Grace Stark: World bronze medallist kicks off season with outstanding win in Karlsruhe

American hurdling queen Grace Stark delivered a dominant performance at the INIT Indoor Meeting in Karlsruhe to win the women's 60mH.

The world 100mH bronze medallist started her season in the women's 60m hurdles, clocking 7.86s. However, the victory didn't come easy She was pushed all the way by France's Laeticia Bapte, who stumbled just before the line but held on for second in 7.95s.

In the men's 60m event, Cameroon's Emmanuel Eseme came out victorious in one of the most tightly contested events of the meeting. The race saw the top four athletes, each from a different continent, finish within a mere three-hundredths of a second of each other.

Eseme clocked a winning time of 6.53 seconds, narrowly beating Ali Al Balushi of Oman, who finished in 6.54. Germany's Owen Ansah took third with a time of 6.55, just ahead of Jamaica's Odaine McPherson, who crossed the line in 6.56.

The men's 800m saw Germany's Alexander Stepanov surge late to win with a personal best of 1:46.17. Meanwhile, in the women's 400m, Egypt's Bassant Hemida recorded the fastest time across all three heats, stopping the clock at 51.97 seconds.

Great Britain's Georgia Hunter Bell delivered a dominant performance, clocking a world-leading 4:00.04 in the women's 1500m.

Hunter Bell, the Olympic 1500m bronze medallist, stayed close to the pacemaker through the 800m mark, which was passed in 2:08.60. After taking control, she held off a strong challenge from Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom. The Briton's powerful finish, including a blistering 28.82-second final lap, secured the victory. Her time was just shy of the indoor personal best she set while winning world indoor bronze last year.

Haylom finished a close second in 4:00.88, while Agathe Guillemot of France set a new national short-track record of 4:02.12 to claim third place.

"I'm getting used to frontrunning, it's a new thing for me; I wanted to practice something different," said Hunter Bell. "I wanted to get the world lead, I wanted to try to go sub-4:00 and win. So I achieved two out of three: I won and got the world lead."