Yulimar Rojas pulls off world-leading triple jump in Madrid

Tokyo 2020 triple jump Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas was at it again performing at an elite level at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold series in Madrid on Wednesday (2 March).

The Venezuelan superstar, who set a new world record of 15.67 metres during the Tokyo Games, jumped a world-leading 15.35m on her second attempt, just 8cm short of the world indoor record she set in the very same arena back in 2020.

The 26-year-old, who trains just up the road in Guadalajara, Spain, thrilled the Madrid crowd once again, finishing ahead of Cuba's Liadagmis Povea (14.08) and Italy's Ottavia Cestonaro (13.54).

In total there were three Olympic champions and two other Tokyo 2020 medallists in action on what was the final stop of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold series before the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade from 18 to 20 March.

Nail-biter in men's 3000m

Tokyo 2020 gold medallist in the 10000m Selemon Barega was in sensational form in the one of the headline events of the meet, the men's 3000m. The Ethiopian set a new meeting record with a time of 7:34.03, edging his compatriot, and the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist in the 3000m steeplechase, Lamecha Girma, who finished just .09 seconds behind him.

The home crowd favourites, Spain duo Adel Mechaal (7:35.26) and Mohamed Katir (7:35.73), finished in third and fourth respectively.

Meeting records smashed

Six meeting records were broken in total on the day in Madrid. Olympic 4x400m mixed relay gold medallist for Poland, Justyna Swiety-Ersetic, set a meeting record in the women's 400m with a time of 51.21 ahead of Lithuania's Modesta Juste Morauskaite (51.63) and Ireland's Phil Healy (51.66).

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist in the 5000m, Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay, broke the meeting record in the women's 1500m with a time of 3:57.38. It was all Ethiopia in the race as Tsegay's compatriots Hirut Meshesha (4:02.22) and Freweyni Hailu (4:03.38) finished in second and third respectively.

There were other notable performances on the day. Lorraine Ugen set a meeting record in the long jump, reaching 6.67m on her fifth attempt. The Team GB world indoor bronze medallist secured the overall World Indoor Tour victory.

Swiety-Ersetic wasn't the only athlete making headlines for Poland in Madrid as Konrad Bukowiecki threw 21.91m to break the meeting record and win the men's shot put.

Lastly, Team GB's Elliot Giles won the 800m and set a meeting record with a time of 1:45.43, which saw the European Athletics bronze medallist win the overall World Indoor Tour.