Joint world leaders Julien Alfred and Zaynab Dosso renew rivalry
Two medallists from 2025 return, Dosso joined by Patrizia van der Weken
Ewa Swoboda leads home hopes

The women’s world 60m lead is shared by two athletes – Julien Alfred and Zaynab Dosso – and they will go head to head at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26.

Both athletes clocked 6.99 in February, Alfred during one of her four races in Fayetteville this season and Dosso in the same Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena Toruń that will host the championships this weekend. Whether they hit that form again in Kujawy Pomorze or not, there are several other contenders ready to challenge them.

Since winning her world indoor title in Glasgow in 2024, Saint Lucia’s Alfred has become an Olympic 100m champion and 200m silver medallist. She also secured 100m bronze at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo.

The 6.99 she ran at the Tyson Invitational last month was the 24-year-old’s quickest time since the 6.98 she ran to get gold in Glasgow, and the area record-equalling 6.94 she ran in 2023 puts her joint second on the world all-time list.

In Glasgow, Alfred became her nation’s first medallist at a senior global championships. Should she win again in Kujawy Pomorze, the Saint Lucian star would become the sixth woman to win two world indoor titles in this event.

But Dosso is in PB form. The Italian 26-year-old dipped under seven seconds for the first time at last month’s Copernicus Cup in Toruń and will be aiming to go one better than the silver she secured behind Mujinga Kambundji at the last edition of the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.

Gold would complete her world indoor medal set, as she also clinched bronze in 2024. She has won all four finals she has contested so far this year – three World Indoor Tour Gold victories in Toruń, Ostrava and Belgrade plus an Italian title win.

Kambundji will not defend her title as she gave birth to her first baby in November, but Alfred and Dosso will face another Nanjing medallist in Patrizia van der Weken, whose bronze last year was Luxembourg’s first ever world medal, indoors or out.

Van der Weken sits third on the season top list with the 7.01 national record she set to finish second to Dosso at the Copernicus Cup and the top four in that race will all clash again. Great Britain’s world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt ran a PB of 7.04 that day to hold off home favourite Ewa Swoboda, the Polish record-holder who will target the podium again after getting world indoor silver between Alfred and Dosso in Glasgow two years ago.

Hunt will be joined on the British team by Dina Asher-Smith, who was 0.02 off her national record when winning the British title in 7.05 ahead of Hunt, while Jacious Sears lines up after winning the US title in 7.04. Jamaica will be represented by two-time world relay medallist Jonielle Smith and 2022 world U20 200m champion Brianna Lyston.

Brazil’s Ana Carolina Azevedo will want to build on the 7.09 she ran to win the South American indoor title at the end of last month, a performance that followed the 7.05 area record she set outdoors 10 days prior. Czechia’s Karolína Maňasová has also run 7.05 this year – a national record that improved her previous best by 0.05.

The entry list also includes Dosso’s Italian teammate Kelly Doualla, the European U20 100m and 4x100m champion who at 16 will be the youngest athlete competing at the championships.

Jess Whittington for World Athletics

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