World leads by Switzerland’s Audrey Werro and Bulgaria’s Bozhidar Saraboyukov lit up the 2026 Belgrade Indoor Meeting, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold fixture, at the Atletska dvorana on Wednesday. The evening also brought a world-leading mark from US shot putter Roger Steen and a record-breaking triple jump performance from Serbian favorite Ivana Spanovic in front of a noisy home crowd.
Sarâboyukov, the European indoor champion, produced the standout field mark, winning a high‑quality long jump with 8.45m, adding six centimetres to his own Bulgarian national record and improving the joint world lead of 8.39m he set three days earlier in Metz.
The 21‑year‑old opened with 8.23m, reached 8.26m in round two before yielding the lead by one centimetre to Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou. He then struck back with 8.29m in the fourth round and 8.45m in the fifth to move to joint ninth on the world indoor all‑time list. Tentoglou closed with 8.26m for second, with Jamaica’s 2024 World Indoor bronze medalist Carey McLeod third with 8.22m.
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Serbian star Ivana Spanovic, the 2023 world long jump champion, now turning her attention indoors to the triple jump, twice bettered the meeting record with 14.19m in the first round and 14.27m in the third to claim her second win of the season.
The 35-year-old five-time European champion backed up the national indoor record of 14.41m she set in the same arena last month. Sweden’s double 2021 world U20 champion Maja Åskag was second on 13.79m, with Serbia’s Aleksandrija Mitrovic third with 13.62m.
In the shot put, world indoor silver medallist Steen overhauled compatriot and former world leader Jordan Geist with a final‑round effort of 22.07m, the farthest indoor throw in the world this year. Steen had moved ahead with 21.50m in round three and 21.60m in round four, before extending his lead beyond the 22.04m Geist threw in Ostrava earlier this month; Geist finished second with 21.51m and Nigeria’s Chukwuebuka Enekwechi third on 21.28m.
Audrey Werro Continues To Shine
On the track, Diamond League champion Audrey Werro continued her superb winter with a commanding wire‑to‑wire victory in the women’s 800m, winning by more than four seconds in a Swiss short track record and world‑leading 1:57.27.
The 21‑year‑old, who ran 1:57.49 in Val‑de‑Reuil 11 days earlier, moved to eighth on the world short track all‑time list and sliced more than two seconds off the meeting record of 1:59.66 set by Tsige Duguma in 2024. Germany’s Caroline Bredlinger was next home in 2:01.80.
After four tension-filled false starts, the men’s 60m final finally took off on the fifth attempt. Hungary’s Dominik Illovszky secured the victory, clocking 6.52 seconds to set both a meeting and national record. He narrowly beat Toluwabori Akinola, whose 6.54-second finish secured a new Irish record.
