Saturday night’s women’s 60m final in Toruń delivered a surprise outcome, as a new world indoor champion emerged.
Italy’s Zaynab Dosso surged to victory in 7.00 seconds, producing a composed and powerful performance to secure gold at the World Indoor Championships. The result marks another major step forward for the 26-year-old, who arrived in Poland in top form after winning the European indoor title in Apeldoorn just under a fortnight ago.
Her progression on the global stage has been steady and consistent, having taken bronze in 2024 and silver at the World Indoors in Nanjing in 2025 before now completing the set with gold.
The battle for the remaining medals was incredibly tight. American sprinter Jacious Sears claimed silver in 7.03, finishing just ahead of Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred of St. Lucia, who took bronze. Only three thousandths of a second separated the two at the line.
“I’m healthy,” Alfred said when asked to reflect on the race. “As you can see, I ended last season in a tough spot health-wise, but it was a learning experience. I’m just focused on moving forward from here.”
Dosso’s win also capped a strong spell for the Italian team on the second day of competition. Less than an hour earlier, Nadia Battocletti had already secured gold in the women’s 3000m, underlining a successful evening for the nation.
It proved a frustrating outing for the British athletes. Amy Hunt exited at the semi-final stage after clocking 7.10, leaving Dina Asher-Smith as the sole British athlete in the final.
After equalling her national record of 7.03 in the semi-finals, Asher-Smith was unable to reproduce that level in the final, finishing seventh in 7.07.
She said: “I’m a bit disappointed, I was hoping to put together a sub seven performance today. I changed a few things between the semis and the final.
“It was one of those ones where I may have not executed it quite right or it wasn’t the right change for me, because I didn’t run as fast as I did in the semis. But, at the end of the day that’s elite sport, you want to absolutely go for it and give it everything you can.”