INGEBRIGTSEN ADVANCES ON FIRST DAY OF WORLD ATHLETICS INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
By David Monti, @d9monti.bsky.social
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

   NOTE: This story was written remotely --Ed.

(21-Mar) - The 20th edition of the World Athletics Indoor Championships opened today in Nanjing, and Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen picked up where he left off at the European Athletics Indoor Championships earlier this month in Apeldoorn by easily winning his 1500m heat.  As in Apeldoorn, the 24 year-old Ingebrigtsen hopes to win both the 1500m and 3000m in Nanjing, a feat only accomplished once before by Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie in 1999.

Running in the second of four heats, Ingebrigtsen immediately slipped to the back of the field.  Barely breathing, he was in sixth position with two laps to go before finally moving up to third place at 1100m.  He surged to the lead on the backstretch, and was never challenged, winning in an energy-saving 3:39.80.

"I am glad to get to the final," Ingebrigtsen told the World Athletics flash quotes team.  "I'm trying to stay out of trouble and reduce the risk of falling, so I'm very happy with the result and looking forward to tomorrow, too, to fight for the medals (in the 3000m)."

Also advancing to Sunday's final from the back of the field was British team captain Neil Gourley.  Gourley, 30, was in last place through 700m, then moved up to third with three laps to go.  On the backstretch the 2023 European indoor 1500m silver medalist went to the lead followed by the American, Sam Prakel.  The field quickly stretched out behind Gourley who zipped to victory in 3:36.60 which would end up being the fastest time of the round.

"I feel like I didn't represent myself quite as well in Apeldoorn," said Gourley, who finished fourth in the European Athletics Indoor Championships.  "So, I came here with a little bit of a point to make.  It fired me up for this one."

Prakel and Spain's Adrian Ben battled for the all-important second position because only the top-two finishers from each heat were guaranteed to advance.  Prakel's form began to break down in the final ten meters, but the 2023 World Athletics Road Running Championships bronze medalist in the mile held it together well enough to take second in 3:36.93, just 2/100ths of a second ahead of Ben.  The Spaniard was later rewarded for his efforts by earning that only time qualifier.

The American Luke Houser (3:41.16) and the Swede Samuel Pihlström (3:42.21) finished one-two in the third heat to advance, eliminating Australia's Ollie Hoare and Canada's Kieran Lumb who finished third and fourth, respectively.  Spain's Mariano Garcia and Portugal's Isaac Nader finished first and second in the ridiculously-slow fourth and final heat, clocking 4:02.68 and 4:02.75, respectively.  Nader was the bronze medalist in Apeldoorn.

In the women's 1500m qualifying there were only three heats, so only the top three from each heat advanced to Sunday's final.  There were no surprises.

Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay, who owns the three fastest indoor times in history, won the first heat with no drama.  Like Ingebrigtsen, she went straight to the back before moving up to fourth position at 700m, then to the lead one lap later.  Taking Kenya's Susan Ejore, America's Sinclaire Johnson, Canada's Simone Plourde, and Italy's Sinta Vissa with her, Tsegay broke the heat open and won going away in 4:11.87.  Johnson and Ejore finished single-file behind Tsegay in 4:12.18 and 4:12.41, respectively, to advance.

The second heat saw 2024 Olympic 1500m bronze medalist Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain run a smart race from near the front.  The 31 year-old former duathlete let others do the leading, including Spain's Esther Guerrero and Lithuania's Gabija Galvydyte, who led with Hunter Bell at 1100m.  From there Hunter Bell controlled the race and won comfortably in 4:09.21.  Australia's Georgia Griffith moved up from the pack to take second (4:09.78) and a clearly delighted Guerrero got third (4:09.90).  Galvydyte, who ran for Oklahoma State during her NCAA career, finished fifth and did not advance.

"Even if the time is slow, it's still hard work," said the low-key Hunter Bell.  "It's just about getting through safely and qualifying for Sunday."

Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji, the 2023 world road mile champion who finished fifth in Glasgow a year ago, won the third and final heat in 4:12.25.  She was followed by the American Heather MacLean --who pushed to the lead at 1000m and broke the race open-- in 4:13.26.  Portugal's Salome Alfonso, the silver medalist from Apeldoorn who has a fast finish, rallied in the homestretch to pass Canada's Lucia Stafford and take third.

"I noticed that we are going like a walking pace, so I just decided to take it out and opened it up a little," said MacLean, who is a member of the New Balance Boston training group.  "It didn't go as I have planned, but it's OK.  The goal is to make the final."

The first of three rounds of the 800m was also held today in Nanjing, and the heats went mostly to form.

On the men's side, where there were five heats.  World leader Josh Hoey of the United States led from the break in the fourth heat, split 54.12 at 400m, and went on to win easily in 1:48.14.  Kenya's Noah Kibet also advanced in second (1:48.31), while Italy's Giovanni Lazzaro --who ran at the back most of the race-- sprinted past Japan's (and Penn State's) Yukichi Ishii to take third.  

Hoey, 25, is the second-fastest man indoors in history behind only the legendary Dane Wilson Kipketer, and Nanjing is his first-ever global championships.

"It's a very smooth race," said Hoey.  "I executed as what I've planned, just to run as smooth and easy as possible, no specific time target."

Noah Kibet of Kenya (1:48.31) and Giovanni Lazzaro of Italy (1:48.75) finished second and third, respectively.  Ishii was fourth and did not advance.

Also advancing was Hoey's USA teammate Brandon Miller who, after leading most of the race, finished second in heat 1 to France's Yanis Meziane, 1:46.07 to 1:46.47.  Third went to Puerto Rico's 1:46.84.  All three time qualifiers --Kuwait's Ebrahim Alzofairi, Canada's Rob Heppenstal, and China's Xiaoheng-- would come out of this heat.

Also advancing were two of the three medalists from the recent European Athletics Indoor Championships, Samuel Chapple of the Netherlands (gold) and Eliott Crestan of Belgium (silver).  Both men competed in the third heat where Crestan controlled the pace from the gun and won wire-to-wire in a gentle 1:48.94.  Chapple would take third behind Spain's Alvaro De Arriba.

Nearly all of the medal favorites advanced in the women's 800m qualifying without much drama, although Shafiqua Maloney of St. Vincent and the Grenadines had to play catch-up in the fourth and final heat to take third place and advance to the semi-finals.  The former Arkansas Razorback led through 400m in 1:01.40, faded in the third lap, and moved back up into fifth place rounding the final bend.  She was able to pass Australia's Sarah Billings and Austria's Caroline Bredlinger in the homestretch to take third in 2:03:56.  That heat was won by the American indoor champion, Nia Akins, in 2:03.29 ahead of reigning European indoor champion Anna Wielgosz of Poland.

Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia, the reigning world indoor champion, led heat 2 from gun to tape, clocking 2:04.52.  Also advancing to the semi-finals was South Africa's Prudence Sekgodiso (first, heat 3), Switzerland's Audrey Werro (second, heat 2), and America's Valery Tobias (third heat 3).

The big casualty was Uganda's Halimah Nakaayi who only managed a fifth place finish in heat 1.  Nakaayi was the 2019 world champion and the 2022 world indoor bronze medalist.

"I'm not happy with that time," said Nakaayi, who clocked 2:04.57.  "It's a bit too slow. I was not smart enough, I ran too slowly. I feel bad that I've not advanced to the semi-final."

- - - - - -

Middle and long distance action continues in Nanjing tomorrow with the finals of both the men's and women's 3000, and the semi-finals of the 800m.


PHOTO: Nia Akins (USA), Anna Wielgosz (POL) and Sara Billings (AUS/obscured), and Shafiqua Maloney (VIN) competing in the first round of the 800m at the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing (photo by Dan Vernon for World Athletics)