Poland: Eseme, Itoungue to star in World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Reigning African Games 100m champion, Eseme, and rising sensation, Itoungue, will feature in the men’s 60m series as Cameroon’s two flagbearers in the event.

The pair was confirmed as the country’s representatives after athletics’ global governing body, World Athletics, published the official entry list of the three-day competition recently. 

No female Cameroonian athlete made the cut, per the entry list where Africa is principally represented by Ethiopia and South Africa with 10 and eight athletes respectively.

Challenging test for Itoungue 

Eseme has established himself as one of the well-known faces in global athletics competitions over the last years and will be on familiar territory when he features in the Poland showpiece.

His compatriot, Itoungue, will however be marking his debut in the final phase of the global indoors showpiece and will largely be staging his first participation in such a high-profile competition since he came to the limelight in the athletics space some four years ago.

The 24-year-old who also specializes in middle-distance events, is presently ranked 176th among the world’s male athletes and sits 56th in the men’s 60m ranking. 

The youngster will face the Poland challenge hoping to build on the impressive season that he has had thus far especially in the 60m series.

Itoungue recorded his personal best in the 60m series on March 1 this year when he posted 6.56 seconds performance in the final of the Belgian Indoor Championships.

Before the personal record-setting display in the final series which ultimately earned him a ticket to the global indoors championships, he had earlier won his heat two series in 6.69 seconds in the first round of the same Belgium competition.

In fact, before the 6.56 seconds run in Belgium, Itoungue had established three other all-time personal best records for him this year. 

He bagged two personal bests on January 30 when he completed the men’s 400m and men’s 400m short track events in 49.26 seconds at the Belgian Championships. 

The athlete followed up the performance with another personal record display on February 21 at the Belgian Relays Championships where he finished his 4x400m relay short track in 3:18.53 seconds.

Third-time asking for Eseme 

Eseme made his debut in the competition during the 2022 edition in Belgrade in Serbia and returned for the 2024 edition in Glasgow in Scotland before missing out on 2025 series in Nanjing in China.

The rich experience has the 32-year-old hoping to conclude the 2026 series with a place on the winners’ podium. 

To achieve the feat, he hopes to punch beyond his weight as he challenges some global giants including Jamaican pair of Ackeem Blake and Kishane Thompson.

Eseme recorded a performance of 6.53 seconds as his personal best for the season in the category this season. The performance earned him a qualification ticket for the forthcoming event.

Ranked 14th globally among male athletes, Eseme is expected to tap inspiration from the impressive showing that he registered during the 2026 qualifying event and the 2024 edition.

This article article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3736 of Thursday March 19, 2026