World Indoor kicks off with high expectations

Jamaica's Natoya Goule (R) crosses the finish line ahead of Australia's Claudia Hollingsworth and Kenya's Lilian Odira in the women's 800m heat of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 2, 2024. [AFP] Finally, action at the 2025 World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China kicks off, with high expectations. It is the major global showpiece in athletics after last year's Paris Olympics and happening barely six months to the 2025 Tokyo World Championships. By this evening, athletics superstars who have qualified for the semi-finals especially in the mi-distance races where Kenyans track athletes are taking part in will have been known. The question of who takes the crown will still remain unanswered as track stars will be firmly on qualifying for the next rounds. This afternoon, Susan Ejore is starting in the women's 1500m as she makes a step in her quest for an international championships medal. Ejore is facing 5000m world record holder Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia among other decorated stars for places in the 1500m final on Sunday. Sinclair Johnson of USA, Simone Plourde (Canada) and Joceline Wind (Switzerland) are in heat 1 as Ejore. The men's 1500m, also set for this afternoon, is promising to be a tough battle. Festus Lagat, the solo Kenyan flag bearer is featuring in heat 4 alongside Great Britain's Adam Fogg, Anas Essayi (Morocco) and Melesse Nberet (Ethiopia) among other top contenders. Heat 2, featuring title favourite, Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway is also promising to be a thriller. Ingebrigtsen is facing athletes such as Foster Malleck and Joao Bussottineves representing Canada and Italy respectively. He is among six 2024 Paris Olympic champions looking to stamp authority in Nanjing. By mid-morning, African 800m silver medallist Lilian Odira would have known whether she would be progressing to the semi-finals tomorrow. Kenyan men Collins Kipruto and 2022 World Indoor silver medallist Noah Kibet will feature in Heats 2 and 3 respectively as they begin their hunt for glory in Nanjing. Odira shot to fame last year when she outclassed world champion Mary Moraa at the national for Paris Olympics in Nairobi and went ahead to represent the country. 576 athletes from 127 countries have been entered for the global showdown. Eleven individual defending champions and 20 medallists from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are among the entries for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25, according to World Athletics. "Champions from the last edition of the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow who will be defending their titles in Nanjing include world record-holders Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Devynne Charlton (60m hurdles) and Grant Holloway (60m hurdles), plus Molly Caudery (pole vault), Tsige Duguma (800m), Hamish Kerr (high jump), Thea Lafond (triple jump), Sarah Mitton (shot put), Nicola Olyslagers (high jump), Miltiadis Tentoglou (long jump) and Hugues Fabrice Zango (triple jump). "Duplantis, Holloway, Kerr, Lafond and Tentoglou followed their glory in Glasgow by becoming Olympic champions in Paris last year and they will be joined in Nanjing by their fellow Olympic gold medallists Yaroslava Mahuchikh (high jump) and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (1500m and 3000m), who are also among the world record-holders in action," the global body said in a statement.

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