A position gives you more than just a medal, and a result gives you more than just a time. If you look hard enough, there’s a story to be told somewhere. And as luck would have it, that somewhere, is right here. 18 women became world indoor medallists this weekend on the track. That’s 6 different podiums, and 6 different moments to dive into.
What started as 6 women going under 7.10 in the heats, finished as 7 women going under 7.10 in the final. For the first time ever in the history of the World Indoor Championships. And that charge was led by one woman and one woman only: Zaynab Dosso of Italy.
Bronze medallist over the 60m in Glasgow two years ago, silver medallist in Nanjing one year ago, and now gold medallist in Torun two days ago. She may have one of each colour medal but her progression is one of a kind. Of all the 2025 medallists who made their return this year, she’s only one of two not just to medal again, but to improve on that medal. She’s spent these last 3 years climbing up the ladder, and now it’s time to enjoy the view from the top. The top of the world, that is.
Perched one rung below is Jacious Sears of America, living proof alongside her male compatriot Jordan Anthony that to be wanting in championship experience does not leave you wanting in titles. In 2025 she raced former 60m world champion Julien Alfred over 100m for the first time and lost. At the beginning of 2026 she raced her again, this time over 60m, and lost. But come her first ever World Indoor Championships and her first ever individual major championship race, that’s when she wins. The 0.003 seconds that separated them no one is counting, because she beat Julien Alfred when it counted. That’s what it takes to be a world medallist.
For Julien Alfred, this World Indoor Championship wasn’t about learning to win, it was about learning to lose. In the last few major championships she’s always stood out as the favourite, with either a world lead or a world medal to back it up. This time she had the medal, but it was bronze. And she also had the world lead, but it was shared. When Julien Alfred won the 60m indoor title in 2024, she won it in 6.98, and her semifinal in 7.03. 7.03 won her bronze this year, and another sub-7 would have won her gold. The difference between 2024 and 2026 isn’t her form: she’s run 6.99 this year. It’s her competition. The field was separated by the finest of margins, and with that comes a different pressure than that of being the favourite.
The phrase ‘no one does it like her’ takes on a whole new meaning when you’re not just referring to the current day, you’re talking about the entire history. When Devynne Charlton entered the 60m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships, she wasn’t just defending last year’s title, she was defending the one before it too. And now, she is the first woman to ever win 3 consecutive world indoor titles in this event. Her journey across these three championships came full circle along with the event itself on the final day, when she equalled her world record to win the gold. The same winning time from 2024, the one that gave her her first ever world title.
Until 2017, Nadine Visser was a heptathlete. Then in 2018, the very year she switched her focus to the sprint hurdles, she won a bronze medal in the 60m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships. She’s the Dutch national record holder indoors and out, she’s at the very top of her field, but for the next 7 years she would keep missing the podium. World outdoor championships, the Olympics, world indoors again, and the cycle repeats.
On Sunday night that cycle was broken. 8 years later Nadine Visser has made her way back on to a global podium, in her second fastest time ever, and a long overdue upgrade to that 2018 bronze. Consistency isn’t always enough, but persistence will always pay its dues.
It might sound agonising to finish third by just 0.005 seconds, but the expression on Pia Skrzyszowska’s face was nothing short of elation. A national record and bronze medal, won in front of the Polish crowd: her home crowd. If there was any place to do it, it was there. The medal was the same as the one she won in 2024, but the feeling was entirely different. 2 of Poland’s 4 medals were won in the 60m hurdles, and Pia Skrzyszowska played her part in making this championship just that bit more special for the Polish crowd.
No one was focused on Lurdes Gloria Manuel in the lead up to these championships. All eyes were on 2025 world indoor bronze medallist Henriette Jaeger. All eyes, that is, except her very own. In the heats she set her blocks at the wrong start line. In the semi finals she relaxed too early and almost lost her automatic qualifying spot. And in the final she completely lost control, stumbling off the track and as a consequence off the 400m podium itself. All in her haste to track down the race leader and ultimate world indoor 400m champion: Lurdes Gloria Manuel.
Manuel is no stranger to a gold medal. In 2024 she was crowned the U20 400m world champion, and that’s not a moment you easily forget. What she was a stranger too, is the senior world stage, and the sub-51 indoors club. Both of which she conquered in admirable fashion across the span of just 2 days. At 20 years old, she is the second-youngest 400m world indoor champion ever, and I’m only talking by a matter of days. 20 days in fact, is how much older she is than the youngest ever winner from the very first edition in 1985.
We’ve gone over 40 years without seeing anyone quite like her, and here’s another reason. She’s the only 2026 female world indoor champion to set a personal best in both the semis and the final. On Friday she broke 51 indoors for the first time, and in Saturday’s final she went even lower, with 50.76.
It might surprise you that an Olympic 400m medallist finds herself in the middle, but for Natalia Bukowiecka, Saturday was her first ever world indoor championship individual final. In 2022, the last time she attended, she finished 4th in her semi final and failed to advance. A year later, she she became the world outdoor 400m silver medallist, and the one after the that, Olympic bronze medallist. And now she has her first individual indoor medal to add to that collection: a world 400m silver.
She was one of 3 women in that final who ran a national record, the most national records we saw in any final across the 3 days. And, speaking of the number 3, it was also her fastest 400m short track time in 3 years, when she first set the national record she equalled. I know what they say about the number 3, but we all know that’s not luck.
In terms of experience this podium was in backwards order. Because for Lieke Klaver in bronze, this race marked her 10th global medal. 8 in the 4x400m relay, and now 2 in the individual 400m indoors. In the last 4 years, Lieke Klaver has medalled in every single major championship she attended, relay or otherwise. Again, I insist: that’s not luck. It’s a form of consistency that many professional athletes can only dream of.
Keely Hodgkinson is easily one of the most accomplished 800m runners ever, but this World Indoor Championship was one of firsts. With everything she’s achieved in the space of the last 5 years you’d think it some kind of glitch in the system, but no, the Wikipedia page is in fact correct: until Sunday, she was yet to win a world title.
This indoor gold especially was hard fought for. For the past 3 years, Keely Hodgkinson has been trying and failing to survive an indoor season without injury, arriving at the World Indoor Championships in 2022 and pulling out even before the first round. But that’s all in the past now, and so is the World Indoor Championship 800m record. Ludmila Formanova’s 1:56.90 had a good 27 year run, but now it lies in pieces.
1:55.30 was the winning time, the 2nd fastest 800m ever run indoors, and second to only Keely Hodgkinson herself. She broke the world record with pacemakers last month, and last night she proved she can also do it without. And clearly comfortably so, because just 55 minutes later, she anchored team GB in the 4x400m relay, clocking a 400m split of 50.10, not only the fastest in the field but the second fastest relay split in the history of these championships. The outdoor 800m world record must be quaking at the knees right now.
Keely Hodgkinson wasn’t the only one to break the championship record. 21 year old Audrey Werro ran the fastest time of her life and her third national record of the year to get the silver medal. The first medal Switzerland has ever won in the women’s 800m. It was never really a question of getting the gold, it was a question of using Keely Hodgkinson’s pace as an advantage, rather than viewing it as a challenge. That is what puts you 5th on the 800m indoor all-time list, and that is what gets you your first ever senior global medal. Audrey Werro came 6th in the Tokyo 800m final last year, in a time just half a second faster than Sunday’s. If you’re one for comparing indoor and outdoor times, this performance was more than just an improvement in positioning.
Before the 2026 season, Addison Wiley had never broken 2 minutes indoors. This year, she’s broken it three times. Once to become the US indoor 800m champion, once to advance to the world indoor semi final, and once more to win her first global medal. 2 years ago at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow she didn’t even get out of her heat. Last year at the US outdoor championships she finished 9th and didn’t qualify for Tokyo. It’s been less than a year and Addison Wiley is now a main contender. A personal best not only broken by almost 2 seconds but improved upon each and every round is a dream championship performance she won’t be forgetting any time soon.
They say patience is a virtue, and while 3 major global medals in 3 consecutive years signals the exact opposite, Georgia Hunter Bell did need it to win this particular race. Despite having medalled in almost every major championship, she had never been looked to as the favourite, only as a challenger. Except this time, stood on that 1500m start line was the world leader and silver medallist from 2025, someone with more success in the event than anyone else in the field. Or in other words, the favourite.
So perhaps that was why after a slow first few laps, Birke Haylom, the young Ethiopian, decided to ignore the pace entirely and set her own, way out in front. Anyone’s natural instinct would be to immediately close the gap, which was around 30m for most of the race, but Georgia Hunter Bell kept leading the pack behind and trusted Haylom could be reeled in.
Last year at the European Indoor Championships Georgia Hunter Bell decided to run out hard from the front and as a result lost her chance at a medal. This year, she kept a level head and not only closed the gap on Haylom, but opened up a new one between her and the rest of the field. That takes a level of confidence and race intelligence that cannot go understated. The final didn’t go as planned, but Georgia Hunter Bell’s golden upgrade most certainly did.
Someone else who got an upgrade was Jessica Hull. Only not from the previous year, but the previous day instead. Despite having already run the 1500m heats on Friday and a 3000m final on Saturday, she still had the strength to stick with Georgia Hunter Bell and challenge for gold right up until the final straight. Outdoors Jessica Hull may be the 5th fastest women ever, but indoors her personal best was much further down the rankings. It’s not a distance she normally races indoors, and a 4:01:19 was where she was at coming into these championships. But that 4 minute barrier Jessica Hull is so used to breaking outdoors finally came down in Torun, and she earned that silver in an area record of 3:59.45.
Nikki Hiltz closes the podium, and also closed the race in lightning speed. That’s what they’re known for: the ability to come out of nowhere and be a danger without posing a threat beforehand. They had the most work to do out of anyone on the podium, right up until the end, where the bronze medal came down to just 0.03 seconds. A tactical masterclass, and one which many could attempt, but would likely fail. This is their second medal in the indoor 1500m, in their second appearance at the World Indoor Championships, an event, and a podium, which doesn’t exactly welcome you back with open arms.
The reigning champion didn’t fall so a new one could rise. Freweyni Hailu would even tell you that herself. The women’s 3000m world indoor final was chaotic, with Marta Garcia of Spain ending up disqualified, for an elbow that sent Jessica Hull crashing into Hailu and Hailu straight down to the floor. We don’t know what would have happened had the 2025 gold medallist not fallen. Nor does it matter. To become the world champion you have to win the race, and part of that involves tackling its obstacles. Obstacles which don’t always come in the shape of a fast pace.
Nadia Battocletti of Italy is 25 years old. On Saturday, she became the first European woman to win the 3000m world indoor title in 25 years. This podium is also absent of an Ethiopian for the first time in 25 years. It was Nadia Battocletti’s first World Indoor Championships, in her 25 years. It was meant to be, because she made it be.
Battocletti tracked the lead the entire way, and when Jessica Hull kicked with two laps to go, she remained calm and trusted that with the strength she had within her, no one else stood a chance. She may be new to the 3000m indoor scene, but with multiple global medals over the 5000m and 10,000m, Nadia Battocletti knows how to handle a crowd. Her race was a masterclass in patience, championship tactics in their purest form. She didn’t just avoid the danger- she was the danger.
For silver medallist Emily Mackay this wasn’t her first world indoor championships. It wasn’t even her first medal: in 2024 she won bronze over the 1500m. Yet when she beat former world indoor champion Elle St Pierre over the 3000m at US nationals, people were shocked. Emily Mackay ran her first ever 3000m short track race in 2022. Since then, she’s won twice: once in 2023 and once at the 2026 US indoor championships. Saturday’s second place is her highest ever positioning aside from both those performances. To not only upgrade that bronze medal, but do so in a different event altogether, is the sign of a great championship racer. It’s not about the number of wins, it’s about the timing of them.
Jessica Hull also came with a world indoor bronze medal under her belt. Only this time there was no upgrade, and no trade-in for a position off the podium either. Everything stayed exactly the same as last year. Given it’s been 2 years in a row she’s more than familiar with the 3000m bronze medal position, but that doesn’t mean she feels at home there. After the race she was kicking herself for kicking too hard, and the irony of that isn’t lost on anyone.
What is lost is the fact that she was the only athlete in this championship to double in 2 events. Jessica Hull ran 3 races in 3 days, long ones at that. And in both events, the 1500m and the 3000m, she made the podium. One silver, and one bronze. The last person to do so was Genzebe Dibaba in 2018. 7 years ago. Some people might describe her championships as two near-misses at gold. But what is an athlete without ambition, and what is life without risks. Just because it’s not in gold doesn’t mean they didn’t pay you back.
Of these 18 women, 10 had medalled before at the World Indoor Championships, and 8 were completely new to the podium. The quality of performance this year couldn’t have been higher: of all the 46 national records that were set, 24 belong to women. 3 of Great Britain’s 4 gold medals were won by women, and all in the space of 28 minutes on the Sunday evening. Achievements can happen in the blink of an eye, but the lead up to them is something else.
Rosana is our social media manager intern, specialising in track and road racing. Having previously competed in the 200m and 400m, she keeps up her love for speed endurance with regular track sessions and interval runs. As well as running herself, Rosana is also an avid athletics fan, from volunteering at major track meets to officiating local competitions back in England.
18 women women became world indoor medallists on the track this weekend. That’s 6 different podiums, and 6 different moments to dive into.
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