Thriving World Athletics Indoor Championships set for lift-off in Poland
19th Match 2026On the eve of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe thanked the athletes who are preparing to compete at the Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena in Torun from 20-22 March and paid tribute to the enduring appeal of the event.
“This is the 21st edition of the World Indoor Championships and the pinnacle of our global indoor season,” Coe said at the pre-event press conference on Thursday (19).
“I’m delighted to announce right here that the World Athletics Council this morning awarded the next two editions to Odisha in India in 2028 and Astana, Kazakhstan in 2030. So the future of the World Athletics Indoor Championships is looking bright and assured.
“This is the first full global track and field championship of 2026 and will be the first barometer of how athletes are performing on their pathway to the Ultimate Championship at the end of the season via a vibrant Diamond League circuit.
“We are really looking forward to three days of thrilling action involving 670 athletes, with a good gender split, and 113 nations in all competing for global honours.
“I’d like to end with a big thank you to the local organising committee, the city of Torun, and, of course, the region, as well as the Polish Athletics Association."
In response, Piotr Calbecki, Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region and LOC President, commented:
“It is a very big privilege and honour to be organisers of this event, and we want to thank World Athletics a lot for this.
“It is not often that a region rather than a city is organiser of a World Championship. I think it is unique in the history of this event.”
New Zealand’s double Olympic shot put champion and winner of four world indoor titles, Valerie Adams, World Athletics ambassador for the championships, added: “Returning to Poland, a place where I clinched my last world indoor title, brings back so many wonderful memories and a surge of excitement.
“The upcoming days will highlight talent and athleticism, presenting the very best in the world.”
Asked if she felt the championship record of 20.67m she set at the 2014 edition in Sopot could be under threat given the fact that three women in the field had thrown farther, she responded:
“Sopot was probably my favourite World Indoors, but records are made to be broken. If it goes, it just shows there are great athletes coming through. Although I did win four titles – just saying!”
Speaking exactly a month after setting a world short track 800m record of 1:54.87, Britain’s 24-year-old Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson reflected upon the fact that, due to untimely injuries before the past three editions of this championship, she would be making her first appearance in it on this occasion.
“This is the one medal I don’t have, so it would be really great to box that one off. I will be happy to make the start line this time but until I cross the finish line I’m not going to jinx anything.”
Asked about the challenge she faced last year, when injury only allowed her to return to competition in August, a month before she earned world bronze in Tokyo, she replied:
“It’s difficult for any athlete when you just want to compete, you do all this training to get out there, and every time I tried I was just put back to the sidelines to start again. Months of rehab were definitely draining on the mind and there were a lot of frustrations. But I look back and I wouldn’t change anything. I think it’s made me a better athlete and it’s made competing that much more fun and exciting.”
Manolo Karalis is another athlete arriving in Poland after a recent peak performance – his 6.17m pole vault at the Greek Indoor Championships established him as second on the world all-time list behind Mondo Duplantis, who raised his own world record to 6.31m this month and is also set to compete at the championships.
“It’s amazing,” said the 26-year-old Olympic bronze medallist and world silver medallist. “I feel good, I feel healthy, and I feel I have more in the tank. Hopefully in the next few days I’m going to enjoy myself.”
Anna Hall of the United States, the world heptathlon champion, commented: “These will be my first World Indoor Championships and I am so excited to be here. I have wanted to do these championships for a very long time.”
Asked if winning a world title, following bronze and silver medals, had fulfilled all her expectations, she responded:
“I don’t know if I would say it fulfilled them all. I think some of them. When you are chasing a first gold, you think that when you win a world title you are going to be this crazy, different person. It didn’t change much at all, although I now get great introductions. But I definitely still feel unsatisfied and I have many things I want to chase.”
Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas, world record-holder and winner of the world indoor 60m hurdles titles in 2024 and 2025, commented: “This is the best physical and mental shape I’ve been in since Glasgow (2024). With so many talented athletes involved, I can see it being very close. But if I have my way, then it won’t be!”
Italy’s 20-year-old world indoor and outdoor long jump champion Mattia Furlani was relishing the chance to defend the first of those titles. “It is wonderful to be defending my title in this beautiful place,” he said. “That should be the goal for every year – to be defending a title.”
Meanwhile Poland’s leading sprinter Ewa Swoboda, who won world indoor silver in 2024 and has a gold and two silvers from the European Indoor Championships, was happy to acknowledge the prospective benefits of being a home favourite.
“I’m so happy about that as in 2021 I couldn’t start at the European Indoors here because of Covid. Now I will be happy to run fast with the other girls and I will be so happy to see my parents in the crowd. This is all for me.”