Inspirational moments you may have missed at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships
From Great Britain's flying twins to the small nations making their mark on the world scene, discover the stories you might not have seen at the Indoor Worlds in Glasgow.
Where to even begin?
Headline names at the World Athletics Indoor Championships dominated the media coverage from Noah Lyles' surprise participation in the 4x400m relay, to Femke Bol confirming her status as the current 400m queen. Josh Kerr raising the roof in front of his home Glasgow crowd to claim the 3000m gold and fellow Brit Molly Caudery bringing the house down – but thankfully not the pole vault bar – when she won gold against a field of Olympic and world champions.
A breathless feast of the best of athletics, then.
But what about some of the magnificent stories that might have got lost in the melee? Olympics.com brings you just a few of the stories you might not have seen.
Small but mighty nations make their mark
Devynne Charlton broke the women's 60m hurdles world record for the second time in the space of a few weeks to become the world indoor champion in a time of 7.65s. The Bahamian, whose country's population of 400,000 is less than a quarter of the size of the Glasgow City region in which the World Athletics Indoors Championships was taking place, took 0.02 off the world record she set last month in New York.
Julien Alfred became St Lucia's first global medallist, and champion, after securing gold in the women’s 60m, which in turn inspired Thea LaFond in the women's triple jump the following day after securing a personal best of 15.01m and also the World Lead.
The Dominican athlete said afterwards: "So Julien is from St Lucia, which is a neighbouring country to Dominica and we share a lot of similarities cultural wise and I would be lying to you if I said I didn't cry last night when I saw her win gold."
In one of the last events of the three-day championships, Noelie Yarigo of the West African nation of Benin lay face down on the track, screaming with delight, following the culmination of the women's 800m in which she earned a first-ever world championship medal – at 38 years old. The two-time Olympian finished behind Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma and home crowd favourite Jemma Reekie.
Emotional Nielsen twins claim first-ever World relay medal together
Britain's Laviai Nielsen and Lina Nielsen have been on the senior circuit for nigh on a decade but have never raced a world relay together. Now was their time and they wanted a medal to mark the occasion.
The pair joined Ama Pipi and Jessie Knight in claiming bronze in the 4x400m behind the United States in silver and the high-flying Netherlands' squad, which included the championship-smashing Femke Bol, who bagged gold.
The siblings have missed out on running in relays at major events over the years due to injury to one or the other but also because the pair manage multiple sclerosis, a lifelong condition that affects the brain and nerves.
This medal means a lot.