2022 World Indoors Day 2: Darlan Romani Shocks Ryan Crouser, Shaunae Miller-Uibo Wins Gold, Sandi Morris Too

By LetsRun.com
March 19, 2022

BELGRADE, Serbia – Nine different gold medals were awarded tonight at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships. We’ve already recapped the stellar men’s 60 final here as well as the women’s 1500 and men’s 800 finals here.

Women’s 400: Shaunae Miller-Uibo wins her first world indoor gold

Double Olympic champ Shauane Miller-Uibo won the women’s 400 title in 50.31 as 400 hurdler Femke Bol of the Netherlands was second in 50.57 with 33-year-old Stephenie Ann McPherson of Jamaica third in a Jamaican record of 50.79. 

After the 2014 World Indoors in Sopot, Poland (3rd – 52.06) Miller-Uibo said she was done with indoor 400s. Obviously, she went back on that retirement as she won her first world indoor gold tonight. Miller-Uibo credited her mom for putting the idea of going for World Indoor gold tonight. 

Last year, Miller-Uibo ran her first indoor 400 since the 2014 Sopot Worlds when she clocked 50.21 in Staten Island and she said given how well her outdoor season went in 2021 that she was inspired to do more indoors this year.

The bronze for McPherson was just the second of her career and her first since she won bronze outdoors in 2013.

POS BIB COUNTRY ATHLETE MARK
1 110 BAH Shaunae MILLER-UIBO 50.31 SB
2 300 NED Femke BOL 50.57
3 273 JAM Stephenie Ann MCPHERSON 50.79 NIR
4 323 POL Justyna ŚWIĘTY-ERSETIC 51.40
5 233 GUY Aliyah ABRAMS 52.34
6 303 NED Lieke KLAVER 52.67

Femke Bol was happy with her silver

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Bol said a silver medal in the flat 400 for a 400 hurdler, losing only to a double Olympic champ, is a good result. When we asked her if the fact that the winning time of 50.31 was .01 slower than the 50.30 she ran earlier this year made her think maybe a victory was possible, she pointed out that championship running is different than a one-off event. 

When asked why she did indoors, she said she loves indoors and loves to race and thinks her indoor flat pb will help her get even better at the 400h outdoors.

Men’s 400: Richards holds off D2 Star Bassitt

Trinidad & Tobago’s Jerem Richards, the 2017 WC bronze medallist outdoors in the 200, got the early lead at the break and narrowly hung on to win the men’s 400 in an indoor pb of 45.00, just ahead of NCAA D2 star Trevor Bassitt of Ashland University who lowered his pb from to 45.27 to 45.05 to nab the silver. That completed a great eight days for Bassitt as last Saturday he won two NCAA DII titles (400 in 45.05 and 60h in 7.73). Sweden’s Carl Bengtstrom captured the bronze in an indoor national record of 45.33.

POS BIB COUNTRY ATHLETE MARK
1 437 TTO Jereem RICHARDS 45.00 CR
2 444 USA Trevor BASSITT 45.05 PB
3 421 SWE Carl BENGTSTRÖM 45.33 NIR
4 175 DEN Benjamin Lobo VEDEL 45.67 NIR
5 171 CZE Patrik ŠORM 46.81
6 469 USA Marqueze WASHINGTON 46.85

Quick Take: Jereem Richards said the recent deaths of Deon Lendore and several family members who recently passed away provided extra motivation

He also added that being more of a 200/400 guy than a pure 400 guy, he knew the only way to win was to grab the lead early.

Trevor Bassitt has no regrets about his tactics and said he now needs to sit down and think about whether he’ll use his NCAA outdoor eligibility this spring

Bassitt was hoping to get the lead coming off the break but was unable to get it. Approaching 300, he tried to get by Richards but couldn’t do it and then had to run the final turn a little wide before trying to pass again on the homestretch. 

He came up just short, but was proud of the silver and pb. When asked if he had the chance to do it over again, if he’d just wait until the final 50 to try to make a move for the lead, he said no.

“I don’t think so. At that point, you have to make a move. You have to go for it. A risk it for the biscuit kind of deal,” said Bassitt. “Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn’t. I did it at USAs and it worked. I do it at Worlds it doesn’t. That’s the name of the game. You’ve got to take that chance every time.”

Women’s 60h: Cyrena Samba-Mayela win in an upset

21-year-old Cyrena Samba-Mayela of France, who was competing in her first global senior outdoor championship (she was a DNS in Tokyo), may have been the happiest champion tonight as was very emotional after getting the win by lowering her pb from 7.84 to 7.78. A year ago, she didn’t even get out of the heats at European indoors.

Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas, the Tokyo Olympic 100h 6th placer, took the silver in a national record time of 7.81 (the same time she ran in the semis), with America’s Gabriele Cunningham, the 7th placer in Tokyo, third in 7.87.

World leader Danielle Williams (7.75 sb), the 2015 world outdoor champ who didn’t make the Jamaican Olympic team last year after finishing 4th at the Trials, came up short once again as she didn’t get out of the first round (sixth in heat #2 of prelims in 8.23).

POS BIB COUNTRY ATHLETE MARK
1 200 FRA Cyréna SAMBA-MAYELA 7.78 NIR
2 109 BAH Devynne CHARLTON 7.81 NIR
3 381 USA Gabriele CUNNINGHAM 7.87
4 267 JAM Britany ANDERSON 7.96
5 406 VEN Yoveinny MOTA 8.05 NIR
6 306 NED Zoë SEDNEY 8.07
7 247 IRL Sarah LAVIN 8.09
  354 SUI Ditaji KAMBUNDJI DNF

Field Events

Men’s Shot: Romani upsets Crouser

World record holder and double Olympic champ Ryan Crouser has accomplished a ton in his career, but there still is a hole on his resume – he’s never won a world title, indoors or out. His lack of a World Indoor gold made sense as before tonight he’d never competed at World Indoors. But in tonight’s competition, he was shockingly upset by Brazil’s Darlan Romani, who won a much deserved first global medal after finishing 4th at the 2018 world indoors, 2019 world outdoors, and 2020 Olympics. The win snapped Crouser’s 26-meet win streak with his last loss coming at the 2019 Worlds.

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Romani got the win by throwing a 22.53 indoor pb in round 4. Crouser, who came into the competition as the world leader at 22.51, got off to a strong start with a 22.44 first-round throw but he was never able to throw farther although he did break also 22 meters in round 4 (22.32). The bronze went to two-time defending champion Tom Walsh of New Zealand, who equalled his pb at 22.31 (the same mark he threw to win in 2018, 21.78 got him the win in 2016).

Afterwards, Crouser wasn’t nearly as upset as one might think.

”Props to Darlan Romani. He threw extremely well – over a .7 meter pb. I’m just waiting for my .7 meter pb. Hopefully I’ll get it at the next world championships. Overall, I was content with how I threw. My preparation has been decent but I’ve just been [struggling] with a few nagging injuries,” said Crouser, who added he’s been limited in the number of hard throwing sessions he’s been able to get in due to an elbow injury. “I’m not displeased with how it went — it’s kind of a mediocre feeling – but huge congrats [to Romani].”

Crouser said the length of the competition was hard to deal with as there were 18 competitors and the preliminary throws lasted 75 minutes. Even in the final, things took way longer than normal as almost the entire field had to share one shot (most meets have 3-5 which speed things up considerably).

POS BIB COUNTRY ATHLETE MARK
1 150 BRA Darlan ROMANI 22.53 CR
2 450 USA Ryan CROUSER 22.44
3 355 NZL Tomas WALSH 22.31 AIR
4 162 CRO Filip MIHALJEVIĆ 21.83
5 443 USA Josh AWOTUNDE 21.70
6 289 ITA Zane WEIR 21.67 NIR
7 286 ITA Nick PONZIO 21.30
8 135 BIH Mesud PEZER 20.94 SB

Women’s Pole Vault: Morris wins

American Sandi Morris successfully defended her indoor world crown as she won with a 4.80m clearance. Her training partner, the reigning Olympic champion Katie Nageotte, was second at 4.75. 4.75 is also what Slovakia’s Tina Šutej, the 33-year-old Olympic 4th placer and 2011 and 2012 indoor NCAA champ for Arkansas, cleared to earn her first global medal in third.

It’s worth noting that the 2022 world leader Anzhelika Sidorova of Russia, the 2019 world champion and 2020 Olympic silver medallist, was banned from this meet due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as was the 2022 world #2 Polina Knoroz of Russia (4.81) and Iryna Zhuk of Belarus, the 2022 co-#3 (4.80).

POS BIB COUNTRY ATHLETE MARK
1 394 USA Sandi MORRIS 4.80 SB
2 396 USA Katie NAGEOTTE 4.75
3 341 SLO Tina ŠUTEJ 4.75
4 356 SUI Angelica MOSER 4.60
4 372 UKR Yana HLADIYCHUK 4.60 SB
6 313 NZL Olivia MCTAGGART 4.60
7 147 CHN Huiqin XU 4.45
8 264 ITA Elisa MOLINAROLO 4.45
9 161 CZE Amálie ŠVÁBÍKOVÁ 4.45
10 198 FRA Margot CHEVRIER 4.45
11 258 ITA Roberta BRUNI 4.30

Men’s Heptathlon: Warner wins

Olympic decathlon champ Damian Warner, a 32-year-old Canadian, ran 2:39.56 in the 1000 to come from behind and win his first world indoor title in the heptathlon with 6489 points. Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer, 22, had a 23-point lead heading into the 1k but only managed a 2:53.54 and had to settle with the silver (6363) as Australia’s Ashley Moloney, also 22, took third with 6344.

POS ATHLETE COUNTRY POINTS   60 LJ SP HJ 60H PV 1000
1 Damian WARNER CAN 6489 PointsMarkOverall 9996.68 (1)999 10738.05 (1)2072 78314.89 (1)2855 7941.99 (1)3649 10827.61 (1)4731 8804.90 (2)5611 8782:39.56 (1)6489
2 Simon EHAMMER SUI 6363 PointsMarkOverall 9846.72 (3)984 10718.04 (2)2055 74214.23 (2)2797 8502.05 (2)3647 10467.75 (2)4693 9415.10 (1)5634 7292:53.54 (2)6363
3 Ashley MOLONEY AUS 6344 PointsMarkOverall 9926.70 (2)992 10157.82 (3)2007 72213.89 (3)2729 8222.02 (3)3551 10127.88 (3)4563 9415.10 (3)5504 8402:43.01 (3)6344
4 Hans-Christian HAUSENBERG EST 6191 PointsMarkOverall 9336.86 (5)933 10507.96 (4)1983 70513.62 (6)2688 8222.02 (6)3510 9847.99 (4)4494 10045.30 (4)5498 6932:57.10 (4)6191
5 Andri OBERHOLZER SUI 6099 PointsMarkOverall 8827.00 (9)882 9527.57 (8)1834 77514.76 (8)2609 7941.99 (9)3403 9528.12 (7)4355 9105.00 (5)5265 8342:43.61 (5)6099
6 Steven BASTIEN USA 6074 PointsMarkOverall 9046.94 (7)904 9507.56 (6)1854 67913.19 (9)2533 8782.08 (8)3411 9478.14 (6)4358 8194.70 (8)5177 8972:37.89 (6)6074
7 Jorge UREÑA ESP 6049 PointsMarkOverall 9006.95 (8)900 8937.33 (10)1793 72213.90 (10)2515 8502.05 (10)3365 9877.98 (8)4352 8494.80 (7)5201 8482:42.28 (7)6049
8 Lindon VICTOR GRN 6029 PointsMarkOverall 9156.91 (6)915 9507.56 (5)1865 83015.65 (5)2695 8502.05 (5)3545 8818.41 (5)4426 8194.70 (6)5245 7842:48.21 (8)6029
9 Karel TILGA EST 5964 PointsMarkOverall 8587.07 (11)858 9457.54 (9)1803 81215.36 (7)2615 8222.02 (7)3437 8868.39 (9)4323 7604.50 (10)5083 8812:39.28 (9)5964
10 Dario DESTER ITA 5929 PointsMarkOverall 8797.01 (10)879 8867.30 (11)1765 73014.03 (11)2495 7671.96 (11)3262 9528.12 (10)4214 8804.90 (9)5094 8352:43.49 (10)5929
  Garrett SCANTLING USA DNF PointsMarkOverall 9406.84 (4)940 9107.40 (7)1850 87416.37 (4)2724 8222.02 (4)3546 0DNSDNF 0DNSDNF  
  Kai KAZMIREK GER DNF PointsMarkOverall 8067.22 (12)806 8026.95 (12)1608 69213.40 (12)2300 0DNSDNF  
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