Jordan Anthony wins the 60m (Photo Getty/World Athletics)
USA’s 21-year-old Jordan Anthony, in what was his global championships debut, sped to a world-leading 6.41s in the men’s 60m to beat a highly experienced field that contained two past world indoor champions and two medallists from last year’s World Championships.
It was USA’s second gold of the day after Chase Jackson, a two-time world champion outdoors, won her first global indoor title in the shot put.
Elsewhere on the field, Andy Diaz retained his title in the triple jump, leaping a world-leading 17.47m to become the first back-to-back winner since 2004.
Anthony lives up to huge promise
USA’s Jordan Anthony lived up to his status at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26, improving the world-leading mark to take gold in the men’s 60m in 6.41.
Teammate Trayvon Bromell, the 2016 world indoor champion, had impressed throughout the rounds, clocking 6.42 in the semifinals to Anthony’s 6.43. But it was Anthony who kept his cool in the final, winning by 0.04.
Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson added another global silver medal to his collection, following medals of the same hue at the 2024 Olympics and 2025 World Championships, finishing runner-up in 6.45. Bromell was just one thousandth of a second behind to claim bronze. Jeremiah Azu, the defending champion, finished just outside the medals in 6.46.
The 21-year-old NCAA champion had already marked his opening year as a professional by beating his training partner Noah Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion, to the US 60m title, clocking the then fastest time of the year, 6.43.
He announced ahead of the competition that his goal was to beat the 6.34 world record set by his compatriot Christian Coleman: “I am not going to sugarcoat it. Why not break it at the world stage where I am basically racing the world?”
“Winning the gold feels great but, to be honest, I feel more excited for the fans than for myself,” Anthony said.
“I am happy to sign autographs and just hang out a bit with them. Before the semifinal, I talked to Trayvon Bromell’s coach Antonio. I said to him that Trayvon will set the pace in his race and I will follow him. When I saw he ran 6.42, I was like: ‘OK, right, now I need to run faster’.
“The final was a great race, but I still have a lot left in the tank. Most importantly, I did my debut right and I am bringing the gold medal back to the USA.
“I used to play college football (American football), and I performed in front of a lot more people, but coming out here today made me a bit more excited. This felt easy for me. This proves to me I picked the right sport. I am looking forward to the outdoor season.”
Azu was desperately close to a medal, clocking 6.46 after getting a fine start to finish fourth.
Fifth place in 6.58 went to Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme, who equalled the national record of 6.52 in his semifinal.
Taymir Burnet of the Netherlands was sixth in 6.61, while Jamaica’s world 200m bronze medallist Bryan Levell was seventh in 7.69.
Belgium’s Simon Verherstraeten, who ran out of his skin to reach the final, failed to finish and required medical attention on the track.
Jackson cracks 20 to win shot put gold
USA’s Chase Jackson completed her set of world indoor medals by taking gold in the women’s shot put.
The two-time world champion was the sole athlete to surpass 20 metres, throwing 20.14m in the fourth round to clinch her first global title indoors. She becomes the second US athlete to win this title, after Michelle Carter in 2016.
Canada’s Sarah Mitton secured a silver to go with her two gold medals won in 2024 and 2025 after throwing 19.78m in the fourth round and matching it in the sixth.
Bronze went to Sweden’s Axelina Johansson, who improved her own national record to 19.75m to become her nation’s first ever world medallist in the women’s throws.
There had been much speculation beforehand about the prospect of an improvement on the championship record of 20.67m set by the onlooking four-time winner Valerie Adams when Poland hosted this event in Sopot 12 years ago.
But Jackson’s effort turned out to be the only one beyond the 20.00m mark – not that it faintly dimmed her exuberant celebrations as she shouted out to her coach: “I can retire from indoors!”
“I wanted to come here and finish the collection of having the full set of world indoor medals,” Jackson said.
“I am not a big fan of indoors, everybody knows that. This is my indoor retirement; I probably won’t throw indoors anymore. Today, it was hard for me to be ready. It was 15 athletes competing and it takes a long time to throw.
“My coach and me, we had a plan… and it worked.”
Also in the mix was the Dutch world champion Jessica Schilder, who posted the best effort of the season so far, 20.69m, in Berlin earlier this month.
But her fifth round best of 19.63m left her one place off the podium – a position in which she remained after a big final effort went out.
Germany’s Yemisi Ogunleye, who claimed the Paris 2024 Olympic title with a final round effort of 20.00m that moved her up from fifth place, arrived in the final round requiring a similarly dramatic effort – but she couldn’t improve on her first-round effort of 19.46m and finished fifth.
Fanny Roos was the last of the six through to the final round, finishing with a best of 18.96m.
Diaz retains triple jump crown
Italy’s Andy Diaz Hernandez produced a world-leading 17.47m to successfully defend his triple jump title.
The Olympic bronze medallist flew to that eventual winning mark in the first round and his rivals had no response.
Jamaica’s Jordan Scott also set a season’s best, soaring 17.33m for silver, his first global medal, while Algeria’s Yasser Mohammed Triki – who started as the world leader on 17.35m – this time jumped 17.30m to add world indoor bronze to his silver from 2024.
As befits a huge dance enthusiast, on Friday, the Italian’s moves on the runway were as smooth as on the dance floor. The jump from the very first round was a significant improvement on his season’s best, adding 57 centimetres to his mark from the recent Italian Indoor Championships.
Before the start of the competition in Toruń, there was a lot of speculation about whether Diaz, the defending champion, could replicate his success. He came to Poland with a season’s best of 16.90m that placed him 12th on this year’s world list.
“I wanted to win here, but I was not sure I could do it,” he admitted. “All my season was affected by the injury I got at the beginning of the year. I made my final decision to compete at the World Indoors only after I performed okay at the national championships.”
On Friday, the 30-year-old proved to be destined for the major championships. Unlike in Nanjing, where he recorded only one valid attempt (17.80m), in Toruń he registered three jumps. But it was again the first one that turned out to be the winner.
This was his fourth medal at the big stage, following Olympic bronze in 2024, European indoor gold in 2025 and his world indoor title last year.
“Despite not being at my best, I am extremely glad I was able to defend my title today,” he said. “I have been very lucky to be coached by Fabrizio Donato. He welcomed me to his house, but also gave me the opportunity to have a second life. Both my mum and my girlfriend are here – I’m glad they were able to witness this too.”
Cuba’s 2022 world indoor champion Lazaro Martinez, who jumped 17.14m, finished one place shy of the podium.
Mahuchikh claims first gold
Four years after winning gold in Belgrade – which was also her first senior global title – Yaroslava Mahuchikh regained the women’s high jump title, to earn the first title of the championships.
Four women had perfect records up to and including 1.99m as Mahuchikh shared the lead with world champion Nicola Olyslagers, world bronze medallist Angelina Topic and Ukraine’s Yuliia Levchenko.
The bar then went up to 2.01m and world record-holder Mahuchikh went clear on her first try. She was the only athlete to succeed at that height as her three remaining opponents bowed out to take a three-way share of the silver medal.
With the title secured, Mahuchikh went on to try 2.06m, albeit unsuccessfully. The Olympic champion had achieved her main goal of the championships, though, by claiming her fourth global title.
“Before Torun, I had already collected the full set of world indoor medals but, coming here, I realised how I’m hungry for the gold one,” Mahuchikh said.
“I started my successful senior career in this arena in 2021 but today I had a different feeling. Torun is the city where many Ukrainians moved after the war was started in our country but I was really surprised how many fans came here to support me.
“It was amazing. They gave me a lot of energy and motivation to raise the bar higher even though I’d already won the gold.”
The rare sight of a three-way tie in these championships had occurred in 2012, when there were also three silver medallists in the women’s high jump, and in 2004, when three men claimed bronze in the high jump.
The pressure of home expectations appeared to tell on Poland’s Maria Zodzik, surprise world silver medallist in Tokyo last year, as she was unable to progress beyond 1.93m and finished fifth.
On the same height, Sweden’s Louise Ekman finished sixth and Australia’s 2022 world champion Eleanor Patterson finished seventh.
In the rounds
Men’s 60m: Ten years after taking world indoor gold in this discipline, Trayvon Bromell got his campaign off to a strong start by posting the fastest time in the first round of the men’s 60m. The US sprinter clocked 6.52 to safely advance to this evening’s semifinals, alongside compatriot and world leader Jordan Anthony (6.54), defending champion Jeremiah Azu (6.55) and Jamaican duo Bryan Levell (6.53) and Kishane Thompson (6.56).
Men’s heptathlon: After a strong start during the morning session, Simon Ehammer continued his good form and maintained his overall lead after clearing a season’s best of 2.02m in the high jump. If he matches the marks he produced at the 2025 European Indoors in tomorrow’s disciplines, he’ll score 6557 – just one point shy of the European record. If he matches his PBs in those disciplines, he’ll score 6670 and break the world record by 25 points.
But USA’s Kyle Garland continues to apply pressure, thanks to a 2.14m clearance in the high jump. The world bronze medallist is just 13 points shy of the pace he set when scoring 6639 – the second-best score in history.
Women’s 400m: Henriette Jaeger, world indoor silver medallist last year, produced the fastest 400m semifinal win, clocking 50.95. Czech youngster Lurdes Gloria Manuel was just 0.01 shy of that mark, but she made her 50.96 run look very comfortable. Lieke Klaver (51.23) and Natalia Bukowiecka (51.41) won the other two semifinals.
Men’s 400m: Christopher Morales Williams and Khaleb McRae, the two fastest men in history indoors, won their respective semifinals in 45.35 and 45.39 – the quickest times of the round. USA’s Chris Robinson (45.46) and European indoor champion Attila Molnar won the other two semifinals. Jereem Richards, the 2022 world indoor champion, was a time qualifier for the final.
Women’s 1500m: World and Olympic medallists Georgia Hunter Bell and Jessica Hull were drawn in the same heat of the women’s 1500m, both advancing with relative ease. World Indoor Tour winner Birke Haylom and European indoor champion Agathe Guillemot were the other heat winners. 2024 world indoor 800m silver medallist Jemma Reekie and European indoor silver medallist Salome Afonso missed out on making the cut.
Men’s 1500m: The men’s event was similar cut-throat with just the top three in each heat advancing to the final. World champion Isaac Nader of Portugal progressed from his heat, as did 2022 world indoor 800m champion Mariano Garcia of Spain.
