Harry Poole

BBC Sport journalist

Amber Anning announced herself on the global stage by becoming Great Britain’s first women’s 400m champion at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

At the beginning of her first season as a professional athlete, the 24-year-old clocked 50.60 seconds to edge a dramatic race to the line against American Alexis Holmes.

It is only two weeks since Anning was left devastated at the European indoors, where her medal bid was ended by a disqualification for a lane infringement.

But she held her nerve following a mid-race shove from Holmes before measuring her final effort to perfection to claim her first international title in Nanjing, China.

Anning initially showed little emotion after her hard-fought victory, before collecting a British flag and beginning a lap of honour at the Nanjing Cube.

Holmes, who had attempted to defend her position from Anning on the inside of the track at the start of the final lap, fell across the line as the Briton clinched victory by three one hundredths of a second.

“It feels amazing,” Anning told BBC Sport. “It wasn’t the cleanest race but the goal was to win and get my first individual title.

“I wasn’t sure [I’d won]. I thought I just got there but I needed to make sure I didn’t see a disqualification. It was just a sigh of relief.

“After what happened at the Europeans, to come here and win is just an amazing feeling.”

Anning’s triumph was the British team’s second gold of the championships, after Jeremiah Azu won the men’s 60m title on Friday.

Team-mate Amy Hunt, 22, ran 7.11 secs to place fifth in a women’s 60m final won by Swiss sprinter Mujinga Kambundji (7.04).

Elsewhere, Armand Duplantis won a third consecutive world indoor title in the men’s pole vault competition, while Jakob Ingebrigtsen won his first world indoor gold in the men’s 3,000m.

In perhaps the clearest demonstration of her belief that this was her time, Anning collected a British flag featuring her name to celebrate landing the biggest prize of her career.

It is only the beginning of Anning’s maiden season as a full-time professional athlete and, having graduated from the University of Arkansas last year, her attention is now fully fixed on pursuing major honours.

In an outstanding breakout 2024 season, the London-born athlete ran 49.29 secs to smash the British 400m record and finish fifth on her Olympic debut in Paris.

In falling just 0.31 seconds short of the podium in her first major individual final, and leaving the French capital with two relay medals, the Briton had already proved her exciting potential on the sport’s biggest stage.

Anning established herself as a gold medal contender with an impressive win in her heat at the European indoors, before her disqualification for a lane infringement saw her depart the arena in tears.

But she bounced back to help the women’s 4x400m relay team achieve silver in Apeldoorn – and again here, in an individual capacity, to triumph with gold in captivating fashion.

Just 0.13 seconds separated Anning, Holmes and bronze medallist Henriette Jaeger (50.92) for season’s best times before Nanjing, and the final could hardly have seen Anning prevail in a more thrilling finish.

“My mum got me the flag for the Europeans, when we got the medal in the relay,” said Anning.

“But I knew it would be little bit special to bring a part of her and my family here, and bring home the gold today.”

Duplantis has now won the past seven global men’s pole vault golds on offer and the 25-year-old’s reign of dominance shows no sign of relenting anytime soon.

The two-time Olympic champion, who has already won every major gold available to him, broke the world record for the 11th time in his career by clearing 6.27m last month.

Surpassing a record-extending 100 career clearances over six metres, Duplantis was made to work harder than usual as Emmanouil Karalis applied pressure.

But the Greek could not respond after his Swedish rival cleared 6.15m to clinch gold.

Ingebrigtsen completed the first phase of his bid to replicate the European indoor 1500m and 3,000m double he achieved – for a third time – last month.

The Norwegian, 24, was put under intense pressure by Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi but proved too powerful in the final straight, taking the title in seven minutes 46.09 seconds.

A first world indoor gold leaves a world 1500m title – indoor and outdoor – as the only gap on Ingebrigtsen’s extensive list of honours, which now includes 18 international golds, and he is strong favourite to end that wait on Sunday.

American Grant Holloway remains unbeaten in the men’s 60m hurdles in 11 years, with his 92nd consecutive indoor victory since March 2014 delivering the 27-year-old’s third successive world indoor gold.

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