Nearly 7000 spectators crammed into the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, to see what is commonly dubbed the world greatest indoor athletics event, and boy, did it live up to its name.
Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated event of the day was the men’s 60m. Britain’s James Dasaolu stormed to a World Leading 6.47s in the heats, and European Champion Jimmy Vicaut laid down a marker with 6.48s too. The final however, failed to live up to expectations, despite a swift 6.50s clocking by Dasaolu for the win. Vicaut pulled up at the half way point, finishing 6th, but there will be worries for British fans as Dasaolu reached for his hamstring in the final 15m despite taking the win.
In the National Men’s 400m, Richard Buck stormed to the win with 46.10s, but in the main 400m race, fellow Brit Nigel Levine went to 5th in the World with his winning time of 45.71s, a big indoor PB. In the same race, Luke Lennon-Ford finished 3rd with a PB of 46.16s- the prospects for GB’s 4x400m team at the World Indoors next month look bright.
The women’s 1500m proved one of the best spectacles of the day as 800m World Leader, Laura Muir, went to the front with 200m to go, holding on for the win with 4:05.32 by a mere two hundredths of a second. This time puts Muir as the second fastest ever indoors over 1500m by a Brit, only behind Kelly Holmes. Jemma Simpson finished strongly in 4:11.59, to secure the Sopot qualifying time.
In the mens 800m, Mohamed Aman stormed to a world leading 1:44.52. Andy Osagie finished 4th with 1:45.22 to go second in the British All-Time rankings indoors behind Seb Coe. Guy Learmonth finish 5th with a indoor personal best of 1:47.43s.
The women’s 800m saw a good win for Angelika Cichocka after s strong final lap, to run 2:01.60. Britain’s Indoor Silver Medalist Shelayna Oskan-Clarke equalled her outdoor PB with a huge 2:03.52 for fourth, ahead of fellow Brit, Jenny Meadows who ran 2:03.57.
Out in the field, USAs Erik Kynard won the men’s High Jump with a lifetime best 2.34m, whilst Britians Robbie Grabarz finished third with a seasons best 2.27m.
Olympic Champion Greg Rutherford saw a return to action with a third place finish in the long jump, after a 8.00m jump; in a competition that was won by World Champion Aleksandr Menkov with 8.14m. Fellow Brit JJ Jegede finished in fourth with 7.91m, with Chris Tomlinson down in 8th with 7.63m.
Britain’s Holly Bleasdale once again laid down a marker for the World Indoor Championships next month with another consistant result of 4.71m.
The womens 60m saw Murielle Ahoure win from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, both with the same time in 7.10s. Britains Asha Philips ran 7.12s for 3rd after Sophie Papps ran a huge PB of 7.22s in the heats.
After securing two world records in 2014 already, Genzebe Dibaba set out to achieve her third over the indoor 2miles. Dibaba went solo with nine laps to go, and well ahead of the world record pace. With the loud Birmingham crowd cheering to the line, Dibaba ran just outside the nine minute barrier, with a huge world record of 9:00.58- and picked up an impressive $15,000 to boot!
