Britain's Jeremiah Azu won the gold medal in the men's 60 metres final in a scorching 6.49 seconds to edge out Australian Lachlan Kennedy in a photo finish on the opening day of the World Indoor Athletics Championships on Friday.
Nanjing was already guaranteed a new sprint champion with American Christian Coleman absent from the first major global athletics meeting since last year's Paris Olympics and newly-crowned European indoor champion Azu stepped up.
"I knew I could win it. I said at the Europeans that I want to take over the world. This is just the start of our journey," an elated Azu told the BBC after he was confirmed as the winner.
"The plan is to keep on winning. The sky isn't the limit, there's way, way more than that. Let's see what the summer brings - I'm excited for it."
A personal best by the 23-year-old meant he remained unbeaten so far this year as he beat Kennedy by a hundredth of a second after an electric final in which American Ronnie Baker sustained a hamstring injury shortly before the finish.
South Africa's Akani Simbine settled for bronze with a time of 6.54 seconds after another leading contender Eloy Benitez of Puerto Rico took an early tumble and did not continue.
Kennedy, who was initially shown as the champion, said he hoped to build on the strong performance at the outdoor world championships in Tokyo this September.
"It's really a good season, so I hope I can carry this momentum towards Japan," he added. "Before that, I'm going to do nationals back in Australia and completely focus on the 100m now."
ITALIAN RECORD
Italy's Olympic bronze medallist Andy Diaz Hernandez earlier came up with a world-leading effort of 17.80m to seal the triple jump gold in the first final of the day in Nanjing's Cube.
The European indoor champion broke the Italian record with his first attempt and that proved enough to stave off his challengers, with China's Zhu Yaming taking silver with 17.33m.
Cuban-born Diaz Hernandez fouled in the second round and opted not to take his third, fourth and fifth attempts. The 29-year-old then returned for the sixth round but merely ran through and soaked up the applause from the crowd.
"My plan was never to jump only once," said Diaz Hernandez.
"I felt strong to set a new record but it didn't happen this time. There was a very long wait in between jumps so I was quite inactive for too long and this led to the decision of skipping the following attempts.
"But I feel strong and this is indicative that good jumps could happen this summer."
There was no shortage of drama as Brazil's Almir Dos Santos claimed the bronze with 17.22m but was disqualified a few hours later for a breach of rules relating to his shoes.
Defending champion Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso, who finished fourth with 17.15m, was then bumped up to the podium.
KERR DETHRONED
South Korea's Woo Sang-hyeok won his second World indoor high jump title as the only athlete to clear 2.31m, dethroning Hamish Kerr in the process.
New Zealand's Olympic gold medallist Kerr bagged silver ahead of Jamaica's Raymond Richards on countback, after both managed best jumps of 2.28m.
Sarah Mitton won a fiercely contested women's shot put event with a final effort of 20.48m to successfully defend her Glasgow indoors title. The Canadian finished in front of Dutchwoman Jessica Schilder (20.07) and American Chase Jackson (20.06).
Fresh from her European indoors triumph, favourite Saga Vanninen of Finland captured the women's pentathlon gold after a superb 800 metres run at the end.
The action resumes on Saturday, when all eyes will be on Sweden's World record holder Armand Duplantis in the pole vault event that gets the evening session under way.
© 2025