SCOTT LINCOLN THROWS INDOOR PB BUT NARROWLY MISSES OUT ON PODIUM AT WORLD INDOOR CHAMPS
22nd March 2026The final morning session of the World Indoor Championships in Poland opened with plenty of field action from Novuna GB & NI team, with the women’s 4x400m relay team progressing to the final later in the day. Scott Lincoln (City of York, Dale Stevenson) opened the shot put competition strongly with a throw of 20.98m, immediately putting himself in medal contention while many competitors struggled to settle. He followed it with an indoor lifetime best of 21.13m in round two, which stood as his best of the day and of the season. It wasn’t enough to dislodge the USA or New Zealand from the podium, and Lincoln finished with the best performance by a British athlete at a world indoor or outdoor championships in fourth place. “I feel disappointed; the medal was there for the taking. I genuinely thought I was there or thereabouts. I thought I had a medal in round five, but today was just not to be. Going into outdoors I’m feeling positive. I was the highest-finishing European, and with the European Championships this year, it’s looking good. I’m excited for what’s to come.” The women’s 4x400m saw an excellent tactical run from the British quartet, who finished behind the USA to automatically qualify for the evening final. The team featured three senior GB & NI debutantes. Louisa Stoney (Belgrave Harriers, Marvin Rowe) led off, followed by Jazmine Moss (Gateshead Harriers AC, Richard Kilty) and Poppy Malik (Harrow, Nick Dakin), before Tess McHugh (Sale Harriers Manchester, Stephen Ball) anchored superbly, slotting in behind the USA and ahead of Spain to finish in 3:29.31. Speaking after her race and senior international debut, McHugh said: “I really enjoyed the race. Running with the girls is amazing. It’s my first time wearing the GB & NI vest. We needed a top-two finish and I felt strong; I did my best to hold my position. I am proud of what we have achieved this morning.” Emma Nwofor (Thames Valley Harriers, Joel Brown) ran a personal best of 8.04 in her 60m hurdles heat but missed out on a non-automatic qualifying spot for the semi-finals by just 0.01 seconds. Despite the narrow miss, the debutante was pleased with her performance. “I am so happy to be here, but I know I still have a job to do. I felt like we were held in the set position for ages, but once I got going, I just thought: run, run, run. My coach told me to run two metres past the line, and that’s what I did. Because of that, it secured me a personal best.” On her GB & NI debut, Molly Palmer (Thames Valley, Lukasz Zawila) made her voice heard as she successfully appealed to retake her first jump due to the long jump pit not being raked. After a disrupted start, she settled on her third attempt, recording a valid jump that placed her tenth and secured her progression to the next stage. She was unable to improve on her 6.49m effort and concluded her debut with an eventful top-ten finish. “I think today was one of the most eventful competitions I have ever had. The pit wasn’t raked on my first-round jump, so I had to jump again a few minutes later. It was a very stressful situation; I didn’t know what to do or how it worked. However, I am happy to come away with 6.49m, one of the biggest jumps I’ve ever done. Yes, there were no jumps, but there are positives to take from today.” In the women’s pentathlon, Ellen Barber (Wells City Harriers, John Lane) opened strongly with a PB of 8.66 in the 60m hurdles, swiftly followed by a season’s best of 1.66m in the high jump. She finished the morning session with a shotput throw of 13.56 ahead of the long jump and 800m this evening. The evening session features four finals with British athletes: Molly Caudery in the pole vault, Georgia Hunter-Bell in the 1500m, Keely Hodgkinson in the 800m, and the women’s 4x400m relay. Ellen Barber’s final two pentathlon events will also take place this evening, all live on BBC Two.