Detailed Event-by-Event Preview: World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold in Astana
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Armand Duplantis, the world record holder in men’s pole vault, will be a key attraction at the Astana Indoor meet, the inaugural World Indoor Tour Gold event of the 2024 season. He will be joined by Nia Ali, a two-time world indoor champion in the women’s 60 meters hurdles, Diribe Welteji, a competitor in the women’s mile, and André De Grasse, the Olympic 200 meters champion, who will feature in the 60 meters event.
This is our comprehensive, event-by-event breakdown of the Astana Indoor meet set to take place on Saturday, January 27.
Men’s pole vault:
Armand Mondo Duplantis enjoyed a great season in 2023. Duplantis won his second world outdoor gold medal in Budapest with 6.10m one year after claiming the world title in Eugene, where he set the world record with 6.21m. A few weeks after the World Championships in Budapest Duplantis won his third consecutive Diamond League title in a row breaking his world record with 6.23m in Eugene last September. Duplantis has set five world records indoors during his career.
Duplantis won 16 of his 17 competitions in 2023. He cleared 6 metres in 13 competitions and produced 20 six-metres vaults.
After competing in Astana Duplantis will compete at the Mondo Classic in Uppsala, in Clermont Ferrand and at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, where he will be seeking his second consecutive world indoor gold medal, in the venue, where he set his second world record clearing 6.18 in 2020.
Duplantis owns the top eight vaults in history and a total of 74 six-metre vaults during his career.
Duplantis won the World Athlete of the Year award for men’s field events at the World Athletics Athletics Awards last December.
Duplantis will take on Sondre Guttormsen from Norway, European indoor gold medallist in Istanbul 2023 with 5.80m and NCAA indoor champion in Albuquerque 2023 with 6.00m, Ben Broeders, who finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade 2022 and set a national record with 5.85m, Cole Walsh from the USA, who set a lifetime best of 5.83m in Zurich in 2019, Oleg Zernikel from Germany, fifth at the World Championships in Eugene with his lifetime of 5.87m in 2022, and China’s Zhong Tao, who set his outdoor lifetime best of 5.72m in Hangzou last June.
Women’s mile:
World 5000 metres record holder Gudaf Tsegay has withdrawn from the meeting and will be replaced by her compatriot Diribe Welteji, gold medallist over the mile distance at the World Road Running Championships in Riga last October with a world record of 4:20.98. Welteji won the world silver medal in the 1500 metres behind world record holder Faith Kipyegon in Budapest. The Ethiopian also won the world under 20 gold medal in the 800 metres in Tampere 2018 and finished fourth in the 800 metres at the World Championships in Eugene 2022. She improved her PB to 3:53.93 to finish second behind Kipyegon at the Wanda Diamond League final in Eugene last September. She will run the mile distance on the track for the first time. She set a PF of 8:33.44 to win the 3000 metres in Liévin at last year’s edition of the World Indoor Tour Gold.
Welteji will go head-to-head against Ethiopia’s Axumawit Embaye, two-time world indoor silver medallist in the 1500 metres in Sopot 2014 and Belgrade 2022, and national 3000m champion Daisy Jepkemei from Kazakhstan.
Men’s 3000 metres:
Two-time world indoor champion and former world indoor record holder Samuel Tefera from Ethiopia will be aiming to run a fast time in the men’s 1500 metres. Tefera set the former world record and current African record with 3:31.04 in Birmingham in 2019. He will take on his compatriot Getnet Wale, who finished fourth in the 3000 metres steeplechase and improved his PB to 7:24.98 in Liévin in 2021.
Men’s 60 metres:
Olympic 200 metres champion André De Grasse will compete for the first time indoors since 2021. The Canadian sprinter holds a PB of 6.60 in 2015. De Grasse won six Olympic medals and four world medals, including gold in the 200 metres in a national record of 19.62, silver in the 4x100 relay and bronze in the 200 metres in 9.89.
De Grasse finished sixth in the 200 metres at the World Championships in Eugene and won the Wanda Diamond League final over this distance in Eugene setting the fourth fastest time in his career with 19.76.
De Grasse will line up against Jamaica’s Rohan Watson, who won the national 100 metres title in 9.91 last year and the world bronze medal in the men’s 4x100 relay in Budapest 2023 in 37.76, Japan’s Shuhei Tada, two-time world 4x100 medallist, 2019 European indoor champion Jan Volko from Slovakia, USA’s Demek Kemp, US indoor champion in 2019, and 2014 world indoor champion Richard Kilty from Great Britain.
Women’s 60 metres hurdles:
Two-time world indoor champion Nia Ali and world 100 metres hurdles record holder Tobi Amusan from Nigeria are the top athletes in the women’s 60 metres hurdles. They will have to run the heats to qualify for the final.
Ali won the US outdoor title in 2023 in 12.37 and the Diamond League meeting in Monaco in her PB of 12.30 in 2023. The US hurdler will face 2021 Olympic bronze medallist Megan Tapper from Jamaica in the first heat.
Amusan set the world record with 12.12 in the semifinal of the World Championships in Eugene before winning the world gold medal in a wind-assisted 12.06 in the final. The Nigerian hurdler won the past three editions of the Wanda Diamond League Finals in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Amusan will line up against Alaysha Johnson and Sarah Lavin from Ireland in the second heat. Johnson won the US indoor title in Albuquerque in 2023 in 7.83 and improved her PBs to 7.82 in the 60 metres hurdles in Val de Reuil and 12.35 at last year’s US Championships in Eugene.
Lavin finished fifth at the European Championships in Munich 2022 and improved her outdoor national record to 12.62 at the World Championships in Budapest 2023.
Men’s 60 metres hurdles:
Great Britain’s 2018 world indoor champion Andy Pozzi will face Kuwait’s Yaqoub Al- Youha, Cuba’s Roger Iribarne, Milan Trajkovic from Cyprus and home favourite David Yefremov.
Al Youha showed his recent good shape by winning at the World Indoor Bronze meeting in Dortmund in the 60 metres hurdles in 7.58. The Kuwaitian hurdler set the national indoor record clocking 7.52 in Madrid in 2020.
Trajkovic won the European Indoor gold medal in Glasgow 2019 in the 60m hurdles in 7.60 and improved the national record to 7.51 at the 2018 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham.
Iribarne started his 2023 indoor season with a win in Astana in 7.63 and improved his PB to 7.48 at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Madrid.
Pozzi won gold two medals at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade 2017 and at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham 2018 on home soil and finished seventh at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The British hurdler will make his come-back from injury. He is now coached by former 110 metres hurdles champion Colin Jackson.
Women’s 60 metres:
Jamaica’s Natasha Morrison will face her compatriot Christania Williams and Asian indoor champion Farzaneh Fasihi in the first heat.
Morrison won the world silver medal in the 4x100 relay in Budapest 2023 improved her PB to 10.85 in the 100 metres at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Eugene.
World under 20 100 metres Tina Clayton from Jamaica will go head-to-head against Antonique Strachan from Bahamas, Destiny Smith Burnett from the USA and European 4x100 relay champion Alexandra Burghardt from Gremany in the second heat. Clayton won two world under 20 gold medals in the 100 metres in Nairobi 2021 in 11.09 and Cali 2022 in 10.95.
Women’s 400 metres:
Jamaica’s Stephanie-Ann McPherson will line-up in the women’s 400 metres,
McPherson won the world bronze medal in the 400 metres in 49.29 in Moscow 2013, the world gold medal in the 4x400 relay in Beijing 2015 and finished fourth at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Men’s 400 metres:
Three-time world indoor champion Pavel Maslak from Czech Republic will face Rusheen McDonald from Jamaica, who improved his PB to 43.93 in Beijing 2015 and came close to his lifetime best by clocking 44.03 in Szekesfehrvar last year.
Women’s long jump:
Alina Rotaru Kottman from Romania, world bronze medallist in Budapest 2023 with 6.88m, will face 2017 European under 20 champion and 2019 European under 23 bronze medallist Milica Gardasevic from Serbia, who improved her PB to 6.91m in 2023, and Asian Games gold medallist Xiong Shiqi.
Women’s high jump:
Home fans will cheer on Nadezhda Dubovitskaya, who improved the Asian record to 2.00m and won the world indoor bronze medal in Belgrade 2022.
Men’s shot put:
The top name in the men’s shot put is USA’s Roger Steen, who won the NACAC Championships gold medal in 2022 and improved his PB to 22.08m in Tucson in 2023.
