Mohamed Attaoui just fell short of the world indoor 1000m record at the World Indoor Tour Gold Meeting in Madrid on Friday (6) night but the Spaniard was still rewarded with a European record and the third fastest time in history indoors.
Attaoui, who took up the running from the pacemakers just before the 800m mark in 1:47.58, was still fractionally ahead of the wave-lights as he rounded the final bend but the 10-year-old world indoor record of 2:14.20 agonisingly slipped away from the Spaniard in the closing metres of his record attempt.
However, Attaoui still had the consolation of breaking Wilson Kipketer’s long-standing European indoor 1000m record of 2:14.96, a world record at the time, which dates all the way back to 2000.
And aside from Djibouti's Ayanleh Souleiman who still holds the world record, the only other athlete who has run faster than Attaoui is the newly minted world indoor record-holder Josh Hoey from the United States who clocked 2:14.48 last month.
"I'm leaving with the European record but not the world record. Up to 600 meters I was very comfortable and I kept telling the pacemaker to move out of the way because I noticed he was slowing down a bit and wasn't doing so.
"With 300 meters to go, I couldn't see the lights and I thought I was ahead of the world record. If I had known I was behind, I would have pushed harder. But anyway, I'm leaving very happy, with a European record," said Attaoui as quoted by MARCA.
An outright Spanish record for Llopis
Enrique Llopis gained sole ownership of the Spanish record with victory in front of his home supporters in the 60m hurdles.
Llopis charged through the field over the two hurdles for the win. The clock initially stopped at 7.48 to tie the national record he holds with the now-retired 2016 Olympic 110m hurdles silver medallist Orlando Ortega but the official time was taken down to 7.45 to revise the record books.
Italy’s Lorenzo Simonelli, who defeated Llopis for gold at the 2024 European Athletics Championships, improved his season’s best to 7.50 to finish second with Jamal Britt from the United States rounding out the top three with a 7.51 PB.
So close to 7.00m for De Sousa
Making the most of the slightly rarefied conditions in Madrid, 2024 European bronze medallist Agate de Sousa bounded out to a world lead and indoor lifetime best of 6.97m for victory in the fourth round of the long jump.
The Portuguese long jumper landed that mark in the fourth round to displace Larissa Iapichino’s early season world lead of 6.93m for victory ahead of Spain’s Irati Mitxelena who improved to 6.70m in the sixth round to equal her lifetime best.
But any of de Sousa's three valid efforts would have sufficed for the victory. She opened her series with 6.76m and also jumped 6.86m in the fifth round.
Back-to-back victories for Werro and Klaver
Audrey Werro took her second notable victory in the space of six days albeit in a much different manner to Val-de-Reuil on Sunday.
After front running to victory in a Swiss indoor 800m record of 1:57.49 last weekend, Werro showed she can also win in a sprint finish by outpacing Ethiopia’s world indoor silver medallist Nigist Getachaw in the home straight, 2:00.68 to 2:00.76.
However, the fastest time of the day in the 800m came in the ‘B’ race at the start of the programme. Rocio Arroyo broke the 2:00-barrier indoors for the first time with victory in 1:59.97, the second fastest ever time indoors by a Spaniard.
Three days after opening her season with victory in Ostrava, European indoor champion Lieke Klaver secured back-to-back wins in the 400m but the Dutchwoman didn’t look entirely pleased with her evening’s work.
Klaver blasted through 200m in an aggressive 23.25 before tying up on the second lap and slowing to a 51.26 clocking, a little shy of her world lead of 51.01 from Ostrava.
In her first track race since the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Nadia Battocletti tied the Italian indoor record in finishing second in a rare outing over 1500m, her first race at the distance indoors in five years.
Battocletti made a long run for home with 300 metres remaining but the multiple European champion was outsprinted on the last lap by Ethiopia’s 1500m specialist Birke Haylom who extended her unbeaten streak in 2026 with victory in 4:02.37 ahead of Battocletti in 4:03.59.
Full results here
All photos courtesy of Martín de Álava Pérez
