Italy’s Catalin Tecuceanu provided the highlight from a European perspective of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold Final with a world-leading and national record 1:45.00 800m in Madrid on Friday night (23).
Tecuceanu was in close contact with the pacemaker who sped through the halfway point in 49.96, a super-fast time for a race over four laps of an indoor track, and didn’t falter over the second half of the race in the Centro Deportivo Municipal Gallur in the Spanish capital.
His win secured him victory in his event in the World Athletics Indoor Tour and an additional $10,000 cheque.
World lead 😮💨
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) February 23, 2024
🇮🇹's Catalin Tecuceanu powers to 1:45.00 to rule the men's 800m in Madrid.#WorldIndoorTour pic.twitter.com/4k3vOmvqYz
Behind the Italian, no less than three other men went under 1:46.00 with the Spanish trio of Mohamed Attaoui, Adrian Ben and Alvaro de Arriba clocking 1:45.67, 1:45.72 and 1:45.88 respectively.
Another impressive winner was Norway’s Narve Gilje Nordas who took the 3000m in 7:41.28, a massive personal best and an outstanding performance consider the 690m altitude of the meeting.
“I was disappointed with my 1500m in Lievin two weeks ago but tonight was a much better outing. I was able to do what I wanted during the race and it felt very comfortable and I’m now looking forward to [the World Athletics Indoor Championship in] Glasgow next week,” commented the 2023 world championships 1500m bronze medallist who confirmed that he will be running that distance in Scotland.
He also confirmed that his plans are to double over the 1500m and 5000m at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships in June.
“However, the 1500m is still my favourable distance and I don’t think I will focus much on the longer distances until I can’t improve any more at 1500m,” he added, showing where his priorities lie.
Another man who was happy to look forward to Rome in little more than three months’ time was Lorenzo Simonelli who sped to an Italian record of 7.46 in the 60m hurdles, defeating local Spanish favourite and reigning European 110m hurdles champion outdoors Asier Martinez.
“Obviously, I’ll be aiming for a medal there and many of my friends and family have already got tickets while others are asking how I can get them,” said the beaming Simonelli.
National record 👏
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) February 23, 2024
🇮🇹's Lorenzo Simonelli storms to another 60m hurdles national record with 7.46 to claim the win in Madrid 💥#WorldIndoorTour pic.twitter.com/UGqYZqNf9s
Italy also provided a winner in the women’s 1500m with Ludovicka Cavalli crossing the line in 4:07:01.
However, arguably the best European performance by a woman in Madrid didn’t come with a victory attached.
Two-time European indoor 60m hurdles champion Nadine Visser produced a European-leading time of 7.78, just 0.01 shy of her personal set when winning the second of her continental indoor titles at the 2021 edition in Torun, but the Dutchwoman had to settle for second behind the Bahamas’ newly-minted world record holder Devynne Charlton who flew to a time of 7.68, just 0.01 slower than her recent world record.
Visser, who won a world indoor bronze back in 2018, showed she was back to her best form earlier in the evening when she ran 7.79 in her heat.
Poland’s reigning European 100m hurdles champion outdoors Pia Skrzyszowska can also feel satisfied with her outings in Madrid as she ran 7.83 in her heat behind Visser and then the same time to finish third in the final.
Romania’s Andrea Miklos front ran her way to a personal best of 51.11 but the victory was slightly bittersweet for her. “To be honest it wasn’t as fast as I was hoping but it has set me up well for Glasgow where I hope to make the final.”
Miklos’ compatriot Florentina Iusco won the long jump with 6.65m and while the competition was not of the highest quality it was not short of excitement with Serbia’s Milica Gardasevic finishing just one centimetre in arrears with 6.64m and having two other jumps that threated to take the lead, and her second place was enough to win the World Athletics Indoor Tour title.
Spain’s Jordan Diaz, who is still not eligible to compete internationally for his adopted country until later this year, uncorked a massive effort of 17.52m in the third round of the triple jump, the only jump over 17 metres.
Germany’s former European champion Max Hess was second with 16.96 while France’s former world indoor record holder and former world champion Teddy Tamgho made a surprise return to competition with his first outing in five years and finished seventh with 15.20m.
Other European winners on the night were Poland’s Piotr Lisek who won the pole vault with 5.70m – which also won him the World Athletics Indoor Tour first prize – and Slovenia’s Lia Apostolovski, who found a second time clearance at 1.89m was sufficient to win the high jump.
Full results here.
Phil Minshull for European Athletics