The Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena Toruń in Poland saw the curtain come down on the 2026 series of World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meetings with the latest edition of the ORLEN Copernicus Cup on Sunday 22 February.
Simultaneously, the curtain also went up on the final preparations for this year’s World Athletics Indoor Championships, which will be held at the same venue between 20-22 March.
A superb dress rehearsal at one of the world’s premier indoor one-day meetings saw three world-leading marks and 12 national short track records on the Arena’s Mondo permanent banked athletics track with its memorable blue Sportflex Super X 720 K39 surface.
Many of the world’s leading athletes who have set their sights on medals the global stage descended on one of the oldest cities in Poland – which coincidently can boast of one of the most modern indoor athletics tracks in the world – to experience firsthand the surface they will perform on at the Championships.
Among them was Belgium’s Eliott Crestan, who won over 800m in 1:44.07, just shy of his national short track record of 1:43.91 in Lievin France – another Mondo athletics track – four days earlier.
“This track (in Toruń) in is very fast. I like it and I thought it would be good to come here ahead of the World Indoor Champs and test it out before they begin in a few weeks’ time. I’m happy,” reflected Crestan.
Crestan won bronze at the World Indoor Athletics Championships Glasgow 24, silver 12 months ago in Nanjing, China – both championships also being held on Mondo athletics tracks – and he is aiming to complete his climb to the top of the world indoor podium next month.
Mondo permanent banked athletics tracks have become a favourite of many athletes because they give athletes a ‘sprung floor effect’ – of course, within the rule and regulations of the sport – which enhances performance and reduces the impact on an athlete’s body.
In addition to Crestan’s thrilling win over four laps of the Arena, other highlights in Toruń included world-leading marks by Italian sprinter Zaynab Dosso who won the 60m in 6.99, which was also a national record, Bahamas’ reigning two-time world indoor champion Deyvnne Charlton, who took the 60m hurdles in 7.77, and Poland’s Paulina Ligarska who totalled 4676 points in the pentathlon.
Mondo athletics track will have been in the venues of four of the eight 2026 World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meetings.