The two-lap showdown between Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Femke Bol could be one of the most highly anticipated clashes of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
Two-time Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo has the fastest PBs of the field, with her North and Central American and Caribbean records indoors (50.21) and outdoors (48.36). The Bahamian is one of the most versatile sprinters on the planet, also boasting PBs of 10.98 for 100m and 21.74 for 200m. And not forgetting her world indoor best at 300m, 35.45.
The Bahamian, however, hasn&rsquo;t raced indoors at all this year. In fact, she has never raced extensively indoors, which isn&rsquo;t surprising given her tall frame. But the few times she has taken to the boards, she has performed pretty well &ndash; going back to the world indoor bronze she earned in 2014 when still a teenager.
She raced just twice indoors last year, but broke records in both races &ndash; a national indoor 200m record of 22.40 and her continental 400m mark of 50.21. So a lack of races going into Belgrade probably won&rsquo;t be too much of a barrier for Miller-Uibo.
Femke Bol, on the other hand, could be. 
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 The Olympic 400m hurdles bronze medallist also excels in flat sprint events and is undefeated indoors for the past two years. She won the European indoor 400m title in 50.63 last year and went on to set a Dutch 400m record of 50.37 outdoors. In her specialist event, meanwhile, she broke the European record when taking Olympic bronze in 52.03.
Her momentum has continued this year, setting indoor PBs of 50.30 for 400m &ndash; a world-leading time &ndash; and 23.37 for 200m. While she may not quite match Miller-Uibo&rsquo;s lifetime bests for 400m, her racing style &ndash; and, in particular, the way she hunts down opponents on the second lap &ndash; suggests this clash will be one of the closest of the weekend.
If anyone is going to get among the leading duo, Poland&rsquo;s Justyna Swiety-Ersetic looks to be the leading challenger. The 29-year-old has reached the final at the past three editions of the World Indoor Championships but has yet to make it on to the podium. She arrives in Belgrade in the form of her life, though, having set a national indoor record of 51.04 to win the Polish indoor title earlier this month.
Her compatriot Anna Kielbasinska had impressed during the first part of the indoor season, but has been forced to withdraw from the World Indoors due to a positive Covid test. Poland will still be well represented, though, in the form of Natalia Kaczmarek, who has clocked 51.15 &ndash; a short-lived national indoor record &ndash; this year.
Bol&rsquo;s teammate and training partner Lieke Klaver has also been in PB form this year, clocking 51.20 to finish second to Bol at the Dutch Indoor Championships. A fearless front-runner, expect to see Klaver leading on the first lap.
Like Miller-Uibo, Jamaica&rsquo;s Stephenie Ann McPherson isn&rsquo;t a prolific indoor racer, but she has unfinished business on the boards. She was just outside of the medals at the 2016 World Indoors, then was disqualified from the semifinals at the 2018 edition. With an outdoor PB of 49.34 from last year, and an indoor best of 51.39 set when winning in Birmingham last month, the 2013 world outdoor bronze medallist is keen to add another medal to her collection.
US athletes have won four of the past world indoor 400m titles, and this year they will be represented by Olympic 4x400m champion Lynna Irby and the vastly experienced Jessica Beard.
Other contenders include Lithuania&rsquo;s Modesta Juste Morauskaite, Ireland&rsquo;s Phil Healy, and Lada Vondrova of the Czech Republic.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

World Athletics Indoor Championships

A look at the contenders in the women's 400m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Miller-Uibo and Bol primed for 400m duel in Belgrade

Jereem Richards and Trevor Bassitt head into the 400m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 undefeated this year. Though that doesn't quite tell the full story.
Richards, the 2017 world 200m bronze medallist, has raced just once this year, but his 400m victory at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting on Staten Island was highly convincing. The sprinter from Trinidad and Tobago smashed his PB by more than half a second, clocking 45.83. He hasn't competed since then, but he will be racing in honour of his friend and teammate Deon Lendore, the 2016 world indoor bronze medallist in this event, who sadly and tragically died in a car crash earlier this year.
Bassitt, however, will be a formidable opponent. The 24-year-old has won all 21 of his races - heats and final - so far this year, across a range of five disciplines. Most of those victories have been in collegiate meets, including his 45.36 win on an oversized track at the NCAA Division Two Championships, but he also won the US indoor crown in 45.75.
This, however, will be Bassitt's first major championships, whereas Richards has been competing at global events for more than a decade.
Other runners who will fancy their chances include a few who may not have produced their finest form so far this season, but whose personal bests offer evidence of their talent and potential.
Jamaica&rsquo;s Christopher Taylor, for instance, has a best of 45.73. Noah Williams, the 23-year-old United States runner, is the only sub-45.00 indoor athlete in the field, having run 44.71 indoors last year.
But winning medals is about more than superfast personal bests &ndash; as the long experience of Pavel Maslak bears out. For almost a decade this Czech Republic athlete, now 31, has been a master of the indoor 400m, having secured European indoor golds in 2013, 2015 and 2017 and world indoor golds in 2014, 2016 and 2018.
While he has not been winning on the circuit this season, during which he has run a best of 46.70, no one would think of ruling him out of contention as he defends the title he won in Birmingham four years ago after the first two men home, Oscar Husillos of Spain and Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic, were disqualified for stepping out of their lanes.
Another name that demands serious attention is Bruno Hortelano-Roig of Spain. Born to Spanish parents in Australia, where his father was completing a PhD, Hortelano-Roig, now 30, experienced a gamut of sports while attending Cornell University in the United States, including taekwondo, soccer and American football.
But it soon became clear that athletics was his strongest suit, and at the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam he won 200m gold after setting a Spanish record of 20.39 in the semifinals.
Two years later he was part of the Spanish team that earned 4x400m bronze at the Berlin European Championships. His indoor 400m personal best of 46.02 was established this year. How much faster can he go?
Liemarvin Bonevacia of the Netherlands had been among the big favourites, but withdrew on the eve of the championships after sustaining a hamstring injury.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's 400m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Wide-open 400m field ready to battle for gold in Belgrade

At the age of 29, Jamaica&rsquo;s 2015 world 100m hurdles champion Danielle Williams is in the form of her life indoors - which means she will take some stopping at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
That 2015 performance in Beijing was a breakthrough for an athlete who had missed out on a Commonwealth medal by one place the year before.
And after failing to finish her heat in the 2016 World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon, Williams has steadily added further lustre to her hurdles career.
In 2018 she made that Commonwealth rostrum, taking silver on the Gold Coast, and at the Doha 2019 World Championships she added a second global medal to her collection as she finished third, having earlier in the year reduced her personal best to 12.32.
Last month has clocked an indoor personal best of 7.75 that is the fastest run so far this season.
But Williams will have no false sense of security given that the event is stacked with talent. Her compatriot Britany Anderson is the second fastest entrant in terms of this year&rsquo;s lists, having also run a personal best, 7.82.
Anderson, 21, perhaps has something to prove having suffered the frustration and disappointment of finishing eighth in the Tokyo Olympic final after hitting a hurdle heavily.
The Jamaican pair will be strongly challenged however by a United States contingent that will be headed by Gabriele Cunningham, who finished seventh in Tokyo and who has run an identical personal best to Anderson this summer.
Alaysha Johnson, who has also been in PB territory this season in clocking 7.90, will be another strong US contender.
France will be looking to 21-year-old Cyrena Samba-Mayela, yet another to have set a personal best in 2022 with 7.84.
Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas, who finished sixth in the Olympic final, won at last month&rsquo;s World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Torun. She has clocked 7.90 this year and has a best of 7.89.
Two other names to watch out for are Switzerland&rsquo;s Ditaji Kambundji and Zoe Sedney of Netherlands.
Kambundji, the 19-year-old younger sister of world 200m bronze medallist Mujinga, went out in the heats at the Tokyo Games but has been in exuberant form this year, running a 60m hurdles personal best of 7.94.
Sedney lowered her own best to 7.95 in winning in Madrid earlier this month at the last of this season&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meetings.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the women's 60m hurdles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Williams leads fight for 60m hurdles gold in Belgrade

Here&rsquo;s the question if you are not Grant Holloway. How do you beat a man who hasn&rsquo;t lost a 60m hurdles race in eight years &ndash; since he was 16, in fact &ndash; a total of victories that is now well past the half century mark?
Additional question. How do you beat a man who last year lowered the 60m hurdles world record of 7.30 &ndash; set by Britain&rsquo;s Colin Jackson in 1994 &ndash; to 7.29?
But here&rsquo;s the question if you are Grant Holloway. At last summer&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympics, as world 110m hurdles champion, you were beaten to gold by Jamaica&rsquo;s Hansle Parchment. So, as you seek a first world indoor title, could there be a similar shock in store at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22?
It has to be said that, barring accident or injury, Holloway looks very likely to be adding a second global gold to his collection on Sunday afternoon.
This season the 24-year-old from Chesapeake, Virginia, has continued to win in peerless fashion on the boards, recording a season&rsquo;s best of 7.35.
But if you wanted to think of someone who might just find the way to confound Holloway&rsquo;s winning ways this weekend, it would be Pascal Martinot-Lagarde. 
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 The 30-year-old Frenchman has a face that always appears on the brink of a smile &ndash; that is, if he is not actually smiling. But this most amiable of men has fully demonstrated the iron part of his character over the years as he has come back from a sequence of injuries to return his form to its former heights.
In 2018 he completed a hat-trick of European titles in Berlin, taking gold on a photo-finish. A year later he earned a first world outdoor medal, bronze, in Doha.
Martinot-Lagarde&rsquo;s record indoors is at least as good. He has a gold, two silvers and a bronze at the European Indoor Championships; two silvers and a bronze in the World Indoors.
An exuberant athlete, he has the champion&rsquo;s knack of raising his game when it is most needed.
Not that Martinot-Lagarde will be the only serious threat to the equally exuberant US athlete.
His French teammate Wilhem Belocian won the European 60m hurdles title in Torun last year in a personal best of 7.42 &ndash; 0.03 faster than Martinot-Lagarde&rsquo;s best.
Holloway&rsquo;s compatriot Jarret Eaton also has serious credentials as a 7.43 athlete who has run 7.47 this year.
And Poland&rsquo;s Damian Czykier will be on a high after his victory on the home ground of Torun in last month&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in 7.48 &ndash; a massive personal best.
Britain&rsquo;s defending champion Andy Pozzi has clocked 7.59 this season, a little off his personal best of 7.43, but his performance in the last Indoor Tour Gold meeting before the Belgrade 2022 event, at Madrid on 2 March, boded ill as he scraped through his heat after clocking 7.73 but did not start the final.
In his absence his British teammate Dave King had an outstanding night, finishing third in a personal best of 7.57 that bodes well for him.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's 60m hurdles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Holloway and Martinot-Lagarde in Belgrade hurdles head-to-head

Before last year, the Netherlands had never contested the women&rsquo;s 4x400m in any top-level international indoor competition.
But at the European Indoor Championships in Torun, a strong Dutch quartet not only won gold but also broke the championship record with 3:27.15.
Three of the women from that team &ndash; Femke Bol, Lieke Klaver and Lisanne de Witte &ndash; will once again represent the Netherlands at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22. Eveline Saalberg adds further quality, and the team as a whole seems even stronger than it was last year. Indeed, based on the combined total of season&rsquo;s bests, the Netherlands will be the team to beat &ndash; especially with an athlete like Bol on the anchor leg.
But Poland has a pretty formidable record when it comes to relays. They&rsquo;re the world and Olympic silver medallists outdoors, gold medallists at the past two editions of the European Indoors, and silver medallists at the 2016 and 2018 World Indoors. Three of the women who carried Poland to Olympic silver last year &ndash; Justyna Swiety-Ersetic, Natalia Kaczmarek and Iga Baumgart-Witan &ndash; are named on the squad for Belgrade.
Jamaica&rsquo;s relay tradition is just as strong as Poland&rsquo;s, if not stronger. Their squad for Belgrade isn&rsquo;t quite as strong as their teams for recent outdoor championships, but they have the likes of Stephenie Ann McPherson &ndash; a sub-50-second 400m runner &ndash; and Roneisha McGregor on their roster, so have all the tools required to cope with the fast and furious nature of the indoor 4x400m.
The USA has won this title for the past three editions of the World Indoors. Lynna Irby, who featured on the USA&rsquo;s Olympic gold-medal-winning squad, and three-time world 4x400m champion Jessica Beard will do their best to maintain the US ownership of this title.
Great Britain, winners of this title in 2012, should also be in medal contention. 800m specialist Keely Hodgkinson features on their team, following her indoor 400m PB of 52.42, but she&rsquo;ll also have rounds of her own individual event to contend with.
Other teams entered include Canada, Belgium, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia. Any one of those could reach the final; because in a relay &ndash; especially indoors &ndash; anything can happen.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the women's 4x400m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Netherlands, Poland and Jamaica seek to dethrone USA in 4x400m in Belgrade

The United States have racked up 10 victories in all, including six in the last seven championships. They do not line up at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 as defending champions, however, having been eclipsed by an inspired Polish quartet in Birmingham four years ago.
On that occasion, Jakub Krzewina overhauled Vernon Norwood with a 45.00 anchor leg that brought Poland home in a world record 3:01.77. This time round, the defending champions have an entirely different squad, while the United States have reigning world outdoor 800m champion Donavan Brazier and 48.80 400m hurdler Trevor Bassitt in their squad.
On 2022 times, Bassitt is seventh fastest in the US this year but second on the entry list for the individual 400m with the 45.75 that won him the US title. Liemarvin Bonevacia is the fastest individual entrant on form, with 45.48, and the Olympic 400m finalist is part of a strong Netherlands squad aiming for gold after taking silver behind the US in Tokyo.
The Dutch have three-quarters of their Olympic quartet in Bonevacia, Tony van Diepen and Terrence Agard and will fancy their chances of keeping the title in Europe.
So will their neighbours Belgium, who boast all four members of the team that finished fourth in the Olympic final: Borlee brothers Kevin and Dylan, Alexander Doom and Jonathan Sacoor. They also have a third Borlee, Jonathan.
Spain could also figure in the medal shake up, with Manuel Guijarro, Bruno Hortelano-Roig (both 46.02) and Bernat Erta (46.23) all among the top 12 in the individual entry.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's 4x400m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

USA, Poland and Netherlands in competitive 4x400m in Belgrade

In the absence of Athing Mu, the fellow teen sensation who beat her to Olympic gold in Tokyo seven months ago, Keely Hodgkinson will start as the woman to beat over four laps of the Stark Arena &ndash; or the young woman to beat, rather.
The burgeoning Briton turned 20 on 3 March, also the 20th anniversary of the 1:55.82 world indoor record Slovenia&rsquo;s Jolanda Ceplak set in her duel with Stephanie Graf at the 2002 European Indoor Championships in Vienna.
Hodgkinson arrives in Belgrade with not just the world&rsquo;s fastest time in 2022 but the fastest since that day in 2002, when Jenny Meadows (one half-of Hodgkinson&rsquo;s husband-and-wife coaching team, together with Trevor Painter) sat watching agog in the stands after exiting in the 800m heats on her senior championship debut.
At the Muller Indoor Grand Prix World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event in Birmingham on 19 February, Hodgkinson destroyed a world-class field with a stunning victory in 1:57.20, breaking Jemma Reekie&rsquo;s British indoor record and moving to sixth on the world indoor all-time list.
The 2021 Diamond League winner&rsquo;s only other indoor race this year has been a 52.42 400m PB as runner up to Jessie Knight at the British Indoor Championships, suggesting that she has the wherewithal to go one better than Meadows, the silver medallist in 2010, and become the first British winner of the world indoor women&rsquo;s 800m title.
The impressive field, however, is not short of potential contenders. It includes eight of the 10 fastest women in 2022 and, notably, all four who have cracked two minutes since the turn of the year: Hodgkinson, Jamaican Natoya Goule, Uganda&rsquo;s world champion Halimah Nakaayi and Australia&rsquo;s Catriona Bisset (1:59.46).
Goule, eighth in the Olympic final in Tokyo, clocked a national record of 1:58.46 in Lievin ahead of Nakaayi&rsquo;s 1:58.58 Ugandan record, but was a well-beaten third in Birmingham behind Hodgkinson and Bissett, who set an Australian record 1:59.46 on her indoor debut. The Jamaican did, however, boast a 4-2 record outdoors over the emerging Brit in 2021, finishing behind her in Tokyo and in the Diamond League final.
Nobody will be fuelled with greater motivation than Ajee Wilson. The US runner took silver in Portland in 2016 and again in Birmingham in 2018. She failed to make the cut for the Olympic final in Tokyo, bowing out at the semi-final stage. Her best this year is only 2:01.38 but she has won all four of her 800m races and has also clocked a brisk 1:25.29 for 600m
Ethiopia&rsquo;s Habitam Alemu is also a pedigree performer, having placed fourth in Birmingham in 2018 and sixth in the Olympic final last year. She has yet to race 800m indoors in 2022 but was fourth over 1500m in Torun in 4:02.52.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the women's 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

World 800m leader Hodgkinson aims to become world indoor champion in Belgrade

There are few, if any, events less predictable than the men&rsquo;s 800m right now, and that&rsquo;s exemplified by the lack of a clear favourite in the four-lap event at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
For the first time since 2017, the indoor season has (almost) passed by without any athlete breaking 1:45, though there are seven men in the field in Belgrade who have broken 1:46 this year. Any one of them, in addition to a cluster of others, could walk away with gold.
Perhaps the best place to start in search of a potential champion is with Britain&rsquo;s Elliot Giles, who took victory on the World Athletics Indoor Tour after winning in Madrid earlier this month in 1:45.43. Giles is the only athlete in the field to have run below 1:44 indoors, but despite his obvious class he has yet to win a global medal, finishing fourth at the last edition of this championships in 2018.
&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m strong and if I get to the final, I know I can hold my position,&rdquo; he said after that race in Madrid, where he edged Mariano Garcia to victory. 24-year-old Spaniard Garcia is another who&rsquo;s sure to be in contention again in Belgrade.
He&rsquo;s the quickest in the field this year with the 1:45.12 national record he ran to win on Staten Island, USA, last month, though he was beaten at the Spanish Championships by Alvaro de Arriba, an astute indoor racer who will look to add the world indoor title to the European indoor gold he won in 2019.
Kenya won gold and silver in the men&rsquo;s 800m at the Tokyo Olympics but with neither athlete present in Belgrade, their hopes rest on Collins Kipruto and Noah Kibet. Kipruto is the quicker of them this year, clocking 1:45.39 to defeat Giles in Birmingham, but Kibet scored a big win in Lievin last month and could also be dangerous.
The US could also have two medal contenders if their duo successfully navigates Friday&rsquo;s heats, which is notoriously no easy task. Bryce Hoppel looks the strongest of them, the 2019 indoor and outdoor NCAA champion &ndash; who was fourth in the world final in 2019 &ndash; ultra impressive when winning the US indoor title in 1:45.30 last month. Runner-up there was Isaiah Harris, who booked his place in Belgrade with a season&rsquo;s best of 1:46.30.
Sweden&rsquo;s Andreas Kramer has turned in strong runs on the circuit this season, most notably his runner-up finish in Torun in 1:45.71, while Eliott Crestan set a Belgian indoor record recently with 1:46.11 to win his national title and he could also feature.
Morocco&rsquo;s Mostafa Smaili has made the past two world indoor finals and he could make it a triple here, while Canada&rsquo;s Marco Arop, Ireland&rsquo;s Mark English, and Tony van Diepen of the Netherlands are all dangerous on their day, as is Bosnia and Herzogovina&rsquo;s Amel Tuka, who was well below his best when clocking 1:47.68 in Torun last month.
Algeria&rsquo;s Djamel Sejati could also feature, having won all three races he&rsquo;s contested this year, most recently with an indoor PB of 1:46.28 in Sabadell, Spain.
With the field set to be reduced to just six on Friday evening, there&rsquo;s every chance that potential champions will fall at the first hurdle, which will make the heats as riveting as the final itself. Once that final six is set, it&rsquo;s just about anyone&rsquo;s guess who goes home with gold.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Men's 800m looks to be wide open in Belgrade

The past six winners of the women&rsquo;s world indoor 1500m title have all either been Ethiopian or Ethiopian-born: Genzebe Dibaba (2018 and 2012), naturalised Netherlander Sifan Hissan (2016) and Swede Abeba Aregawi (2014), Kalkidan Gezahegne (2010) and Gelete Burka (2008). The sequence is unlikely to be broken in Belgrade.
In physical terms, Gudaf Tsegay might be only 1.63m (5ft 4in) tall but metaphorically the 25-year-old stands head and shoulders above the rest of the 22-strong entry list. In February last year she relieved Dibaba of the world indoor record with her sensational 3:53.09 run in Lievin and, 13 months on, the form book suggests that the clear world leader will succeed her compatriot as world indoor champion.
Tsegay ran a scorching 3:54.77 in Torun on 22 February, the second fastest in history, and 3:57.38 in Madrid on 2 March. Nobody else has cracked four minutes indoors in 2022. The next quickest is also Ethiopian. Axumawit Embaye, who won in Karlsruhe in 4:02.12, finished second to Aregawi in Sopot in 2014 and fourth in Portland in 2016 &ndash; behind Hassan and Ethiopian team-mates Dawit Seyaum and Tsegay.
Tsegay has won all nine races she has contested at all distances in the past three indoor seasons. Her last indoor defeat dates back to 8 February 2019, when she finished fourth over 3000m in Madrid.
She has not lost a 1500m race indoors or outdoors since the 2019 World Championships final in Doha, when she finished third behind Hassan and Kenya&rsquo;s Faith Kipyegon. Her last indoor defeat at the distance was on 10 February 2018, when she placed third at the World Indoor Tour event in Boston.
Even when she fell on the opening lap of the mile race at this year&rsquo;s Lievin meeting in February, she picked herself up, resisted a mid-race challenge from Embaye, and&nbsp; proceeded to win comfortably in 4:21.72, breaking the 20-year-old meeting record.
Tsegay is on a run of three global bronzes, having finished third in the 2016 world indoor 1500m final, the 2019 world outdoor final in Doha and in the 5000m final at the Tokyo Olympics last year. Barring unforeseen disaster, the 2014 world U20 silver medallist&rsquo;s long pursuit of a Midas touch seems destined to finally meet with a golden global success in Belgrade.
Heather Maclean could be a danger in a tactical affair, having gone from fifth to first with a 29.71-second last lap at the US Indoor Championships. Josette Norris, who finished second in that race, has also displayed great form this year. 
Other potential podium placers include Ethiopia&rsquo;s 2019 African Games 800m champion Hirut Meshesha, who was second in Karlsruhe in 4:02.22, and Uganda&rsquo;s Winnie Nanyondo. Fourth in the 800m at the 2019 World Championships, Nanyondo improved her Ugandan indoor 1500m record to 4:03.54 in Torun.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the women's 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

1500m favourite Tsegay sets sights on first global title in Belgrade

Two global champions are on a collision course in the men&rsquo;s 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, with Olympic gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway looking to depose Ethiopia&rsquo;s Samuel Tefera as the world indoor champion.
Based on their recent clash in Lievin, where Ingebrigtsen broke Tefera&rsquo;s world indoor 1500m record, clocking 3:30.60, the pressure and expectation will rest with the 21-year-old Norwegian. That Lievin race was Ingebrigtsen&rsquo;s sole outing of the indoor season, and he looked majestic as he bounded away from Tefera over the final 300 metres after the pacemaker stepped aside.
A championship final, of course, will present a very different challenge, but Ingebrigtsen showed in Tokyo and at last year&rsquo;s European Indoor Championships that he has the tactical nous to go with his physical gifts. With his long-time rival Timothy Cheruiyot bypassing the indoor season, he will likely have to do his own pace-making if he wants a fast final, the kind of race in which he has become nigh-on unbeatable.
Tefera, however, will not go down without a considerable fight, and the 22-year-old Ethiopian gave Ingebrigtsen a much better race in Lievin than the three-second margin of victory suggested.
Perhaps Ingebrigtsen&rsquo;s biggest challenger, though, will be Kenya&rsquo;s Abel Kipsang. He finished fourth in the Olympic final last year and showed impressive indoor credentials when taking victory in Birmingham last month in 3:34.57. A recent 1:45.84 clocking for 800m outdoors in Nairobi signals he&rsquo;s got the speed to be a threat here.
The British challenge will be led by Neil Gourley, who clocked 3:35.32 in Boston last month and who was runner-up in a slow 1500m final at the British Indoor Championships. He will be joined by George Mills, who impressed in Birmingham last month when clocking a PB of 3:36.03 against a world-class field.
Another athlete keen to see a fast final will be Oliver Hoare, the Australian who clocked a 3:50.83 mile to win at the Millrose Games in New York in January. In that race he powered away from Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr, showing the kind of closing speed and strength that will make him dangerous, particularly in a fast race.
Spain&rsquo;s Ignacio Fontes, like Hoare, was an Olympic finalist last year and he booked his place here with a runner-up finish behind Adel Mechaal at the Spanish Indoor Championships, with Mechaal later electing to focus on the 3000m in Belgrade.
Germany&rsquo;s Robert Farken is another who&rsquo;ll have high expectations after the 24-year-old lowered his PB to 3:35.44 in Birmingham last month, while Ethiopia&rsquo;s Teddese Lemi clocked an indoor PB of 3:35.84 last month and has 1:44 800m speed &ndash; which should prove useful in this realm.
Ireland&rsquo;s Andrew Coscoran will be hoping to reproduce the form that saw him take victory in Staten Island last month with a 3:53.64 mile, where he was followed in third place by compatriot Luke McCann, who will join him in Belgrade.
The US charge will be led by Josh Thompson and Sam Prakel, who finished second and fourth respectively at their national championships.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's 1500m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Global 1500m champions Ingebrigtsen and Tefera ready to clash in Belgrade

Ethiopia has enjoyed astonishing dominance in this event over the past two decades, winning eight of the past nine women&rsquo;s 3000m titles at the World Athletics Indoor Championships. In Belgrade, they look poised to continue that success through the formidable trio of Dawit Seyaum, Ejgayehu Taye and Lemlem Hailu, though they'll have to defeat a trio of strong North American challengers to do so.
Hailu secured her wild card spot by taking 3000m victory on last year&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Tour, while Seyaum and Taye ensured selection by going 1-2 in Lievin last month, clocking 8:23.24 and 8:26.77 respectively.
Seyaum is better known as a 1500m runner, winning world indoor silver as a teenager back in 2016, but after missing last year&rsquo;s track season she honed a strong endurance base for 2022 with a series of road races through the autumn. She looked back to her best when returning to the track last month, following her Lievin 3000m win with a 1500m victory in Birmingham in 4:04.35.
Taye was fifth in the Olympic 5000m final last year and ran an Ethiopian 3000m record of 8:19.52 weeks later, a performance that makes her a strong gold medal contender here. Hailu has raced just once this year, finishing second to Gudaf Tsegay over 1500m in Torun in 4:02.25.
Their biggest challenge could come from Canada&rsquo;s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, who produced two outstanding runs last month, winning over 3000m on Staten Island in a national record of 8:33.92 before setting a North American indoor 5000m record of 14:31.38 in Boston. She has yet to win a global championship medal, finishing fifth in the Olympic 1500m final last year and sixth in the world 1500m final in 2019, but this looks a great opportunity to do so.
The US challenge will be led by Elinor Purrier St Pierre, who defeated Alicia Monson to take the US indoor title last month in 8:41.53. Monson was highly impressive at the Millrose Games back in January, running a PB of 8:31.62 to win, while Purrier&rsquo;s ability at shorter distances &ndash; she&rsquo;s run sub-two for 800m and sub-four for 1500m &ndash; should be put to good use in Belgrade.
Kenya&rsquo;s hopes will rest on Beatrice Chebet and Edinah Jebitok. Chebet raced four times over cross country at the start of the year with just one outing on the track &ndash; a fourth-place finish in Lievin over 3000m in 8:41.92. She was an 8:27.49 performer outdoors last year so will be feared if back to her best, while Jebitok clocked a PB of 8:45.46 last month.
Australia&rsquo;s Jessica Hull was NCAA indoor champion over this distance in 2019 and she started 2022 in flying form, with a national indoor record of 8:39.79 in College Station, USA, followed by an Oceanian indoor mile record of 4:24.06 in New York.
Others who shouldn&rsquo;t be far away include British champion Amy-Eloise Markovc, the European indoor 3000m champion, who ran a PB of 8:44.15 in Staten Island last month, and Mexico&rsquo;s Laura Galvan who has run 8:42.29 this year. Canada&rsquo;s Julie-Ann Staehli clocked a PB of 8:43.55 last month and is a 4:04.82 1500m performer outdoors.
Spain&rsquo;s Marta Perez and Germany&rsquo;s Hannah Klein are better known as 1500m runners but both were impressive when winning their respective national titles at this distance last month and could be dangerous in a slower race.
Others of note include Israel&rsquo;s Selamawit Teferi, an Olympic finalist over 5000m last year, and Sweden&rsquo;s Meraf Bahta, who started the year with a national 10km record on the road of 31:22 and who recently won the Swedish indoor 3000m title in 8:55.75.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the women's 3000m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

Seyaum and Taye look to maintain Ethiopian dominance of 3000m in Belgrade

The men&rsquo;s 3000m has offered some of the most exciting racing of this indoor season so far, with top clashes demanding the spotlight at many of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meetings. The protagonists will now battle for medals at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
The season started with a bang at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe on 28 January, when Ethiopia&rsquo;s Berihu Aregawi solo ran 7:26.20 for the fifth-fastest indoor 3000m in history. For much of the race it had looked as though the 21-year-old was on track for his second world record in the space of a month, as he targeted Daniel Komen&rsquo;s 24-year-old mark of 7:24.90. In the end the record survived another day, but such was the strength of the performance that no one has come within four seconds of that world-leading time since.
Having run 12:49 to take two seconds off the world 5km record on the roads of Barcelona on New Year&rsquo;s Eve, Aregawi has more than proven his speed and now, having missed out on the 10,000m podium by one place in Tokyo, will be looking to show his major medal-winning ability.
While Karlsruhe was Aregawi&rsquo;s only race of the season so far, his compatriots Selemon Barega and Lamecha Girma have not shied away from going head-to-head. Girma, the world and Olympic steeplechase silver medallist, won in Lievin and Torun to beat Barega on both occasions but the Olympic 10,000m champion turned the tables in Madrid, pipping his rival on the line.
Girma&rsquo;s performance in Spain did secure him the overall World Indoor Tour title, however, and with it a wild card entry to the competition in Belgrade. As a result, Ethiopia has the chance to go for a sweep of the medals. Yomif Kejelcha and Barega &ndash; aged just 18 at the time &ndash; claimed the top two spots in Birmingham four years ago, but never before has a nation swept the medals in this event.
In Lievin last year, Barega was second in the race that saw his compatriot Getnet Wale miss the world record by just 0.08, as he clocked 7:26.10 himself for the third-quickest ever time, and Girma ran 7:27.98 in third. This year, however, they have been more focused on racing each other, rather than chasing those times.
Given the depth of the talent involved, the men&rsquo;s 3000m in Belgrade could prove a highly tactical affair. Of the 35 athletes entered, 11 of them have gone sub-7:40 this year. Leading the challengers for a podium place is Spain&rsquo;s Adel Mechaal, who has shown that variety is key when it comes to his own preparations. The Olympic 1500m fifth-place finisher has raced on the track, cross country and road already in 2022 and best of the lot was his European indoor 3000m record of 7:30.82 to win on Staten Island on 6 February.
Another looking to spoil Ethiopia&rsquo;s party will be Kenya&rsquo;s Jacob Krop, the 2019 world 5000m finalist who was third in both Karlsruhe and Torun, clocking 7:31.90 at the latter. He is joined by his compatriot Daniel Simiu, who won the 10K Valencia Ibercaja in January in 26:58 and clocked a 3000m PB of 7:37.86 in Metz.
The next 13 athletes on the entry list have all also run their best ever 3000m times this year and will be looking to maintain that momentum in Serbia. They include Geordie Beamish, who ran a New Zealand record of 7:39.50 after a well-judged race to win at the Millrose Games.
Australia&rsquo;s Matthew Ramsden, who ran 7:35.65 in Gateshead last summer, makes his career indoor debut, but Andreas Almgren, who improved the Swedish record to 7:34.31 in Lievin, is a late withdrawal due to a tendon injury.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

A look at the contenders in the men's 3000m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.

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