The Kidane Mihret Church in the Kotobe neighbourhood in Addis Ababa is busy most afternoons. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians in the area often come to pray or give money and food to homeless who congregate around the church&rsquo;s gates. Many wear gabi &ndash; a traditional white homemade cotton cloth &ndash; draped over their heads and shoulders.
Nearly every afternoon Berihu Aregawi can be seen walking, often in his orange and blue tracksuit, to his afternoon training session.
Kidane Mihret sits neatly at an important crossroads to get to the Yeka Forest in Addis Ababa, a small runner&rsquo;s oasis reachable by a quick 15-minute walk from a bustling neighbourhood. Between 4-6pm dozens of Ethiopian athletes go to the forest to do their famous zig-zag jogs through eucalyptus trees, a tradition that&rsquo;s well sedimented in the soil, with clearly-trodden paths.
Over the course of the past eight years, Aregawi has seldom missed one of these sessions. He made this daily journey long before he followed up a fourth-place finish at the Olympics with a Wanda Diamond League victory in Zurich in 2021. It was true leading up to his world 5km record on the final day of 2021 when he ran 12:49 in Barcelona. It was true before running his world indoor lead of 7:26.20 over 3000m in Karlsruhe. And it will continue to be true as the 20-year-old prepares for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, and competitions moving forward. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6138f4318000f1faf99b1a18.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Berihu Aregawi wins the 5000m at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (&copy; Matt Quine)
&nbsp;
Many Ethiopian athletes pursue long distance running to change their lives, and as soon as they come into some money, they start making investments to accrue more wealth and status. Aregawi is in no rush to do so.
&ldquo;Not yet, not yet,&rdquo; he commonly refrains, when asked about buying a home, a car, or even a television. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t do much outside of training besides resting, but I do like to watch training videos and running content on YouTube.&rdquo;
Aregawi uses his phone and has been inspired, amid a lot of running content, by the well-known Spartan lifestyle Eliud Kipchoge has become famous for. He&rsquo;s watched many of the short documentaries where understanding English is not a prerequisite for getting a sense of the humility that some of the world&rsquo;s top athletes share.
He also studies racing tactics by his Ethiopian role models, Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebreselassie, and, notably, Hagos Gebrhiwet.
Like Aregawi, Gebrhiwet is also from the Tigray region of Ethiopia &ndash; the northern most state in Ethiopia that has been embroiled in a civil war since November 2020. Aregawi grew up with five younger sisters and one younger brother in the countryside and began running in local competitions, much to the chagrin of his father, who viewed the pursuit as too risky of an endeavour. Sceptical of the athletic profession, Aregawi&rsquo;s father wanted him to take a more traditional path and ensure he could help to take care of the family. But once he was offered a club position in Addis, his father&rsquo;s mind gradually changed. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/613641843657d6a7f76ad79d.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Berihu Aregawi and Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Lausanne (&copy; Matt Quine)
&nbsp;
&ldquo;When I was starting out I really wanted to be like Hagos,&rdquo; Aregawi said, &ldquo;He was really the first from my region and it&rsquo;s easier to identify with someone that comes from the same place you come from.&rdquo;
Not too long later, he became Gebrhiwet&rsquo;s training partner, &ldquo;Training with Hagos on the national team has given me big steps in my training. He&rsquo;s also been a really good friend to me, and always offered me help when I have adversity.&rdquo;
After training for two years in Addis Ababa, Aregawi was selected for his first national team in 2018, when he competed at the World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland. Aregawi finished third in the 10,000m, behind Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya and Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda.
&ldquo;To represent Ethiopia for the first time and come in third was a really big deal,&rdquo; he remembers of his first international trip. Finland in July could not have been more different to Ethiopia at that time of year. Ethiopia&rsquo;s geographical position means the sun rises and sets at about the same time throughout the year, and July and August are characterised by heavy, sometimes torrential, rains. Mid-July in Tampere, by contrast, was sunny, temperate, and had only a few hours of darkness each day.
After his first podium finish in Tampere, Aregawi signed his first contract and returned to Ethiopia with the goal of representing the country at the Olympics. His incremental improvement has evidently been working, but until this past year, his progression has been overshadowed by some of his Olympic teammates, like Selemon Barega, who won the Olympic 10,000m title.
While many Olympians began to tire on the Wanda Diamond League circuit, Aregawi appeared to gain steam, culminating in a victory at the final 5000m held for the first time on the track built around Zurich&rsquo;s city centre.
Since winning the Diamond League title, Aregawi has made some more changes relating to his training, returning to regular training with his club, Ethiopia Electric, and coach Melaku. His training partners are not big names, yet, but he&rsquo;s enjoying working with Solomon Berihu and Haftam Abadi, two of several members of his club. Other changes in lifestyle can remain on the backburner.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to stay humble and patient,&rdquo; Aregawi said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to rush into the next stage of life because I still have big goals I haven&rsquo;t accomplished.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61d0380fd77b4b9c34dd36e9.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Berihu Aregawi breaks the world 5km record in Barcelona (&copy; Xavi Ballart)
&nbsp;
The changes appeared to have worked. In November, he thought he broke Joshua Cheptegei&rsquo;s world 5km record when it appeared he finished under 12:50 in Lille, France, but the official results showed 12:52. One month later, on New Year&rsquo;s Eve, he ran 12:49 in Barcelona to claim the record alongside Ejegayehu Taye, another Ethiopian rising distance talent.
Then, in January 2022, Aregawi claimed the world&rsquo;s top indoor time over 3000m in Karlsruhe, Germany, running the second half of his race completely alone. His time of 7:26.20 puts him fifth on the world indoor all-time list and gives him the top time heading into the World Indoor Championships.
Due to the conflict in Tigray, Aregawi has had minimal contact with his family members over the past two years. With phone and internet mostly disabled in Tigray, Aregawi has been running, and excelling, looking forward to a time when he can share his success his family.
Until then, when asked about lavish celebrations, Aregawi&rsquo;s response is one of caution and gradualness. &ldquo;Not yet, not yet,&rdquo; he continues to say &ndash; an odd refrain beckoning for slowness from one of the world&rsquo;s fastest runners.
Hannah Borenstein for World Athletics

World Athletics Indoor Championships

Diamond League winner and world record-holder is just getting started

Aregawi – fast times on the track, but slow and steady approach off it

Kurtis Marschall began 2022 with one goal in mind &ndash; getting back to a consistent high level of performance.
It&rsquo;s something the 24-year-old achieved as he climbed the pole vault ranks from 2016 through to 2018 from world U20 silver medallist, to Olympic representative, to World Championships finalist and to World Indoor Championships fourth-place finisher.
The disruptions of a back stress fracture in 2019, followed almost immediately on recovery by the global Covid-19 pandemic, robbed Marschall of that consistency. The loss was perhaps most succinctly exemplified by his performance at the Olympic Games last year when Marschall qualified at 5.75m but then bowed out in the final with three misses at his opening height of 5.55m.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;d got back into good shape, but then I just bombed out,&rdquo; Marschall reflects, before adding: &ldquo;Sometimes those big dramatic moments teach you something.
&ldquo;I think I got a bit spooked by being back among the best vaulters in the world.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622f3a00004088eb41708fc5.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Kurtis Marschall at the Tokyo Olympic Games&nbsp;(&copy; Getty Images)
 After spending time at his training base in Cologne with coach Paul Burgess, Marschall competed at the&nbsp;World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Lievin last month and then in Clermont-Ferrand, clearing 5.71m at both. Following a win in Osijek in Croatia, he returned to France and finished second in the Meeting de Paris Indoor with a season's best of 5.76m.
Next up is the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.&nbsp;
At the end of all that, on 25 April, Marschall will turn 25, entering what should be the peak years of his competitive career. There will be no shortage of championships on which to set his eye. World Championships and Commonwealth Games in addition to the World Indoor Championships this year, another World Championships in Budapest in 2023 and then the Paris Olympic Games the following year.
This assumes the continued orderly conduct of global sport, of course, something which is not guaranteed in the present environment. Athletes and coaches can only worry about what they can control, however, which is why Marschall is intent on regaining the consistency that was a mark of his early development. He was a silver medallist at the World U20 Championships in 2016, a performance good enough to get him into Australia&rsquo;s Olympic team that year. He just missed qualifying for the final in Rio.
In 2017, Marschall made the final of the World Championships in London, finishing seventh. The following year, again in the UK, this time Birmingham, he was fourth in the World Indoor Championships. In three of those championships &ndash; the U20, world and world indoors &ndash; Marschall finished ahead of a certain Armand Duplantis.
&lsquo;Mondo&rsquo; was third in the World U20 Championships, ninth in London in 2017 and seventh at the World Indoor Championships as Marschall cleared a then personal best of 5.80m. When the Australian finished third in the Lausanne Diamond League to Duplantis&rsquo;s fifth, he had a 4-2 head-to-head edge over his Swedish rival. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622f3a48004088eb41708fc8.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Kurtis Marschall finished fourth at the 2018 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham (&copy; Getty Images)
 Of course, Duplantis is some 30 months younger than Marschall. Nonetheless, journalists are quick to wonder whether such statistics might be significant. Marschall quickly scotches the notion.
&ldquo;I take absolutely nothing from that,&rdquo; he says good-humouredly, adding that Duplantis is in that place right now where every time he jumps his own world record is under further threat. Besides, from 2-4, the head-to-head statistic now stands at 7-4 in Duplantis's favour.
Marschall&rsquo;s personal best remains the 5.87m he cleared indoors at the All Stars event in 2019. But he did raise his outdoor best to 5.82m in post-Olympic competition in Zagreb last year and feels confident about getting back to that level consistently.
&ldquo;In 2018 I had a pretty good season, clearing 5.70m or higher in pretty well every competition. Then I got injured,&rdquo; says Marschall.
&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m capable of 5.80m more often than not. If you get some stability at that height, you&rsquo;ll have your good competitions at 5.90m and from there you can go for six (metres).&rdquo;
There is plenty of depth to the men&rsquo;s vault at the moment. So far this season, 17 men have gone 5.81m or higher. Six &ndash; led by Duplantis with his world record of 6.19m achieved in Belgrade a week ago &ndash; have exceeded 5.90m.
Although Australia has no indoor competition, in&nbsp;Marschall's&nbsp;favour is that there is a state-of-the-art indoor training facility where he is based in Perth. A strong indoor campaign would put Marschall right back on the trajectory he was following up until injury and then a pandemic threw him off track.
Len Johnson for World Athletics

Kurtis Marschall began 2022 with one goal in mind – getting back to a consistent high level of performance.

Marschall, looking for repeatable excellence in 2022

Keely Hodgkinson might be motivated most by medals, but the 20-year-old knows that running records &ndash; and relishing rivalries &ndash; will help her to get to them.
&ldquo;From my career, I want to get as many medals as I can &ndash; I think that&rsquo;s how you become one of the greatest ever,&rdquo; says the British 800m standout. &ldquo;Records are really nice, but they don&rsquo;t always last, so I think medals are where you can really make a difference and write your name in the history book.&rdquo;
Her campaign on both fronts has started strongly. Now the British record-holder both indoors and outdoors, the 1:55.88 that Hodgkinson ran in Tokyo secured her Olympic silver on her global championship debut and improved a national mark that had been set by double 2004 Olympic champion Kelly Holmes in 1995. Her next aim, fresh from a 1:57.20 indoors in Birmingham, is to get gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, where she has been selected for the 800m and the 4x400m.
&ldquo;My favourite thing to do is compete at championships, when there&rsquo;s a bit of pressure and more at stake,&rdquo; adds the British 400m silver medallist. &ldquo;I like to go out there and do what I know I can do and come away with medals. That&rsquo;s the goal.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/622751b7b57cf3dc7d4ddff4.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Hodgkinson runs 1:57.20 to win the 800m at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Birmingham (&copy; Getty Images)
 Enjoyment is key and there's no weight of expectation, as Hodgkinson instead embraces it. The support from her team, which includes coach Trevor Painter and world medallist Jenny Meadows in a relationship she describes as &ldquo;like a second family&rdquo;, is hugely important. Particularly after a winter that was interrupted by injury.
After recovering from an achilles issue before Christmas, Hodgkinson went on a training camp in South Africa and tore her quad. No longer able to open her 2022 season at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe as originally planned, Hodgkinson refocused on the M&uuml;ller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham. Once there, she became the sixth-fastest ever indoor women&rsquo;s 800m runner, and had it not been for the injuries and missed training, Meadows believes her charge could have been in &ldquo;world record territory&rdquo;.
Turning 20 last week (3), Hodgkinson was coincidentally born on the exact date that the world indoor record of 1:55.82 was set. Should she win gold in Belgrade later this month, Hodgkinson &ndash; at 20 years and 17 days &ndash; would become the youngest women&rsquo;s 800m champion in World Indoor Championships history.
&ldquo;She was still in brilliant shape (in Birmingham),&rdquo; Meadows told the Telegraph. &ldquo;But honestly, I cannot tell you where she looked like she was going to be &ndash; it&rsquo;s actually quite scary.&rdquo;
There is no fear from Hodgkinson when it comes to facing her rivals, however, and the depth in her event both internationally and domestically has spurred Hodgkinson on. She won last year&rsquo;s British outdoor title ahead of Jemma Reekie and Laura Muir to claim her first global championship team place at any level, and once at the Olympic Games she finished second to her fellow 19-year-old Athing Mu, who earlier in the year had superseded Hodgkinson as the world indoor U20 800m record-holder. 
<div style="padding: 15px 20px 5px 20px; border: 2px solid #69d7e1;">
<h2>Hodgkinson and her rivals</h2>
How Hodgkinson stacks up against the women she's set to face in Belgrade. 
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;" width="25%">
<div align="center">
<h3 align="center"> <img style="width: 140px; height: 140px; border-radius: 50%; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/7fa2a711-788d-4ade-b44a-1ecc46c095da.jpg?cachebuster=0211293c-a2b3-40f7-a3ba-13ee252723df" alt="Keely Hodgkinson" /> Keely Hodgkinson</h3>
</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;" width="25%">
<div align="center">
<h3 align="center"> <img style="width: 140px; height: 140px; border-radius: 50%; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/athletes/14431159.jpg" alt="Halimah Nakaayi" /> Halimah Nakaayi</h3>
</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;" width="25%">
<div align="center">
<h3 align="center"> <img style="width: 140px; height: 140px; border-radius: 50%; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/athletes/14285696.jpg" alt="Natoya Goule" /> Natoya Goule</h3>
</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;" width="25%">
<div align="center">
<h3 align="center"> <img style="width: 140px; height: 140px; border-radius: 50%; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/athletes/14463325.jpg" alt="Catriona Bisset" /> Catriona Bisset</h3>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;" width="25%">
<div align="center">Country: Great Britain &amp; NI</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;" width="25%">
<div align="center">Country: Uganda</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;" width="25%">
<div align="center">Country: Jamaica</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;" width="25%">
<div align="center">Country: Australia</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Born: 3 Mar 2002</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Born: 16 Oct 1994</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Born: 30 Mar 1991</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Born: 1 Mar 1994</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Outdoor PB: 1:55.88 NR (2021)</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Outdoor PB: 1:58.03 NR (2021)</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Outdoor PB: 1:56.15 NR (2018)</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Outdoor PB: 1:58.09 AR (2021)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Indoor PB: 1:57.20 NR (2022)</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Indoor PB: 1:58.58 NR (2022)</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Indoor PB: 1:58.46 NR (2022)</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Indoor PB: 1:59.46 AR (2022)</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Major achievements: Olympic silver (2021), Diamond League champion (2021), European indoor champion (2021)</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Major achievements: World champion (2019), All-African Games bronze (2019)</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Major achievements: Pan American Games champion (2019), NACAC Championships silver (2018), Commonwealth Games bronze (2018), NCAA champion (2013)</div>
</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">
<div align="center">Major achievements: Oceanian champion (2019), World University Games champion (2019)</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
 Now, the Briton is joined at the top of the indoor season list by Jamaican record-holder Natoya Goule, Uganda&rsquo;s world champion Halimah Nakaayi and Australia&rsquo;s Oceanian record-holder Catriona Bisset, who have all dipped under two minutes for the four-lap event.
&ldquo;It keeps you on your toes,&rdquo; Hodgkinson smiles. &ldquo;When you see other people (running well) &ndash; it&rsquo;s good, it&rsquo;s going to push me on: &lsquo;I know I can do that&rsquo;.
&ldquo;I like having those head-to-heads. We&rsquo;ve had a few times when we have finished neck and neck, me and Natoya, and I get on with her really well, as well. So, it&rsquo;s fun to race her and see what others can do.&rdquo;
Hodgkinson won their sole clash so far in 2022 in Birmingham, while in 2021 their head-to-head record stood 4-2 in Goule&rsquo;s favour but Hodgkinson&rsquo;s advantage came on the biggest stages &ndash; at the Olympic Games and the Wanda Diamond League final, where Hodgkinson claimed the overall title.
&ldquo;I definitely got a lot of confidence from last year,&rdquo; Hodgkinson explains. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really feel any pressure, I just feel like I want to go out there and do my best in every race. I want to be consistent in the bigger races, racing the bigger girls, and just stamp my authority down.
&ldquo;I expect more of myself now,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;I want to be more consistent in Diamond League races &ndash; I didn&rsquo;t actually win one Diamond League, apart from the only one that mattered!&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62275326492005aba2adabd5.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />The Tokyo Olympic Games women's 800m final&nbsp;(&copy; Getty Images)
 But that&rsquo;s not her only goal for the outdoor season, where she also has the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, the European Championships in Munich and the Commonwealth Games on home soil in Birmingham to target.
&ldquo;The Worlds and the Commonwealths are the priority for the summer and the Europeans, we'll see,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;If I'm fit and healthy, then why not? I'm happy to do the relays in the summer as well, if I feel ok.&rdquo;
And the outdoor season will again give her the chance to take on her US rival, Mu.
&ldquo;Hopefully it stems for a good competitive 10-15 years ahead and faster times on the horizon,&rdquo; Hodgkinson said after finishing second behind her fellow teenager Mu in Tokyo.
A medal-filled 10-15 years, if Hodgkinson has her way.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

The Olympic 800m silver medallist targets another major medal in Belgrade.

Hodgkinson homes in on history

Josh Kerr knows the history, that long line of British middle-distance greats who all but monopolised the men&rsquo;s 1500m back in the 1980s. Those names &ndash; Coe, Cram, Ovett, Elliott &ndash; conjure up memories of grainy footage, the kind Kerr has watched countless times on YouTube.&nbsp;
Now that he&rsquo;s run faster than them all &ndash; his PB of 3:29.05 is behind only Mo Farah on the British all-time list &ndash; Kerr feels part of that lineage, especially after winning an Olympic bronze medal last year.&nbsp;
But as much as he appreciates the achievements of past generations, the 24-year-old Scot is keen to kickstart a new golden era.
&ldquo;Myself and (Jake) Wightman, we&rsquo;ve run faster than all those guys but they&rsquo;re not known for how fast they ran, they&rsquo;re known for what medals they won and what colours they are,&rdquo; says Kerr. &ldquo;We hadn&rsquo;t won an Olympic medal in 33 years and hopefully we&rsquo;re moving back into an era people will remember as the Kerr-Wightman era. I want to leave a stamp on the 1500 and grab that British record as an extra.
&ldquo;But,&rdquo; he adds, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s mostly about medals.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6203c186c950b7d91622f32f.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Britain's Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman in the 1500m final at the Tokyo Olympics (&copy; Getty Images)
 The game is changing these days. In the decade preceding the 2019 World Championships, the quickest winning time in a global 1500m final was 3:33.61, and in just two out of seven championships did the winner come home in under 3:35.&nbsp;
Then there was Doha, where Timothy Cheruiyot blitzed a solo 3:29.26 to take gold. Two years later in Tokyo, Jakob Ingebrigtsen outkicked and outlasted Cheruiyot to set an Olympic record of 3:28.32.
Cheruiyot is 26, Ingebrigtsen is 21. Neither is going anywhere any time soon, and both are at their best when the pace is hard from the gun, which means that when it comes to global finals, the future is almost certainly fast.&nbsp;
Kerr knows this, and he prepares accordingly.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The 1500 has evolved over the last two or three years,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We have to be strong and we train like a 5km athlete. That helps, knowing I&rsquo;m going to get better round by round. It&rsquo;s exciting for people to watch and it&rsquo;s really hard for us racing, but that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;re there for: to find the best.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I do believe the world and Olympic champions over the next three or four years will be true champions &ndash; who are the best at the distance. Jakob last year was the best and he showed that in the final and Cheruiyot was second and I was third: those are honest, clear-cut, black-and-white results, and you can&rsquo;t ask for anything more.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6203c36a5073aea7af6f2e7a.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Medallists Josh Kerr, Timothy Cheruiyot and Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the Olympic 1500m final in Tokyo (&copy; Getty Images)
 Kerr prepared for Tokyo in his typical manner, racking up 65-70 miles (104-112km) a week in training, along with two gym sessions. It&rsquo;s been his approach since 2018, when he joined the Brooks Beasts in Seattle and began training with coach Danny Mackey.&nbsp;
Being a three-time NCAA champion for the University of New Mexico, the Scottish athlete had a wealth of options in the professional ranks. Why did he choose the Brooks Beasts? It came down to his trust in Mackey.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had the most amazing, honest conversations with him,&rdquo; says Kerr. &ldquo;He knows me very well, I know him very well. He said, &lsquo;this is the coach I am, we&rsquo;re not the flashiest group but you come here, you&rsquo;ll get better.&rsquo; He stayed true to that promise. I&rsquo;ve got six seconds quicker since I&rsquo;ve gone there.
&ldquo;The training isn&rsquo;t massively intense but what I do really well: my injury rate is really low and I&rsquo;m able to stack a bunch of days together and it ends up being a phenomenal fitness level.&rdquo;
That was exactly what Kerr carried to Tokyo, and while his 1500m PB of 3:31.55 had many underrating him at the time, his workouts convinced him he was ready to run 3:28.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I thought, &lsquo;you know what, the best way to run that is evenly,&rsquo;&rdquo; says Kerr. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t planning on being so far at the back after the first lap but it was just so fast.&rdquo;
Kerr narrowly avoided disaster in the heats, scraping through as a non-automatic qualifier, but he was far more convincing in the semifinal, finishing a close third.
After the first lap of the final, with Ingebrigtsen pouring it on from the outset, Kerr was 10th, splitting 57.3 seconds. By 800m he&rsquo;d moved up to seventh. By 1200m, he was fourth, and ready to take aim at the big two out front &ndash; Ingebrigtsen and Cheruiyot &ndash; along with Abel Kipsang of Kenya. Kerr waited until the home straight before going for broke, overtaking Kipsang and finishing just 0.04 behind Cheruiyot.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was hoping for a better medal than the one I got,&rdquo; he says now. &nbsp; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61ddd075e35e3cee11c48c96.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Josh Kerr now runs for&nbsp;Brooks Beasts&nbsp;(&copy; Kirby Lee)
 After the Games, he went to Albuquerque, USA, to spend time with his fiancee and a few weeks later he returned to Scotland. The last six months have been a &ldquo;whirlwind&rdquo;, but after a few weeks off Kerr was back into base training to prepare for better things again in 2022.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about building the motivation back up, climbing back up the hill with fitness and trying to show some better performances,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And hopefully better colour of medals.&rdquo;
He had just one race set in stone for the indoor season: the Wanamaker Mile at last month's Millrose Games, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event. After biding his time for seven laps, Kerr powered to the lead at the bell, but couldn&rsquo;t hold off the vicious surge of longtime rival Ollie Hoare, who won in 3:50.83 with Kerr second in 3:52.27, just shy of Peter Elliott&rsquo;s British record of 3:52.02.&nbsp;
&ldquo;First one of the season is always going to be a bit rocky but I told myself I&rsquo;d be aggressive, I&rsquo;d push,&rdquo; says Kerr. &ldquo;I may have pushed a little bit too early, but I gave it my all. I like to press a little bit and see who falls apart, and it might be me. I&rsquo;m not scared of anyone or any distance or any race.&rdquo;
That may be Kerr&rsquo;s only race of the indoor season. With an outdoor season overflowing with medal opportunities, he&rsquo;s giving that his prime focus.&nbsp;
His main targets are the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 in July and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Only after that will he make a decision on the European Championships in Munich.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Because that&rsquo;s enough for my brain to explode,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll take it step by step.&rdquo;
When he speaks of such championships, Kerr does so with a calm but resolute confidence that he can beat whoever he faces. It&rsquo;s not surprising, given he has a habit of toppling favourites.&nbsp;
When he lined up in the mile at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships, he was a 19-year-old with a 1500m personal best of 3:41.08 &ndash; an athlete no one expected to challenge the all-conquering Ed Cheserek.&nbsp;
When Kerr surged past Cheserek with two laps to run, the ESPN commentator all but dismissed his chances: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s Josh Kerr, the New Mexico freshman, and that may just be a freshman move.&rdquo;&nbsp;
But it wasn&rsquo;t. Kerr ran Cheserek into the ground during the final lap, coming home a distant winner. He added the NCAA title outdoors that year &ndash; winning the 1500m at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon &ndash; and repeated his indoor win in 2018. Those successes taught him he could contend at global level.&nbsp; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6203c0885779ff84c1a731db.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Josh Kerr winning the 2017 NCAA 1500m title at&nbsp;Eugene's Hayward Field&nbsp;(&copy;&nbsp;Kirby Lee)
 &ldquo;You have that mindset of wanting to be the champ, to go after the fastest guys,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t care who anyone is, and if you have that fearless mentality you&rsquo;re going to be fine in the pros. But if you always look at stats and look up to these guys, you&rsquo;re going to find it hard to toe the line against them.&rdquo;
Does he believe he can match Ingebrigtsen and Cheruiyot this summer?
&ldquo;Yeah, definitely,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s quite funny, but people were saying, &lsquo;any other Olympics you&rsquo;d have won with the times,&rsquo; but they&rsquo;re different races. The 1500m is exploding because of the way we&rsquo;re running these races. Those guys are doing great things for the sport.&rdquo;
Kerr knows those two will likely be the men to beat again in Eugene this summer. He&rsquo;s not yet raced in the new-and-improved Hayward Field, but is relishing the chance to do so.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s over the top,&rdquo; he laughs. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a phenomenal facility and I&rsquo;m excited to go there and run fast. It&rsquo;s built for fast times and for history to be made, and that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s going to happen this year.&rdquo;&nbsp;
He knows his sport&rsquo;s history, but he also knows his own, and Kerr can extrapolate plenty from it about what might lie ahead.
&ldquo;I was 37th (at the World Championships) in 2017, sixth in 2019, and third (at the Olympics) in 2021,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;So in 2022 the trajectory is looking like second or first. That&rsquo;s always what I&rsquo;m going for. I&rsquo;m always looking for progress.&rdquo;
Cathal&nbsp;Dennehy for World Athletics

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

The Olympic bronze medallist is keen to kickstart a new golden era.

Kerr hopes to make history at Hayward Field

For Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, securing a strong season start in Karlsruhe last month was &ldquo;like revenge&rdquo;. Twelve months earlier, the French hurdles star had injured his hamstring at the meeting in Germany &ndash; sustaining a tear that would deny him the full indoor season he had planned and affect the beginning of his outdoor campaign.
Despite further injury issues, the 30-year-old recovered in time to make the Tokyo Olympics, where he finished fifth. But in Karlsruhe on 28 January, with those struggles behind him, his win in 7.54 marked the start of the next chapter, as Martinot-Lagarde looks to add to his impressive haul of world medals &ndash; first at next month&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 and then again at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in July. 
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 &ldquo;This year, it is like revenge, finally,&rdquo; said Martinot-Lagarde, reflecting on his season opener at the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe &ndash; this year's first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting.
&ldquo;Last year (in Karlsruhe) it was a really bad moment for me, because I got a big injury and it killed all of my indoor season and the beginning of my outdoor season. I was ok for the Olympic Games, but Karlsruhe was really horrible for me last year.&rdquo;
But now he has much happier memories of the meeting. Not only did his performance ensure a winning start to his season, his two results &ndash; 7.56 in the heats and then that 7.54 in the final &ndash; made for his quickest season debut since 2017, a season in which he would go on to win European indoor silver in Belgrade. In the same arena that will welcome athletes for global competition from 18-20 March, Martinot-Lagarde was just 0.01 off retaining the European indoor title he had won in Prague two years before, with Britain&rsquo;s Andrew Pozzi this time getting gold in 7.51 to Martinot-Lagarde&rsquo;s 7.52. 
<h2>Great consistency on the major stage</h2>
Martinot-Lagarde&rsquo;s major medal tally is impressive. It all started back in 2010, when the then 18-year-old won the world U20 110m hurdles title in Moncton, Canada. There he kept his cool to clock 13.52 into a 2.4m/s headwind, his powerful performance putting him ahead of Norway&rsquo;s Vladimir Vukicevic and Britain&rsquo;s Jack Meredith.
Just two years later, Martinot-Lagarde had graduated from U20 gold to senior bronze, claiming the first of his World Indoor Championships medals in Istanbul. It was the beginning of a medal-winning streak that would see him secure three podium places in three consecutive editions of the championships, with Martinot-Lagarde adding a silver in Sopot in 2014 and a medal of the same colour in Portland in 2016. 
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 Injury affected his preparations for the 2018 edition in Birmingham, where he finished fifth, but the following year his major medal collection grew yet again as he finished third in a dramatic 110m hurdles final at the World Championships in Doha.
After that race he explained how it felt like redemption following his fourth-place finishes at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t sleep during some days after being fourth,&rdquo; said the six-time European medallist. &ldquo;I think you could digest it better if you were last, but when you are fourth it&rsquo;s like you are almost on the podium, and this &lsquo;almost&rsquo; is very difficult to digest. Today it is totally different. Finally, I get my medal.&rdquo;
But rather than satisfy his hunger, that performance only whet his appetite for more. 
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<h3 style="color: #69d7e1; text-align: center;"><a style="color: #69d7e1;" href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/france/pascal-martinot-lagarde-14360095" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Martinot-Lagarde's major medals</a></h3>
World Championships (110m hurdles) 🥉 Doha 2019, 13.18
World Indoor Championships (60m hurdles) 🥈&nbsp;Portland 2016, 7.46 🥈 Sopot 2014, 7.46 🥉 Istanbul 2012, 7.53
World U20 Championships (110m hurdles) 🥇 Moncton 2010, 13.52
European Championships (110m hurdles) 🥇 Berlin 2018, 13.17 🥉 Zurich 2014, 13.29
European Indoor Championships (60m hurdles) 🥇 Prague 2015, 7.49 🥈&nbsp;Glasgow 2019, 7.61 🥈 Belgrade 2017, 7.52 🥉 Gothenburg 2013, 7.53 
</div>
 It was in 2014 that Martinot-Lagarde ran his 60m hurdles PB of 7.45 as well as his 110m hurdles best, that 12.95 performance in Monaco breaking the French record that had been set by Ladji Doucoure in 2005, the same year in which he won the world title in Helsinki. In an interview with World Athletics two years later, Martinot-Lagarde explained where that accomplishment left him in terms of his goals.
&ldquo;When I watched Ladji Doucoure when I was young, I had a star in my eyes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I watched him like, &lsquo;wow, he&rsquo;s a big champion, that&rsquo;s too far for me&rsquo;. But year after year I realised I could do something similar.
&ldquo;I finally beat his French record and at that time I just erased one record, but now my next objective is to have his medal. I have never got the gold &ndash; no Olympic gold, no world gold &ndash; and I work for it.&rdquo;
Although global gold again eluded him in Tokyo, the fact that he made it to the start line at all is a mark of his hard work and determination.
&ldquo;There is only one thing that I can say: everything comes from your mind,&rdquo; he said after racing in his second Olympic final. &ldquo;Today, I didn't run with my body, I didn't run with my muscles &ndash; I ran with my mind because I wanted to be a warrior.
&ldquo;My body is pretty bad. I have pain everywhere, but I'm still running. I still stand up,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I just wanted to go home with a medal, but today, it's not my day. I hope in Paris 2024 I will be better. Rio: fourth. Tokyo: fifth. I hope for Paris.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/620107c79b2ec128735bdcd9.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 But first he will hope that his road to that home Olympic Games in Paris goes via Belgrade and Oregon this year, as an opportunity to upgrade his collection of global medals to include that missing gold.
&ldquo;I try to do my best every time in every championships, and there are three of them this year,&rdquo; said Martinot-Lagarde, who also has the chance to defend his European 110m hurdles title in Munich in August.
&ldquo;Rendez-vous &agrave; Eugene this summer, and in Belgrade!&rdquo;
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

For Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, securing a strong season start in Karlsruhe last month was “like revenge”.

Martinot-Lagarde seeks more medal success in Belgrade

Kevin Mayer is relishing the opportunity to return to the Serbian capital for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
For the French all-rounder, the Stark Arena marked a turning point in his career five years ago. Mayer&rsquo;s victory in the heptathlon at the 2017 European Indoor Championships represented his first senior international title and, in turn, it kick-started a run of success. He went on to win the world decathlon title that year, then won the world indoor title in 2018 and broke the world decathlon record six months later. He then regained his European indoor title at the start of 2021.
&ldquo;It was so emotional,&rdquo; said Mayer of his victory in Belgrade five years ago, when he broke the European indoor heptathlon record with 6479. &ldquo;The result is the result, but the medal meant more. I&rsquo;d never won a gold medal as a senior; I&rsquo;d only won titles as a junior. I&rsquo;d gone six years without hearing my national anthem, so it made me very proud to hear it again and make the people of my country happy.&rdquo; 
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 But despite those four major titles and record-breaking performances, the past five years hasn&rsquo;t been plain sailing for Mayer, who will turn 30 next week.
He bowed out of the 2018 European Championships, while in peak form, after recording three fouls in the decathlon long jump. And in 2019, while struggling with injury, he was forced to retire from the decathlon at the World Championships in Doha when the pain became too great.
But the mark of a true champion, it is said, is how they bounce back from disappointment &ndash; and that&rsquo;s where Mayer excels. He used his DNF at the European Championships as motivation in Talence six weeks later and ended up smashing the world record with 9126. And less than one year on from his injury struggle in Doha, he earned the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics &ndash; his first podium finish at an outdoor championships since winning the world title in 2017. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/443012f5-d526-4da4-adad-7ed9a5e64463.png" alt="" width="100%" />
 Mayer has won the past three major indoor championships he has contested and he is looking to maintain that streak in Belgrade this year.
He opened his season at the end of January with a low-key long jump competition, and then competed in selected disciplines in a heptathlon in Aubiere one week later. On the first day he clocked 6.92 in the 60m, just 0.07 shy of his PB, and threw 15.58m in the shot put. He followed it with a swift 7.73 run in the 60m hurdles, just 0.05 away from his lifetime best, and vaulted 5.13m.
He was happy with his performances and is now looking forward to completing a full heptathlon in Belgrade.
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t wait to arrive in Belgrade and compete at the World Indoor Championships,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I felt a lot of frustration and pressure last year during the last European Indoor Championships. I hope I will have fun this year in Belgrade Arena, which I remember fondly, and that I will use everything I have been working in my training and preparation.&rdquo; 
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 It will be one of two major targets for Mayer this year, the other being the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, where he is expecting to come up against the likes of Olympic champion Damian Warner of Canada and world champion Niklas Kaul of Germany.
And while Mayer doesn&rsquo;t have any particular weakness across the 10 decathlon disciplines &ndash; he famously accrued the same number of points on each day of his world record performance in 2018 &ndash; he feels the long jump is one discipline in which he can unlock a few extra points this year.
&ldquo;My aim this year is to be able to give my best during big competitions, without injuries or physical discomfort,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And to enjoy every competition &ndash; whether it is an individual event or a decathlon.
&ldquo;I am currently working a lot on the long jump,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;We have recently made some big technical changes, but at the moment I&rsquo;m not making full use of them in competitions.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/9dcf3256-c6fb-449a-8d00-7c4dbfb79e75.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 The long jump will no doubt be a key event in major combined events competitions this year. Warner, the Olympic champion, last year set a world decathlon best and Canadian record of 8.28m en route to his victory in G&ouml;tzis. He then went on jump 8.24m in the decathlon in Tokyo &ndash; a mark that was farther than the bronze-medal-winning jump in the individual event.
Up-and-coming Swiss decathlete Simon Ehammer, meanwhile, set a world indoor heptathlon best of 8.26m at the same competition in Aubiere where Mayer was participating. But Ehammer and Mayer have both experienced struggles with the long jump in major decathlons in recent years, so it could be mark a significant point of the competition in both Belgrade and Oregon this year.
Mayer, however, knows that he now has years of experience on which to call, which will stand him in good stead at major events. And, more significantly, he has found the thing he considers more important than medals and records.
&ldquo;After more than 13 years of high-level training and competition in the decathlon, I&rsquo;m convinced that the most important thing in a sporting career is satisfaction,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The satisfaction we feel while training is what makes us better and what makes us strive to improve. And it&rsquo;s the very improvement that helps us achieve great results.
&ldquo;If I didn&rsquo;t feel satisfaction during every trainings session, I wouldn&rsquo;t have broken the world record,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;Satisfaction and passion represent the basis for success.&rdquo;

Five years after winning a European title in Belgrade, Mayer returns to the Serbian capital looking for a global gold

Mayer returning to Belgrade in pursuit of fourth major indoor title

The World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 has come just at the right time for Serbian sprinter Ivana Ilic.
The 19-year-old enjoyed a highly successful 2021 campaign, during which she set national U20 records for 60m (7.46), 100m (11.38) and 200m (23.62). In the 100m, her specialist event, she took silver at the European U20 Championships in Tallinn &ndash; Serbia&rsquo;s first continental medal in a sprinting event &ndash; and then went on to place fifth at the World Athletics U20 Championships Nairobi 21, just 0.03 shy of the bronze medal.
&ldquo;Even though half a year has passed since that race (the European U20 Championships 100m final), I still replay every step of it in my head,&rdquo; says Ilic. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still in that race; I had gold in my hands until the final 20 metres.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61eab2b95a5417977ab15d94.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Serbian sprinter Ivana Ilic (&copy; Roger Sedres)
&nbsp;
She is still tremendously proud of her achievement, though, in what was a close final. Just 0.07 separated the athletes in second, third, fourth and fifth.
&ldquo;The silver medal was a huge validation for me, as well as proof that every day of my training, every drop of sweat, was worth all the efforts and self-sacrifice,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Just thinking about that race makes my heart start beating again with the same strength that enabled me to bring Serbia that medal.&rdquo;
In Tallinn, Ilic finished third in her semifinal and advanced to the final as a time qualifier, yet produced a sparkling run in the final to take silver from an outside lane. In Nairobi one month later, it was a slightly different story; she advanced to the final as third fastest overall, but narrowly missed out on a medal in a close finish, placing fifth.
Nevertheless, Ilic&rsquo;s first taste of the global championships was a valuable experience as she turns her attention to 2022, her first season as a senior athlete. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61eab29c5a5417977ab15d91.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Ivana Ilic in action at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi (&copy; Dan Vernon)
&nbsp;
&ldquo;A fantastic season is behind me with national U20 records for 60m, 100m, and 200m as well as international successes,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I will forever remember the 2021 season as one that brought me a lot of happiness and experience, helping me to continue the path I am already on.
&ldquo;I started my preparations for 2022 a long time ago and I&rsquo;m targeting the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;Like many other athletes in Serbia, I dream about winning medals on home soil. Every day is dedicated to that task and mission.&rdquo;
Ilic opened her 2022 season in Belgrade in mid-January, clocking a lifetime best of 7.45 over 60m. For context, she started 2021 with a time of 7.71 and reduced her time to 7.46 as the season progressed. With a few more races, she expects to go even faster and would ideally like to achieve the World Indoor Championships qualifying mark of 7.30 &ndash; which would also break the national indoor record of 7.31, held by world indoor long jump champion Ivana Spanovic.
But even if she falls slightly shy of that target, the host nation can send one unqualified athlete in every discipline at the World Indoor Championships, opening a door for the likes of Ilic.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m aware that the path to a medal will be extremely difficult, but at the same time I know what I want, and I work on that every single day,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;When you believe, anything is possible. If my thoughts were different, I would have given up long time ago.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61eab2625a5417977ab15d8e.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Ivana Ilic in action at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi (&copy; Dan Vernon)
&nbsp;
Ilic, who was born in Gornji Milanovac in June 2002, started training in athletics back in 2013. Dragan Dukanac, a former international middle-distance runner for Yugoslavia, started coaching Ilic in 2016 and soon after she became one of the leading age-group sprinters in Serbia.
Now living in the Serbian district of Sumadija and competing as a member of the Cacak CAAK Club, Ilic has her sights firmly set on becoming not just the leading sprinter in Serbia, but one of the best in the world.
&ldquo;At the beginning, we all have idols, people we look up to, and we try to copy someone else,&rdquo; says Ilic, whose 100m PB of 11.38 is just 0.04 shy of the senior national record. &ldquo;But in the end, we create our own recipes for how to reach our goals. Without working hard, without discipline, courage and passion, results will not be seen.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have passion &ndash; I have lava boiling inside me and that is a feeling that will stick with me for as long as my dream does not come true, until I bring Serbia a medal that will make it proud forever.&rdquo;
LOC for World Athletics
 Tickets for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 can be purchased at <a href="https://new.tickets.rs/tour/world_athletics_indoor_championships_59" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tickets.rs</a> 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61eab2e35a5417977ab15d97.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />

National U20 record-holder embarks on her first senior season

Teenage talent Ilic hopeful of Belgrade call-up

The latest edition of the World Athletics Podcast brings together three legends of the javelin, with Neeraj Chopra and Julius Yego joined by host Steve Backley.
Since 2015, there have been men&rsquo;s javelin winners from four different continents at the five global senior championships, demonstrating the diversity in the event. Two of those champions &ndash; India&rsquo;s Olympic champion Chopra and Kenya&rsquo;s world gold medallist Yego &ndash; recently came together virtually with Great Britain&rsquo;s three-time Olympic and two-time world medallist Backley to talk everything about the discipline.
With his victory in Tokyo last year, Chopra became India&rsquo;s first ever Olympic champion in athletics. Although he had previously made history for his nation when breaking the world U20 record to win India&rsquo;s first gold medal at the World U20 Championships in 2016, his win in Tokyo launched him to superstardom.
&ldquo;India has not really ever had such an achievement in athletics or the javelin, so it has been huge, a very warm reception," explained Chopra, speaking from Delhi. "And, of course, India has a lot of people, so the following on social media has also been quite high because of that." 
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Download the full podcast for free via <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/world-athletics-podcast/id1340268954" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iTunes</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7vIXY6UZTkopeqoMsV4aQN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotify</a>.
All past episodes, including links to the podcast on a range of streaming platforms, can be found on <a href="https://audioboom.com/channels/4942781" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Audioboom</a>.
</div>
 Yego&rsquo;s win at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing was also monumental and, reflecting on that success and his journey to becoming a javelin thrower in a country that is renowned for distance running, the 33-year-old said: &ldquo;This is the talent I have. It&rsquo;s a God-given talent and I needed to do it.
"The turning point was in 2004 during the Olympics when I watched Andreas (Thorkildsen) beat the world record-holder, Jan Zelezny, and I had the feeling that &lsquo;I can do it as well&rsquo;. I was in high school and that was the year that I started focusing on the javelin.&rdquo;
Chopra also had great belief in his ability from the moment he picked up the implement.
&ldquo;When I first threw the javelin, it left my hand and I felt at one with the javelin,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I knew it was what I wanted to do. At that time, I didn&rsquo;t think about becoming a professional athlete or an Olympic champion, I just really enjoyed doing it.&rdquo;
Both were inspired by the performances of javelin greats before them, and videos of Backley were among those they would watch.
&ldquo;I like the elasticity you had,&rdquo; Yego told Backley,&nbsp;from his base in Eldoret. &ldquo;You are tall, yes, and I am short, but that elasticity of the hand, the flexibility of the shoulders and the hips. The movement of the hips was really interesting to me and I wanted to do that.
"I was watching YouTube videos of the javelin greats and that is where it started. I still watch my YouTube videos.&rdquo;
With the World Championships taking place in Oregon later this year, Chopra and Yego will have the chance to go head-to-head on the global stage. Adding a medal from that event to his collection is a big motivation for 24-year-old Chopra.
&ldquo;It is a big year, with the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am waiting to get back to full fitness and I am going to be working on my training with that in mind.&rdquo;
So what advice does Yego have for the newly-crowned Olympic champion Chopra, having the experience of winning his global gold back in 2015?
&ldquo;Focus is the main thing," he said. "After a major championship like that, don&rsquo;t let it get into your head.
&ldquo;I told him in Tokyo, in the final when you are feeling ok &ndash; throw far, that is the only way to win the major championships!&rdquo;
&ldquo;That is the soundbite that I am going to remember for a long time: when you feel good, throw far,&rdquo; replied Backley with a smile.
&ldquo;Keep it simple, that is the challenge of this event. It becomes your life, but it&rsquo;s about keeping it simple.&rdquo;
World Athletics

The latest edition of the World Athletics Podcast brings together three legends of the javelin, with Neeraj Chopra and Julius Yego joined by host Steve Backley.

World Athletics Podcast – javelin special

Cuban triple jumper Leyanis Perez had already shown great potential, but it was at the inaugural Pan American Junior Games in early December where she first experienced international success. Claiming&nbsp;a convincing victory, it was a stepping stone towards bigger goals &ndash; including the&nbsp;World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 &ndash;&nbsp;as she enters&nbsp;the senior ranks.
&ldquo;It was a beautiful experience. I wanted to secure a mark from my first attempt and go for more in the subsequent rounds. I am thankful to everyone who has supported me, and it makes up for not competing in Tokyo,&rdquo; reflected the 19-year-old after gaining continental gold in Cali with a 14.39m leap. She surpassed 14 metres in all her five jumps.
&ldquo;Being in Tokyo and not able to compete was a big blow and missing the World U20 Championships was also tough to swallow. But my coach, mother, godfather and fellow athletes supported me in those difficult moments,&rdquo; she added.
After jumping over 14 metres in seven local meetings on home soil, including a national U20 record of 14.48m, Perez&nbsp;secured a spot on the Cuban team for the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the World U20 Championships in Kenya.
Then, in only her second competition outside of Cuba, she improved to 14.53m, just nine centimetres shy of the 25-year-old world U20 record. But during her final day of training in Spain before flying to Tokyo, she suffered a muscle contraction in her right leg and could not recover in time to compete at either global event.
After some redemption in Cali, she has now set her sights on the World Indoor Championships, to be held in Belgrade on 18-20 March. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61d1a80ea61eb159ed4cc270.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />Leyanis Perez competes at the Pan American Junior Games in Cali (&copy; Calixto N Llanes)
 With no family sporting background, Leyanis and her twin sister Lidianis &ndash; a handball player &ndash;&nbsp;have brought sports to the forefront in their family in Pinar del Rio, Cuba&rsquo;s westernmost province.
Discovered by coach Ochandorena during third grade,&nbsp;Perez joined a sports school at the age of 10. A tall athlete (now 1.88m), she trained in both the high jump and triple jump. At the age of 15, she jumped 1.50m and 10.77m respectively in each event and improved to 1.64m and 12.41m the following year. In 2018, she focused more on the triple jump and a massive improvement to 13.36m in that event opened the doors to the national U20 team.
Under coach Ricardo Ponce&rsquo;s guidance, she joined the 14-metre club by leaping 14.13m in her first official competition of 2019. She ended the season with a silver medal at the Pan American U20 Championships in Costa Rica, her first international experience.
&ldquo;The results did not come out as expected, but I enjoyed the experience and seeing athletes from all over the Americas,&rdquo; she recalled.
As the Covid-19 pandemic hit early in 2020, she had already improved to 14.15m, but that would be it as she returned home and tried to stay active in her native Pinar del Rio.
&ldquo;It was a tough year for everyone, but I remained patient," she said.&nbsp;&ldquo;I would go to the track occasionally when we were allowed and did some conditioning to keep some form.&rdquo;
Despite some setbacks in 2021, Perez looks optimistically towards her debut on the global stage.
&ldquo;I competed in Cali with a nine-step run-up. My full run-up is 15 steps," she explained. "I consider myself as a fast jumper and there&rsquo;s so much I can improve. I need to strengthen my left leg and improve my run-up. I have full trust in my coach and my ability to continue improving, one step at a time."
Aware of her event's history in Cuba, she is encouraged to maintain her country&rsquo;s tradition in the women&rsquo;s triple jump on the global scene. &ldquo;I have watched videos of Yargelis Savigne&nbsp;(the two-time world champion) and Mabel Gay&nbsp;(2009 world silver medallist), plus Pedro Pichardo&nbsp;(Olympic champion). Mabel, now a coach, is tall like me and has given me good advice,&rdquo; she added.
Her coach, Ponce, also has some words of praise. &ldquo;She has the rare talent of being tall, fast and well-coordinated," he said. "She has huge potential, and we will guide her through her physical and mental growth.&rdquo;
Among others, Ponce led Yoandri Betanzos to five world medals.
Off the track, the first year physical education student enjoys tropical music and considers herself a good dancer. On it, she has a bigger dream: to become an Olympic champion.
&ldquo;Watching the Olympic final live at the Tokyo Stadium was a huge motivation for me," she said. "I want to become Olympic champion and I will go step by step to reach my goals.
"I have had many defeats in my career, and I have bounced back. I will continue to perform at my best and continue to bring joy to the Cuban people."
Javier Clavelo Robinson for World Athletics

After her Pan American Junior Games success, Leyanis Perez now targets bigger goals.

Rising triple jump talent Perez turns Tokyo disappointment into major motivation

The latest edition of the World Athletics Podcast brings together five legends of heptathlon, with Jessica Ennis-Hill, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Carolina Kluft and Nafissatou Thiam joined by host Denise Lewis.
Between them, these combined events greats have dominated the last 40 years in the seven discipline contest, so for Ennis-Hill &ndash; who retired in 2016 &ndash; what has it been like stepping back and watching the heptathlon unfold over the years?
&ldquo;Once you are in athletics and it has been your whole life &ndash; and the heptathlon has been everything for me for so long &ndash; it was a strange feeling to make that decision to step away,&rdquo; said Ennis-Hill, who won Olympic gold in front of a home crowd in 2012 and also has three world titles to her name. 
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Download the full podcast for free via <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/world-athletics-podcast/id1340268954" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iTunes</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7vIXY6UZTkopeqoMsV4aQN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotify</a>.
All past episodes, including links to the podcast on a range of streaming platforms, can be found on <a href="https://audioboom.com/channels/4942781" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Audioboom</a>.
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 &ldquo;But it was the absolute right time. I found that I had so many years of feeling highly motivated and driven to compete, and then towards the end of my career it flipped and I felt that emotion of being motivated by retirement and feeling really intrigued about what life what going to be like not being an elite athlete and what I would be able to do.
&ldquo;It has been incredible to have that career and now be on the other side and get to watch the likes of Nafi dominating and doing incredible things. I think with the heptathlon, there is never a standing still moment &ndash; everyone is pushing forwards and it is getting stronger and stronger and there are always these huge personalities and amazing women. I just feel really proud to be part of this family. It is really special.&rdquo;
Leading the way was the USA&rsquo;s Joyner-Kersee. Still the world record-holder with her phenomenal 7291-point score achieved when winning the Olympic title in Seoul in 1988, Joyner-Kersee went on to retain her title in Barcelona four years later. She also claimed Olympic long jump gold in 1988 and has four world titles to her name, including heptathlon crowns claimed in 1987 and 1993.
&ldquo;I have watched all of you from afar,&rdquo; Joyner-Kersee said to her fellow podcast guests. &ldquo;To see the sport continue to grow and the excitement and the pure talent, and have an appreciation for what you have done to keep the heptathlon out in the forefront.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just amazing. I think there is so much rich history and to be a part of this platform, I am so honoured because I am in awe of each and every one of you. And just know that even though I am not out there performing, I love watching the multi events.&rdquo;
Sweden&rsquo;s Kluft and Belgium&rsquo;s Thiam have since joined Joyner-Kersee in the 7000-point club, thanks to their respective PBs of 7032 and 7013. Kluft also won Olympic gold in 2004 as well as three consecutive world heptathlon titles, while Thiam is a two-time Olympic champion with wins in 2016 and 2021, as well as a world gold medallist from 2017.
On how the structure of the heptathlon may have changed over the years, Kluft explained: &ldquo;Competing together over two long days, you can still see the friendship and the competitive spirit among the girls. It is always spectacular to watch. It feels like there are a lot more girls pushing each other at a high level, but still we have Jackie&rsquo;s amazing world record there, so we have not reached her level yet, but it has been amazing to see the glory of the event.
"You need stars and great girls pushing each other to make the event interesting, but that goes for all the different events. I just hope that the heptathlon will remain in the front line of giving a great show because that is what we have done &ndash; all of us &ndash; for many years.&rdquo;
For Thiam, her own superb 7000-point show came in Gotzis in 2017. &ldquo;It was the year after the Olympics and after that gold medal I had a lot of doubts,&rdquo; Thiam said. &ldquo;I was thinking, &lsquo;what if I just reached my maximum potential?&rsquo; I had a lot of questions in my head. I think doing the 7000 really broke that and gave me more confidence, knowing that it wasn&rsquo;t over and I could do way more in the future. I was not expecting it, to be honest.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s all about having that belief, added Joyner-Kersee.
&ldquo;The heptathlon is a journey,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;Everyone would always say, &lsquo;the world record is so far out&rsquo; but you know, don&rsquo;t put limits on what you can do because the human body is capable of doing anything, as long as we believe.&rdquo;
World Athletics

The latest edition of the World Athletics Podcast brings together five legends of heptathlon, with Jessica Ennis-Hill, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Carolina Kluft and Nafissatou Thiam joined by host Denise Lewis.

World Athletics Podcast – heptathlon special

Ryan Crouser could well be the most dominant athlete in the world right now, but the US shot put superstar still has some conspicuous gaps in his medal collection.
Because for all of his record-breaking marks and consistency beyond 22 metres, and despite having two Olympic gold medals to his name, Crouser has yet to land a world title &ndash; indoors or outdoors.
In seven months from now, he&rsquo;ll return to Eugene&rsquo;s Hayward Field, the site of his world record throw from earlier in 2021, in a bid to secure his first world outdoor title. But his more immediate goal is to win gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22. 
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 For various reasons, Crouser has not yet had the opportunity to compete at a World Indoor Championships. Back in 2014, aged just 21 at the time, Crouser was starting to make a name for himself as a collegiate athlete &ndash; and, naturally, his university commitments precluded him from competing at the World Indoor Championships in Sopot that year.
Fast forward two years, and Crouser&rsquo;s home state of Oregon played host to the World Indoor Championships with the event descending on Portland. But, despite throwing a world-leading indoor mark of 21.73m in February that year, he was still a collegian and therefore unable to compete in Portland.
Crouser had been hoping to finally make his World Indoors debut in 2018, but he picked up a hand injury at the turn of the new year, ruling him out of the indoor season. And in 2020 he won the US indoor title in 22.60m, narrowly missing the world indoor record, but then the coronavirus pandemic struck, forcing the postponement of the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
After all of those setbacks, Crouser is determined to compete in Belgrade for the 2022 World Indoors on 18-20 March next year.
&ldquo;I like indoor track and field in general because it&rsquo;s a controlled environment, so you know the weather&rsquo;s going to be good!&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Reaching the World Indoors just hasn&rsquo;t worked out for me in recent years, but I&rsquo;m going to continue to hope that I can do one. Hopefully I&rsquo;ll make it to an indoor championships some time before my career is done.&rdquo;
Although he has not yet contested a World Indoors, Crouser knows what it is like to throw in Belgrade as he competed at a one-off city shot put meeting there in September 2020. He won with 22.59m, smashing the Serbian all-comers&rsquo; record and finishing almost two metres ahead of world champion Joe Kovacs. No one had previously thrown beyond 22 metres on Serbian soil, yet Crouser did so &ndash; and comfortably &ndash; with all five of his valid marks. 
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 It certainly bodes well for a return to the Serbian capital. Form and pandemic permitting, should Crouser make it to Belgrade next March, he would start as one of the outstanding gold medal favourites.
The 29-year-old has been undefeated for two full seasons. On top of that, he has now surpassed the 22-metre line 163 times &ndash; more than a third of all 22-metre throws in history.
But despite his dominance, in sport there is no such thing as a guarantee, and he is aware he can&rsquo;t take anything for granted whenever he lines up against his opponents. At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, for example, Crouser threw 22.90m &ndash; a PB at the time and one of the farthest throws in history &ndash; but in an incredible competition it was only sufficient for the silver medal. Kovacs took gold with 22.91m, while New Zealand&rsquo;s Tom Walsh matched Crouser&rsquo;s distance to earn the bronze medal on countback. 
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 That competition in Doha was a reflection of the continually improving standards in the discipline in recent years. More men are throwing beyond 22 and 21 metres than ever before, and the event isn&rsquo;t simply dominated by one or two nations. This year&rsquo;s Olympic final, for example, featured athletes from nine different countries, with five of the six continental areas represented.
Armin Sinancevic was one of those Olympic finalists and he finished seventh in Tokyo, having set a Serbian record of 21.88m earlier in the year. With the home crowd behind him, Sinancevic could be one of Crouser&rsquo;s biggest rivals in Belgrade next year.
Crouser welcomes the competitiveness of the event, though, as he knows it helps to keep him on his toes.
&ldquo;The guys that are out there competing are all very dedicated and are extremely talented,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They push me to be better, and there are multiple guys who &ndash; if I&rsquo;m not working hard &ndash; I know are going to pass me. It&rsquo;s a fight to be No.1 in the event.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been lucky to stay near the top this year, but I know I&rsquo;ve got to work as hard as I have been to continue to try to be at my best and to win more titles.&rdquo;
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<h3 style="color: #69d7e1;"><a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/shot-put-dominance-ryan-crouser-olympic-champion" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img style="width: 400px; height: 143px; margin-left: 20px;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61bdd48ea30a51ff73d27e8f.jpg" align="right" /></a><a style="color: #69d7e1;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/shot-put-dominance-ryan-crouser-olympic-champion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ: The incredible shot put dominance of Ryan Crouser</a></h3>
Are Crouser&rsquo;s achievements best measured by medals or metres?
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<h2> A weight lifted</h2>
Ever since he won his first Olympic title in 2016, Crouser had been touted as a possible candidate to break the long-standing world shot put record. Having come close in 2019 and 2020, it finally happened in 2021 &ndash; indoors and out.
The world indoor record came with his first throw of his first indoor competition of the year as Crouser sent his shot out to 22.82m in Fayetteville. 
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 Buoyed by his indoor success, he carried that form through to the outdoor season and went even farther, throwing 23.37m to win at the US Olympic Trials.
Breaking those records, he says, felt as though a weight had been lifted.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a lot of hard work and dedication, but I feel like the biggest thing to getting to the world record was getting out of my own way and letting it happen,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The thing I&rsquo;ve struggled most with is when I know that I can do it and trying to make myself do it.
&ldquo;I felt really confident heading into the US Trials, but it (the world record) wasn&rsquo;t an expectation. The times that I&rsquo;ve expected to throw over 23 or even a world record, I&rsquo;ve come up a little bit short because I get a little bit tight and try to force it. At the US Trials, I felt like I stayed loose and relaxed and executed my game plan.
&ldquo;That was the key for me: not trying to force it, and just letting it happen.&rdquo;
Similarly, if Crouser aims to fill those gaps on his medal stand this year, he knows what he needs to do; just let it happen.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

Ryan Crouser could well be the most dominant athlete in the world right now, but the US shot put superstar still has some conspicuous gaps in his medal collection.

Crouser hopeful of landing first world title in Belgrade

In 2017, when Belgrade hosted the continent&rsquo;s best athletes for the European Indoor Championships, local long jump legend Ivana Spanovic landed the leap of her life to win gold on home soil. Now the multiple global medallist is working to emulate that when the city welcomes the world.
Global indoor action returns on 18-20 March, when the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 will take place in the Stark Arena. Understandably, it is the next big aim for the star of Serbian athletics, who signed off her 2021 season by becoming a three-time Diamond League champion and then had further cause for celebration as she married her long-time partner, Marko Vuleta. The 31-year-old will now compete with the name Vuleta on her bib, leaving her with another goal.
&ldquo;I have a new task now,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;To make my new surname as globally recognised as my name given by birth.&rdquo;
Given all she has achieved in the sport &ndash; both on and off the runway &ndash; both names are also sure to remain synonymous with her passion for growing athletics in her home country. With a career that includes 2016 Olympic bronze, two world outdoor medals, three world indoor medals including the 2018 title that she will defend in Belgrade, a total of four European gold medals and numerous age-group achievements, Vuleta is an inspiration to many, and is determined to leave a legacy for the next generation. 
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 &ldquo;We are all excited to be the host again, on such a high level,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I can't wait to enter the Belgrade arena and wake up all the energy left over from the European Indoor Championships in 2017. And add to it!&rdquo;
The performance to have produced such energy was the national record leap of 7.24m Vuleta achieved in the third round of the competition. Having soared what looked to be even farther than her leading 7.16m PB from the second round, she sat next to the long jump pit, waiting for confirmation. As the time flashed up, she rolled on to her back and clasped her hands to her face in delight. It was the longest indoor jump since 1989.
&ldquo;I enjoyed every minute of competing in front of this home crowd,&rdquo; she said at the time. &ldquo;The people were amazing. I&rsquo;m really glad I could give them this gold medal.&rdquo;
On whether that mark leaves her even more motivated for what she might be able to achieve back on home soil in March, she says: &ldquo;Of course. If the 2017 results frighten me, I would probably find an excuse to even try to get close to that result again.
&ldquo;All I'm thinking is that with a healthy body, I will again produce and deliver something to remember.&rdquo; 
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 Having won medals at every major indoor championships that she has contested since 2014, what is it about indoor competition that she likes so much?
&ldquo;I don't know really,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s like a different sport when it's indoors. With the crowd so close, you can hear their breathing and mumbling, and yes, no rain and cold weather! So, it's a huge advantage.&rdquo;
A series of injury struggles means it has not been an easy few years for Vuleta, who claimed her first major senior medal at the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow, where she placed third. She went on to win a world indoor medal of the same colour in Sopot the following year, before a second world outdoor bronze in Beijing in 2015. Vuleta matched that podium place at the 2016 Olympics, following a winter in which she claimed world indoor silver in Portland, and completed the set of world indoor medals when getting gold in Birmingham in 2018 &ndash; her first global senior title, gained a decade after the international title she claimed as a teenager at the World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz. 
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 Injury then ruled her out of the 2019 World Championships in Doha and she was also forced to miss the defence of her European indoor title &ndash; having been targeting a fourth consecutive gold &ndash; this March. After a series of wins, including at the Wanda Diamond League meetings in Florence and Stockholm, she headed to Tokyo for her fourth Olympic Games, with Vuleta having made her debut as an 18-year-old in Beijing. In qualifying she soared out to the seven-metre mark for the first time since 2018, and that would remain the joint best mark of the entire competition. She later achieved 6.91m to finish fourth in a final won by Germany&rsquo;s Malaika Mihambo with 7.00m.
Disappointed to have missed out on another medal to add to her highly decorated CV full of impressive consistency, Vuleta bounced back in style, winning her third Diamond Trophy thanks to a 6.96m leap at the final in Zurich &ndash; her second-best mark of the season.
&ldquo;This one was a tough one,&rdquo; she says, reflecting on 2021. &ldquo;A long period of no competitions, the global problem with Covid, so back and forth &ndash; one step forward, three back and repeat.
&ldquo;I was sad about my winter season, then Tokyo, but as I kept on going, I was rediscovering my rhythm, so I was pleased with winning the Diamond Trophy and making the seven-metre mark.&rdquo; 
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 She also has the experience to know that the lows can be just as important as the highs.
&ldquo;There are times you make yourself forget some moments, for greater good,&rdquo; she explains. &ldquo;Failing is good, it's educational. It feeds your true nature to work on yourself more and get better in future. That's why I choose to let it go, because I have had my best and my worst couple of times in my career and I&rsquo;m thankful for each one of them. For me, the Zurich Diamond League was a victory meeting because I know myself, and I know what disappointment from one day does to me a day later.&rdquo;
That is also one of the messages she wishes to pass on to the next generation.
&ldquo;If I want to leave a legacy, I need to be involved in others&rsquo; lives and efforts, giving support in a way that they can feel like they can do it, too,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;So, I&rsquo;m there for kids, sharing my road, without hiding any bad parts of the story and making the story as raw as it was.&rdquo;
And as she prepares for the next chapter in that story, set in Belgrade&rsquo;s Stark Arena, could it be that the tale takes a twist? At the 2017 European indoor event she had ambitions of taking to the triple jump runway, to double up and combine that event with her main discipline. It didn&rsquo;t work out then, but might that be an aim this time?
&ldquo;It was a plan and I&rsquo;m still sad I didn't give myself a chance to try,&rdquo; says Spanovic, who has a triple jump PB of 13.78m from 2014. &ldquo;This time it would be too much, so I will just enjoy the triple jump from the crowd with my family and friends, expecting a world record from (Yulimar) Rojas.&rdquo;
A performance like that would of course receive huge support from the Belgrade crowd, but the loudest cheers will still surely be reserved for Serbian athletics&rsquo; superstar, Vuleta.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

World indoor champion hopes Belgrade's magic will help her retain long jump title