The
10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the
International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the
Budapest Arena,
Hungary between
March 5 and
March 7,
2004.
It was the second visit of the championships to Budapest having previously visited there 15 years earlier in 1989.
The newly built 13,000 capacity arena was built on the site of a former stadium that was destroyed by fire in 1999.
This was to be the last World Indoor Championships where the 200 m. would be contested as due to the tight bends involved in running indoors any athlete drawn to run on an inside lane was given an enormous disadvantage.
Medal winners
Men: 60 m |
60 m hurdles |
200 m |
400 m |
800 m |
1,500 m |
3,000 m |
4 x 400 m relay |
long jump |
triple jump |
high jump |
pole vault |
shot put |
heptathlon
Women: 60 m |
60 m hurdles |
200 m |
400 m |
800 m |
1,500 m |
3,000 m |
4 x 400 m relay |
long jump |
triple jump |
high jump |
pole vault |
shot put |
pentathlon
Medal table by country
| 1
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| 8
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| 5
| 19 |
| 2
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| 4
| 5
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| 10 |
| 3
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| 2
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| 4 |
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| 2
| 1
| 1
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| 5
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| 2
| 0
| 1
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| 6
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| 1
| 2
| 2
| 5 |
| 7
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| 1
| 2
| 1
| 4 |
| 8
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| 1
| 1
| 1
| 3 |
| 9
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| 1
| 1
| 0
| 2 |
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| 1
| 1
| 0
| 2 |
| 11
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| 1
| 0
| 1
| 2 |
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| 1
| 0
| 1
| 2 |
| 13
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| 1
| 0
| 0
| 1 |
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| 1
| 0
| 0
| 1 |
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| 1
| 0
| 0
| 1 |
| 16
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| 0
| 2
| 1
| 3 |
| 17
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| 0
| 1
| 1
| 2 |
| 18
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| 0
| 1
| 0
| 1 |
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| 0
| 1
| 0
| 1 |
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| 0
| 1
| 0
| 1 |
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| 0
| 1
| 0
| 1 |
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| 0
| 1
| 0
| 1 |
| 23
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| 0
| 0
| 2
| 2 |
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| 0
| 0
| 2
| 2 |
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| 0
| 0
| 2
| 2 |
| 26
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| 0
| 0
| 1
| 1 |
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| 0
| 0
| 1
| 1 |
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| 0
| 0
| 1
| 1 |
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| 0
| 0
| 1
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| 0
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| 1 |
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| 0
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Men's 60 m
After twice finishing third in the event Jason Gardener knew it was time to step up. With the quickest time from the semi-finals he was brimming with confidence and equalled that time of 6.49 seconds to take the gold ahead of the 2001 200 m champion Crawford. The Greek Theodoridis ran a seasons best to take the third place medal ahead of
Mickey Grimes USA (4th in personal best),
Matic Osovnikar (5th in Slovenian record),
Francis Obikwelu Portugal (6th),
Simone Collio Italy (7th) and
Niconnor Alexander (8th).
Women's 60 m
Gail Devers took her third 60 m gold, to add to her 60 m hurdles title won in 2003, ahead of Gevaert (Belgian record) who pipped Nestsiarenka to silver in a
photo finish though both were given the same time. Other finalists were former bronze medalist
Torri Edwards USA (4th),
Muriel Hurtis France (5th in seasons best),
Yuliya Tabakova Russia (6th),
Christine Arron France (7th) and
Natalya Safronnikova Russia (8th).
After only qualifying for the final by virtue of being a fastest loser, Allen Johnson claimed his third world indoor title, to go with his four previous outdoor titles, in a championship record of 7.36 seconds ahead of Liu of China (2nd in Asian record) who went one better than his third in Birmingham the year before and Wignall (3rd in Jamaican record) who edged out, by 1/100th of a second, Stanislavs Olijars of Latvia (4th in personal best). Other finalists were
Yuniel Hernández, Cuba (5th),
Robert Kronberg, Sweden (6th in seasons best),
Yoel Hernández, Cuba (7th) and
Dwight Thomas Jamaica (8th).
Canadian Felicien edged out reigning champion Devers by just 3/100th's of a second with Ferga-Khodadin third in a French national record. Other finalists were
Joanna Hayes, USA (4th),
Susanna Kallur, Sweden (5th),
Lacena Golding-Clarke, Jamaica (6th),
Flóra Redoúmi, Greece (7th) and
Nicole Ramalalanirina, France (8th).
Men's 200 m
In a poor year for the event Demeritte improved on his third position from Birmingham in 2003 to take gold in a new Bahamian record of 20.66 seconds albeit the slowest winning time since 1991. No other competitor in the final could even raise themselves to a seasons best although there were national records in the heats for
Heber Viera (21.36 s) of
Uruguay, Marcelo Figueroa (22.8 s)
El Salvador, Hamoud Abdallah Al-Dalhami (21.97 s)
Oman and Russel Roman (23.68 s) of
Palau though none of these athletes progressed through their respective rounds.
Women's 200 m
Anastasiya Kapachinskaya had crossed the line first and been awarded the gold medal but this was later taken back after she tested positive for the
anabolic steroid stanozolol. This moved Safronnikova up to the gold medal position, 2 places better than her only other medal performance at the indoor championships in 2001 though her winning time of 23.13 s was the slowest the title had been won in. Goncharenko moved into silver position the same place that she had finished in 1999 and one better than her 1997 finish, and Mayr-Krifka took a surprise bronze. The other finalists were
Maryna Maydanova and
Nataliya Pygyda both of Ukraine.
Men's 400 m
The medal winners all ran season's best times, though not breaking any records. The other finalists were
Sofiane Labidi (4th) from
Tunisia,
Milton Campbell USA (5th) and
Joe Mendel USA (6th).
Women's 400 m
In a quickly run race Natalya took gold in a championship record of 50.19 seconds to retain her title with her two main challengers both running personal bests to claim the minor medals. The other finalists were
Ionela Târlea ROM,
Clay Julian USA and
Fani Halkia GRE.
Men's 800 m
Mulaudzi won South Africa's only medal of the championships beating Ramzi who became Bahrain's first ever medallist at either of the athletics world championships with an Asian record of 1:46.15, a four second improvement on his semi-final time from the 2003 championships. The other finalists were
Amine Laalou Morocco (4th),
William Yiampoy Kenya (5th) and former World Junior Champion
Joseph Mutua Kenya a disappointing (6th).
Women's 800 m
Maria took her record sixth individual gold in the event ahead of world record holder and main rival Jolanda. Joanne ran a personal best in taking the bronze setting a new national record of 1:59.50.
Jennifer Toomey USA (4th) and
Tatyana Andrianova RUS (5th) also set PB's with
Olga Raspopova RUS coming in sixth.
Men's 1,500 m
In a tactical ran race Korir, who had progressed from the qualifying round as a fastest loser, held off Heshko by just 3/100th's of a second with Rotich a further 1/2 second away in third. Rotich was only awarded the bronze 1 hour after the race when the athlete who had crossed the line in third place, Great Britain's
Michael East, was disqualified for a pushing incident. Other finalists were
Abdelkader Hachlaf Morocco (4th),
James Thie Great Britain (5th),
Miroslaw Formela Poland (6th) and
José Redolat Spain (7th) and
Youssef Baba Morocco (8th).
Women's 1,500 m
Dulecha became Ethiopia's first ever women's 1,500 m medalist at the championships with a surprise win taking the gold ahead of Douma-Hussar (2nd), who set a Canadian national record and Samitova (3rd). It was by far Kutre's best performance at a major competition although she had set a junior world record at the distance outdoors back in 1997. The other finalists were
Daniela Yordanova, Bulgaria (4th),
Nataliya Tobias, Ukraine (5th),
Yuliya Kosenkova Russia (6th),
Alesya Turova, Belarus (7th),
Lidia Okninska, Poland (8th) and Great Britain's
Kelly Holmes who had probably been the favourite going into the race but took a fall just after half way through the race and could not make up the ground eventually finishing 9th.
Men's 3,000 m
On the comeback trail after pulling out of the
2003 outdoor championships due to a suspect positive drug test Bernard was overjoyed at taking gold ahead of Silva and Geneti. The other finalists were Spanish pair
Antonio Jiménez (4th) and
Sergio Gallardo (5th),
Gert-Jan Liefers, Netherlands (6th),
Kevin Sullivan, Canada (7th), Moroccans
Mohammed Amyne (8th) and
Hicham Bellani (9th), Australian
Craig Mottram (10th),
Abiyote Abate, Ethiopia (11th) and
Serhiy Lebid, Ukraine 12th.
Women's 3,000 m
In the slowest women's 3,000 m the championship had seen, and 22 seconds slower than the quickest heat, 2003 bronze medalist Defar turned the tables on reigning champion Adere with Culpepper taking third. The other finalists were Spain's
Marta Domínguez (4th), Great Britain's
Joanne Pavey (5th),
Yelena Zadorozhnaya, Russia (6th),
Sabrina Mockenhaupt, Germany (7th), Ukraine's
Maryna Dubrova (8th),
Maria McCambridge, Ireland (9th), Belgian
Veerle Dejaeghere (10th) and
Galina Bogomolova (11th). Great Britain's
Hayley Tullett had qualified for the final but did not start due to injury.
With the United States of America team being disqualified, after crossing the line in third place, for dropping the baton and the Bahamian team falling over this was one of the most eventful races of the championships. This left the way open for the reigning silver medalists Jamaica to step in and snatch the gold ahead of the Russians who took silver and Ireland, who had broken the national record in the heats, going home with the bronze. Switzerland took 4th place with the Bahamians picking themselves off the floor to take 5th.
A scintillating run by the Russian women's team saw them take gold in a world record time of 3:23.88. The second placed Belarusians broke their national record to claim silver and the Romanians did the same to take the bronze. Poland also broke their national record but finished without a medal in 4th with the Jamaican ladies finishing 5th and the Greek team, who also set a national record in the heats coming in 6th. An inexperienced USA team could only manage fourth place in their first round heat.
Savanté Stringfellow jumped exactly the same distance, 8.40 m, as he had when taking silver at the 2001 outdoors championships but this time got his hands on a gold medal. The 2003 outdoor silver medalist Beckford again finished second with Russian Shkurlatov completing the podium line up. Romanian
Bogdan Tarus (4th),
Volodymyr Zyuskov, Ukraine (5th with a personal best), Great Britain's
Chris Tomlinson set a national record finishing (6th),
Sosunov Kirill, Russia (7th) and former five time champion
Iván Pedroso could only manage 8th place.
Lebedeva, fresh from her world record in the triple jump the previous day, jumped a world leading distance of 6.98 m to record her second gold medal ahead of reigning champion Kotova who jumped a seasons best and Sweden's heptathlete queen Klüft who set a national record. The other finalists were China's
Yingnan Guan (4th), Latvia's
Valentina Gotovska (5th), Italy's
Fiona May (6th), Spain's
Concepción Montaner (7th)
Adina Anton of Romania who finished 8th.
Olsson retained his title here with a third round jump of 17.83 m to equal the seven year old indoor world record previously set by Cuba's
Aliecer Urrutia in 1997. Gregório had his best performance by far in a major competition by taking home the silver with Betanzos taking the bronze. Other finalists were Belarusian
Dmitriy Valyukevich (4th),
Marian Oprea, Romania (5th in seasons best), Ukrainian
Savolaynen Mykola could not improve on the national record he set in qualifying to finish (6th),
Danila Burkenya, Russia (7th) and France's
Julien Kapek (8th).
Lebedeva first qualifying jump put her through to the final where her second round jump of 15.25 m gave her a comfortable lead over the field. She then opted out of her third and fifth round jumps saving herself in case a big jump was required in the final round. Her nearest rival Aldama had recorded 14.90 m also in the second round to lie in silver medal position with Devetzí's fourth round 14.73 m giving her bronze. Tatyana decided to take her last jump in the knowledge that gold medal was hers and produced a world record jump of 15.36 m. She followed this up by winning the long jump also the following day. The other finalists were
Trecia Smith (4th in a Jamaican record), Italy's
Magdelin Martinez (5th),
Françoise Mbango Etone of Cameroon (6th), Romania's
Adelina Gavrila (7th),
Olena Hovorova, Ukraine (8th),
Mabel Gay, Cuba (9th),
Baya Rahouli, Algeria (10th), Italy's
Simona La Mantia (11th) and
Natalya Safronova of Belarus (12th).
Sweden's Stefan Holm went one better than his silver at the outdoors in 2003 with a straight forward win clearing all of his five heights at the first attempt to finish with 2.35 m. Rybakov was the only competitor to mount a challenge but he could only mange 2.32 m. Five athletes were tied with jumps 10 cm behind the winner but countback saw Belarusian
Gennadiy Moroz, Ukrainian
Andriy Sokolovskyy and Ireland's
Adrian O'Dwyer miss out on the medals with
Jamie Nieto of USA completing the final line up.
Two twenty-two year old Russians took the main medals with Slesarenko beating her compatriot Chicherova with a near faultless display, failing on only one of her jumps. Blanka took bronze on countback ahead of Ukrainian
Vita Palamar (4th) and
Daniela Rath of Germany (6th) all clearing 1.97 m. Spain's
Marta Mendía set a personal best in qualifying for the final but ended up in 7th place ahead of Bulgarian
Venelina Veneva (8th) and
Viktoriya Styopina of Ukraine in 9th.
In a below par pole vault Russian indoor national champion Pavlov took a surprise gold with a personal best of 5.80 m. followed by four athletes who all cleared 5.70 m. Ptácek took silver and Yurchenko bronze on countback ahead of Sweden's
Patrik Kristiansson (4th), German
Tim Lobinger (5th). 10 cm further behind were Italian
Giuseppe Gibilisco (6th) and
Romain Mesnil of France (7th). Netherland's
Rens Blom failed to clear his opening height of 5.60 m. to finish in (8th).
With three former winners of the title along with the previous years silver medalist this was always going to be a fascinating contest in this relatively young event. The 21 year old world junior record holder Isinbayeva added to her growing reputation with a world record clearance of 4.86 m. to improve on her silver from a year ago and her bronze at the 2003 outdoors championship taking the gold ahead of the reigning Olympic champion Dragila in silver and reigning world champion Feofanova, bronze.
Jillian Schwartz of USA set a personal best in 4th place ahead of
Vanessa Boslak who set a French national record in finishing equal fifth with
Monika Pyrek of Poland. Pyrek compatriot
Anna Rogowska took 7th place with a disappointing 8th place for 1999 champion
Nastja Ryjikh.
The 23 year old Cantwell added to the IAAF World Athletics Final victory from 2003 to take his second major win with his second round throw of 21.49 m. Compatriot Hoffa, 3 years his senior, made his first podium finish in a championship with a personal best opening distance of 21.07 m. ahead of the more experienced Dane Olsen. The improving
Tomasz Majewski of Poland also raised his game to improve on the personal best he set in qualifying with a national record in the final but missed out on bronze by 16 cm. to take 4th place. The other finalists were reigning champion
Manuel Martínez (5th), Belarusian
Andrei Mikhnevich (6th), Great Britain's
Carl Myerscough (7th) and
Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine (8th).
In an amazing turn of events Ukrainian
Vita Pavlysh finished first only to be stripped of her title when receiving a life time ban after testing positive for
anabolic steroids again. This was a repeat of the events following the 1999 Indoor Championship when she had also taken the gold only for it to be taken away when she was given a two year ban for the same offence. This left Krivelyova to actually be awarded first place ahead of Cumbá and Kleinert. The other finalists were
Krystyna Zabawska tantalisingly just 5 cm. back in 4th, China's
Li Meiju (5th),
Misleydis González of Cuba 6th, and two time silver medalist
Nadzeya Astapchuk of Belarus 7th.
Men's heptathlon
With one event to go, Šebrle lay 32 points behind Clay, with Lobodin a further 168 points back in third. But despite a personal best in the 1,000 m. Clay trailed in a massive 50 seconds behind Roman. This handed the gold to the Czech to give him the title to add to the gold he had won in 2001. Clay held onto silver with Lobodin safely in third. In this invitation only event Kazakhstan's
Dmitriy Karpov finished fourth ahead of reigning Olympic champion
Erki Nool from Estonia (5th),
Aleksandr Pogorelov of Russia (6th), former silver medalist
Jón Arnar Magnússon of
Iceland in (7th) and
Ranko Leskovar of Slovenia in (8th).
Women's pentathlon
With the lowest ever winning number of points, Gomes, who had led from the third event held on from Dobrynska by 32 points with Lithuanian Skujyte a further 48 points behind in the bronze medal position. The second and third place finishers set national records as did
Karin Ruckstuhl of Netherlands who was (4th). Belgium's
Tia Hellebaut came (5th),
Irina Butor of Belarus (6th),
Larisa Netseporuk of Estonia (7th) with
Kim Schiemenz of USA completing the line up in (8th) place.
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