Olympic shot put champion Yemisi Ogunleye was in excellent form on the first day of the German Indoor Championships in Dortmund on Friday (27) evening.
Having taken the lead in the second round with 19.13m, Ogunleye put the title out of reach of her domestic rivals by blasting the four kilogram implement to a lifetime best of 20.37m in the fifth round.
“I'm so happy right now: a personal best, the indoor championship title and I've broken the 20-meter mark. I'll stay calm and hope I can maintain this level,” said Ogunleye as quoted by Leichtathletik.de.
Ogunleye moves to second on the 2026 world list behind reigning world and European champion Jessica Schilder from the Netherlands who has thrown 20.43m and 20.49m so far this year.
Ogunleye has confirmed she is targeting the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Kujawy Pomorze from 20-22 March. The German made her breakthrough at these championships in Glasgow two years ago when she won a surprise silver medal with 20.19m, her first ever 20 metre-plus throw.
Georg Harpf also broke the 20 metre-barrier for the first time to win the men’s shot put with a fifth-round mark of 20.46m. The 20-year-old won his first German senior title by over one metre.
Florian Bremm won a fast men’s 3000m in 7:42.05 ahead of Fredrik Ruppert in 7:46.81 while Neele Wessel won the women’s 3000m in 9:01.35 ahead of Vanessa Mikitenko - the daughter of former London and Berlin Marathon winner Irina - in 9:03.18.
World 5000m race walk best for Olyanovska in Kyiv
European bronze medallist Lyudmila Olyanovska became the first race walker to break the 20 minute-barrier either indoors or outdoors in the 5000m race walk at the Ukrainian Indoor Championships in Kyiv on Friday (27).
Olyanovska stopped the clock at a world best of 19:53.61, breaking the previous world indoor (20:10.3) and world outdoor (20:01.80) bests.
Other highlights on the first day included Uliana Stepaniuk winning the women’s 60m title in 7.28 and Oleksandr Onufriyev clearing 5.60m for victory in the pole vault.