An intense women’s 1500m featuring Ethiopians Freweyni Hailu and Diribe Welteji and Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech will be the main attraction during the ORLEN Copernicus Cup, a World Indoor Tour Gold level meeting, in Torun on Tuesday.

The favorite, at least on paper, would appear to be Welteji, who clocked a world-record 4:20.98 in winning the mile at the World Road Running Championships. The 21-year-old opened her season with a victory in Astana on January 27 in a personal-best 4:23.76, a time which established a then-world lead.

But just three days later the 22-year-old Hailu, who won silver in the 800m at the 2022 World Indoor Championships, kicked off her 2024 campaign with a bang at the Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava, winning her first-ever indoor mile in 4:17.36, the sixth-fastest time in history.

Chepkoech is known primarily for her feats in the 3000m steeplechase, where she has held the world record of 8:44.32 since 2018 and owns gold (2019) and silver (2023) medals from the World Championships. But the 32-year-old has indoor track wheels as well. She set the Kenyan national record of 4:02.09 in the 1500m at the ISTAF Indoor Dusseldorf in 2020. She has not contested the event since, however.

Not to be overlooked in the field are Ethiopia’s Hirut Meshesha and Uganda’s Halimah Nakaayi. 

Among the five women, Meshesha has the fastest indoor 1500m PR, having run 4:02.01 in Lievin last year. The 23-year-old has contested the distance nine times in her career wth an average finish of 4:05.87.

Nakaayi, the 2019 World champion over 800m, is a bit of a wildcard as she has yet to contest an indoor 1500m in her career and in five outdoor races at the distance has only finished two, including a 4:08.42 last July. But three weeks after that race, the 29-year-old set the Ugandan national record in the 800m, running 1:57.62 at the Diamond League meeting in London.