As the latest indoor season starts to ramp up, we look at a few reasons to look forward to what is coming in the days and weeks ahead
The indoor season might have already been up and running for some time but there’s no doubting that we’re about to head into the teeth of it over the next few weeks when it comes to elite competition. Here are a few reasons to get excited about what lies in store…
Music of the track
There are few better noises in the sport of athletics than the sound of competitors thundering their way around an indoor track. That unmistakable thud of spikes on boards is music to the ears of many athletics fans.
No margin for error
With the bends tighter, the laps shorter, the athletes packed that little bit tighter, the crowds closer, there is a particular edge to indoor competition that heightens the senses. Get your start wrong in the 60m and it’s game over. Likewise if you make any contact with the hurdles.
Lose concentration, or your footing, and it can prove incredibly costly, not to mention painful. It’s an environment where fluffing your lines is not an option.
Laying down early markers
So much can, and will, happen between now and the summer but this is a great opportunity for some big players to send out an early message to their rivals or post a performance of intent. A number of top names laid the groundwork for Olympic glory with gold at the World Indoor Championships last year and this will be the first chance to establish a form guide for 2025.
Grant Holloway (Getty)
Hurdling heroics
Last year saw the world record fall in the 60m hurdles on both the men’s and the women’s side. Grant Holloway is a seemingly unstoppable force in the event, while Devynne Charlton was also hugely impressive last year. Can anyone pose a threat?
The same but very different
Indoor track events beyond the 60m sprints and hurdles offer athletes a different way to cover the same distance. Having a 200m circuit rather than the usual 400m lap changes the mental picture significantly, while the banked curves represent another task to master. Seeing who can adapt best is always worth watching.
Field fightback
The more intimate indoor setting always lends itself well to the staging of field events – and the athletes tend to respond. The abilities, and personalities, of athletes such as Mondo Duplantis, Molly Caudery, Thea Lafond, Tara Davis-Woodhall, Hamish Kerr, Ryan Crouser and Miltiadis Tentoglou were showcased well in…
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