Current Olympic, World and European champion Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece opened her 2019 indoor season with a massive 4.74m clearance at the World's biggest pole vault meet, the UCS Pole Vault Summit, in Reno, Nevada on Friday night. (Women's top 3 Stefanidi 4.74 m; Nageotte 4.74m, and Jacobus 4.66m). (Men top 3: Ludwig 5.71m, Yamamoto 5.71m, and Irwin 5.61m).

The defending champion Vivian Cheruiyot and the current TCS New York City Marathon champion Mary Keitany return to the Virgin Money London Marathon in 2019. They join their compatriots Gladys Cherono (2018 Berlin Marathon champion) and Brigid Kosgei (2018 Chicago Marathon champion) meaning the winners of the last four Abbott World Marathon Majors will be on the Start Line in London on Sunday 28 April.

WADA's former special investigator Richard McLaren says data from Moscow Lab could expose hundreds of new doping cases speaking on the analysis of the data from the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory. A three-member World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) team has successfully retrieved the data from the Moscow Laboratory and it has been transported out of Russia to be authenticated, it was announced on Thursday. 

European athletics announced on Friday the qualification standards for the 2019 European Junior U20 championships. The championships will take place in Boras, Sweden from 18-21 of July next year. See entry standards here.