The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show

Preet Majithia breaks down the biggest moments and surprises from day two at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland.

A couple of today's highlights include:

- After getting beaten by Cole Hocker in his first race of the season at the Millrose Games two mile, Josh Kerr has the last laugh by outkicking Hocker and the field to win his third global title and second in the 3000m, running 7:35.56 ahead of Hocker’s 7:35.70.

- Nadia Battocletti finally got her golden moment in the 3000m, as the Italian used a 28.54 final lap to outkick Jessica Hull with Battocletti claiming her fourth global medal in 8:57.64.

- Khaleb McRae led for about 390 meters of the 400m final, but it wasn’t quite enough to hold off the late charge of Christopher Morales Williams, who closed best to win in a championship-record of 44.76.

- Lurdes Gloria Manuel had only won one 400m so far in 2026 heading into this weekend, but she clocked three straight indoor PBs in the three rounds of racing and won her first global title in 50.76.

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Host: Preet Majithia | ⁠⁠@preet_athletics⁠⁠

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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OLIPOP: Olipop’s Tropical Punch tastes like a vacation in a can. It has the perfect balance of pineapple, passionfruit, mandarin, and apple. You get that nostalgic fruit punch flavor, but way more crisp and way more refreshing. Every can contains their Olismart blend, which includes ingredients designed to support digestive health and help feed your gut microbiome. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠⁠⁠ Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠⁠

XENDURANCE: When you finish a hard workout, the work isn't actually done. That's when recovery starts. Xendurance Protein is designed specifically to help your body recover, rebuild, and get stronger after training. It combines four different types of protein, so your body gets both fast absorbing protein for immediate recovery and slower release protein to support muscle repair over time. ⁠⁠⁠⁠Check it out at Xendurance.com and use code CITIUS for 25% off your first order.

Preet Majithia unpacks the first day of action at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships live from Poland, where we saw fireworks in the men’s 60m, a tactical affair in both the men’s and women’s 1500m, and an exciting first round of the 800m early this morning.

Some of today’s highlights include: 

- Jordan Anthony’s Team USA debut is a smashing success, as the 21-year-old defeats a stacked field to win the 60m final in a world-leading 6.41, also equal to #4 all-time.

- Eloisa Coiro leads all qualifiers to tomorrow’s semi-final in the women’s 800m with 1:59.87. World record holder Keely Hodgkinson auto qualifies easily with a 2:00.32.

- On the men’s side, Eliott Crestan leads all qualifiers to tomorrow’s 800m semi-final with 1:45.51.

- Americans Gracie Morris and Nikki Hiltz both qualify to the 1500m final, running 4:12.57 and 4:16.32 respectively.

- As for the men, Mariano García leads all qualifiers to the final with 3:38.19 and American Nathan Green auto qualifies with 3:40.97.

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____________

Host: Preet Majithia | ⁠@preet_athletics⁠

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

____________

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

OLIPOP: Olipop’s Tropical Punch tastes like a vacation in a can. It has the perfect balance of pineapple, passionfruit, mandarin, and apple. You get that nostalgic fruit punch flavor, but way more crisp and way more refreshing. Every can contains their Olismart blend, which includes ingredients designed to support digestive health and help feed your gut microbiome. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠⁠ Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠⁠

XENDURANCE: When you finish a hard workout, the work isn't actually done. That's when recovery starts. Xendurance Protein is designed specifically to help your body recover, rebuild, and get stronger after training. It combines four different types of protein, so your body gets both fast absorbing protein for immediate recovery and slower release protein to support muscle repair over time. ⁠⁠⁠Check it out at Xendurance.com and use code CITIUS for 25% off your first order.

“No one's going to hustle or care as much as you do, and no one's going to understand you as well as you do. Being able to present the best picture in front of a brand and understand what they value has been really rewarding."

My guest for today's episode is a good friend of CITIUS MAG and one of the most thoughtful, transparent, and compelling figures in American marathoning. I'm talking about Clayton Young. He joins us with some major news ahead of the spring marathon season. After seven years with ASICS, Clayton is officially entering a new chapter as a Brooks athlete heading into the 2026 Boston Marathon.

This wasn't some quick, easy switch; this was months of conversations, lab testing, contract negotiations, and one of the biggest decisions of his professional career. He did it all while representing himself while coming back from a serious ankle injury and trying to get ready for Boston on a compressed build.

If you've listened to his previous appearances on this show, you know that Clayton is absolutely no stranger to betting on himself in every possible way as an athlete, as his own agent, as a creator, and as someone still chasing the biggest goals of his career.

He talks about why Brooks felt right, what he learned through the self-representation process, and how performance remains the center of every decision that he makes. We also get into the injury that derailed nearly five months of training, the breakthrough that got him running pain-free again, and how he's approaching Boston with a mix of curiosity, realism, and the same competitive fire that made him one of the top American marathoners in the world. He's still pushing forward even when things aren't necessarily going according to plan.

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Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez

Guest: Clayton Young | @_clayton_young_

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr | ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr

____________

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

OLIPOP: Olipop’s Tropical Punch tastes like a vacation in a can. It has the perfect balance of pineapple, passionfruit, mandarin, and apple. You get that nostalgic fruit punch flavor, but way more crisp and way more refreshing. Every can contains their Olismart blend, which includes ingredients designed to support digestive health and help feed your gut microbiome. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠ Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠

XENDURANCE: When you finish a hard workout, the work isn't actually done. That's when recovery starts. Xendurance Protein is designed specifically to help your body recover, rebuild, and get stronger after training. It combines four different types of protein, so your body gets both fast absorbing protein for immediate recovery and slower release protein to support muscle repair over time. ⁠Check it out at Xendurance.com and use code CITIUS for 25% off your first order.

⁠The World Athletics Indoor Championships descend on Toruń, Poland this weekend. Here’s your event-by-event preview via Chris Chavez and Preet Majithia.

- Men’s 60m: Defending champion Jeremiah Azu faces the deepest field in recent memory, led by American Jordan Anthony (world list leader, 6.43) and Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson (6.46).

- Women’s 60m: Julien Alfred vs. Zaynab Dosso, both at 6.99 and both in career form. Alfred seeks history as a two-time world indoor champion; Dosso has silver and bronze but never gold.

- Men’s 60m hurdles: A three-way tie at 7.37 between Poland’s unbeaten home favorite Jakub Szymański and Americans Dylan Beard and Trey Cunningham, with three-time defending champion Grant Holloway absent for the first time in years.

- Women’s 60m hurdles: Devynne Charlton can become the first woman to win three consecutive world indoor titles in the event, having won in Glasgow and Nanjing. Swiss world champion Ditaji Kambundji has been just 0.01 behind her twice this season.

- Men’s 400m: Two of the three fastest short-track 400m runners ever, Khaleb McRae (world record pending, 44.52) and Christopher Morales Williams (44.49 all-time best, unratified), meet in a new split-final format using only lanes 3 to 6.

- Women’s 400m: Several top seeds are absent, opening the door wide for Norway’s Henriette Jæger and the Netherlands’ Lieke Klaver, who beat Jæger at last year’s European Indoors.

- Men’s 800m: Belgium’s Eliott Crestan enters as the top seed chasing history, but American teenager Cooper Lutkenhaus, just 17, set a world U20 short-track record of 1:44.03 last month and could become the youngest men’s 800m medalist in World Indoor Championships history.

- Women’s 800m: Keely Hodgkinson is the story of the meet. The British Olympic champion broke a 24-year-old world record last month, running 1:54.87 on the very day she was born. Three injuries have kept her from the World Indoors. She finally arrives healthy and dangerous.

- Men’s 1500m: World champion Isaac Nader looks to finally convert after two consecutive fourth-place finishes, chasing Portugal’s first title here since 2001. Dutch 800m specialist Sam Chapple brings a dangerous finishing kick.

- Women’s 1500m: Georgia Hunter Bell leads a deep field stacked against Ethiopia’s three-athlete squad, with Nikki Hiltz’s big kick a wildcard in the final lap.

- Men’s 3000m: The entire Paris Olympic 1500m podium, Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, and Yared Nuguse, races together, making this arguably the meet’s marquee event.

- Women’s 3000m: Freweyni Hailu is chasing a third straight world indoor distance title, representing a broader Ethiopian dynasty that has won 10 of the last 12 world indoor 3000m crowns.

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Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ + Preet Majithia | @preet_athletics

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

____________

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

OLIPOP: Olipop’s Tropical Punch tastes like a vacation in a can. It has the perfect balance of pineapple, passionfruit, mandarin, and apple. You get that nostalgic fruit punch flavor, but way more crisp and way more refreshing. Every can contains their Olismart blend, which includes ingredients designed to support digestive health and help feed your gut microbiome. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about!⁠⁠ Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.⁠⁠

XENDURANCE: When you finish a hard workout, the work isn't actually done. That's when recovery starts. Xendurance Protein is designed specifically to help your body recover, rebuild, and get stronger after training. It combines four different types of protein, so your body gets both fast absorbing protein for immediate recovery and slower release protein to support muscle repair over time. ⁠⁠Check it out at Xendurance.com and use code CITIUS for 25% off your first order.

Chris Chavez and Kyle Merber unpack all of the action from this weekend.

We’re talking about a nineteen-year-old freshman from BYU who just walked into the NCAA Indoor Championships and dismantled the field in not one but two distance events. A triple crown is complete for Habtom Samuel. A DQ controversy that had coaches filing protests and athletes biting their tongues. Sprint performances so fast they’re rewriting the record books — again. And a 28-year-old Ethiopian woman who showed up to her first-ever marathon and basically said, ‘yeah, this is fine, I’ll take second all-time.’

Oh, and New York City threw the biggest half marathon in American history, and we somehow need to talk about Grant Fisher’s debut...which, depending on who you ask, was either a totally reasonable first step or terrible.

In this week’s episode:

– Intro & headlines

– Habtom Samuel’s triple crown is complete: men’s 5,000m

– DQ controversy: men’s 3,000m

– Jane Hedengren makes history: 3K & 5K double

– Carter Cutting seizes the moment: men’s mile

– Back-to-back for Wilma Nielsen: women’s mile

– Chepngetich’s redemption arc & Arkansas 1-2

– Record night in the sprints: three collegiate records fall

– Fotyen Tesfay: second-fastest women’s marathon ever, on debut

– NYC Half recap

– Grant Fisher’s NYC Half debut: hot takes and cooler heads

– The Adeajah Hodge doping suspension explained

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Hosts: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ + Kyle Merber | ⁠⁠⁠@kylemerber⁠⁠⁠

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

____________

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

OLIPOP: Olipop’s Tropical Punch tastes like a vacation in a can. It has the perfect balance of pineapple, passionfruit, mandarin, and apple. You get that nostalgic fruit punch flavor, but way more crisp and way more refreshing. Every can contains their Olismart blend, which includes ingredients designed to support digestive health and help feed your gut microbiome. If you haven't had tried Olipop yet, grab a can and see what the hype is all about! Head to DrinkOlipop.com and use code CITIUS25 at checkout to get 25% off your orders.

XENDURANCE: When you finish a hard workout, the work isn't actually done. That's when recovery starts. Xendurance Protein is designed specifically to help your body recover, rebuild, and get stronger after training. It combines four different types of protein, so your body gets both fast absorbing protein for immediate recovery and slower release protein to support muscle repair over time. Check it out at Xendurance.com and use code CITIUS for 25% off your first order.