There are 10 days until the first World Athletics Indoor Tour kicks off in Boston and 18 days until the first European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting of the season in Paris. Who will be competing indoors this winter and which athletes will be sitting it out?
-Yuliya Levchenko, who cleared an early season world leading of 2.00m in the high jump in Kyiv on Saturday, is planning a full indoor season. She will compete in Cottbus (29 January), Karlsruhe (31 January), Banska Bystrica (11 February), Brno (15 February) and the Ukrainian Indoor Championships (20-22 February) ahead of the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing (13-15 March).
-Her teammate Yaroslava Mahuchikh will open her indoor season at the Demyanyuk Memorial in Lviv on Saturday. The world high jump silver medallist and world U20 record-holder is also confirmed for Cottbus and Banska Bystrica.
Jakob to miss indoor season, Filip to race in Dusseldorf and New York
-There won’t be an indoor season for European 1500m and 5000m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway who is suffering from a glute injury. Jakob was due to open his indoor campaign in the 1500m at the PSD Bank Meeting in Dusseldorf on 4 February, the track on which he broke the world indoor U20 record with 3:36.02 last year.
-Filip Ingebrigtsen will still compete over 1500m in Dusseldorf and he is also confirmed for the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in New York on 8 February. Laura Muir is also confirmed for the 800m against world indoor silver medallist Ajee’ Wilson and the Brit will also compete over 1000m at the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Glasgow which is being billed as an attempt on Maria Mutola’s world indoor record of 2:30.94.
Sprunger planning a full indoor season on the flat
-Reigning European indoor and outdoor champion Lea Sprunger is also planning a full indoor season. Sprunger compete over 400m in Karlsruhe (31 January), Dusseldorf (4 February), Torun (8 February) and Madrid (21 February) as well as over 60m at the Swiss Indoor Championships. After finishing fourth in the 400m hurdles in Doha last year, Sprunger will be looking to challenge for a medal in the 400m at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
-Poland’s Adam Kszczot missed the indoor season for the first time in his senior career last year but the three-time European indoor and outdoor champion will be racing on the boards again this winter. Among the races on his itinerary are Torun (8 February) and Stockholm (11 February).
-World silver medallist Amel Tuka from Bosnia & Herzegovina will also be in action this indoor season. He will face Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski in Torun on 8 February and he is also confirmed for Lievin on 19 February.
-Fellow Pole Konrad Bukowiecki will face Tomas Stanek at the Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava on 5 February and he will also go head-to-head with his teammate Michal Haratyk, the reigning European indoor and outdoor champion, in Dusseldorf on 6 February and in Lodz on 11 February.
No indoor season for Stefanidi, Spanovic aiming for Nanjing comeback
-Olympic and European pole vault champion Ekaterini Stefanidi is planning to miss the entirety of the indoor season in order to prepare fully for the summer campaign. Stefanidi won a bronze medal at the last World Indoor Championships in 2018.
-Ivana Spanovic missed the World Athletics Championships in Doha due to an Achilles injury but the Serbian is planning a return to competition next month. She is already confirmed for the Copernicus Cup in Torun on 8 February and she is planning to defend her world indoor title in Nanjing in March. She is expected to cross paths with Germany's world champion Malaika Mihambo who has already confirmed she is planning a full indoor season.
-European 100m hurdles champion Elvira Herman from Belarus is confirmed to compete at the Meeting de l’Eure in Val de-Reuil on 14 February. Her lifetime best in the 60m hurdles stands at 7.97, a time she posted twice in 2019.
-World and European 110m hurdles bronze medallist Orlando Ortega is also confirmed for Val-de-Reuil although he isn’t planning to compete at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
-European indoor champions Ana Peleteiro and Jorge Urena are both looking to add the world indoor titles to their list of accolades in March and European indoor 400m silver medallist Oscar Husillos, who crosses the line first in 2018 but was disqualified for a lane infringement, will also be looking to make amends in Nanjing.