World Indoor Championships includes crew of Razorbacks

BELGRADE, Serbia – Eight athletes and a coach with ties to the Arkansas Razorback program will represent four countries this weekend in the World Athletics Indoor Championships, held from March 18-20 in Stark Arena.

Current Razorback Yoveinny Mota will represent Venezuela in the 60m hurdles while Arkansas alums include Sandi Morris (USA, pole vault) and Tina Sutej (Slovenia, pole vault) along with Jarrion Lawson (USA, long jump) and Marqueze Washington (USA, 400m and 4×400 relay).

Athletes training in Fayetteville include Ryan Crouser (USA, shot put), Darryl Sullivan (USA, high jump) and Jah-Nhai Perinchief (Bermuda, triple jump).

Arkansas men’s associate head coach Travis Geopfert will serve as the Bermuda national team coach with Perinchief representing that country in the World Indoor Championships. Lawson, Sullivan, and Washington are also part of Geopfert’s training group.

Coverage of the World Indoor meet will be available through NBC, CNBC and Peacock. Live results and schedule will be available here: https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-indoor-championships/belgrade22/timetable

Lawson, fourth in the long jump in 2018 at Birmingham, enters this year’s meet seeded third with a mark of 26-10.5 (8.19) among a field of 16. The top two seeds include Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece at 27-0.75 (8.25) and Sweden’s Thobias Montler with a 27-0 (8.23). The other American in the field, Marquis Dendy, won the 2016 title and was a bronze medalist in 2018.

Washington will race among a field of 29 sprinters representing 22 countries in the 400m. He has an indoor best of 45.24 and a season best of 46.15 that is equal eighth seed for this meet.

In 2018, Washington earned a silver medal from his participation in the prelims of the 4×400 relay, producing a 46.58 split on the second leg of a 3:04.044 heat winner by the United States. In the final, the U.S. squad placed second in 3:01.97 behind a then world record of 3:01.77 by Poland.

The men’s 4×400 relay field is scheduled to include Belgium, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Great Britain, Ireland, Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Sweden.

World record holder Crouser is the top seed in the shot put with his 2022 world-leading mark of 73-10.25 (22.51). The championship record, set in 1987 by Ulf Timmermann of Germany, measures 72-11.75 (22.24). In 2021, Crouser set the indoor world record of 74-10.5 (22.82) in Fayetteville.

The shot put field of 19 athletes from 15 countries includes a pair of previous medalists in Tomas Stanek of Czech Republic, silver in 2018, and Filip Mihaljevic of Croatia, bronze in 2016. The second seed among the field with a mark of 71-10.75 (21.91) is Konrad Bukowiecki of Poland, who placed fourth in 2016.

Sullivan has a season best of 7-4.5 (2.25), which is equal fifth seed among the 12 entrants in the high jump. Perinchief is seeded fourth among a field of 16 in the triple jump with a mark of 55-5.75 (16.91).

Mota will be the first hurdler from Venezuela to compete at a World Indoor Championships. Three rounds of the event, which features 46 athletes from 38 countries, will be held on Saturday with a first round, semifinal and final.

This season Mota improved her national record of 8.14 in the 60m hurdles to 8.13 twice, and then 8.12. She currently ranks sixth on the Arkansas all-time list.

Morris, the U.S. champion in the pole vault this indoor season, was a gold medalist in the 2018 World Indoor and a silver medalist in 2016. Her 16-2.75 (4.95) victory in Birmingham established the Championship record.

Sutej enters the meet fresh off a recent career best of 15-9 (4.80), which improved her Slovenian national record and is also better than her outdoor best of 15-7.25 (4.76). In 2021, Sutej was a silver medalist at the European Indoor and placed fifth in the Tokyo Olympics.

Along with Morris and Sutej, American Katie Nageotte shares the top seed mark at 15-9, in which all three vaulters rank equal third on the 2022 world list. The next best entrant among the field of 13 vaulters is Angelica Moser of Switzerland at 15-3.5 (4.66). 2014 World Indoor champion Yarisley Silva of Cuba has a season best of 15-3 (4.65).

World Athletics Indoor Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | Schedule

Day 1 | Friday, March 18

Day 2 | Saturday, March 19

Day 3 | Sunday, March 20

Broadcast schedule