2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships

The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7–9, 2008.

12th IAAF World Indoor Championships
Dates7 March–9 March
Host cityValencia, Spain
VenueLuis Puig Palace
Events26
Participation574 athletes from
147 nations

Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, Russia.[1]

Results

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2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012

Event Gold Silver Bronze
60 m
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Olusoji A. Fasuba
  Nigeria
6.51 (WL) Dwain Chambers
  Great Britain
6.54 (PB) Not awarded
Kim Collins
  Saint Kitts and Nevis
6.54 (SB)
Fasuba's win became the first indoor short dash World Championship title for Africa
400 m
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Tyler Christopher
  Canada
45.67 (WL) Johan Wissman
  Sweden
46.04 (PB) Chris Brown
  Bahamas
46.26 (SB)
Tyler Christopher stayed behind Wissman and Brown until the final homestraight, when he sped to victory off the last bend.
800 m
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Abubaker Kaki Khamis
  Sudan
1:44.81 (WL) Mbulaeni Mulaudzi
  South Africa
1:44.91 (NR) Yusuf Saad Kamel
  Bahrain
1:45.26 (AR)
Abubaker Kaki Khamis led from the start in attempt to win and held off the fast approaching Mbulaeni Mulaudzi by a tenth of a second to win his first major international title at just 18!
1500 m
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Deresse Mekonnen
  Ethiopia
3:38.23 Daniel Kipchirchir Komen
  Kenya
3:38.54 Juan Carlos Higuero
  Spain
3:38.82
Mekonnen was initially disqualified for stepping on the inside of the track, and Spaniard Arturo Casado was named as the bronze medallist, but the Ethiopian was reinstated. Higuero's was the first medal of the championships for the host country.
3000 m
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Tariku Bekele
  Ethiopia
7:48.23 Paul Kipsiele Koech
  Kenya
7:49.05 Abreham Cherkos
  Ethiopia
7:49.96
Tariku Bekele won his first World title, succeeding his brother as 3000 m champion, who had won the title at the previous championships.
60 m hurdles
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Liu Xiang
  China
7.46 (SB) Allen Johnson
  United States
7.55 Evgeniy Borisov
  Russia
7.60
Staņislavs Olijars
  Latvia
7.60 (SB)
Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles, the favorites for this event, were expected to battle for the gold, but Robles was eliminated in the heats after mistakenly believing there was a false start.
4 × 400 m relay
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  United States (USA)
James Davis
Jamaal Torrance
Greg Nixon
Kelly Willie
Joel Stallworth*
3:06.79 (WL)   Jamaica (JAM)
Michael Blackwood
Edino Steele
Adrian Findlay
DeWayne Barrett
Aldwyn Sappleton*
3:07.69 (SB)   Dominican Republic (DOM)
Arismendy Peguero
Carlos Santa
Pedro Mejía
Yoel Tapia
3:07.77 (NR)
High jump
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Stefan Holm
  Sweden
2.36 Yaroslav Rybakov
  Russia
2.34 Andra Manson
  United States
2.30 (SB)
Kyriakos Ioannou
  Cyprus
2.30
Stefan Holm regained his title from Rybakov who won in 2006 to become 4-time world indoor champion. Ioannou earned Cyprus its first ever medal at an Indoor World Championship.
Pole vault
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Yevgeniy Lukyanenko
  Russia
5.90 (WL) Brad Walker
  United States
5.85 (PB) Steven Hooker
  Australia
5.80 (SB)
insert write up:
Long jump
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Godfrey Khotso Mokoena
  South Africa
8.08 (SB) Chris Tomlinson
  Great Britain
8.06 Mohamed Salman Al-Khuwalidi
  Saudi Arabia
8.01
Tomlinson's 8.06 held the lead from the first round, until the fifth when Mokoena reached 8.08, which Tomlinson was then unable to match. Mokoena's result was the shortest winning jump in the history of the World Indoor Championships.
Triple jump
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Phillips Idowu
  Great Britain
17.75 (NR)(WL) Arnie David Giralt
  Cuba
17.47 (PB) Nelson Évora
  Portugal
17.27
Idowu's winning jump came in the second round, and set a new British and Commonwealth record.
Shot put
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Christian Cantwell
  United States
21.77 Reese Hoffa
  United States
21.20 Tomasz Majewski
  Poland
20.93 (NR)
Hoffa set a 21.49m best at the qualification. Cantwell's victory put was the 4th best in the history of Indoor World Championships.
Heptathlon
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(60 m, LJ, SP, HJ,
60 m H, PV, 1000 m)
Bryan Clay
  United States
6371 (WL) Andrei Krauchanka
  Belarus
6234 (NR) Dmitriy Karpov
  Kazakhstan
6131
(6.71 - 7.75 - 16.21 - 2.09 - 7.86 - 5.00 - 2:55.64) (7.19 - 7.63 - 14.29 - 2.15 - 8.11 - 5.30 - 2:46.49) (7.20 - 7.31 - 16.19 - 2.06 - 8.15 - 5.20 - 2:47.45)
Clay dominated from early on, leading by 170 points after the first two events. Clay was on world record pace as the first day came to a close. Clay fell short of the world record but held on for a comfortable win, taking first in four of seven events.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

Women

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2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012

Event Gold Silver Bronze
60 m
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Angela Williams
  United States
7.06 (WL) Jeanette Kwakye
  Great Britain
7.08 (NR) Tahesia Harrigan
  British Virgin Islands
7.09 (NR)
After several seasons of injury, Angela Williams finally wins her first world title in personal best time. Ene Franca Idoko of Nigeria was a favorite, but she stumbled out of the blocks, finishing 7th.
400 m
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Olesya Zykina
  Russia
51.09 (WL) Natalya Nazarova
  Russia
51.10 (SB) Shareese Woods
  United States
51.41 (PB)
Olesya Zykina won the event, which was the closest women's World Indoor 400 m final in history, with Nazarova second for a 1–2 win for Russia.
800 m
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Tamsyn Lewis
  Australia
2:02.57 Tetiana Petlyuk
  Ukraine
2:02.66 Maria de Lurdes Mutola
  Mozambique
2:02.97
Tamsyn Lewis surprised by winning her first World title, breaking Mutola's hopes of winning her eighth title on her last competitive year. Home hopeful, Mayte Martínez was a disappointing fourth.
1500 m
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Gelete Burka
  Ethiopia
3:59.75 (AR) Maryam Yusuf Jamal
  Bahrain
3:59.79 (AR) Daniela Yordanova
  Bulgaria
4:04.19 (NR)
Yelena Soboleva led for most of the fast race to win in a new world record time, breaking her own one-month-old world record by 0.34 s. Soboleva was later disqualified for doping along with second placed Yuliya Fomenko, and her world record was rescinded.
3000 m
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Meseret Defar
  Ethiopia
8:38.79 Meselech Melkamu
  Ethiopia
8:41.50 Mariem Alaoui Selsouli
  Morocco
8:41.66
Meseret Defar completed a hat-trick of World Indoor 3000 m titles in her kick-finish, which her countrywoman Meselech Melkamu was unable to respond to.
60 m hurdles
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LoLo Jones
  United States
7.80 Candice Davis
  United States
7.93 Anay Tejeda
  Cuba
7.98
After new World record holder Swede Susanna Kallur injured a hamstring during her warm-up for the semi-final and pulled out of the competition, Lolo Jones became the favorite, and did indeed win by a fairly large margin. Spanish Josephine Onyia, the home crowd's hope, tripped over the fifth hurdle to finish last.
4 × 400 m relay
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  Russia (RUS)
Yuliya Gushchina
Tatyana Levina
Natalya Nazarova
Olesya Zykina
3:28.17 (WL)   Belarus (BLR)
Anna Kozak
Iryna Khliustava
Sviatlana Usovich
Ilona Usovich
3:28.90 (SB)   United States (USA)
Angel Perkins
Miriam Barnes
Shareese Woods
Moushaumi Robinson
3:29.30 (SB)
insert write up:
High jump
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Blanka Vlašić
  Croatia
2.03 Yelena Slesarenko
  Russia
2.01 Vita Palamar
  Ukraine
2.01 (NR)
Blanka Vlasic was the clear favourite for the win after taking the world outdoor title the previous year.
Pole vault
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Yelena Isinbayeva
  Russia
4.75 Jennifer Stuczynski
  United States
4.75 (PB) Fabiana Murer
  Brazil
4.70 (AR)
Monika Pyrek
  Poland
4.70 (SB)
Yelena Isinbayeva won her third consecutive Indoor World title.
Long jump
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Naide Gomes
  Portugal
7.00 (WL) Maurren Maggi
  Brazil
6.89 (AR) Irina Simagina
  Russia
6.88
Naide Gomes set a National Record to win her first world title.
Triple jump
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Yargelis Savigne
  Cuba
15.05 (AR) Marija Šestak
  Slovenia
14.68 Olga Rypakova
  Kazakhstan
14.58 (AR)
Hrysopiyi Devetzi led until the last round, when Yargelis Savigne leaped a new Area Record into victory. Devetzi was retrospectively disqualified in 2016 after failing a doping test.
Shot put
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Valerie Vili
  New Zealand
20.19 (AR) Li Meiju
  China
19.09 (PB) Misleydis González
  Cuba
18.75 (PB)
Vili set two area records in her first indoor contest for four years--
Pentathlon
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(60 mH, HJ, SP,
LJ, 800 m)
Tia Hellebaut
  Belgium
4867 (WL) Kelly Sotherton
  Great Britain
4852 (SB) Anna Bogdanova
  Russia
4753
(8.54 - 1.99 - 13.85 - 6.41 - 2:16.42) (8.25 - 1.81 - 14.57 - 6.45 - 2:09.95) (8.39 - 1.84 - 14.56 - 6.38 - 2:15.67)
Tia Hellebaut's 1.99 clearance in the High jump moved her into the lead which she was able to keep until the end. In the last event, 800 m, Kelly Sotherton would have needed a 7.7 s lead over Hellebaut to win gold, but finished only 6.47 s ahead.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

Medal table

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  United States (USA)55313
2  Russia (RUS)43310
3  Ethiopia (ETH)4116
4  Great Britain (GBR)1405
5  Cuba (CUB)1124
6  China (CHN)1102
  South Africa (RSA)1102
  Sweden (SWE)1102
9  Australia (AUS)1012
  Portugal (POR)1012
11  Belgium (BEL)1001
  Canada (CAN)1001
  Croatia (CRO)1001
  New Zealand (NZL)1001
  Nigeria (NGR)1001
  Sudan (SUD)1001
17  Belarus (BLR)0202
  Kenya (KEN)0202
19  Bahrain (BHR)0112
  Brazil (BRA)0112
  Ukraine (UKR)0112
22  Jamaica (JAM)0101
  Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN)0101
  Slovenia (SLO)0101
25  Kazakhstan (KAZ)0022
  Poland (POL)0022
27  Bahamas (BAH)0011
  British Virgin Islands (IVB)0011
  Bulgaria (BUL)0011
  Cyprus (CYP)0011
  Dominican Republic (DOM)0011
  Latvia (LAT)0011
  Morocco (MAR)0011
  Mozambique (MOZ)0011
  Saudi Arabia (KSA)0011
  Spain (ESP)0011
Totals (36 entries)26272881

Participating nations

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References

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  1. ^ "IAAF announces new tour structure". BBC. 2005-11-13. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
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