The World Athletics Doping Review Board (DRB) has agreed that the applications of six (6) Russian athletes have met the exceptional eligibility criteria to compete in international competition as neutral athletes (ANA) under eligibility rule 3.2 while the Russian national federation (RusAF) remains suspended.
In approving these six applications, the Doping Review Board noted that, according to World Athletics&rsquo; decision of 1 March 2022, all athletes, support personnel and officials from Russia were excluded from all World Athletics Series events for the foreseeable future as a consequence of Russia&rsquo;s invasion of Ukraine.
Furthermore, the Wanda Diamond League subsequently took the decision to exclude Russian athletes from competing in its meetings. In addition, the Doping Review Board understands that individual organisers of the Continental Tour are not inviting Russian athletes to their meetings.
Furthermore, in December 2022, World Athletics advised the Russian Athletics Federation that the 2022 ANA process would continue until such time as the World Athletics Council decides otherwise.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the DRB considered and approved the following applications under rule 3.2 of the eligibility rules for exceptional eligibility to compete in international competitions until the World Athletics Council Meeting in March 2023 as a Neutral Athlete, to the extent such competitions are open to athletes from Russia.
Furthermore, any athlete who was granted ANA status for the 2022 season may continue to compete until Council&rsquo;s decision.
The six athletes who have now met the exceptional eligibility criteria are:
Nikita Anishchenkov (high jump) Artem Chermoshanskiy (long jump) Maksim Pianzin (Pyanzin) (race walking) Nikita Kurbanov (high jump) Danil Chechela (long jump) Marina Kovaleva (long distance)
<h3>Requirements for ANA athletes</h3>
Further to the World Athletics Council decision on 1 December 2021 to approve amendments to the Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) programme on the recommendation of the Russian Taskforce, the Doping Review Board (DRB) reviewed and revised the process and the criteria for ANA applications.
Athletes will need to follow the procedures set out in the guidance documents and all applications must be forwarded to World Athletics through RusAF.
Applications must be submitted no later than four weeks before the entry deadline for the international competition for which eligibility is sought and the Doping Review Board may require an applicant to undergo additional testing prior to granting him or her ANA status.
<h3>2022 authorised neutral athletes who may compete until the World Athletics Council Meeting in March 2023 (73 athletes)</h3>
Announced on 22 January 2022: Dina Aleksandrova (800m, 1500m, 5000m), Svetlana Aplachkina (1500m, 3000m, 5000m), Yelizaveta Bondarenko (pole vault), Aleksandr Buyanovskiy (400m), Vera Chalaya (400m hurdles, 400m), Timofey Chalyy (400m hurdles, 400m), Alexey Fyodorov (triple jump), Ilya Ivanyuk (high jump), Polina Knoroz (pole vault), Mariya Kochanova (high jump), Aleksandr Komarov (decathlon, heptathlon), Kseniya Labygina (60m hurdles), Mariya Lasitskene (high jump), Artyom Makarenko (combined events, 60m hurdles, 110m hurdles), Polina Miller (400m), Vasiliy Mizinov (race walking), Valeriy Pronkin (hammer), Anzhelika Sidorova (pole vault), Oleg Spiridonov (60m hurdles, 110m hurdles), Natalya Spiridonova (long jump, high jump), Yaroslav Tkalich (sprints, 400m or less), Anna Tropina (3000m steeplechase, 1500m, 5000m, cross country).
Announced on 17 February 2022: Veronika Arkhipova (400m or less), Rinas Akhmadeyev (3000m, 5000m, 10,000m, half marathon), Semen Borodayev (shot put, discus), Iurii (Yuri) Chechun (marathon), Elvira Chepareva (Khasanova) (race walk), Aksana Gataullina (pole vault), Darya Golubechkova (race walk), Dmitriy Gramachkov (race walk), Konstantin Kholmogorov (800m), Stepan Kiselev (marathon), Kristina Koroleva (high jump), Mikhail Kulkov (marathon), Aleksandr Lesnoy (shot put), Denis Lukyanov (hammer), Alena Lutkovskaia (pole vault), Alena Lysenko (hammer), Kristina Makarenko, n&eacute;e Sivkova (50m, 100m, 200m), Timur Morgunov (pole vault), Olga Mullina (pole vault), Sofiya Palkina (hammer), Yekaterina Petrova (5000m race walk, 10,000m race walk), Mariya Privalova (triple jump, long jump), Andrey Romanov (hammer), Yelena Sborets (race walk), Nadezhda Sergeeva (race walk), Konstantin Shabanov (60m hurdles, 110m hurdles), Fedor Shutov (marathon, half marathon), Kirill Shutov (race walk), Yelena Sokolova (long jump), Snezhana Trofimets (shot put), Yuliya Turova (race walk), Matvey Tychinkin (high jump), Viktoriya Vaseykina (heptathlon, pentathlon)
Announced on 8 July 2022: Irina Baulina (400m, 400m hurdles), Arseniy Elfimov (combined events), Maksim Fediaev (200m, 400m), Ekaterina Fediaeva (200m, 400m), Dmitrii Kachanov (pole vault), Stepan Kekin (combined events), Evgenii Kunc (1500m, 5000m) , Natalya Leontyeva (5000m,, 10,000m, half marathon, cross country), Liliia Mendaeva (1500m, 3000m, 5000m), Anna Minullina (3000m), Ildar Nadyrov (steeplechase, cross country), Olga Onufrienko (800m, 1500m), Daria Osipova (sprints, hurdles, relays &ndash; U20 only), Viktor Pintusov (pole vault), Valeria Putilina (javelin), Iuliia Sokhatskaia (combined events, long jump), Elizaveta Tsareva (hammer), Anna Vikulova (10,000m, half marathon, marathon)

Athletes, officials and support personnel from Russia remain excluded from World Athletics Series events

World Athletics approves the applications of six Russians to compete as neutral athletes

France's Yann Schrub and Kenya's Nancy Chepleting were victorious at the Gran Premio C&aacute;ceres Campo a Traves &ndash; the last Spanish leg in this season's World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold series &ndash; on a sunny day in Calzadilla on Sunday (5).
The men&rsquo;s 10km race opened at a moderate rhythm with Kenya&rsquo;s Peter Kiriuki doing most of the early pacing duties, closely followed by Belgium&rsquo;s European cross-country bronze medallist Isaac Kimeli and Spain&rsquo;s Abdessamad Oukhelfen, while Schrub positioned himself in the middle of the 12-man lead group.
Before the fourth kilometre, the leading pack had been whittled down to seven men: Kiriuki, Kimeli, Oukhelfen, Schrub, his compatriot Valentin Gondouin, Uruguay&rsquo;s Santiago Catrofe and Spain&rsquo;s Fernando Carro. After successive laps covered in the 4:12/4:15 range, first Kimeli and then Catrofe took command of the race, but their leads were short-lived as Schrub moved to the front with determination with 18 minutes on the clock, leaving behind Gondouin, Carro and Kiriuki in a matter of few hundred metres.
Schrub&rsquo;s antepenultimate loop was covered in a quicker 4:09 to force his pursuers &ndash; Kimeli, Oukhelfen and Catrofe &ndash; to run in single file behind him. After a brisk 4:06 lap, the European 10,000m bronze medallist reached the bell before Kimeli made a surge and joined Schrub, the pair opening a sizeable margin on Oukhelfen and Catrofe. The showdown between Kimeli and Schrub only lasted about 300 metres as Schrub found another gear to break away with incredible ease from the Belgian who later began to falter and was caught by Catrofe.
Schrub crossed the finish line in 27:43 to Catrofe&rsquo;s 27:49, the Uruguayan another six seconds faster than Kimeli who had to hold off the pressure of Oukhelfen.
<h2>Chepleting prevails over Bakken</h2>
Right from the start of the women's 10km contest, Chepleting was joined by Dutch duo Veerle Bakken and Silke Jonkman. Spain&rsquo;s Laura Luengo hesitated to join the heading trio but finally opted to run alone a few metres behind. The leading trio covered the first 1.5km lap in 4:50 and shortly afterwards the 21-year-old Kenyan stepped up her cadence to leave behind Bakken and Jonkman.
After a 4:48 lap, Chepleting led by three seconds while Jonkman pushed hard and managed to break away from Bakken, who began to be threatened by Luengo at halfway.
Chepleting maintained her pace over the following few laps and built a five-second advantage on Jonkman, herself three seconds clear of Bakken and seven ahead of Luengo who was passionately cheered for the home crowd.
The respective gaps between the first four increased with Chepleting building up a comfortable 10-second margin on Bakken who had bounced back and overtaken her Dutch compatriot while Luengo remained in fourth.
Chepleting kept Bakken at bay on the closing laps, while Luengo began to close on Jonkman. Chepleting held on to win in 32:41, six seconds ahead of Bakken. Luengo overtook Jonkman to claim the third spot on the podium.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite satisfied with my Spanish tour over the last four weeks,&rdquo; said Chepleting. &ldquo;I have set two PBs (in the 10km and half marathon) and managed two victories.&rdquo;
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics
<h3>Leading results</h3>
Women (10km) 1 Nancy Chepleting (KEN) 32:41 2 Veerle Bakken (NED) 32:47 3 Laura Luengo (ESP) 32:53 4 Silke Jonkman (NED) 33:11 5 Edymar Brea (VEN) 33:24 6 Katherine Tisalema (ECU) 34:24 7 Blanca Fernandez (ESP) 34:47 8 Almi Nerurkar (GBR) 34:57 9 Clara Vinaras (ESP) 35:13 10 Diana Mart&iacute;n (ESP) 35:23
Men (10km) 1 Yann Schrub (FRA) 27:43 2 Santiago Catrofe (URU) 27:49 3 Isaac Kimeli (BEL) 27:55 4 Abdessamad Oukhelfen (ESP) 27:57 5 Peter Kiriuki (KEN) 28:08 6 Fernando Carro (ESP) 28:18 7 Valentin Gondouin (FRA) 28:32 8 Houssame Benabbou (ESP) 28:55 9 David Bascu&ntilde;ana (ESP) 28:57 10 Lahcen Ait Alibou (ESP) 29:07

France's Yann Schrub and Kenya's Nancy Chepleting were comfortable winners at the Gran Premio Cáceres Campo a Traves

Schrub and Chepleting reign in Calzadilla

Noah Lyles and Aleia Hobbs stormed to 60m success, Femke Bol made a statement with a world 500m best and Grant Holloway maintained a remarkable 60m hurdles win streak at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, this season&rsquo;s second World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting, in Boston on Saturday (4).
But it wasn&rsquo;t just the sprint events that thrilled the sell-out crowd as the meeting made its debut at the TRACK at New Balance in Brighton, Massachusetts. Local star Heather MacLean and Neil Gourley gained last-gasp wins in the mile, while Woody Kincaid used his trademark kick to surge to 3000m triumph and Mariano Garcia became a back-to-back winner in the 800m.
The men&rsquo;s 60m was billed as a head-to-head between Lyles and 2016 world indoor champion Trayvon Bromell and so it proved, two-time world 200m champion Lyles holding off his US compatriot by just 0.002 with a performance that got him the PB he had been craving.
In a photo finish to separate their 6.51 runs, Lyles clocked 6.507 and Bromell 6.509 and once the result was confirmed on the scoreboard, Lyles did another sprint the wrong way down the track in celebration.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been waiting on this PR for a long time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now I&rsquo;ve got a PR that is that close to 6.40, next meet I feel like I can definitely get below that."
Lyles had been 0.01 off his PB of 6.55 when winning his heat, while Bromell took the second heat in 6.61. Behind them in the final was Ghana&rsquo;s Benjamin Azamati in 6.62.
Hobbs used a strong start and an even stronger finish to prevail in the women&rsquo;s 60m. Having begun her season with a world-leading 6.98 in Fayetteville, the US 26-year-old carried that form to Boston, breaking the meeting record with a 7.02 run &ndash; the second-fastest 60m performance of her career so far and a time that only 19 other athletes have ever eclipsed.
Hobbs held off her training partner Mikiah Brisco, the world indoor silver medallist, to triumph by 0.08 as Celera Barnes completed a US top three, clocking 7.21.
&ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t feel fast but my as coach said, if it feels easy then that&rsquo;s when you know you&rsquo;re running fast,&rdquo; said Hobbs, who moved to joint ninth on the world all-time list with her 6.98 run. &ldquo;We had different blocks here, so I was a little nervous about that, but I was able to make it work.&rdquo;
In her first ever 60m race, world 400m hurdles record-holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone clocked 7.33 to finish fifth in the first heat and miss out on the final by 0.01. World 200m champion Shericka Jackson was also testing her speed in Boston and ran 7.34, finishing fifth in her own heat. Hobbs and Brisco eased to respective first-round wins of 7.08 and 7.15.
In the women's 500m, Bol started her season with a bang and broke the 17-year-old world indoor best with a dominant 1:05.63 run.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63df0d669318faa3bf4ba6e4.jpg" alt="Femke Bol in 500m action in Boston" />
Femke Bol in 500m action in Boston (&copy; Dan Vernon)
</div>
In the pre-event press conference, the Olympic and world 400m hurdles medallist had given a smile and a simple &ldquo;yes&rdquo; in reply when asked if she knew the splits she would need to hit in order to launch herself to the top of the all-time list. And on Saturday she ticked them off in controlled fashion before storming over the finish line to take 0.68 off the previous best of 1:06.31 set in January 2006. Behind her, Jamaica&rsquo;s Leah Anderson claimed the runner-up spot in 1:08.34.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just super happy to have it worked out like this,&rdquo; said Bol after racing over the distance for the first time. &ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m not planning to go further than 500m. Now I&rsquo;m moving to some 400s before I do the European Indoor Championships.&rdquo;
The other non-championship event was won by Olympic 200m bronze medallist Gabby Thomas, who clocked 36.31 in the 300m to claim her fifth consecutive win at the meeting. Poland&rsquo;s Anna Kielbasinska was second in 36.41.
The men&rsquo;s 400m was almost as close as the 60m, USA&rsquo;s Noah Williams finding space on the inside to edge past Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s world indoor champion Jereem Richards and take the win by four thousandths of a second, both athletes recording 45.88.
But there was no question as to the winner in the men&rsquo;s 60m hurdles, world record-holder Holloway further extending an indoor sprint hurdles win streak that started in 2014, when he was 16 years old.
The world indoor champion and two-time world 110m hurdles gold medallist started his campaign with a 7.39 heat win before going 0.01 faster to win the final. He has now dipped under 7.40 in a total of 16 races so far in his career.
In a US top three, Daniel Roberts was second in 7.46 after a 7.52 heat win and Freddie Crittenden was third in 7.55.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fLqKHkzXAgk" width="100%" height="475" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
&ldquo;It felt good,&rdquo; said Holloway. &ldquo;A couple of technical errors that I could clean up but you know, it was my second race of the season, so I&rsquo;m excited to see what happens in two weeks and then in four. It&rsquo;s a new year, so the record is 0-0 and the main goal is to get to Budapest (for the World Championships).&rdquo;
Another global medallist won the women&rsquo;s 60m hurdles, Bahamas&rsquo; world indoor silver medallist Devynne Charlton striding ahead to triumph in 7.87 ahead of USA&rsquo;s Sharika Nelvis in 7.93 and Australia&rsquo;s Celeste Mucci in a 7.95 PB.
<h2>Mile magic for MacLean and Gourley</h2>
MacLean and Gourley were not willing to give up in the mile races and it paid off as they claimed respective PB wins of 4:23.42 and 3:52.84. On her home track, USA&rsquo;s NACAC 1500m champion MacLean battled with Canada&rsquo;s Lucia Stafford, who the weekend before had broken the area 1000m record in Boston. MacLean led through half way in 2:11.59 and while Stafford attacked on the final bend her rival had enough left to fight back and pip her on the line. Esther Guerrero set a Spanish record of 4:24.92 to finish third.
&ldquo;I decided to take the initiative, which if you know me as a racer, I haven&rsquo;t been known to do in the past,&rdquo; said MacLean, whose performance broke the meeting record set by Stafford's older sister, Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, in 2019. &ldquo;I was happy to have the extra little push to get to the finish line.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63df0da49318faa3bf4ba6e7.jpg" alt="Heather MacLean leads the women's mile in Boston" />
Heather MacLean leads the women's mile in Boston (&copy; Dan Vernon)
</div>
Gourley also had a powerful finish in a men&rsquo;s mile race that came down to a home straight sprint. Fiercely chasing New Zealand&rsquo;s Sam Tanner, they were both rewarded with PBs and were separated by just 0.01. USA&rsquo;s Sam Prakel was third in 3:53.58.
Kincaid was another athlete to show a strong finishing kick, but he used his from much further out in the men&rsquo;s 3000m. Taking the lead at the bell, the 30-year-old &ndash; who ran 12:51.61 for 5000m last week to break the North American indoor record &ndash; again finished like a train and a 25.79 last lap carried him to a 7:40.71 PB for an almost two-second victory ahead of his compatriot Christian Noble (7:42.55). The top eight all ran PBs while the first six finished under 7:44.
World and Olympic 1500m medallist Laura Muir was making her US indoor race debut in Boston and started with a win, clocking 8:40.34 to lead a British top four in the women&rsquo;s 3000m. Following the pacemaker through 1000m in 2:51.09, Muir and Melissa Courtney-Bryant were more than five seconds ahead of the chase group, led by Ireland&rsquo;s Ciara Mageean, an advantage they had taken to around 15 seconds by 2000m. Mageean later pulled up and the chase group closed on the leading duo but Muir still held on for victory, with Courtney-Bryant second in 8:41.09, Katie Snowden third in a PB of 8:47.41 and Hannah Nuttall fourth in a PB of 8:47.72.
Garcia ran a Spanish indoor record of 1:45.12 to win the 800m at this meeting last year. Returning as the world indoor champion, he repeated the feat and came close to that mark with 1:45.26 to hold off USA&rsquo;s Isaiah Jewett in a 1:45.75 PB. Ireland&rsquo;s Mark English was third in 1:46.57 and USA&rsquo;s world indoor bronze medallist Bryce Hoppel a further 0.01 back in fourth.
USA&rsquo;s Ajee Wilson was another athlete to extend their win streak, hers dating back to March 2018. Running 2:00.45, the world indoor champion's well-judged race saw her move past her compatriot Kaela Edwards in the closing stages, Edwards being rewarded with a 2:01.09 PB for the runner-up spot.
There was a significant personal best performance for Bridget Williams in the women&rsquo;s pole vault as the 26-year old added six centimetres to her previous best when clearing 4.77m to beat a field featuring two Olympic gold medallists in Katie Moon and Katerina Stefanidi. It was Williams&rsquo; US compatriot Gabriela Leon who claimed the runner-up spot with an indoor PB of 4.55m, while Stefanidi was third and Moon fourth.
Encouraging the crowd to show their support in the first event of the meeting, India&rsquo;s Commonwealth bronze medallist Tejaswin Shankar was cheered to a faultless performance up to his winning height of 2.26m in the men&rsquo;s high jump.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63df0def9318faa3bf4ba6ea.jpg" alt="Tejaswin Shankar celebrates his high jump win in Boston" />
Tejaswin Shankar celebrates his high jump win in Boston (&copy; Dan Vernon)
</div>
In his first competition out of college, the 24-year-old, who won his second NCAA title for Kansas State last year, cleared 2.14m, 2.19m, 2.23m and 2.26m on his first attempts before taking three attempts at a would-be PB of 2.30m.
Bahamas&rsquo; 2007 world champion Donald Thomas was second with 2.23m.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Top performances across the board at this season’s second World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting

Lyles and Hobbs star in 60m showdowns, Bol breaks world best in Boston

Faith Kipyegon delighted fans with a dominant women&rsquo;s race win, while Charles Lokir triumphed to take the men&rsquo;s title at the Sirikwa Cross Country Classic &ndash; a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold event &ndash; at the Lobo village in Eldoret on Saturday (4).
The high altitude, hot weather and gusts of wind, which provided a bit of relief from the heat but raised some dust and resistance, meant conditions were challenging, leading to some interesting races.
In the women&rsquo;s 10km event, Kipyegon put on a spectacular show of great form and strength after she overtook Jackline Chepkoech, who had taken an early lead, and continued to create a gap at the front.
With one lap to go, Kipyegon was around 400m ahead of the rest of the field and the multiple world and Olympic 1500m champion raced to the sound of loud cheering along the course, as fans celebrated their golden girl displaying a great run on home soil.
Kipyegon, who said during the pre-race press conference that she wasn&rsquo;t under any pressure to win given the other strong women in the field, was more than a minute ahead of her rivals as she crossed the finish line in 33:50.
Chepkoech, the 2021 world U20 steeplechase gold medallist and 2022 Commonwealth Games champion, managed to maintain her second-place position throughout the race to finish in 34:52.
Zenah Jemutai Yego, the 2021 world U20 3000m silver medallist, finished third in 35:08.
The win for Kipyegon is confirmation that she has found the endurance she had been working on ahead of the track season, and that everything is going well in training.
&ldquo;I am glad to be back,&rdquo; she said. Asked in the pre-event press conference about her plans to go for the world 1500m record this year, she replied: &ldquo;We shall go to the drawing board with my coach and see how we go towards the world record.&rdquo;
The senior men&rsquo;s 10km race, on the other hand, seemed to usher in a new crop of relatively new middle and long distance runners.
After exchanging the lead with a small group of contenders in the second half of the race, Lokir surprised his competitors with&nbsp;a well-calculated move&nbsp;on the last hill. Sprinting past, he rapidly grew a gap without looking back until he crossed the finish line in 30:14.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63de8e955314494fd8ccfd55.jpg" alt="Charles Lokir celebrates his win at the Sirikwa Cross Country Classic" />
Charles Lokir celebrates his win at the Sirikwa Cross Country Classic (&copy; Organisers)
</div>
Josephat Kiprotich followed him to take second place in 30:19, while Dennis Kipngetich, who had finished second at the national championships, was this time one place back and finished third in 30:21.
The reigning national champion and newly crowned Sirikwa Classic champion now focuses on the 10,000m, an event in which he hopes to qualify to represent Kenya at the World Championships in Budapest later this year.
The winner of the men&rsquo;s U20 8km was also a newly crowned national champion.
Just like he did at the national championships, Samuel Kibathi Wanjiru comfortably won in an almost repeat performance of that race two weeks ago. Running alone in the final stages, he crossed the finish line in 24:20, 20 seconds ahead of Kelvin Kiprop. Gideon Kipngetich was a further five seconds back.
Lucy Nduta won the women&rsquo;s U20 race after sprinting ahead of Maurine Jepkoech in the last 500m of the race, as the latter tried vainly to keep up with her. The two had been running shoulder to shoulder ahead of the rest over the last lap of the 2km loop. Nduta eventually finished in 21:13, just one second ahead of Jepkoech. Debora Jemutai finished third in 21:41.
In another successful event, thousands of local fans turned up to watch current stars in action and meet some legendary runners. They were also able to learn about the cultural heritage of the region, where men and women dressed in traditional attire showed off instruments used in the past, and shared dances and music.
Justin Lagat for World Athletics

Faith Kipyegon delighted fans with a dominant women’s race win, while Charles Lokir triumphed to take the men’s title at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold event

Kipyegon and Lokir secure success at Sirikwa Cross Country Classic

The&nbsp;Gran Premio Caceres Campo a Traves,&nbsp;the penultimate Gold leg of this season's World Athletics Cross Country Tour, again brings together solid fields. 
Interesting races are on the cards in the Spanish village of Calzadilla on Sunday (5), just under two weeks before this year's cross country campaign reaches its pinnacle with the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23.
<h2>Schrub-Kimeli showdown</h2>
The 10,000m men&rsquo;s race is billed as a rematch of the event held in Hannut a fortnight ago, when France&rsquo;s reigning European 10,000m bronze medallist Yann Schrub defeated local star Isaac Kimeli by 19 seconds. The 28-year-old Belgian had claimed bronze at the Euopean Cross Country Championships six weeks earlier when Schrub had to settle for seventh, so Sunday&rsquo;s clash promises to be fierce in the hunt for the win. 
A third top 10 man from Venaria Reale will be in contention, Spain&rsquo;s Abdessamad Oukhelfen surely eager to bounce back from his below-par performance at the national championships held last weekend in Ortuella where he was 15th in gruelling wet and muddy conditions. There Oukhelfen, who will compete in Bathurst, was beaten by athletes including the 3000m steeplachase national record-holder (8:05.69) Fernando Carro, also on show in Calzadilla. 
Watch out too for France&rsquo;s European U23 10,000m bronze medallist Valentin Gondouin, who placed 20th in Venaria Reale, and Uruguay&rsquo;s Spain-based Santiago Catrofe, a 1500m 3:35.82 athlete, as both should also be in the fight for a top-five berth. 
They will be joined by Kenya&rsquo;s Peter Kariuki Wanjiru, fresh from a 1:04:23 runner-up place in the Santa Pola half marathon last weekend.
<h2>Bakker versus Chepleting</h2>
The women&rsquo;s contest will also be held over 10,000m and the cast includes Kenyan Nancy Chepleting Meli plus Veerle Bakker and Silke Jonkman, both of the Netherlands.
The 21-year-old Chepleting has raced the last three Sundays, having managed respective lifetime bests of 31:54 at the Valencia 10km (15 January) and 1:10:48 in the Santa Pola half marathon the following week, before a half marathon win in Tarrasa last weekend timed at 1:12:40. 
As for the Dutch 1997-born pair, Bakker finished 10th in Venaria Reale, while Jonkman came 18th on that occasion after being 11th at the European Championships in Munich over 10,000m, boasting a 32:25.14 career best for that event.&nbsp;
The local challenge will be headed by Laura Luengo, who finished third in Soria and fourth in Alcobendas earlier this Cross Country Tour Gold season. The 25-year-old finished just outside the medals in fourth at last weekend&rsquo;s national championships in Ortuella and has been selected to compete in Bathurst. 
Luengo will be joined by the reigning European U20 cross country champion Maria Forero, who grabbed silver in Ortuella as an U23 athlete.
The list of illustrious past victors at the Caceres Grand Prix features Portugal&rsquo;s 1993 world cross country champion Albertina Dias (1995 and 1996), her compatriot the 1997 world 5000m silver medallist Domingos Castro (1994), Morocco&rsquo;s 1999 world 5000m champion Salah Hissou (1996) and Ukraine&rsquo;s nine-time European cross country champion Serhiy Lebid (2000, 2005, 2011).
Weather forecasters predict a pleasant and sunny day on Sunday, with the thermometer reaching 14&ordm;C by the time of the event.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics

The Gran Premio Caceres Campo a Traves again brings together solid fields and interesting races are on the cards

Schrub and Kimeli renew cross country rivalry in Calzadilla

Berhane Adere got her first ever glimpse of an indoor track when she arrived at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart on the afternoon of 3 February 2002. The 28-year-old Ethiopian received an invitation to make her debut on the boards in the 3000m at the Sparkassen Cup meeting just five days previously. She arrived the night before, thoughts of a barrier-breaking performance far from her mind.
Adere&rsquo;s prime concern was how to negotiate 15 laps of the tightly-banked 200m track as part of a 16-strong field. Her manager, Volker Wagner, told her to make straight for the spot behind the pacemakers, leaving the potential danger of the pack behind. It was only when the leaders passed 1km in 2:50 that her thoughts turned towards the 8:32.88 that Gabriela Szabo had clocked in Birmingham twelve months previously.
<div style="padding: 0px 20px 5px 20px; border: 2px solid #adf375;">
Gabriela Szabo&rsquo;s world indoor 3000m record bib is on display in the Indoor Athletics Collection gallery in the <a href="https://viewerxp-wa.azurewebsites.net/#/wavirtualgallery/env/00000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Museum of World Athletics (MOWA)</a> 
</div>
Wagner shouted from the infield that the Romanian&rsquo;s world indoor record was a possibility. The prospect came as a surprise to the meet organisers. The television broadcast had ended a minute before the start of the race, some 10 minutes after Svetlana Feofanova broke Stacy Dragila&rsquo;s world indoor pole vault record with a 4.71m clearance.
After the pacemakers reached 2km in 5:41.80, Adere took over for the ultimate kilometre. The tall, smooth-striding Ethiopian got into a metronomic groove, clicking off the final five laps at between 33 and 34 seconds. The capacity 7000 crowd rose to its feet as she crossed the line in 8:29.15 &ndash; 3.33 seconds inside Szabo&rsquo;s global mark.
&ldquo;I have never trained for indoor running,&rdquo; Adere said. &ldquo;My main focus this winter was to do some cross country and road races, but I really liked running indoors today. The banked track felt very good.&rdquo;
<h2>Historic record moments</h2>
As the meet organisers hastily prepared to hand over a second &euro;25,000 world record bonus, the self-effacing Adere was unaware of the significance of her performance.
It was the first sub-8:30 3000m run by a woman indoors. The first outdoors, 8:27.2, was achieved by Lyudmila Bragina of the Soviet Union, the 1972 Olympic 1500m champion, at College Park in the USA in 1976.
It was also the first world indoor record in a distance event by an Ethiopian woman. In that respect, it opened the floodgates. There have been 10 more since then and Ethiopian woman now hold every indoor world record in distance events from 1000m to 5000m.
At the time, for Adere herself, it maintained the momentum of a belated breakthrough into the realms of the global elite.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63dc74912045ebce16930ee9.jpg" alt="Berhane Adere competes in Stuttgart" />
Berhane Adere competes in Stuttgart (&copy; Bongarts/Getty Images)
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<h2>&ldquo;God did not permit&rdquo;</h2>
For five years, she had been knocking on the door. She was 23 when she made the Ethiopian team for the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, finishing 18th in the 10,000m final.
The following year she made her World Athletics Championships debut in Athens, faring better than her celebrated compatriots in the 10,000m.
While Deratu Tulu, the 1992 Olympic 10,000m champion, failed to qualify from the heats and the 1996 world cross country champion Gete Wami pulled up in the final with a pulled muscle, Adere placed fourth &ndash; behind Kenya&rsquo;s Sally Barsosio, Fernanda Ribeiro of Portugal and Japan&rsquo;s Masako Chiba. She was, however, seven seconds shy of the bronze medal position.
In the heat of Seville in 1999 she finished 0.48 shy of the podium - in seventh place in a thriller of a 10,000m final in which Wami outsprinted Britain&rsquo;s Paula Radcliffe to become the first Ethiopian woman to win a world track title.
After dipping to 12th place in the 2000 Olympic 10,000m final, Adere&rsquo;s career might have looked to be fading but in 2001 she started to finally achieve her rich potential.
Just 0.04 separated her from 10,000m gold at the World Athletics Championships in Edmonton after a titanic tussle with Tulu, by then a two-time Olympic 10,000m champion, over the final lap. Still, taking silver ahead of Wami in an Ethiopian medal sweep represented a tangible step up for Adere, who swiftly followed up with a bronze medal run behind Radcliffe and Kenya&rsquo;s Susan Chepkemei in the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Bristol, England.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63dc763d732bb151b3462d6c.jpg" alt="Berhane Adere and winner Deratu Tulu cross the finish line in the 2001 world 10,000m final in Edmonton" />
Berhane Adere and winner Deratu Tulu cross the finish line in the 2001 world 10,000m final in Edmonton (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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Then came her world record-breaking indoor debut in Stuttgart in February 2002. That, in turn, was followed by victories that year in the 3000m at the World Athletics Continental Cup in Madrid and at the World Half Marathon Championships in Brussels, where she won by seven seconds from Chepkemei in 69:06.
As 2003 dawned, and her 30th birthday approached, Adere had established herself as one of the leading lights of global distance running.
&ldquo;Before Edmonton, it was really frustrating for me,&rdquo; she said at the time, reflecting on her emergence. &ldquo;Whenever a major international event came around, everyone thought that this was my opportunity, this was my time. But God did not permit.&rdquo;
<h2>Honing her kick with Haile</h2>
Even the breakthrough in Edmonton had a bittersweet taste. &ldquo;My inexperience showed on the last lap,&rdquo; Adere said. &ldquo;I knew then that I had to work hard on my finishing kick. That&rsquo;s what I have been doing in training.&rdquo;
Adere trained under the direction of Ethiopia&rsquo;s national team coach Dr Wolde Kostre in a group that included Haile Gebrselassie, the two-time Olympic and four-time world 10,000m champion.
Like Gebrselassie and Tulu, she happens to be a member of the Oromo tribe. While the other greats of Ethiopian distance running came from poor rural families, Adere was raised in relative comfort on her parents&rsquo; large farm in the Shewa District, 100km from Addis Ababa.
Having honed her finishing kick in the company of Gebrselassie, she proceeded to make 2003 her annus mirabilis. Already a world champion on the road, she proved a class apart in the 3000m final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham in the March, finishing 1.92 ahead of Spain&rsquo;s Marta Dominguez, with her teenage teammate Meseret Defar in third. They were Ethiopia&rsquo;s first world indoor medals in a women&rsquo;s event.
In June that year, Adere came tantalisingly close to the world 5000m record, 14:28.09 by Bo Jiang of China, clocking 14:29.32 at the Bislett Games in Oslo.
Two months later, in August 2003, she became a world outdoor champion at the age of 30. She did so in supreme style in the 10,000m final at Stade de France in Paris - unleashing a devastating kick from 250m out on the back of a punishing pace that took her to victory in 30:04.18, a championship best, African record and third-fastest on the world 10,000m all-time list. Tulu having dropped out shortly after halfway, Worknesh Kidane took silver for Ethiopia in 30:7.15.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63dc76ef732bb151b3462d6f.jpg" alt="Berhane Adere wins the 2003 world 10,000m title in Paris" />
Berhane Adere wins the 2003 world 10,000m title in Paris (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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Adere was to gain three further global medals, all of them silver: behind Radcliffe at the 2003 World Half Marathon Championships in Vilamoura, as runner-up to Defar in the 3000m at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Budapest, and in the wake of fellow countrywoman Tirunesh Dibaba in defence of her world 10,000m crown in Helsinki in 2005.
<h2>Solo Stuttgart run smashes Szabo&rsquo;s record</h2>
She also claimed a second world indoor record &ndash; back on the Schleyer-Halle track in Stuttgart in January 2004. Having missed Szabo&rsquo;s 5000m record of 14:47.35 by less than a second in Dortmund the previous year, she launched an all-out solo attack from 3km out and reduced it to smithereens, clocking 14:39.29. &ldquo;I thought it was better to push hard from a long way out than to come up short again,&rdquo; she said.
Even after her late-blooming track career came to an end, there was more to come from Adere. At 33, she turned to the marathon in 2006, winning in Chicago in 2:20:42. She won again in the Windy City in 2007 and also competed in the Olympic marathon in Beijing in 2008, failing to finish.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage&nbsp;

Berhane Adere got her first ever glimpse of an indoor track when she arrived at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart in 2002

Remembering the late-blooming Adere's remarkable indoor debut

World record-holders Mondo Duplantis and Karsten Warholm &ndash; competing in their eponymous meetings in Uppsala and Ulsteinvik respectively, both World Athletics Indoor Tour Challenger meetings &ndash; got their 2023 campaigns off to strong starts with performances that took them straight to the top of the world lists on Thursday (2).
Duplantis, competing at the Mondo Classic in the Swedish city of Uppsala, delighted his home fans by winning the pole vault with a Swedish indoor all-comers&rsquo; record of 6.10m.
He opened his series with a first-time clearance at 5.67m and followed it with another successful jump at 5.82m. Four other men &ndash; USA&rsquo;s KC Lightfoot, Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines, Australia&rsquo;s Kurtis Marschall and Norway&rsquo;s Pal Haugen Lillefosse &ndash; cleared that height and progressed on to 5.91m.
Once again, Duplantis got over on his first try. Lightfoot needed two attempts and Obiene required three, while Marschall and Lillefosse bowed out.
The world and Olympic champion registered his first foul of the evening at 6.00m, but got over on his second try. Lightfoot and Obiena were unable to go higher than 5.91m, leaving Duplantis to move the bar up to 6.10m. After two misses, the world record-holder got over it on his third attempt, adding six centimetres to the meeting record he established last year.
He ended the night with three attempts at a would-be world record height of 6.22m, all of which were unsuccessful, but he was nevertheless satisfied with his winning height of 6.10m &ndash; not just his best ever season opener, but the highest season-opening performance of any pole vaulter in history.
Warholm, who hadn&rsquo;t raced 400m indoors for three years, was similarly dominant at the Karsten Warholm Invitational in Ulsteinvik, his first competitive appearance of 2023.
The Olympic 400m hurdles champion blasted around the two laps to win in 45.31, his second-best indoor clocking behind the continental record of 45.05 he set when winning the European indoor title in 2019. Fellow Norwegian Havard Bentdal Ingvaldsen was a distant runner-up in 46.94.
World indoor champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh notched up her third victory of the year in the high jump. The Ukrainian won with 1.99m, having cleared 2.00m in her season opener in Lviv last month.
Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah also made a rare indoor appearance. The Jamaican sprint superstar found that 7.30 was enough to win the women&rsquo;s 60m by a comfortable 0.10 margin from Helene Ronningen.
<h2>Sutej soars 4.82m in Ostrava</h2>
World indoor bronze medallist Tina Sutej set the 30th Slovenian record of her career when winning the pole vault with 4.82m at the Czech Indoor Gala &ndash; a World Indoor Tour Silver meeting &ndash; in Ostrava on Thursday (2).
The European bronze medallist went clear at 4.42m, 4.52m and 4.62m on her first attempts, and then cleared a meeting record of 4.72m, also on her first try. She brought down the bar on her first two attempts at 4.82m, but then nailed it on her final try, moving her to equal 12th on the world indoor all-time list.
It wasn&rsquo;t the only national record to fall in Ostrava. Serbia&rsquo;s Elzan Bibic won the men&rsquo;s mile in a national indoor record of 3:55.90, winning comfortably from Austria&rsquo;s Raphael Pallitsch (3:57.22).
Elsewhere, World Championships fourth-place finisher Lieke Klaver won the women&rsquo;s 400m in 51.00 from Czech Republics&rsquo; Lada Vondrova (51.57).
NACAC champion Alaysha Johnson continued her consistent form in the 60m hurdles, winning in 7.87. Nadine Visser had clocked 7.86 in the heats but was second in the final (7.96). Cuba&rsquo;s Roger Iribarne won the men&rsquo;s event in 7.54 with Czech Republic&rsquo;s 38-year-old Petr Svoboda a close runner-up in 7.58.

Duplantis vaults 6.10m, Warholm clocks 45.31 for 400m

Duplantis and Warholm open seasons with world-leading marks

Faith Kipyegon, Stanley Waithaka Mburu and Linet Maasai are among the big names expected to be in action at the Sirikwa Cross Country Classic &ndash; a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold event &ndash; at the Lobo village in Eldoret on Saturday (4).
The event is the third big cross country competition to take place in Kenya in the past two weeks, following on from the Kenyan Championships (21 January), and the Discovery Cross Country event in Eldoret (29 Jan).
The Kenyan team heading to Australia for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23 have had to skip this weekend&rsquo;s race, but despite that, it should still be an exciting spectacle as established stars take on up-and-coming talents from Kenya and the rest of the world.
&ldquo;The elite invitation lists have been drawn out of the top five finishers in the Athletics Kenya Cross Country series meetings, fifteen from the Discovery Cross Country event, and the top fifty from the national cross country championships,&rdquo; said Milcah Chemos, athletes representative.
Kipyegon, two-time world and Olympic 1500m champion, will be the big attraction in the senior women&rsquo;s 10km race. The 29-year-old, who is also a two-time world U20 cross-country champion, will face strong domestic opposition from 2016 world half marathon silver medallist Cynthia Limo, 2016 Kenyan 1500m champion Judith Kiyeng and 2019 African Games champion Quailyne Kiprop. Zenah Jemutai Yego, the 2021 world U20 3000m silver medallist, will be one of the emerging stars to watch out for.
Bahrain&rsquo;s 2017 world marathon champion Rose Chelimo, Slovenian steeplechaser Marusa Mismas-Zrimsek and Romania&rsquo;s Stella Rutto are among the international contenders.
World 10,000m silver medallist Stanley Waithaka Mburu leads the entries in the men&rsquo;s race, but he&rsquo;ll have his work cut out. Charles Lokir, fresh from winning the national cross country title, looks poised to improve upon his fifth-place finish in this event last year. The other two podium finishers at the recent Kenyan Cross Country Championships, Isaac Kibet and Dennis Kipngetich, will also be racing.
World U20 5000m champion Benson Kiplangat and Amos Serem, the 2021 world U20 steeplechase champion, are the other leading Kenyan entrants, while the international contenders include Eritrea&rsquo;s Merhawi Mebrahtu, Burundi&rsquo;s Oscar Niyonzima, Norway&rsquo;s Sondre Moen, Sweden&rsquo;s Emil Millan de la Oliva and Turkey&rsquo;s Hillary Yego.
The event, which last year was named in memoriam of Agnes Tirop, has changed its name this year to the Sirikwa Cross Country Classic. &lsquo;Sirikwa&rsquo; is the name of the ancient tribe who used to live in Uasin Gishu before colonial times.
The Sirikwa Classic will be seen as an event to celebrate not only athletics but the culture and heritage of the North and Central Rift region. More than 10,000 fans are expected to turn up to witness the event.
Along with the senior 10km races, there will also be a mixed relay and events for U20, U18 and kids.
Justin Lagat for World Athletics

Faith Kipyegon and Stanley Waithaka Mburu are among the big names expected to be in action at the Sirikwa Cross Country Classic in Eldoret

Kipyegon and Mburu the headliners at Sirikwa Cross Country Classic

Declan Tingay&rsquo;s birthday is still a few days away but he gave himself an early 24th birthday present by breaking a continental record which is some 14 years older in the Supernova #2 race walk &ndash; a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Silver level event &ndash; in Canberra on Thursday (2).
The second meeting in the series was contested in warm conditions at the Australian Institute of Sport track. It wasn&rsquo;t excessively hot but Tingay brought some heat of his own, breaking away from Perseus Karlstrom just 3000 metres into the men&rsquo;s 10,000m race and going on to a 30-second victory in 38:03.79, elevating Tingay to ninth on the world all-time list.
As big a factor in the performances as the warm weather was the 21-day high altitude training camp most of the contestants had participated in between the first Supernova meeting on 6 January and the second. Karlstrom missed the first meeting through an illness diagnosed as glandular fever. The altitude camp is part of an endurance study.
Tingay finished 17th over 20km at the World Championships in Oregon, following a 10th place at the World Race Walking Team Championships earlier in 2022 in Oman. He was then a close second behind Canada&rsquo;s Evan Dunfee in the Commonwealth Games 10,000m race walk.
But he clearly continues to improve. In Canberra, he and Karlstrom went straight to the front of the field as they passed through the first kilometre in about 3:50. The pace quickened further from there and 1000 metres later at 2km, the leading pair were some 20 seconds clear of Dunfee and Rhydian Cowley.
After another 1000 metres went by, Tingay had a 5-10 metre break over the Swedish race walker, a gap which had grown to 60 metres at the half-way point which Tingay reached in just under 19 minutes. Dave Smith&rsquo;s Oceanian record of 38:20.9 was clearly within reach.
Lapping every other competitor except Karlstrom, Tingay continued to churn out kilometre splits of just under 3:50 to cross the line in 38:03.78. Karlstrom maintained his form throughout the second half of the race to finish second in 38:45.43 with Dunfee getting the better of Cowley in the second half of the race to take third place in 39:44.10.
Tingay&rsquo;s time took just over 17 seconds from the long-standing ratified mark set by the prolific record-breaker Dave Smith in Sydney in 1985. Smith also clocked 38:06.6 in 1986, a performance that was not ratified as an Australian record, but Tingay&rsquo;s mark also surpassed that. It is also an Oceanian all-comers&rsquo; record.
The win completed a double for Tingay in the Supernova series. From Western Australia, he has now moved to Melbourne where he is studying and is being coached by Brent Vallance. At his rate of improvement, he could be challenging for a top-eight finish &ndash; and perhaps something higher &ndash; at the World Championships in Budapest later this year.
Jemima Montag was not thinking records in the women&rsquo;s event, but a savage surge in the eighth kilometre took her to a comfortable victory in 43:46.01 from Greece&rsquo;s double European champion Antigoni Ntrismpioti and Raquel Gonzalez of Spain. After a sedate first half of the race in about 22:45, Montag&rsquo;s increase of pace was significant.
A pack of six athletes stuck together for most of the first half of the race. Clemence Beretta of France did most of the leading with Montag always prominent in the group which included Olympic 20km silver medallist Sandra Arenas of Colombia and Magaly Bonilla of Ecuador.
A sixth kilometre of 4:19, the fastest of the race to that point, reduced the leading group to the ultimate first three finishers, but from the moment Montag surged with 3000 metres to go, the winner was not in doubt. The Australian, fourth over 20km at last year&rsquo;s World Championships, eased to the line some 40 metres clear of Ntrismpioti with Gonzalez almost a full minute further back in third place.
Len Johnson for World Athletics

Tingay's 38:03.79 clocking moves him to ninth on the world all-time list

Tingay breaks Oceanian 10,000m race walk record in Canberra

One week on from season kick-off in Karlsruhe, the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold continues in Boston on 4 February, when multiple global champions will contest some key clashes at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
World record-holders Grant Holloway and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone open their seasons against some top opposition, while Noah Lyles and Trayvon Bromell battle in the men&rsquo;s 60m and Olympic gold medallists Katie Moon and Katerina Stefanidi go head-to-head in the women&rsquo;s pole vault.
Holloway will be among the stars looking to put on a show on home soil in his first competition in the US since retaining his world 110m hurdles title in Oregon in July. The 25-year-old has a sensational indoor record to maintain &ndash; he was last beaten in an indoor sprint hurdles race in 2014, when he was 16 years old, and he has since extended his win streak to more than 60 races, including heats and semifinals.
That remarkable run includes one world indoor title-winning performance, achieved last year in Belgrade where he matched his own world record of 7.29, first set at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Madrid in 2021.
But at the pre-meeting press conference, Holloway explained how he's focused on the future, not what he has already achieved. "Each year is a new year," he said. "It&rsquo;s a new year, there&rsquo;s going to be a newcomer coming up. It&rsquo;s our job as competitors to hone in and focus on the task."
His compatriot Trey Cunningham will be looking to break the tradition. Silver medallist behind Holloway at last year&rsquo;s World Athletics Championships, the 24-year-old was also runner-up at the last edition of the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, when he clocked 7.47 behind Holloway&rsquo;s winning 7.37. The double NCAA champion opened his season with a 7.60 win in Fayetteville last weekend.
Joining them is USA&rsquo;s NACAC champion Freddie Crittenden, who has already clocked 7.52 in Flagstaff and 7.53 in Iowa City this season, plus athletes including USA&rsquo;s Robert Dunning and Louis Rollins, Britain&rsquo;s Joshua Zeller and Jamaica&rsquo;s Damion Thomas.
"It&rsquo;s going to be a great field," Holloway added. "Trey and I have been running against each other for quite some time now, so I know he&rsquo;s going to bring his&nbsp;A game&nbsp;and he knows I&rsquo;m going to bring mine."
Sitting alongside him at the press conference, Cunningham added: "How do I beat Grant Holloway? I don&rsquo;t know, you damn near have to be perfect. I&rsquo;ve just got to have a good day."
In the women&rsquo;s 60m hurdles, world indoor silver medallist Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas lines up alongside Sharika Nelvis and 2015 world gold medallist Danielle Williams, who won at last year's New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
<h2>Intriguing 60m match ups</h2>
The women&rsquo;s 60m also features a world record-holder, but unusually that athlete doesn&rsquo;t start as the dominant force.
McLaughlin-Levrone is the current queen of the 400m hurdles, having taken the global mark in the event down to 50.68 and claimed Olympic and world crowns over the past couple of years. But in Boston the 23-year-old contests the 60m for the first time, and she&rsquo;s not easing herself in gently. With two heats before the final, McLaughlin-Levrone is joined on the roster by world leader Aleia Hobbs, world 200m champion Shericka Jackson and world indoor silver medallist Mikiah Brisco, plus Candace Hill, Melissa Jefferson, Cambrea Sturgis and Anthonique Strachan, as well as another hurdles specialist in Kendra Harrison.
USA&rsquo;s 26-year-old Hobbs raced in the world 100m final in Oregon last year and she made another statement in Fayetteville last weekend, improving her 60m PB first to 7.05 and then to 6.98 to become the 13th woman to ever dip under seven seconds in the discipline.
Like McLaughlin-Levrone, the versatile Jackson will be looking for a strong start to her year following an impressive 2022 in which she won the world 200m title in 21.45, the second-fastest mark of all time, and improved her 60m PB to 7.04 in the final of the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61f5d7a63e1a70d20aa9c67c.jpg" alt="Aleia Hobbs wins the 60m at the Millrose Games" />
Aleia Hobbs wins the 60m at the Millrose Games (&copy; Kirby Lee)
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The men&rsquo;s 60m will also be a clash of global gold medallists. Lyles joined Jackson in storming up the world 200m all-time list in Oregon, running a US record of 19.31 to retain his title. Now the 25-year-old will be looking to build on his season-opening 6.61 run in Gainesville as he hunts for a second consecutive win at this meeting after his 6.56 victory in 2022.
Challenging him will be USA&rsquo;s 2016 world indoor champion Bromell, who claimed world 100m bronze in Oregon after a series of injury struggles. Lyles&rsquo; brother Josephus also features, as do their compatriots Demek Kemp and Kendal Williams plus Ghana&rsquo;s Benjamin Azamati.
McLaughlin-Levrone isn&rsquo;t the only 400m hurdler looking to shake things up in Boston. Femke Bol has joined her US rival on the podium at the Olympic Games and World Championships, and sits third on the world all-time list in her specialist event. She further proved her range by completing a gold medal treble at last year&rsquo;s European Championships, winning titles in the 400m hurdles, 400m flat and 4x400m, and in her first race of the season she steps up to contest the 500m for the first time.
The 22-year-old has an indoor 400m PB of 50.30 and the world indoor 500m best stands at 1:06.31. Asked at the pre-event press conference whether she was aware of the race split times needed to challenge the world best, she simply replied "yes", with a smile. Also testing themselves over the less regularly raced distance will be her Dutch compatriot Lisanne De Witte and Jamaica's Janieve Russell.
Another non-championship event &ndash; the women&rsquo;s 300m &ndash; will be headlined by Olympic 200m bronze medallist Gabby Thomas, aiming for her fifth consecutive win at the meeting, where in 2021 she ran the 35.73 PB that places her fifth on the world all-time list. In a clash of 100m, 200m and 400m specialists, her competition includes her Olympic 4x100m silver medal-winning teammate Jenna Prandini, USA&rsquo;s Olympic 4x400m champion Lynna Irby and Poland&rsquo;s Olympic 4x400m silver medallist Anna Kielbasinska.
"Every time I come here, I like to go for the American record, so that&rsquo;s the goal," said&nbsp;Thomas, targeting the&nbsp;35.71 achieved by Quanera Hayes in 2017. "Hopefully I&rsquo;m feeling fast and speedy tomorrow and can make it happen."
Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s world indoor champion Jereem Richards returns after his 2022 win at this meeting and leads the men&rsquo;s 400m entries along with USA&rsquo;s multiple global relay gold medallist Vernon Norwood, runner-up last year.
<h2>Kincaid and Stafford back on track after area records</h2>
Boston has already been a happy hunting ground for Woody Kincaid this season and he&rsquo;ll hope for more of the same on Saturday. The 30-year-old ran 12:51.61 for 5000m last week to take more than two seconds off Grant Fisher&rsquo;s year-old North American indoor record and move to fourth on the world all-time list. This time he races the 3000m, an event in which his compatriot Yared Nuguse also set an area record of 7:28.24 in Boston last Friday. Nuguse doesn&rsquo;t return but the fourth-placed athlete in that race &ndash; Ethiopia&rsquo;s world U20 5000m champion Addisu Yihune &ndash; does, and they will go up against athletes including Germany&rsquo;s world indoor finalist Max Thorwirth, USA&rsquo;s NCAA indoor mile champion Morgan Beadlescomb and Canada&rsquo;s Charles Philibert-Thiboutot.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/63db1326e8353643a1c1e6a7.jpg" alt="USA's Woody Kincaid " />
USA's Woody Kincaid (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
Laura Muir and Ciara Mageean will go head-to-head in the women&rsquo;s 3000m, looking to pick up from where they left off in 2022. Great Britain&rsquo;s Muir, the European 3000m record-holder with her PB of 8:26.41 set in Karlsruhe in 2017, claimed world, European and Commonwealth medals in 2022 and ended her year with a New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile win in New York. Ireland&rsquo;s Mageean, meanwhile, claimed silver medals behind Muir at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships, and went on to win the 1500m at the Brussels Diamond League meeting in 3:56.63 to improve Sonia O&rsquo;Sullivan&rsquo;s 27-year-old Irish record.
Adding further strength to the field are Spain&rsquo;s Marta Perez, Germany&rsquo;s Lea Meyer and Jamaica&rsquo;s Adelle Tracey.
Lucia Stafford was another athlete to set an area record in Boston last weekend, the Canadian 24-year-old clocking 2:33.75 on her season opener to launch herself to ninth on the world indoor 1000m all-time list. She won that race ahead of USA's Allie Wilson, who ran 2:36.31, and the pair meet again on Saturday, this time racing the mile against 2017 world 3000m steeplechase champion Emma Coburn, NACAC 1500m champion Heather MacLean, Olympic 800m fourth-place finisher Jemma Reekie and Esther Guerrero, who won the 1500m at what proved to be a strong edition of the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix for Spanish athletes last year.
Ireland&rsquo;s Andrew Coscoran is back to defend his title in the men&rsquo;s mile, following his 3:53.64 PB victory in 2022. He started this year with a 1000m win in 2:19.25 at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic and now competes against Britain&rsquo;s Neil Gourley and Charlie Grice, plus USA&rsquo;s Johnny Gregorek and 19-year-old Hobbs Kessler, who has set North American U20 records in the 1000m and 1500m over the past couple of years.
Mariano Garcia ran a Spanish indoor record of 1:45.12 to win the 800m ahead of USA&rsquo;s Bryce Hoppel at this meeting last year, before the pair went on to claim gold and bronze, respectively, at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. They resume their rivalry in Boston, where they will also take on Ireland&rsquo;s Mark English, USA&rsquo;s Isaiah Jewett and Britain&rsquo;s Kyle Langford and Daniel Rowden, the latter racing indoors for the first time.
The world indoor champion also leads the entries for the women&rsquo;s 800m, USA&rsquo;s Ajee Wilson looking to maintain an indoor win streak that dates back to March 2018, when she finished second in the world indoor final in Birmingham. She started her season with a 2:35.97 1000m victory in New York and returns to her specialist distance to race against her compatriot Olivia Baker and British trio Isabelle Boffey, Ellie Baker and Lynsey Sharp, who continues her comeback following injury and the birth of her son.
<h2>Moon vs Stefanidi in clash of Olympic champions</h2>
The two most recent Olympic champions will go head-to-head in the women&rsquo;s pole vault, when USA&rsquo;s Tokyo winner Moon takes on Rio gold medallist Stefanidi of Greece. Competing under her maiden name of Nageotte, Moon also won world gold in Oregon and claimed world indoor silver in Belgrade last year. That world title win on home soil in July was Moon&rsquo;s last competition and she will be keen to pick up from where she left off, in a year that offers the chance to defend her title in Budapest in August.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6202a92daa07742de3eef8f3.jpg" alt="US pole vaulter Katie Nageotte" />
US pole vaulter Katie Moon (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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Stefanidi is also a world gold medallist, thanks to her victory in London in 2017, and she claimed world indoor bronze medals in 2016 and 2018. The pair last clashed indoors in 2019 and their indoor head-to-head record stands at 13-4 to Stefanidi, although Moon has the higher PB of 4.95m (4.94m indoors) compared to Stefanidi&rsquo;s 4.91m (4.90m indoors).
In the men&rsquo;s high jump, USA&rsquo;s JuVaughn Harrison returns to contest the event for the first time since his 2.34m clearance for the runner-up spot at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Zurich in September. The 23-year-old, who finished fifth in the long jump and seventh in the high jump at the Tokyo Olympics, opened his season in the horizonal event and now makes his season debut in the high jump.
Also seeking a strong season start will be India&rsquo;s Commonwealth bronze medallist Tejaswin Shankar and 2007 world champion Donald Thomas of The Bahamas.
The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix moved to Staten Island in 2022 due to the pandemic but makes its debut at the TRACK at New Balance in Brighton, Massachusetts, this weekend.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

One week on from season kick-off in Karlsruhe, the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold continues with the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix

Global champions headline brilliant battles in Boston

Organisers of the TCS London Marathon have revealed their strongest ever line-up for their women&rsquo;s event at the World Athletics Platinum Label road race on 23 April.
Among those taking part in the most star-studded race in the history of marathon running are defending champion and world 10km record-holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw, marathon world record-holder Brigid Kosgei and Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir.
In addition to that stellar trio, Olympic 5000m and 10,000m Sifan Hassan will be making her marathon debut, taking on former track rivals Genzebe Dibaba and Almaz Ayana.
&ldquo;My victory at last year&rsquo;s TCS London Marathon was a day I will never forget,&rdquo; said Yehualaw. &ldquo;I am very much looking forward to returning to London and being part of this amazing field.&rdquo;
Hassan, who won the world 1500m and 10,000m titles in 2019, already has some experience on the roads. She set a European half marathon record of 1:05:15 in 2018, then ran two sub-66-minute half marathons in 2019.
&ldquo;I am considering my plans for next year&rsquo;s Paris Olympic Games with both the track and marathon options for me,&rdquo; said the Dutch runner. &ldquo;However, before I can make a final decision on which direction to go, I need to test myself over the marathon distance and I believe the best place for me to do that is in London with the best female marathon athletes around me.
&ldquo;Stepping up to the marathon distance has always been in my plans and it doesn&rsquo;t mean that I will be retiring from the track,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;I am planning a track season this summer, but before that I&rsquo;m really excited to be making my marathon debut at the TCS London Marathon. It will be a step into the unknown in many ways for me but I&rsquo;m looking forward to it.&rdquo;
Kosgei will be making her fourth appearance in London. The Kenyan won back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020; between those appearances, she broke the world record with 2:14:04 in Chicago.
Fellow Kenyan Jepchirchir will be making her first appearance in London. The two-time world half marathon champion has won her past five marathons &ndash; a streak that includes the Olympic Games in 2021, the New York Marathon later that year, and the 2022 Boston Marathon.
Ayana and Dibaba made their marathon debuts in Amsterdam last year. Ayana, the 2016 Olympic 10,000m champion, won in a course record of 2:17:20, while world 1500m record-holder Dibaba was second in 2:18:05.
The field also includes Ethiopia&rsquo;s Tigist Assefa, who won last year&rsquo;s Berlin Marathon in a course record of 2:15:37 &ndash; a time which makes her the fifth-fastest marathon runner in history.
Britain&rsquo;s Commonwealth 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan will be making her marathon debut, as will rising Ethiopian star Girmawit Gebrzihair, who ran a promising 1:04:14 on her half marathon debut last year.
Along with Kosgei, the line-up features three other national record-holders: USA&rsquo;s Emily Sisson, Australia&rsquo;s Sinead Diver and Canada&rsquo;s Natasha Wodak. Keira D&rsquo;Amato, who held the North American record before Sission broke it with 2:18:29 in Chicago last year, is also in the field.
In total, the 2023 London Marathon elite women&rsquo;s field will feature 10 women who have run inside 2:19 and five who have gone under 2:18.
<h3>Elite women&rsquo;s field</h3>
Brigid Kosgei (KEN) 2:14:04 Tigist Assefa (ETH) 2:15:37 Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) 2:17:16 Almaz Ayana (ETH) 2:17:20 Yalemzerf Yehualaw (ETH) 2:17:23 Genzebe Dibaba (ETH) 2:18:05 Sutume Asefa Kebede (ETH) 2:18:12 Judith Jeptum Korir (KEN) 2:18:20 Emily Sisson (USA) 2:18:29 Alemu Megertu (ETH) 2:18:32 Keira D'Amato (USA) 2:19:12 Sinead Diver (AUS) 2:21:34 Jess Piasecki (GBR) 2:22:27 Natasha Wodak (CAN) 2:23:12 Charlotte Purdue (GBR) 2:23:26 Susanna Sullivan (USA) 2:25:14 Ellie Pashley (AUS) 2:26:21 Stephanie Davis (GBR) 2:27:16 Maor Tiyouri (ISR) 2:29:04 Rosie Edwards (GBR) 2:31:56 Samantha Harrison (GBR) 2:32:22 Girmawit Gebrzihair (ETH) debut Sifan Hassan (NED) debut Eilish McColgan (GBR) debut Dominique Scott (RSA) debut

Women’s field will feature 10 women who have run inside 2:19 and five who have gone under 2:18

Debutante Hassan to face Kosgei, Yehualaw and Jepchirchir in strongest ever London Marathon field

British Athletics has selected their squad for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23, which will take place on 18 February.
European U23 cross-country silver medallist Megan Keith and European indoor 3000m finalist Amelia Quirk feature on the senior women&rsquo;s team. Zakariya Mahamed, another European U23 cross-country silver medallist, is the sole British entrant for the senior men&rsquo;s race.
For the first time at a World Cross, Britain has entered a team for the mixed 4x2km relay. The squad includes Olympic 800m finalist Alex Bell, who anchored Britain to gold at the 2021 European Cross Country Championships. The team also includes European U23 bronze medallist Alexandra Millard.
The U20 men&rsquo;s team includes four runners who earned team gold at the 2022 European Cross: Sam Mills, Luke Birdseye, Edward Bird and Jacob Deacon. The U20 women&rsquo;s team, meanwhile, features world mountain running U20 silver medallist Rebecca Flaherty.
<h3>British team for Bathurst</h3>
Women: Abbie Donnelly, Megan Keith, Amelia Quirk, Poppy Tank
Men: Zakariya Mahamed
Mixed relay: Alex Bell, Callum Elson, Alexandra Millard, Joe Wigfield
U20 women: Rebecca Flaherty, Zoe Gilbody, Megan Harris, Hannah Ryding
U20 men: Edward Bird, Luke Birdseye, Jacob Deacon, Sam Mills

World Athletics Cross Country Championships

European U23 cross-country silver medallists Zakariya Mahamed and Megan Keith both selected

Full US squad set for WXC Bathurst 23

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Lohalith takes surprise win in Castellon, marking first international victory for Athlete Refugee Team