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World Indoor Athletics Championships 2026 - Preview
19/03/2026 00:00, In Blog /
Reigning 60m champion Jeremiah Azu leads a five-strong Welsh contingent at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Poland this weekend.
The Cardiff Athletics speedster is joined in the Great Britain team by an outstanding quartet of female stars - Abi Pawlett (Trafford), Issy Boffey (Enfield and Haringey), Louisa Stoney (Belgrave Harriers) and Tess McHugh (Sale Harriers Manchester).
All five athletes are in superb form this indoor season having amassed an impressive haul of medals, national records and personal bests in recent weeks.
Just last weekend, Azu scorched to a new Welsh 60m record of 6.47 in Berlin – putting him ahead of the legendary Colin Jackson, with whom he previously shared the record of 6.49.
The time put Azu, who last month achieved the sprint double at the Novuna UK Indoor Championships, third on Britain’s all-time 60m list.
The Helen James coached athlete has been targeting the defence of his world title and appears to be in prime form and confident mood ahead of the championships.
After his double at the UK Indoor Championships, Azu said:
I will be going to world indoors to go and defend my title. This was a dress rehearsal.
Like Azu, Pawlett and Boffey also won gold in Birmingham as they put their hands up for selection at the worlds in Torun.
Hugely talented multi-eventer Pawlett took gold in the 60m hurdles – where she improved her own Welsh record no less than three times on her way to the top step of the podium.
Pawlett has she been selected for the 60m hurdles and the pentathlon, but is likely to only compete in the pentathlon, subject to world rankings confirmation. This will be Pawlett’s second World Indoors having finished ninth in the pentathlon in Glasgow two years ago.
Since transferring her allegiance from England to Wales, Pawlett has represented Great Britain at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and the European Under-23 Championships, where she won a silver medal in the heptathlon.
The 23-year-old, who is coached by Ashley Bryant, says of her decision to switch nations:
Genuinely, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. The support I’ve had is second to none.
I say to my parents all the time, I don’t think I would have made Tokyo and won that under-23 silver medal if it wasn’t for the support from Welsh Athletics.
Another to have made the switch from the red rose of England to the red vest of Wales is Boffey, whose gold medal in Birmingham was a continuation of a spectacular run of form so far this year.
Coached by Luke Gunn, Boffey’s indoor season exploded into life in January when she obliterated the 28-year-old Welsh indoor 800m record in Boston when she ran 2:00.14.
If that wasn’t enough to make the rest of the world sit up and take notice, just six days later Boffey ran 1:57.43 in the same city to go second on the British all-time rankings and announce herself once and for all on the global stage.
In Torun, the 25-year-old will line-up in the 800m alongside Olympic 800m Champion Keely Hodgkinson.
Boffey, who represented GB at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn last year and the 2024 World Indoors in Glasgow, said of her Torun selection:
My first aim in Poland is to get through the heats as I didn’t manage that last time, but this time I really want to be in that final.
Wales’ two other representatives in the GB team will be targeting final places over 400m.
Stoney’s progression over the past 12 months has been impressive, culminating in her 400m silver medal at the UK champs, having run the Commonwealth Games B standard in qualifying.
In the final, Stoney claimed a new PB of 51.38 as she edged double Olympic medallist Amber Anning into third place.
The Martin Rowe coached sprinter’s performance earned a place in the individual 400m event and relay in Poland.
Stoney will be joined in the GB 4x400m squad by McHugh, who finished sixth in that UK indoors 400m final.
McHugh, who is coached by Stephen Ball, is in the form of her life having run a new 400m PB of 52.48 indoors in Glasgow at the start of this month.
The championships get underway on Friday, March 20, when Azu will line up in the men’s 60m heats in the morning, followed by Stoney in the women’s 400m heats and Boffey in the women’s 800m.
Pawlett will be in action on Sunday, March 22 when both the individual 60m hurdles and pentathlon events begin.
Stoney and McHugh will be part of the GB 4x400m squad which lines-up for the relay heats on Sunday morning.