The nearly woman of British athletics finally has a medal around her neck, and although not the colour Jemma Reekie wanted it at least carried a silver lining.
In the buildup to these world indoor championships the 25‑year‑old Scot revealed she had been physically and mentally broken a year ago, because of a debilitating bout of glandular fever and a split from her coach Andy Young. Reekie has rebuilt her career since then, and came into the 800m as a hot favourite on what used to be her home track, but she had no answer to the blistering finishing speed of the Ethiopian Tsige Duguma.
In a slow and tactical race, the athletes went through halfway in a dawdling 63.30sec. That was not to Reekie’s advantage as it allowed Duguma – who used to be a 400m runner – to showcase her power to come home in 2:01:90. Reekie took silver in 2:02.72, with Noélie Yarigo claiming bronze.
There was a second medal for Britain on the night as the 4x400m women’s team of Laviai Nielsen, Lina Nielsen, Ama Pipi and Jessie Knight secured bronze in a national record 3:26.36. But there was no stopping a Netherlands team spearheaded by Femke Bol. The 400m indoor world record holder barely got out of second gear as she led them to victory in 3:25.07, just ahead of the USA.
Elsewhere, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis survived an early wobble – and two failures at 5.85m – to clear 6.05m and continue his gold‑medal run in global pole vault competitions that stretches back to 2019.
The world 100m and 200m champion Noah Lyles made a surprise appearance in the 4x400m team but had to make do with silver as the USA were thwarted by the reigning champions Belgium. Lyles ran a 45.68 third leg to preserve his team’s lead, but Alexander Doom was able to hunt down Chris Bailey on the final leg to take the gold for Belgium in 3:02:54 – 0.06 ahead of the USA.
Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer won the men’s heptathlon with 6,418 points after a desperate late burst in the final event, the 1,000m, took him ahead of the Norwegian Sander Skotheim.
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But the performance of the night came from Devynne Charlton, who took gold in the 60m hurdles in a world record of 7.65sec. For good measure it also earned her a $50,000 (£39,500) bonus.
