Jordan Geist Throws 22.04m, Femke Bol Makes 800m Debut

It was another busy week around the track worldwide with new world leads in the men’s shot put, men’s long jump, women’s 1,500-meter, women’s long jump, and more.

The focus on the world calendar this week shifted from the United States to Europe, with three World Athletics Gold Tour events taking place: The Czech Indoor Gala on Tuesday in Ostrava, the World Indoor Tour Gold Madrid on Friday, and the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe (Germany) on Sunday.

Let’s take a look at some of the top performances from the past seven days.

Performance of the Week

Our pick for the performance is Jordan Geist’s throw of 22.04 meters to set a new world lead in the men’s shot put. Going into this week, Rajindra Campbell held the world lead with his throw of 21.77 meters set at the Milrose Games a week ago.

Geist first set the world lead in Ostrava last Tuesday, but the 27-year-old then matched his distance of 22.04 meters just three days later in Madrid.

Only four men have ever broken the 23-meter barrier, with two of them, Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs, still active.

Geist’s performance from this weekend is 21 centimeters shy of his personal best of 22.25 meters set in 2024. His best distance ties him for 25^th all-time. In 2023, he won both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Division I Championships in the shot put.

Rajindra Campbell also exceeded his previous world lead this weekend with a season-best throw of 21.94 meters in Madrid. Just behind him, American Roger Steen took the number three spot in Madrid and moved into the number three spot on the world top list with a throw of 21.88 meters.

New World Leaders in Men’s and Women’s Long Jump

Going into this weekend, Mattia Furlani held the world lead in the men’s long jump with his leap of 8.33 meters set in Paris a couple of weeks ago. He’ll have to settle for sharing the world lead for now despite surpassing his season best in France again this weekend. Both he and Bulgarian jumper Bozhidar Sarâboyukov jumped 8.39 meters. For Sarâboyukov, this leap set a new Bulgarian national indoor and outdoor record.

On the women’s side, the 2025 World University Games Champion Agate de Sousa took over the world lead with her 6.97-meter jump in Madrid. The jump was only six centimeters back from her personal best of 7.03 meters set in 2023.

Defending World Champion Tara Davis-Woodhall has yet to open her season.

Pole Vault and Triple Jump Starting to Heat Up

Two men, Mateusz Kołodziejski (Poland) and Naoto Hasegawa (Japan), cleared 2.30 meters this weekend, tying them for the second-highest jumps of the year so far. Russia’s Danil Lysenko still has the highest jump of the year with 2.33 meters.

The women’s pole vault has also started to hold up with Polina Knoroz (Russia) and Tina šutej (Slovenia) both clearing 4.80 meters, moving them both into the number two spot in the world. On the men’s side, KC Lightfoot slid into the number two spot in the world with his jump of 5.91 meters.

Notably, the AIU issued a provisional suspension this week to Canadian pole vaulter and Olympic bronze medalist Alysha Newman for whereabouts failure. If the suspension is upheld, it will be two years before we see her back in action.

In Russia, World Champion in the triple jump Leyanis Pérez Hernández extended her own world lead with 14.75 meters. In the same competition, the Senegalese jumper Saly Sarr jumped 14.55 meters, the third farthest jump in the world this year.

In Germany, Cuban jumper Davisleydi Velazco jumped 14.60 meters to move into the number two spot in the world.

Chengetayi Mapaya moved into the world lead for the men’s triple jump with his leap of 16.85 meters. Many of the top jumpers in the world haven’t opened their season yet.

Alred, Akintan Set New World Leads in the 60m

The 2024 Olympic 100-meter Champion, Julien Alfred, snatched the World lead from Tia Clayton with her run of 7.00 seconds in Arkansas. She also posted 7.04 in the qualifying section in her season debut.

On the men’s side, Sunday Akintan ran 6.48 seconds in the 60-meter dash in Moscow to take the world lead by 0.01 seconds over Davonte Howell.  

Other Notable Results from This Week

Great Britain’s Amber Anning ran the fastest time in the world this year for the indoor 400-meter, running 50.51 seconds in Albuquerque. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Norway’s Henriette Jæger ran the second fastest time this year in France with 50.62 seconds.

Back in Madrid, Mohamed Attaoui set a world lead in the indoor 1000-meter with 2:14.52 seconds. Mariano García and Adrián Ben ran the second and third fastest times this year at the same competition, posting 2:16.40 and 2:16.80, respectively.

World Championship silver medalist in the 800-meter, Georgia Hunter Bell, ran a world lead in the 1,500-meter this weekend with a time of 4:00.04 in Germany.

Pia Skrzyszowska took the world lead in the 60-meter hurdles with her time of 7.78 seconds. Just behind her, American Grace Stark moved into the number two spot with 7.86 seconds in Germany. Ditaji Kambundji ran 7.87 seconds in France for the third fastest time of the year.

Garrett Kaalund ran the fastest indoor 200-meter time of the year with 20.12 seconds in Albuquerque.

Other News

Femke Bol made her highly anticipated debut in the women’s 800-meter, dropping under the two-minute mark and setting a new Dutch indoor record in the process with her time of 1:59.07. This time currently ranks her fifth in the world, with Great Britain’s Isabelle Boffey holding the lead with her run of 1:57.43 set at Boston University a week and a half ago.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen underwent Achilles Surgery in the United States after it flared up in January. His Achilles gave him trouble throughout last season and kept him from achieving top form. It’s not clear when he’ll return to the track, but the surgery seems to have gone smoothly.

What’s Coming Up This Week?

The Belgrade Indoor Meeting is the next World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event on the calendar. It’s slated for this Wednesday evening. There are also four silver tour events on the schedule this week:

• High Jump Meeting Beskyd Bar – February 10 – Czechia

• Tyson Invitational – February 13–14 – Fayetteville, Arkansas

• XI. International Tournament for the Prizes of Olga Rypakova – Feb 14 – Kazakhstan

• Sound Invite – Feb 14 – Winston Salem, North Carolina