World Indoor Athletics - Day 1 morning session including women's 60m heats, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, as Martinez wins triple jump

The 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships got underway on Friday morning (18th March) in Belgrade.

Three days of competition began with several big names on the track in Serbia.

Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo made it safely through the heats, as she makes a rare indoor appearance.

There were some intriguing results in the women's 60m heats as Jamaican sprinters Shericka Jackson and Briana Williams booked semi-final spots.

Olympic gold medallist Damien Warner made an impressive start to the Heptathlon, while defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson got her pentathlon campaign underway.

And the first medals of the event have been won in the field events, with Lazaro Martinez claiming the gold.

Updates from the morning session are below. We'll also have action from the evening session starting at 17:30 CET.

Men's triple jump final - first gold of Belgrade 2022 goes to Cuba's Lazaro Martinez

Lazaro Martinez of Cuba jumped into a huge early lead with 17.64, a lifetime best with his first jump.

Will Claye of USA is one of the big names in this field. He puts down a solid 17.15 in the to sit fourth, behind fellow American Donald Scott (17.21), and Olympic champ Pedro Pichardo from Portugal (17.46) after four of the six rounds of jumping.

Reigning champion Claye then improves his performance with a 17.19 but that's still not enough to get into the podium places, and his final jump isn't enough either. None of the other competitors can get near the top three.

It's GOLD for Cuba and Martinez. Cuban-born Pichardo from Portugal takes silver, with Donald Scott winning bronze.

Rojas of Venezuela goes in the women's event later in these championships and is tipped to break a world record.

Pentathlon shot put - Vidts retakes lead

This is the third event for the women in their multi-discipline sport, and yet again Noor Vidts impresses. The Belgian throws 14.03m which is 1cm further than Chari Hawkins of the US. They're the only two pentathletes over the 14m mark, with GB's Holly Mills third, and Katarina Johnson-Thompson seventh after a throw of 13.02. She climbs a place to fifth in the overall standings, where Vidts retakes the lead (2907 pts), Sulek from Poland drops to second (2895), and Hawkins remains in third (2886).

The long jump and 800m take place in the afternoon session, and with more than 100 points gap to Kendall Williams in fourth (2777) it'll take something big to prevent the three leaders from claiming the medals that are handed out tonight.

Men's 3000m heats

This is the final event on the track. Three heats here, and we've got fallers in the first. John Gay and Jacob Krop both hit the deck but picked themselves up and continue in this long distance race. Kenya's Krop finishes second behind Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia. Zouhair Talbi from Morocco and Dillon Maggard are the four automatic qualifiers. There are three spaces for the fastest athletes who don't get a top four finish in this first round. Canada's Gay won't make it.

Ethiopia's Selemon Barega, the Olympic 10,000m champion, leads home the second heat, with George Beamish of New Zealand second. Australian Matthew Ramsden and Spain's Adel Mechaal cross the line third and fourth.

Marc Scott from Great Britain wins the third heat. Daniel Simiu Ebenyo is second for Kenya, with Belgium's Isaac Kimeli and Maximilian Thorwirth from Germany the other automatic qualifiers.

Jonas Raess of Switzerland, Baldvin Magnusson from Israel, and Belgium's Michael Somers are the other three who qualify due to their fast times.

There's a big shock with 5km world record holder Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia missing out on a qualifying spot despite having the leading time at the distance this year.

Men's 800m heats

It's just the top two in each of the four heats who make it through.

Noah Kibet of Kenya won the first, head of Bryce Hoppel who also qualifies.

The second heat has indoor tour champion Elliot Giles of GB in the line-up but he did not start after a muscle injury in the warm-up. Marco Arop and Andreas Kramer finished one-two.

Spain's Mariano Garcia and Belgian Eliott Crestan made it through from the third heat.

Collins Kipruto of Kenya had looked good to progress from the final heat, but after his error, USA's Isiah Harris and Alvaro de Arriba of Spain complete the qualifiers.

Heptathlon shot put - Former NFL wide receiver Scantling makes a move

Garrett Scantling of USA is moving up the field in the Heptathlon thanks to his personal best shot put effort of 16.37m, which leads the discipline. Formerly a wide receiver contracted to the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, the Tokyo 2020 Olympian now has 2724 points in fourth. Olympic champ Warner leads on 2855 with Ehammer and Moloney second and third.

Women's 1500m heats

Three heats in this one... and there's a false start in the first! That's rare in this event.

Unsurprisingly the Ethiopian athletes are one-two in the final standings from the heats. Axumawit Embaye qualifies fastest, with Hirut Meshesha second. It's possible we could see a clean sweep of the medals in the final on Saturday from the African nation.

Uganda's Winnie Nanyondo another with an impressive time.

Here's the full list of qualifiers.

Women's 400m heats - Miller-Uibo safely through

It's top 2 from each heat to qualify, plus 2 'fastest losers' in these 400m heats, and there are some top names in action here.

Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo was fastest in her heat, with a time of 51.74s. She's second fastest qualifier overall, behind Femke Bol of the Netherlands.

Jessie Knight of GB was disqualified after stepping off the track after a clash of arms. She has been reinstated after an appeal and will race in the semis.

Heptathlon long jump and Pentathlon high jump

The heptathlon and pentathlon events continue on the jumps in between the 400m heats. The women are doing the heptathlon long jump, where Katarina Johnson-Thompson is expected to impress. The reigning world indoor champion clears her opening height of 1.77m at the first attempt, and finished with a best of 1.83. Vidts cleared the same height, while Adrianna Sulek from Poland was the only athlete to jump higher, finishing on 1.89m to move into the overall lead.

The men are at the high jump stage of the pentathlon. Damian Warner again impresses, with a jump of 8.05 to top the scoresheets and extend his lead after two events. The Canadian now has 2072 points, with Simon Ehammer of Switzerland second on 2055 and Australia's Ashley Moloney third on 2007.

Men's 400m heats

Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago, Belgium's Julien Watrin, Patrik Sorm, Marqueze Washington, and Carl Bengtstrom won the heats.

Christopher Taylor of Jamaica got bumped in his heat, but held on to finish second and qualify.

First two from each of the five heats made it through, plus the next 2 fastest. All the heat results are here.

Women's 400m heats are next on the track.

Women's 60m heats - Jackson and Williams through to semis

Marybeth Sant-Price of the USA sets the early running by winning heat 1 over the short sprint distance. Her time of 7.07 is pipped by compatriot Mikah Brisco in the third heat.

The 2019 champion in this event and 2017 silver medallist Ewa Swoboda of Poland won heat 4 comfortably.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic relay champion and two-time world champ outdoors, Shericka Jackson of Jamaica was second in her heat, behind Britain's two-time Olympic medallist Daryll Neita. Both comfortably through to the semis.

Another Jamaican sprint champion, 19-year-old Briana Williams, stormed to victory in the sixth heat with a personal best time of 7.06. Dutee Chand of India ran a season's best time but didn't do enough to qualify.

The three fastest in each heat booked places in the evening's semi-finals, plus the six next fastest sprinters.

Heptathlon 60m hurdles - Gold medallist Warner impresses

Damien Warner of Canada was the best performer as the male multi-discipline athletes got their event underway. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic decathlon gold medallist won his 60m hurdles heat in a time of 6.68 seconds to lead the way on 999 points.

Full results from the heats here.

They'll do the long jump next.

Pentathlon 60m hurdles heats - Defending champ KJT last in heat

The competition gets underway with the pentathlon, and the women taking to the track for the heats of the 60m hurdles, as the first of their five disciplines in Belgrade.

Defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain finished last in heat 2 but in a season's best time and with a total of 1028 points to take into the rest of the competition, where British fans will be hoping she can give them something to cheer about, after KJT pulled out of the Tokyo 2020 Games due to injury.

Fellow Brit Holly Mills and Noor Vidts of Belgium were fastest with personal best times of 8.15s, to lead the way on 1095 points.

Friday morning event schedule at World Indoors 2022

DAY 1 - Friday, Morning, 18 March - All **times Central Europe (GMT +1). Medal finals in bold.
**

1. 09:35 60m H Pen W Heats
2. 09:55 60m Hep M Heats
3. 10:15 60m W R1
4. 10:40 Long Jump Hep M
5. 11:00 400m M R1
6. 11:10 High Jump Pen W
7. 11:45 400m W R1
8. 12:05 Shot Put Hep M
9. 12:10 Triple Jump M F
10. 12:30 1500m W R1
11. 13:00 800m M R1
12. 13:20 Shot Put Pen W
13. 13:30 3000m M R1

The evening session begins at 17:30 CET.

Other events to watch at the World Indoors 2022

Marcell Jacobs versus Christian Coleman is one of the most anticipated sprint duels the world of track has seen in recent years. On Saturday, Tokyo 2020 Olympic 100m men's champion Jacobs from Italy faces defending champ and world record holder Coleman in the men's 60m. The American is making a comeback from an 18-month suspension for missing doping tests. The American is only the second 100m world champion to compete in the World Indoors after his compatriot Maurice Greene in 1999.