Glave blazes past champion Azu as Jonielle leads Jamaican sweep

Briton Romell Glave upstaged world and European indoor 60m champion Jeremiah Azu and world and Olympic 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson to claim the 60m race at the BAUHAUS-Galan Indoor, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, in Stockholm yesterday.

Glave, who was the fastest qualifier for the final in a personal best of 6.55, improved that with a 6.51s dash in the final. Azu finished second in 6.54s while Thompson, who was the fastest out of the blocks, settled for third in 6.56.

It was Jamaican clean sweep in the women’s 60m with Jonielle Smith winning in 7.12s ahead of twins Tina and Tia Clayton, both of whom were timed at 7.14.

In the field Danniel Thomas-Dodd won the women’s shot put with 19.00m ahead of Swedish favourite Fanny Roos with 18.46m.

Double European U20 champion Hakon Moe Berg of Norway made a winning debut in his first race in the senior ranks.

The 19-year-old took an unopposed victory in 3:34.32, an indoor lifetime best and early season world lead. He won by more than five seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Mosisa Seyoum in 3:39.54 and France’s Arthur Gervais in 3:39.67 with Andreas Kramer fourth in an indoor lifetime of 3:39.92.

It was also a dominating win for Birke Haylom’s in the women’s 1500m. The Ethiopian won by over nine seconds in 4:02.79, another world lead at this early part of the indoor season. 

2022 European U18 champion Ayla Hallberg Hossain provided one of a handful of Swedish victories, winning the long jump with 6.56m – only two centimetres shy of her lifetime best set last year – ahead of world finalist Esraa Owis from Egypt with 6.49m.

European 400m hurdles bronze medallist Carl Bengström also won the 400m flat in 46.45 ahead of Nigeria’s Chidi Okezie in 46.93.

Other highlights included Finland’s Mette Baas winning the women’s 400m in 52.57 – the only athlete to break the 53 second-barrier across the three races – and Hungary’s Hanga Klekner winning the pole vault with a 4.52m clearance.