Mark English, Cameron Myers, Yarsolava Mahuchikh, Larissa Iapichino and Jake Odey-Jordan waste little time in hitting form in 2026.

Mark English rounded off an eventful weekend of indoor athletics by breaking his own Irish indoor 800m record with a run of 1:44.65 at the CMCM Luxembourg Indoor Meeting on Sunday (January 18). 

The time also represents a meeting record and came thanks to an impressive closing surge from the 32-year-old, who lowered his national mark of 1:45.15, set at the Millrose Games in New York last year.  

He wasn’t the only middle distance man to show impressive form at this early stage of the year, as Australian teenager Cameron Myers laid down a brilliant marker on Saturday (January 17) by setting a world lead over the mile.

Racing at the Washington Indoor Preview in Seattle, the 19-year-old led the way in a race that saw eight competitors break four minutes, clocking 3:49.81 to win by nearly five seconds from American duo Sam Prakel and Brannon Kidder.

It is the fastest indoor mile ever run in the month of January and broke Yomif Kejelcha’s meeting record of 3:52.61.

Two other athletes produced world-leading performances on the same day, with Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Larissa Iapichino also starting 2026 as they mean to go on in the high jump and long jump respectively.

Competing on home soil, the Ukrainian Olympic champion cleared 2.03m with her third attempt at the Demyanyuk Memorial in Lviv, her highest jump since setting the world record of 2.10m in the summer of 2024. 

Italy’s Iapichino also shone on home turf, the European indoor champion leaping 6.93m at the Alessio Giovannini Memorial meeting in Ancona to record her longest ever season-opener, a distance that is just four centimetres short of her indoor best. 

There was no shortage of sprints action over the weekend, either, with British teenager Jake Odey-Jordan in record-breaking form on Saturday. The 18-year-old clocked 32.64 over 300m at the Virginia Showcase meeting to lower Robert Tobin's national mark of 32.76 from 2006.

Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles also began his indoor season over 300m – his first race over the distance since 2017 –  winning at the Carnes Invitational in Florida with a time of 32.60 seconds to edge out Ace Malone (32.70) and George Franks (32.88).

Meanwhile, at the Corky Classic in Texas, British record-holder Dina Asher-Smith opened her season with a run of 7.18 in the women’s 60m, beating her training partner Semira Killebrew (7.31).

Jamaica’s Olympic and world 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson started his year with an outdoor 60m win of 6.52 at the Puma JAAA Fuller Anderson Development Meet in Spanish Town. Olympic 100m finalist Tia Clayton clocked 7.02 in the women's event.