Medals up for grabs on day one of World Indoors

Jamaica will have the chance to earn its first medal on day one of the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships when action gets under way today at the Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena in Torun, Poland.

Three finals will be contested with Jamaica standing a strong chance of gaining medals in all three.

The men’s 60 metres, the men’s triple jump and the women’s high jump finals will all be decided across the morning and afternoon sessions.

In the first final of the day, Lamara Distin will be Jamaica’s only representative to line up in the women’s high jump at 5:39 am.

Distin enters the competition as the joint-sixth best ranked athlete in the world this year with a season’s best of 1.96m, not far from her personal best of 2.00m.

She will have to topple this year’s world leader, and the event’s favourite, Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh who has cleared 2.03 this year, and holds a personal best of 2.06 indoors and a world record 2.10 outdoors.

The second final on schedule will be the men’s triple jump, where Jamaica’s Jordan Scott will search for his first major international medal.

Scott, the four-time national champion, had the best season of his life last year where he shattered his personal best several times over.

However, he fell just short of a major medal as he placed fourth in last year’s World Indoors, and fifth at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships.

Scott, who has only competed once this year, will enter the event as the fourth-best athlete in the field this year, but will have to see off his stacked list of competitors.

He will face off against defending World Indoor champion Andy Diaz of Italy and world leader Yasser Triki of Algeria.

SPRINT TITLE

The day’s schedule will close with the highly anticipated men’s 60m event as all three rounds of competition will be contested on day one.

Jamaica will have three of the top 10 athletes in the world lining up in the heats as Kishane Thompson, Bryan Levell and Ackeem Blake are set to be in action.

Levell will be the first Jamaica to take to the track in the heats as he will line up in heat three.

Thompson will begin his rounds from heat five while Blake is scheduled to run in heat seven.

The preliminary rounds of the 60m will begin at 4:20 am with the top three from each heat, and the next three fastest times to advance to the semi-finals.

The semi-finals will then begin at 2:16 pm, before the final at 3:22 pm.

Several other Jamaican athletes will also be in action on day one as Reheem Hayles and Delano Kennedy will kickstart their campaign in the heats of the men’s 400m when they line up in heats two and three respectively.

The top two from each heat, along with the next four fastest times in the 400m, will advance to the semi-finals set for 2:44 pm

Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin and Kelly-Beckford will be in the heats of the women’s 800m while Navasky Anderson, national 800m record holder, will be Jamaica’s lone competitor in the men’s 800m heats as he lines up in heat one.

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com

Morning Session

Men’s 60m Heats (4:20 am)

Bryan Levell - Heat 3

Kishane Thompson - Heat 5

Ackeem Blake - Heat 7

Women’s High Jump Final (5:39 am)

Lamara Distin

Men’s 400m Heats (5:56 am)

Reheem Hayles - Heat 2

Delano Kennedy - Heat 3

Women’s 800m Heats (6:38 am)

Natoya Goule-Toppin - Heat 2

Kelly-Ann Beckford - Heat 4

Men’s 800m Heats (7:21 am)

Navasky Anderson - Heat 1

Evening session

Men’s Triple Jump Final (1:35 pm)

Jordan Scott