Jessica Schilder tops entry list, seeking world indoor and outdoor title double
Defending champion Sarah Mitton targets hat-trick
Clash of global gold medallists also stars Chase Jackson and Yemisi Ogunleye
Every global gold medal in the women’s shot put has been won by one of five women since 2022 and they all clash at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26.
Between them, they have also claimed all nine medals from the past three editions of the World Indoor Championships.
Dutch record-holder Jessica Schilder is the world leader and world champion, US record-holder Chase Jackson won the two world titles before that, Germany’s Yemisi Ogunleye is the Olympic champion, Canadian record-holder Sarah Mitton is the two-time defending champion, and Portuguese record-holder Auriol Dongmo was the world indoor champion before that, in 2022.
It’s a stacked field and four of those athletes have already surpassed 20 metres in 2026.
Schilder sits top of the list. By throwing 20.69m in Berlin earlier this month, the 26-year-old matched the national record she set when winning the European indoor title on home soil in Apeldoorn last year – the farthest indoor throw in the world since 2013.
Her performance in Berlin added 20 centimetres to her own world lead – also set in Apeldoorn – in February and she lines up in Toruń with three of the four farthest winning marks of the season to her name, unbeaten so far in 2026.
The other athlete with a performance among those marks is Jackson, who won her fourth consecutive national indoor title with a US indoor record of 20.44m. After getting world indoor silver in 2022 and bronze medals in 2024 and 2025, the 31-year-old will want to become her nation’s second world indoor champion in this event after Michelle Carter in 2016.
But Mitton will want to maintain her mantle after getting gold in Glasgow and retaining the title in Nanjing. The 29-year-old, who finished fourth at the World Championships last year, has surpassed 20 metres on two occasions so far this season, throwing 20.22m in January and 20.27m in February, both on home soil.
Ogunleye, who secured world indoor silver behind Mitton in Glasgow, has also broken the 20-metre barrier by throwing 20.37m to win the German title last month.
In Poland they will all be watched by New Zealand’s shot put great Valerie Adams, a four-time world indoor gold medallist and ambassador for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26.
Adams set the championship record of 20.67m when the event was last held in Poland – in Sopot in 2014. That record could be under threat this weekend.
Dongmo finished between Schilder and Ogunleye at the ISTAF Indoor meeting in Berlin where Schilder set her world lead, throwing 19.14m for the runner-up spot – three centimetres off the season’s best she set a week prior to win the Portuguese title.
Others looking to make their mark in Toruń include Schilder’s compatriot Jorinde van Klinken, the world discus silver medallist, plus the Swedish duo of Fanny Roos and Axelina Johansson.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
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