Event-by-event preview of the women’s competitions at the World Indoor Championships in Torun
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The women’s competitions at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun are set to deliver one of the strongest line-ups of the indoor season, featuring Olympic champions, world record holders, defending title winners and rising teenage stars across every discipline. From the sprint showdown involving Julien Alfred and Zaynab Dosso to Keely Hodgkinson’s world record form, Yaroslava Mahuchikh’s high jump dominance and a loaded middle-distance programme, the women’s events promise world-class performances and compelling battles for gold.
60 metres
Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia and Italy’s Zaynab Dosso lead the world indoor seasonal list in the 60 metres with 6.99.
Alfred will seek her second world indoor gold medal, two years after winning in Glasgow 2024 in 6.98, just four hundredths of a second shy of her national record of 6.94 set in 2023. During the 2024 outdoor season Alfred went on to win Olympic gold in the 100 metres in a national record of 10.72 and silver in the 200 metres in 22.08 in Paris. Last year the Saint Lucian sprinter won world bronze in Tokyo 2025 in 10.84 and claimed her second consecutive Diamond League title in the 100m with 10.76 in Zurich. Alfred set the fastest time in the world this year with 6.99 in Fayetteville.
Dosso won three World Indoor Tour Gold races in the 60 metres, in Ostrava in 7.09, in Belgrade in 7.02 and in Torun in a national record of 6.99. The Italian sprinter will seek her third consecutive world indoor medal after taking bronze in Glasgow 2024 in 7.05 and silver in Nanjing 2025 in 7.06. Dosso also won the European bronze medal in the 100 metres.
Dina Asher-Smith will compete at the World Indoor Championships for the first time since 2016. The British sprinter won two World Indoor Tour Gold races in Boston in 7.08 and in New York in 7.10, then claimed the British indoor title in 7.05, the second-fastest time of her career and just two hundredths shy of her national indoor record. She won the world 200m title in Doha 2019 and has claimed five European outdoor titles: 100m, 200m and 4x100m in Berlin 2018, and 100m and 4x100m in Rome 2024.
Amy Hunt improved her PB to 7.04 in the 60 metres at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Torun. The British sprinter won world silver in the 200 metres in Tokyo in 22.14 after improving her PB to 22.08 in the semifinal, and she finished sixth in the 60 metres in 7.10 at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025.
Patrizia van der Weken of Luxembourg won bronze medals at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn in 7.06 and at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing in 7.07. She finished second at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Torun in 7.01.
Ewa Swoboda won the Polish indoor title in Torun this year in 7.07. The Polish sprinter won the European indoor title in 2019 and the world indoor silver medal in 2024.
Jacious Sears won the US indoor title in 2026 in 7.04 and set her 100m PB of 10.85 at the Prefontaine Classic.
Mia Maxwell finished second at the US Indoor Championships behind Sears in 7.13, ahead of her twin sister Mariah, equalling the high school record.
Italian rising star Kelly Ann Doualla will make her first appearance at a senior global championship at the age of 16. Doualla won two European U20 titles in Tampere, taking the 100m in 11.22 and the 4x100 relay, and also won 100m gold at the EYOF in a European U18 record of 11.21. She finished second to Dosso at the Italian Indoor Championships in Ancona in 7.21, missing her European U20 record by 0.02.
Jamaica’s Jonielle Smith improved her outdoor best for 60 metres to 6.96 in Spanish Town on home soil.
400 metres
Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands is chasing another major international individual medal after winning gold in the women’s 400 metres at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn in 2025. Klaver also won silver at the 2023 European Indoor Championships in Istanbul and at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in 50.16, and bronze at the 2024 European outdoor Championships in Rome. This year she won two World Indoor Tour races in Ostrava in 51.00 and Madrid in 51.26, claimed the Dutch indoor title in Apeldoorn in 51.28, and finished second in Liévin in 51.67 and Torun in 51.35.
Henriette Jaeger is seeking another major indoor medal after finishing second at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn and third at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. The Norwegian athlete won the European U23 title on home soil in Bergen in 49.74 and reached the top eight at both the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, where she was eighth in 49.96, and the World Championships in Tokyo 2025, where she placed seventh in 49.74.
Emma Zapletalova of Slovakia is aiming to add another international medal after winning bronze in the 400 metres hurdles in a national record of 53.00. This year Zapletalova showed her potential over 400 metres when she finished second in Metz in a Slovak indoor record of 50.76 and won in Ostrava in 50.90.
Natalia Bukowiecka won the European outdoor title in Rome 2024 in 48.98, breaking Irena Szewinska’s historic Polish record that had stood since 1976. She later lowered her national record to 48.90 at the Diamond League meeting in London. Bukowiecka finished second in a seasonal best of 50.97 at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Torun.
Lurdes Gloria Manuel of the Czech Republic made her breakthrough in 2024 when she finished fourth at the European Championships in Rome in a lifetime best of 50.52 and later won world U20 gold in Lima in 51.29. She opened 2026 with an indoor PB of 51.12 in Ostrava after an injury that forced her to miss the 2025 outdoor season. She then improved to 51.03 in Metz and won the Czech indoor 200m title in Ostrava.
800 metres
Keely Hodgkinson improved her own British indoor 800m record to 1:56.33 at the British Indoor Championships in Birmingham, five days before setting the world indoor record of 1:54.87 in Liévin. The British star ran 0.95 faster than Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak, who had held the previous world record of 1:55.82 since 3 March 2002, the day of Hodgkinson’s birth. Hodgkinson won Olympic gold in Paris 2024 in 1:56.72 and world bronze in Tokyo 2025 in 1:54.91. She also improved her indoor PB for 400 metres to 51.49 in Glasgow in her final test before Torun.
Audrey Werro won three World Indoor Tour races, in Val-de-Reuil in 1:57.49, in Madrid in 2:00.68 and in Belgrade in 1:57.27, and also claimed the Swiss indoor title in St. Gallen in 1:57.98. She finished second to Hodgkinson in Liévin in 1:58.38. During a successful 2025 outdoor season Werro won European U23 gold in 1:57.42, the Diamond League in Zurich in a national record of 1:55.91, and finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing and sixth at the World Championships in Tokyo in 1:56.17, the second-fastest time of her career.
Isabelle Boffey improved her indoor PB to 1:57.43 in Boston and dipped under two minutes twice more, running 1:59.64 at the British Indoor Championships in Birmingham and 1:59.80 in Torun.
Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia will chase her second world indoor title, two years after winning gold in Glasgow 2024. Duguma went on to finish second in the Olympic final in Paris in 1:57.64 and won three Diamond League races in 2025, in Keqiao in a PB of 1:56.64, in Rabat in 1:57.42 and in Eugene in 1:57.10.
Duguma’s compatriot Nigist Getachew won world indoor silver in Nanjing in 1:59.63. Getachew claimed two wins on this year’s World Indoor Tour, in Ostrava in 1:59.98 and Torun in 1:59.32.
Addison Wiley leads the US team after winning the national title in Staten Island in 1:59.43.
Other athletes to watch include Natoya Goule-Toppin of Jamaica, fifth at the World Championships in Eugene 2022 and fourth this year in Winston-Salem in a seasonal best of 1:59.47; Poland’s Anna Wielgosz and Clara Liberman, who won gold and silver at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025; Eloisa Coiro, sixth in Torun and Italian indoor champion over 400m in 52.02; and Shafiqua Maloney of St Vincent and the Grenadines, fourth at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
1500 metres
Birke Haylom of Ethiopia won three World Indoor Tour races in the 1500 metres, in Stockholm in 4:02.61, Ostrava in 4:00.62 and Madrid in 4:02.37, and also finished second in Karlsruhe in 4:00.62 and Liévin in 4:01.17 and third in Torun in 4:00.92. Haylom won the world U20 title in the 1500m in Cali 2022 and finished fifth in the 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing 2025.
Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain won two 1500 metres races on the World Indoor Tour Gold circuit, in Karlsruhe in a European lead of 4:00.04 and Liévin in 4:00.21, and also won the 800 metres in Glasgow in 1:57.80. Hunter Bell has won four medals at major championships: bronze in the 1500m at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing 2025 in an indoor PB of 3:59.84, silver in the 1500 metres at the European Championships in Rome 2024, bronze in the 1500m at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 in a PB of 3:52.61, and silver in the 800 metres at the World Championships in Tokyo in a PB of 1:54.90.
Jessica Hull set the Oceanian indoor record and the second-fastest performance in history for 2000 metres with 5:26.68 in Liévin, and finished second in the Wanamaker Mile in New York with 4:20.11. Hull won Olympic silver in Paris 2024 in 3:52.56 and world bronze in Tokyo 2025 in 3:55.15 over 1500 metres.
Agathe Guillemot of France is seeking another international medal after winning bronze at the European Championships in Rome 2024, gold at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025 in the 1500 metres, and silver in the mixed relay at the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee.
Other leading athletes include Salomé Afonso of Portugal, a double medallist at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025 with silver in the 1500m and bronze in the 3000m; Jemma Reekie of Great Britain, world indoor silver medallist in the 800m in Glasgow 2024; and Marta Zenoni of Italy, who improved the Italian indoor record to 5:42.43 for 2000m in Liévin this year.
3000 metres
Freweyni Hailu is looking to continue her winning run at these championships after claiming gold in the 1500m in Glasgow 2024 and in the 3000 metres in Nanjing 2025.
Aleshign Baweke of Ethiopia improved her indoor PB to 8:28.29 in Liévin. Baweke won the world U20 title in Lima 2024.
Nadia Battocletti is bidding for her fourth global medal on the track after winning Olympic silver in the 10,000m in Paris 2024, world silver in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5000 metres at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025. The Italian athlete improved her own national indoor record in the 3000 metres to 8:26.44 when she finished third behind Hailu and Baweke in Liévin, and she also equalled Marta Zenoni’s Italian indoor record in the 1500 metres with 4:03.59 in Madrid.
Australian medal hopes rest with Jessica Hull and Linden Hall. Hull won world indoor bronze in the 3000m at last year’s World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
Hall finished sixth in the 1500m at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade 2022 and set an outright PB of 8:27.03 in Boston last January.
The US team will be led by Emily Mackay, who won world indoor bronze in the 1500m in Glasgow 2024. Elle St. Pierre, world indoor champion in the 3000m in 2024 and this year’s US indoor champion, has withdrawn from this event.
The line-up will also feature Nozomi Tanaka of Japan, eighth in the 5000m at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan, world champion in the 3000m steeplechase in Eugene 2022, and British middle-distance runners Hannah Nuttall, who set a PB of 8:32.94 in the 3000m in New York, and Katie Snowden, who improved her PB to 8:39.89 in Boston.
60 metres hurdles
Devynne Charlton won two World Indoor Tour Gold races in the 60 metres hurdles, in Liévin in 7.79 and in Torun in a world-leading 7.77. The Bahamian hurdler set the world record of 7.67 at the Millrose Games in New York in 2024. She improved that mark by two hundredths to 7.65 when she won her first world indoor title in Glasgow 2024, and then claimed her second world indoor gold in Nanjing 2025 in 7.72.
Ditaji Kambundji is aiming to complete her collection of major international titles after winning European indoor gold in Apeldoorn in a European record of 7.67 and world outdoor gold in the 100 metres hurdles in a Swiss record of 12.24. The Swiss hurdler also won world indoor silver in Nanjing in 7.73 during her outstanding 2025 season.
Kambundji finished second behind Charlton in a seasonal best of 7.78 at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Torun. She confirmed her strong form by winning the national title in St. Gallen in 7.80 and placing second in Berlin in 7.82.
Pia Skrzyszowska is bidding for her second world indoor medal in front of her home crowd. The Polish hurdler improved her PB to 7.74 when she finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing 2025. She set a seasonal best of 7.78 at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Ostrava and continued her consistent season with wins in Metz in 7.82 and at the Polish Championships in 7.89.
Nadine Visser claimed the Dutch indoor title in a seasonal best of 7.78 and won in Berlin in 7.81, beating Kambundji by one hundredth of a second. Visser won European indoor titles in Glasgow 2019 and Torun 2021 and world indoor bronze in Birmingham 2018. The Dutch hurdler also finished fourth in the Olympic final in Paris 2024 with a national record of 12.43.
Megan Simmonds, Olympic bronze medallist in Tokyo 2021 and Jamaican outdoor champion in the 100 metres hurdles in 2025, set her indoor PB of 7.88 in Liévin.
Laeticia Bapté of France set a seasonal best of 7.83 in the heats of the national championships in Clermont-Ferrand before winning the final in 7.86.
The US team will be represented by Aila Armstrong and Danae Dyer, who finished first and second at the national indoor championships in 7.82 and 7.92 respectively.
High jump
Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh has completed a full set of medals at the World Indoor Championships, winning gold in Belgrade 2022 with 2.02m, silver in Glasgow 2024 with 1.97m and bronze in Nanjing 2025 with 1.95m. Outdoors she won Olympic gold in Paris 2024 with 2.00m on countback ahead of Nicola Olyslagers, the world outdoor title in Budapest 2023 with 2.01m and European titles in Munich 2022 with 1.95m and Rome 2024 with 2.01m.
Mahuchikh has remained unbeaten in her three competitions this season, winning in Lviv with a world lead of 2.03m, in Karlsruhe with 2.01m and at the Ukrainian Championships in Kyiv with 1.96m.
Nicola Olyslagers will seek her third consecutive world indoor gold medal after winning in Glasgow 2024 with 1.99m and in Nanjing 2025 with 1.97m. Olyslagers won her first world outdoor title in Tokyo with 2.02m and the Diamond League Final in Zurich with an Oceanian record of 2.04m.
Eleanor Patterson cleared a seasonal best of 1.97m at the Trinec High Jump Meeting. Patterson won the world title in Eugene 2022 with 2.02m, world indoor silver in Belgrade 2022 with 2.00m and in Nanjing with 1.97m, and Olympic bronze in Paris 2024 with 1.95m.
Yuliya Levchenko, world silver medallist in London 2017, returned to top form when she cleared 2.00m at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich. Levchenko finished fifth at the World Championships in Tokyo with 1.97m. This season the Ukrainian athlete has cleared 1.96m twice, in Karlsruhe and at the Ukrainian Championships.
Angelina Topic won three competitions this season, in Lodz with 1.98m, in Belgrade with 1.96m and in Banska Bystrica, where she improved her Serbian record by two centimetres to 2.00m. Topic won silver at the European Championships in Rome 2024 and bronze at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025 with 1.97m.
Maria Zodzik of Poland made a major breakthrough when she won world silver in Tokyo with 2.00m. Zodzik won the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Torun with 1.98m and the Polish indoor title with 1.95m.
Pole vault
Tina Sutej is aiming to complete her full set of World Indoor Championships medals in the women’s pole vault after finishing third in Glasgow 2024 with 4.75m and second in Nanjing 2025 with 4.70m. The 37-year-old Slovenian vaulter also won world outdoor bronze in Tokyo 2025 with 4.80m, bronze at the European Championships in Munich 2022 with 4.75m, and three European indoor silver medals in Torun 2021 with 4.70m, Istanbul 2023 and Apeldoorn 2025 with 4.75m. She set a seasonal best of 4.80m in Metz.
Molly Caudery of Great Britain will chase her second world indoor medal after winning gold on home soil in Glasgow 2024 with 4.80m. Caudery won both of her competitions this year, at the British Indoor Championships in Birmingham with 4.65m and at the Perche Elite Tour in Rouen with 4.70m.
Eliza McCartney of New Zealand won this year’s national title in Auckland with 4.81m, the second-best performance in the world this season. McCartney won Olympic bronze in Rio 2016 and world indoor silver in Glasgow 2024. New Zealand will also be represented by Imogen Ayris, who finished third in Clermont-Ferrand with 4.76m.
Amalie Svabikova of the Czech Republic won the All Star Perche meeting in Clermont-Ferrand with a seasonal best of 4.76m, beating Ayris and Marie-Julie Bonnin on countback after all three cleared the same height.
Angelica Moser set a seasonal best of 4.66m at the Swiss Indoor Championships in St. Gallen and finished third in Rouen with 4.62m. Moser won European indoor gold in Apeldoorn with 4.80m and world indoor bronze in Nanjing with 4.70m.
Marie-Julie Bonnin of France will defend the world indoor title she won in Nanjing with 4.75m. The French vaulter improved her national record by one centimetre to 4.76m in Clermont-Ferrand.
Other athletes to watch include Chloe Timberg, US champion in Staten Island with 4.70m, Finland’s Wilma Murto, European champion in Munich 2022, Brazil’s Juliana de Menis Campos, who has cleared 4.61m in Novo Mesto this year, and Estonia’s Marlee Mulla, second at the NCAA Championships with 4.63m.
Long jump
Larissa Iapichino opened her 2026 indoor season with wins at the Memorial Alessio Giovannini with 6.93m, at two World Indoor Tour meetings in Karlsruhe with 6.84m and Torun with 6.72m, and at the Italian Indoor Championships in Ancona with 6.78m. Iapichino won her first World Indoor Tour title after back-to-back Diamond League Final victories in 2024 and 2025. The Italian long jumper won European indoor gold in Apeldoorn 2025, two years after taking silver in Istanbul 2023, added European outdoor silver in Rome 2024 and finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Agate de Sousa of Portugal leads the world seasonal list with 6.97m set at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Madrid. The Portuguese jumper won European bronze in Rome 2024 with 6.91m.
Natalia Linares of Colombia won world bronze in Tokyo with 6.92m and the South American indoor title in Cochabamba with 6.73m.
Jasmine Moore, double Olympic bronze medallist in the long jump and triple jump, won the US indoor title with 6.86m.
Annik Kälin of Switzerland will seek her third consecutive major medal after finishing second at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn and at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing in 2025.
Hilary Kpatcha finished fifth at the European Championships in Rome 2024 and fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025. The French long jumper is a solid medal contender after finishing second in Karlsruhe with 6.73m and third in Torun with 6.68m.
Triple jump
Yulimar Rojas made a successful comeback from a serious Achilles injury last year when she won world bronze in Tokyo with 14.76m. Rojas started the 2026 indoor season with a world-leading 14.95m in Valencia. The Venezuelan star won Olympic gold in Tokyo 2021 with the world record of 15.67m, four world outdoor titles in London 2017 with 14.91m, Doha 2019 with 15.37m, Eugene 2022 with 15.47m and Budapest 2023 with 15.08m, and three world indoor titles in Portland 2016 with 14.41m, Birmingham 2018 with 14.63m and Belgrade 2022 with a world indoor record of 15.74m.
Leyanis Perez Hernandez of Cuba will aim to win her third global title after taking world indoor gold in Nanjing with 14.93m and world outdoor gold in Tokyo with 14.94m. Perez Hernandez has set the second-best mark in the world this year with 14.75m in Moscow.
Thea LaFond of Dominica will seek her second world indoor medal, two years after winning gold in Glasgow 2024 with 15.01m. Later that year LaFond also won Olympic gold in Paris with a national record of 15.02m.
Ivana Spanovic, world champion in Budapest 2023 and two-time world indoor champion in the long jump, improved to 14.41m in the triple jump in Belgrade this year.
Other contenders for a place in the final include Saly Sarr of Senegal, sixth at the World Championships in Tokyo with 14.55m, Jasmine Moore, Olympic bronze medallist in both the long jump and triple jump, and Cuba’s Liadagmis Povea, fourth at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025.
Women’s shot put
World outdoor champion Jessica Schilder set a world lead of 20.69m, equalling the Dutch record she set when she won European indoor gold in Apeldoorn on home soil. With that mark Schilder has produced the best indoor result in the world since 2013. She owns three of the four farthest winning marks of the season and has remained unbeaten in 2026. The Dutch team also includes Jorinde van Klinken, world silver medallist in the discus throw in Tokyo 2025 and European silver medallist in both the shot put and discus throw in Rome 2024.
Chase Jackson won her sixth US indoor title in Staten Island with the second-best mark in the world this year, 20.44m. Jackson won world outdoor gold in Eugene 2022 with 20.49m and Budapest 2023 with 20.43m, and captured the Diamond League Final in both seasons. The US team will also feature Abria Smith, runner-up at the national championships with 19.23m.
Reigning Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye won the German indoor title in Dortmund, improving her PB to 20.37m.
Sarah Mitton will seek her third world indoor title after victories in Glasgow 2024 with 20.22m and Nanjing 2025 with 20.48m. The Canadian shot putter, who also won world outdoor silver in Budapest 2023, has set a seasonal best of 20.27m and won the national indoor title with 19.97m.
Other athletes to watch include Auriol Dongmo of Portugal, world indoor champion in Belgrade 2022 with a national record of 20.43m and national champion this year with 19.17m, and Fanny Roos of Sweden, who set a seasonal best of 19.45m in Hvězdy.
Pentathlon
World outdoor champion Anna Hall is aiming to win her first world indoor title in the pentathlon on her championship debut after missing the previous two editions, Glasgow 2024 because of knee surgery and Nanjing 2025.
Hall set a North American indoor record of 5004 points at the 2023 US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque and ranks fourth on the world all-time list. She leads the 2026 world indoor seasonal list with 4831 points set at the US Indoor Combined Events Championships in Fayetteville. Hall also set the second-best performance in history in the heptathlon with 7032 points in Götzis and won the world outdoor title in Tokyo with 6888 points.
Hall will face Ireland’s Kate O’Connor and USA’s Taliyah Brooks, who won silver and bronze at the World Championships in Tokyo.
O’Connor won bronze at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025 with the Irish record of 4781 points. She also won silver at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing with 4742 points and silver at the World Championships in the heptathlon with 6714 points.
This year O’Connor won the long jump with 6.50m and finished second in the 60 metres hurdles in 8.21 at the Irish Indoor Championships.
Brooks won bronze at the World Indoor Championships in the pentathlon with a PB of 4669 points and bronze again at the World Championships with 6581 points. In Fayetteville last February Brooks jumped 6.50m in the long jump and threw 13.84m in the shot put.
Paulina Ligarska of Poland is second on the world seasonal list with 4705 points after winning her fifth national indoor title in Torun, and she also won the pentathlon at the Copernicus Cup in Torun with 4676 points, beating Abigail Pawlett of Great Britain by just one point.
Adrianna Sulek-Schubert of Poland finished third with 4667 points at the Copernicus Cup. She will compete at the World Indoor Championships for the first time since 2022, when she won silver in Belgrade with 4851 points. Later that year she finished fourth at the World Championships in Eugene with 6672 points.
Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands won bronze in the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024 with 4571 points. Dokter will make her pentathlon return this year after finishing second in the 60 metres hurdles in 8.40 and third in the long jump with 6.48m at the Dutch Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.
4x400 relay
Poland have won medals in the women’s 4x400 relay at four of the past five editions of the World Indoor Championships. Three members of the team that won silver at last year’s World Indoor Championships in Nanjing are back in action this season, including Justyna Swiety-Ersetic, who won the 400m and 4x400 relay at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin. Polish hopes will be further strengthened by Natalia Bukowiecka, European champion in Rome and Olympic bronze medallist in the 4x400 relay. Bukowiecka clocked 50.97 at the World Indoor Tour in Torun and won the Polish indoor title in 51.44.
The US team has won five of the past eight women’s 4x400 world indoor titles, including the 2025 crown in Nanjing. The Americans will feature Rosey Effiong and Bailey Lear, who finished first and second at the US Indoor Championships in 51.53 and 51.60, Paris Peoples, third at the national championships in 51.65, and Shamier Little, who won world medals in the 400 metres hurdles in Beijing 2015 and Budapest 2023 and Olympic gold in the 4x400 relay in Paris 2024.
Spain won the 4x400 at last year’s World Relays in Guangzhou in a national record of 3:24.13 and finished fifth at the World Championships in Tokyo. The Spanish team will be led by Paula Sevilla, who won bronze at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025 and the national indoor title in Valencia in 51.69 in 2026.
The Netherlands won world indoor gold in Glasgow 2024. The only member of that Dutch team returning here is Lieke Klaver, who clocked 51.00 at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Ostrava and won the Dutch title in 51.28. The Dutch team will also feature Myrthe van der Schoot and Eveline Saalberg, who finished second and third at the Dutch Championships in 51.33 and 52.26 respectively.
Emma Zapletalova, world bronze medallist in the 400 metres hurdles in Tokyo 2025 and Slovak indoor record holder in the 400m with 50.78 in Metz, will lead the Slovak team.
Great Britain, world indoor bronze medallists in Glasgow 2024, will feature national indoor champion Yemi Mary John, who was part of the British team that won Olympic bronze in Paris 2024.
Czechia won bronze at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn 2025. The Czech team features world U20 400m champion Lurdes Gloria Manuel, who set a seasonal best of 51.03 in Metz, and Lada Vondrova, national indoor champion in 51.88 in Ostrava this year.
Portugal will be led by Sofia Lavreshina, who set a national indoor record of 52.07 at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Madrid.
Mixed 4x400 relay
The mixed 4x400 relay will make its debut at the World Indoor Championships in Torun.
The United States has won the mixed 4x400 relay at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 and Tokyo 2025, and at the past two editions of the World Relays.
The US team features Elija Godwin, who set his indoor PB of 44.75 in Albuquerque in 2023 and has won world indoor and outdoor medals in the men’s 4x400 relay as well as Olympic bronze in the mixed 4x400 relay, and Justin Robinson, gold medallist in the men’s 4x400 relay at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
The Netherlands won gold in the mixed 4x400 relay at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn on home soil in 3:15.63.
Poland will feature Justyna Swiety-Ersetic and Kajetan Duszynski, who were part of the team that won Olympic gold in the mixed relay in Tokyo 2021.
Spain will be led by Paula Sevilla and Blanca Hervas, who won gold in the 4x400 relay at the 2025 World Relays in Guangzhou.
Belgium won European indoor silver in Apeldoorn. The Belgian team features Helena Ponette, who won bronze in the mixed 4x400 relay at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025.
