This weekend marked the first World Athletics Gold event of the year, with the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix taking place in Boston. Although we’ve already started to see some big performances over the past two weeks, the return of the world’s top indoor circuit makes it feel like the season is truly underway again.
Here are some of the biggest news stories from the past week from around the track (and field).
On the Track
Perhaps the biggest news over the weekend was Josh Hoey setting a world record in the indoor 800-meter in Boston, running 1:42.50 seconds.
The time bettered second-place Filip Ostrowski, the 2025 World University Games Champion, by over two seconds. Hoey’s time also gives him a comfortable world lead over Mark English (from Ireland, despite his last name), who ran 1:44.65 in Luxembourg a week ago.
In the women’s 800-meter section, Roisin Willis took home the win on Saturday with a time of 1:59.59. At almost the same time, Meghan Hunter ran the second fastest time of the year at the Armory in New York, with 1:59.70.
Ackeem Blake won the men’s 60-meter in Boston with a time of 6.53 seconds, tying him for the seventh fastest time in the world. Davonte Howell and Traunard Folson are tied for the world lead with 6.49 seconds each, both men running these times at the Clemson Invitational in South Carolina on January 10th. Romell Glave is currently sitting third in the world with his time of 6.51 seconds from Stockholm this Friday.
On the women’s side, Dina Asher-Smith took home the victory in Boston, running 7.08 seconds. She currently sits number four in the world. Tia Clayon is currently topping the world leaderboard with a time of 7.02 seconds run the week before in Jamaica (outdoors with a 1.2m/s wind).
Noah Lyles Back in Action, World Leads in the Mid-Distance
It was a busy weekend in Boston, with 200-meter World Champion Noah Lyles back on the track for the first time this year, running the 300-meter. Ultimately, he would be edged out by 0.01 seconds by Jereem Richards, who ran 32.14 seconds.
France’s Flavien Szot set a world lead in the men’s indoor mile, running 3:54.00 in Boston. Meanwhile, Australia’s Cameron Myers jumped to the top of the world rankings in the 3,000-meter, running 7:27.57, also in Boston, ahead of Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran and America’s Graham Blanks.
On the women’s side, Katie Snowden took home the win in the mile and set the world lead with 4:22.37 seconds. Elle St. Pierre ran 8:26.54 in the indoor 3,000 meters in Boston to also set a new world lead. The pair of Australians Linden Hall and Jessica Hull finished second and third, respectively.
Anna Hall Competes in Two Events, Hurdlers Also Set World Leads in Boston
The heptathlon world champion, Anna Hall, opened her season in the long jump and 400-meter, jumping 5.99 meters and running 52.77 seconds respectively. Fellow American Nicole Yeargin took home gold in the 400-meter with a time of 52.63 seconds. The fastest time in the world so far remains Zaya Akins, with 51.15 seconds, run at the Clemson Invitational on January 23.
Trey Cunningham won the 60-meter hurdles in Boston with a time of 7.48 seconds, tying the world lead set by Poland’s Jakub Szymański the week before in Luxembourg. Danielle Williams won the women’s section with 7.87 seconds to capture the world lead from Finland’s Reetta Hurske (7.92 seconds) set three days before in Finland.
Furlani Jumps 8.33 meters, and More from the Field
Meanwhile, in Europe, World Silver Medalist Emmanouil Karalis took an early lead in the pole vault world rankings with a jump of 5.93 meters. He holds a three-centimeter lead over Zachery Bradford and KC Lightfoot, who both jumped 5.90 meters in Reno on January 16th.
Angelina Topić jumped 1.98 meters in Poland to move up to number two in the World Rankings. Yaroslava Mahuchikh’s big jump of 2.03 meters, set in her home country of Ukraine the week before, remains the top mark in the world.
World Champion Mattia Furlani opened his season in a big way, jumping 8.33 meters at the Meeting de Paris Indoor. Right now, the results from the competition are appearing as uncertified and aren’t included in the World Rankings. We aren’t sure why, but we’ll make an update when we find out.
If the result is ratified as a world lead, then Italy will have the world lead in both the men’s and women’s sections, with Larissa Iapichino jumping 6.93 meters last week. Portugal’s Agate De Sousa, the World University Games Champion, jumped 6.84 meters on Sunday to move into the number two spot.
Olympic long jump Champion Miltiadis Tentoglou also opened his season with an excellent jump, putting a mark out there at 8.25 meters on home soil in Greece. The top jump of the year that currently appears in the World Rankings is Kennedy Stringfellow’s leap of 8.29 meters from January 16.
The triple jump hasn’t heated up yet, with the top jump remaining Jonathan Seremes’ leap of 16.79 meters set on January 17 in Texas. Almir Dos Santos jumped 16.74 meters in Lyon on Saturday to take the number two spot.
On the throws side, Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi set a world lead in the shot put with 20.82 meters in Poland. He takes a narrow 6-centimeter lead over American Tarik O’Hagan, who threw 20.76 meters on January 10.
Abria Smith threw 19.19 meters in the women’s shot put at the Illinois-Armory to surpass the previous world lead of 19.00 meters set by Danniel Thomas-Dodd two days before. Olympic Champion Yemisi Ogunleye currently sits in third with a throw of 18.78 meters set on Saturday.
The next World Athletics Gold Tour event on the world calendar is the Millrose Games, being held next Sunday in New York City. In the United States, the event is being streamed on Peacock and broadcast on NBC from 4–6 pm EST.
