Held on the fast track in the Polish city of Toruń, the 36th iteration of the European Athletics Indoor Championships served as the first major athletics meet in more than a year, after the 2020 calendar was ravaged by the global coronavirus pandemic.
Months away from the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, training schedules and nagging injuries vied for attention with a sense of relief, as athletes embraced their belated return to competition. There were no crowds in Toruń, but as usual the biennial indoor event saw a steady mix of European stalwarts, compelling upstarts, and world-class athletes. 733 competitors from 46 countries participated over the four days of the event, setting a new record in European indoor history.
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Nafi Thiam Fires on All Cylinders in the Pentathlon
The Rio Olympics might seem like a lifetime ago, as the usual ups and downs and the regular changing of the guard have been exacerbated by the extended hiatus of the coronavirus pandemic. It is still less than five years since Nafi Thiam edged out Jessica Ennis-Hill to win Olympic gold in the women’s heptathlon, establishing herself in the process as one of the stars of athletics.
A calf tear and a recurring elbow injury hampered her season in 2019, but in Toruń at the start of an Olympic year Thiam took the opportunity to lay down a marker. Her tally of 4904 points in the pentathlon carried her to gold and a new Belgian record. The nature of combined events leaves athletes especially prone to circumstance, and since the Olympics in 2016, Thiam and Katarina Johnson-Thompson have vied for gold without matching for form and fitness. At full strength their head-to-head will prove one of the highlights of Tokyo.
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Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk and Malaika Mihambo Trade Places in the Long Jump
Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk is one of the sport’s fiercest competitors, with a penchant for saving her best until last. At the 2018 European Championships in Berlin and again at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, she leapt into the silver medal position over her final two jumps. Standing in her way on both occasions was Malaika Mihambo, with the dazzling German twice holding steady for gold.
In Toruń, Bekh-Romanchuk managed to turn the tables. After landing within a couple of centimetres of Mihambo in the fifth round of jumping, on her sixth and final attempt the Ukrainian athlete snatched gold with a world-leading jump of 6.92. Mihambo had to settle for silver, with Khaddi Sagnia of Sweden in bronze. The women’s long jump was one of the few events in Toruń boasting a world-class lineup, with all three athletes hoping for a fruitful summer.
The women’s long jump final in #Torun2021 was not short on drama this evening! ✨
? Gold for Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk ?? at last! pic.twitter.com/cvg4SthWcc
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) March 6, 2021
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Femke Bol Makes Strides Over the 400 Metres Flat
At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, Dafne Schippers swept to superstardom with gold and the third-fastest run of all-time in the 200 metres. In the process she ushered in a new era for Dutch sprinting. Nadine Visser, Jamile Samuel, and Lisanne de Witte have scored international success in events ranging from the short hurdles to the 400 metres. Femke Bol is next up and appears to have the world at her fingertips.
In Toruń, the outdoor hurdler was dominant on the indoor flats. Bol kicked away from Justyna Święty-Ersetic and Jodie Williams to score a national record in the 400 metres, before doubling up for another gold as she carried the Netherlands home in record time in the 4 x 400 metres relay. The twenty-one year old faces a tantalising choice as she seeks to make headway over the coming seasons. The world record holder Dalilah Muhammad and fellow youngster Sydney McLaughlin lie in wait over the 400 metre hurdles, while the 400 metres flat offers the prospect of a feistier encounter somewhere between Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Salwa Eid Naser.
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Marcell Jacobs Strikes Gold Over 60 Metres
The Texas-born and Italian-bred Marcell Jacobs began his career as a long jumper before recurring knee injuries saw him turn to the track. Over the past few seasons, Jacobs has closed in on the ten-second mark in the 100 metres, and currently stands as the third-fastest Italian of all-time. In Toruń he took his sprinting to the next level.
Winning the men’s 60 metres in a world-leading time of 6.47, Jacobs destroyed the field, set a new national record, and crept inside the standings for the top twenty-five indoor performances of all-time. If he can transition that sort of form to the outdoor track, he stands a real chance of making an Olympic final: a rare feat, because from Churandy Martina in 2012 to Jimmy Vicaut in 2016, when it comes to the men’s 100 metres Europe often has to make do with one spot. Regardless over the shorter distance of 60 metres, Jacobs is now up there with the elite.
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Armand Duplantis Soars to Familiar Heights in the Pole Vault
Armand Duplantis is so prodigiously talented that he could afford to make light work of these kind of meets. Instead the Swedish vaulter and reigning world record holder put in his due diligence with four successful jumps, the third securing gold and the fourth establishing 6.05 as a new championship record.
Then Duplantis put on a show, striving to best the world record which he first obtained last year in Toruń, before raising the bar one week later in Glasgow. Duplantis tried three times for a new record height of 6.19, and came perilously close with his second effort. A special word too for Valentin Lavillenie, the younger brother of the former world record holder Renaud, who with a personal best of 5.80 in Toruń secured his first international silver medal.
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Yaroslava Mahuchikh Retains Ukrainian Hegemony in the High Jump
The field events shone in Toruń, and none was more competitive or stacked than the women’s high jump. The former World and European Indoor silver medalist Yuliya Levchenko, still only twenty-three years old, stood aloft at the midway point of the competition following five successful first-time clearances. But three failures at 1.96 opened up the medal positions.
After a slew of near misses in the earlier rounds, Iryna Herashchenko regained her composure to clear 1.96 at the first time of asking. She was matched by Ella Junnila, as the Finnish athlete set a new national record to spoil a potential clean sweep by the Ukrainians. Herashchenko went one better at 1.98, but she could not scale the heights ascended by her compatriot Yaroslava Mahuchikh, as the nineteen year old added to her growing medal tally with gold at the height of 2.00 metres.
Mahuchikh set a new personal best at the beginning of February with a jump of 2.06 Banská Bystrica. She tried for an extra centimetre in Toruń, but narrowly missed out. In the men’s event, Maksim Nedasekau smashed a Belarusian record as his world-leading jump of 2.37 saw off the challenge from the popular Italian Gianmarco Tamberi.
Yaroslava the Mighty! ?
The 19-year-old Ukrainian landed her first senior title in the high jump in #Torun2021. ? pic.twitter.com/tYw90iQ5EI
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) March 7, 2021
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Ajla Del Ponte Heads the Pack Over 60 Metres
The women’s 60 metres in Toruń was short of a couple of star names, with the aspiring Olympians Dafne Schippers, Dina Asher-Smith, and Mujinga Kambundji all absent. Meanwhile Ewa Swoboda, the local favourite and European indoor champion from 2019, was forced to relinquish the defense of her title after contracting coronavirus.
Ajla Del Ponte made sure that none of that mattered. After making strides last year over 100 metres, the steadily improving Swiss athlete blew away the competition in the final of the 60 metres. Her time of 7.03 equalled the Swiss record set by Kambundji in 2018, and placed Del Ponte inside the top twenty-five on the all-time list. Del Ponte trains with the likes of Femke Bol at the Olympic Training Centre Papendal, more proof that they are doing something right in the Netherlands.
