, Ethiopia, has gained 9 of the final 10 titles over the gap on the championships, the world indoor 1500m champion and out of doors 10,000m champion will look to maintain that streak working.
The newly minted world report holder within the out of doors 5000m can have the chance to win one other indoor title in Glasgow, but additionally an opportunity to interrupt Genzebe Dibaba’s world indoor report of 8:16.60. As at all times, she got here near taking it down in Leivin earlier within the month when she ran 8:17.11.
Additionally, if Tsegay triumphs in Glasgow, it could imply she has gained 4 world titles throughout 4 completely different distances throughout the area of two years.
Ese Brume returns to her first looking floor.
Ese Brume is a really constant performer within the girls’s Lengthy Leap. The Nigerian, who boasts of an Olympic bronze, world out of doors and indoor silver, and world out of doors bronze, has a knack for coming massive at main championships regardless of not churning out massive performances earlier than them.
That has been her particular level, and Glasgow provides her an opportunity so as to add to her assortment of medals, maybe her first gold medal.
With out Romania’s Alina Rotaru-Kottmann pushing her right down to fourth place within the ultimate spherical, she would have secured her second-world out of doors bronze in Budapest final 12 months.
With a season-best of 6.84m and a lifetime greatest of seven.17m, she stands out as one of many prime performers within the subject. Other than Davis-Woodhall, she’s the one entrant to boast a private greatest past the seven-meter mark.
A trio of Ethiopians intention to maintain the 1500m title for themselves
Led by
, Diribe Welteji, and Birke Haylom, Ethiopia presents a formidable lineup poised to defend its girls’s 1500m title for the third consecutive version. There’s even discuss of a possible second consecutive medal sweep.
The Ethiopian contingent for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow advantages from Hailu’s wild card entry, earned via her general victory on this 12 months’s World Athletics Indoor Tour. Alongside Welteji and Haylom, they intention to emulate the success of previous champions like Genzebe Dibaba in 2018 and Gudaf Tsegay in 2022.
Hailu, a flexible athlete, secured 800m silver in Belgrade two years in the past and adopted up with a fourth-place end within the 1500m on the World Championships in Oregon, matching her efficiency on the Tokyo Olympics.
Beginning the 12 months robust, Hailu claimed victory within the mile on the World Street Working Championships in Riga, narrowly edging out Welteji. She continued her successful streak with spectacular performances, together with a 1500m triumph in Torun and Lievin. Her time of three:55.28 in Torun locations her third on the world all-time record, simply behind Tsegay’s report.
Welteji, alternatively, has been a constant presence on the forefront of middle-distance working. She secured second place behind Hailu in each 1500m races, posting spectacular occasions that rank her among the many all-time greatest. Along with her latest world mile title and silver within the 1500m on the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Welteji is keen so as to add one other world gold to her assortment.
Samuel Tefera searching for a 3rd crown in Glasgow.
Although not a frequent racer in latest occasions, Samuel Tefera nonetheless instructions consideration on the World Indoor Championships. The 24-year-old Ethiopian is on the cusp of historical past, aiming to safe his third consecutive world indoor 1500m title in Glasgow. Regardless of his restricted appearances on the monitor, Tefera’s expertise makes him a formidable contender within the subject in Glasgow.
Six years in the past, Tefera made a big mark on the indoor monitor scene in Birmingham. On the tender age of 18 and with solely a handful of indoor races underneath his belt, he clinched his first world indoor crown.
The next 12 months, Tefera returned to Birmingham with even better ambitions. In a shocking ending show, he shattered the world report within the 1500m with a outstanding time of three:31.04. Though his report was later surpassed by Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Tefera’s achievement solidified his standing as one of many sport’s rising stars.
In Belgrade two years in the past, Tefera as soon as once more showcased his dominance on the indoor monitor. He secured victory as soon as extra, setting a championship report of three:32.77 within the 1500m. He opened his 2024 marketing campaign with a 3000m win in Astana in a PB of seven:33.80. He then traveled to Torun, the place he gained the 1500m in 3:34.61 earlier than an eighth-place end when stepping again as much as the 3000m in Lievin.
Ferdinand Omanyala faces an enormous problem from the Individuals.
Since bursting into the scene in 2021, Ferdinand Omanyala has continued to develop in limps and bounds. The Kenyan is the reigning Commonwealth and African Champion whereas additionally holding the African File within the 100m. Nevertheless, he could be seeking to turn out to be the second African to win the lads’s 60m on the world indoors since Nigeria’s Olusoji Fasuba gained it in Valencia in 2008.
Omanyala took 0.03 off his personal nationwide 60m report in clocking 6.51 to win in Bercy on 11 February and can hope to shave extra of it in Glasgow when he takes on a few of the best possible within the occasion. The likes of Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman- the world report holder within the occasion are undoubtedly the favorites for the win as the previous has the world lead with 6.43s.
Final outing in Belgrade, Omanyala acquired to the Semifinal. He shall be hoping to get on the rostrum this time round.
