Week in Review: Bednarek caps career year
American defeats Olympic 200 champion Tebogo in Diamond League Final in Brussels
Statistically speaking, Kenny Bednarek had a breakthrough season in the men’s 200 meters this year, but he does not see it that way. He views his plethora of improved times as performances that would have occurred a year or two ago, had he been able to avoid injuries and train consistently.
The 25-year-old sprinter lowered his personal best in the 200 three times this season. He also ran under 19.70 seconds five times, more than anyone else in the world, and won his first Diamond League title in Brussels last Saturday when his 19.67-second clocking left him well ahead of Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who placed second in 19.80.
Tebogo had won six consecutive 200-meter finals entering that race in the Memorial van Damme meet, but Bednarek was in first place coming out of the turn, and unlike what happened in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich nine days earlier, Tebogo was unable to overtake him in the home straightaway.
The win gave Bednarek his first victory this season in four races against the 21-year-old Tebogo, who had become the first African to win the Olympic title in the men’s 200 when he ran a continental record of 19.46 in the final in Paris on August 8 to defeat Bednarek (19.62) and fellow American Noah Lyles (19.70).
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Lyles had been regarded by many as the favorite entering that race, but the Olympic 100-meter champion did not run well two days after testing positive for COVID-19 and he called it a season not long after that.
Tebogo, meanwhile, capped his Olympic experience by running a scintillating 43.04-second anchor leg on a Botswanan team that won the silver medal in the 4 x 400-meter relay with the third-fastest time in history before winning all five of his post-OIympic races heading into the Diamond League Final in Brussels.
In contrast, Bednarek had followed his runner-up finish in the 200 in the Olympic Games with a perplexing performance in the 4 x 100 relay when he took off far too early on the second leg of a race in which a heavily-favored U.S. team finished a disappointing seventh before being disqualified because Bednarek had been out of the exchange zone when he received the baton from Christian Coleman.
In his first post-Olympic race, he ran 20.00 to finish third in the 200 in the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzow, Poland, on August 25 before lowering his personal best to 19.57 in Zurich while finishing second behind Tebogo and his 19.55 clocking.
For daily reports on last week’s Diamond League Final, the following links will take you to Day One and Day Two of the women’s competition and Day One and Day Two of the men’s meet.
“I’m feeling great,” Bednarek said in quotes on the meet website after his win in Brussels. “It’s been a really long season: I got the silver medal in Paris, I had a few wins during the season, also a few losses: But being able to end the season with a victory in the DL final, gives me a lot of confidence for next year.
“I think execution-wise I did what I needed to do and I´m happy with the performance.”
Bednark has an interesting background as he ran 10.42 seconds in the 100, 20.43 in the 200, and 46.68 in the 400 as a senior at Rice Lake High School in Wisconsin in 2018.
He was the fastest prep performer in the U.S. in the 200 that year, but he had not met the academic requirements needed to compete at the NCAA Division I level in 2019. Nonetheless, he won the 400 in 44.73 seconds and the 200 in 19.82 in that year’s National Junior College Athletic Association title meet in Hobbs, New Mexico, while competing for Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa.
While Bednarek’s performances were aided by the 3,600-foot (nearly 1,100 meters) elevation in Hobbs, they were impressive enough that he signed a shoe contract with Nike in July of that year.
Although he was eliminated in the first-round heats of the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, in October, he lowered his personal best to 10.09 in the 100 and 19.80 in the 200 during the 2020 season that was quite short and compacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He then ran a personal best of 9.89 to finish fourth in the 100 in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 2021 before running a career best of 19.68 to win the silver medal in the 200 in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
He won another silver medal — behind Lyles — in the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, but his training was hampered by injuries last year and he finished fifth in the global title meet in Budapest, Hungary.
He won six of his first seven races of this year while competing in two 100-meter races, three 200s, and a pair of 400s.
Then came the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene in June when he ran personal bests of 9.87 in the 100 and 19.59 in the 200 while finishing second to Lyles in both events.
He appeared to have a solid chance at defeating Lyles with 50 meters left in the 200, but the three-time defending World champion moved past him in the final 20 meters of the contest.
Bednarek’s next meet was the Olympic Games in Paris, where he ran 9.88 to finish seventh in the 100 before winning his second consecutive silver medal in the 200.
“This year I shocked a few people with how fast I was running,” he said. “I knew that I had it in me, but the last couple of seasons I had some injuries here and there. This season people saw a glimpse of what I can do.
“It’s not a breakout year, this is something that I was supposed to be doing. Next year I will even be faster and more dangerous.”
Slump buster: Leonardo Fabbri of Italy broke a six-meet winless streak in a big way in the Diamond League Final in Brussels last Saturday when he won the men’s shot put with a national record of 22.98 meters (75 feet 4¾ inches) to strengthened his hold on fifth on the all-time performer list.
Fabri had finished second twice, third twice, fourth once, and fifth once in his six previous meets.
Ryan Crouser of the U.S. had won five of the meets in which Fabbri had been beaten. But he finished second in the Memorial van Damme with a best of 22.79 (74-9¼). He was followed by Olympic bronze medalist Rajindra Campbell of Jamaica in third at 21.95 (72-0¼).
The 27-year-old Fabbri had raised his outdoor season record to 11-0 when he defeated Crouser in a Diamond League meet in London on July 20, but the American had won six consecutive meetings between them since then.
His first victory in that streak had come in the Olympic Games in Paris on August 3 when he won an unprecedented third gold medal in the event and his sixth win had come in the Gala dei Castelli meet in Bellinzona, Switzerland, on Sept. 9.
While the 31-year-old Crouser had won the Olympic title with a best of 22.90 (75-1¾) and the Gala dei Castelli meeting with a mark of 22.25 (73-0), Fabbri had finished fifth in the Olympics with a best of 21.70 (71-2½) and third in Bellinzona with a top mark of 21.36 (70-1).
Prior to the Olympics, the average of Fabbri’s winning marks in his 11 outdoor meets was 22.59 (74-1½). But that figure was down to 21.82 (71-7¼) during his six-meet losing skid to Crouser.
Although no one had ever lost while putting the shot as far as Fabbri did in Brussels, Crouser never let him relaxed completely as he had five efforts of 22.39 (73-5½) or farther.
In contrast, Fabbri fouled on three of final five puts of the competition and his two fair efforts measured 21.98 (72-1½) in the third round and 21.86 (71-8¾) in the sixth.
Crouser fouled in the first round before hitting 22.55 (73-11¾) in the second round and 22.39 (73-5½) in the third. Then came his 22.79 (74-9¼) effort in the fourth round and he followed that with puts of 22.66 (74-4¼) in the fifth round and 22.43 (73-7¼) in the sixth.
“It has been an amazing season. But because of that upset during the Olympics, I was very motivated to win that Diamond,” Fabbri in quotes on the meet website. “This season, my coach and I worked hard on being consistent during the competitions. I know I´m capable to get that 23m, so that’s why I’m a little bit upset with the distance.
“Of course, 22m98 is huge, but next season we’ll hopefully get that 23m. If Ryan stays healthy, we can have a good season together. The competition is strong at the moment, because I thought I could relax a bit today after that opening throw. But then I saw Ryan throwing that 22.79, so I knew I had to keep on pushing during the competition. I just love competing, even though I am tired after a long season.”
Taking down a longstanding mark: Matthew Denny of Australia broke a 40-year-old meet record when he won the men’s discus with a national record of 69.96 (229-6) in the Memorial van Damme meet last Friday.
The Olympic bronze medalist’s mark broke the meet record of 69.94 (229-5) set by Imrich Bugar of Czechoslovakia in 1984, bettered his previous national record of 69.35 (227-6) from earlier this year, and gave him his second consecutive Diamond League title.
Olympic silver medalist and world record-holder Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania finished second at 68.86 (225-11), followed by Lukas Heibhaidinger of Austria at 66.52 (218-3).
The 28-year-old Denny had been somewhat of a surprise when he won the Diamond League Final in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, last September. But his victory in this year’s meet was not regarded as much of an upset as he had placed first, second, or third in 13 of his 15 prior competitions this season.
Denny unleashed his top effort in the first round and he also had throws of 68.77 (225-7) in the second round and 68.36 (224-3) in the fifth.
“It’s nice to go back to back and take the win again today, it feels really great,” Denny said in quotes on the meet website. “I am in great shape so I knew something great was going to happen but I knew I had to give it my all to win from these guys today. I’m just super happy. It’s been a long year and then to finish with a national record and just a few cm’s short of 70m.”
Fifteen and counting: Valarie Allman of the U.S. won her 15th consecutive meet while completing the first undefeated season of her career when she threw the women’s discus 68.47 (224-7) in the Memorial van Damme meet in Brussels last Friday.
The two-time Olympic champion finished nearly a meter ahead of Olympic silver medalist Bin Feng of China, who had a best of 67.49 (221-5). She was followed by Yaime Perez of Cuba at 66.96 (219-8).
The victory was the 11th of the season without a loss for the 29-year-old Allman and it gave her a fourth consecutive Diamond League title. Her last loss came in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, when U.S. teammate Lagi Tausauga upset her for the gold medal when she improved her personal best by more than four meters during the competition.
“I feel so happy, I really dreamed of a season like this, I really didn't think it would be possible to have an undefeated season,” she said in quotes on the meet website. “I just fought really hard and I have such an amazing team and we just made the most of every opportunity. I just have so many great memories of this season. Brussels was the last one and it was the hardest one to prepare for, you know the Diamond League is a set of competitions that we really focus on and value and I got my fourth trophy and I'm just so happy. I knew the competition would be intense being only six competitors. And now offseason! I really can't wait for your fries, waffles and chocolate!”
Another fourpeat: Like Valarie Allman of the U.S. in the women’s discus, Mondo Duplantis of Sweden won his fourth consecutive Diamond League title in the men’s pole vault in the Memorial van Damme meet last Friday.
The 24-year-old Swede’s victory capped a year in which he won all 15 of his meets, including 11 outdoors, raised the world record three times, and won his second consecutive Olympic title.
He was very efficient in Brussels as he set a meet record of 6.11 (20-0½) on his third jump of the competition before calling it a day due to the cool and damp conditions.
Olympic bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece finished second at 5.82 (19-1). Ben Broeders of Belgium and Olympic silver medalist Sam Kendricks of the U.S. also cleared 5.82 on their first attempts, but they tied for third because they had more total misses during the competition than Karalis.
Duplantis, who has raised the world record to 6.26 (20-6½) this year, cleared 5.62 (18-5¼), 5.92 (19-5), and 6.11 (20-0½) on his first attempts.
“My legs felt terrible tonight and I’m just really tired,” he said in quotes on the meet website.
He added that his 100-meter match race against Karsten Warholm of Norway in the Weltklasse meet, followed by a regular pole vault competition the following day “took a lot more from my body than I expected. With 6m11 I got a good result, but the world record wasn't meant to be tonight.”
Third title in a row: Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine won her third consecutive Diamond League title when she cleared 1.97 (6-5) in winning the women’s high jump in the Memorial van Damme meet last Friday.
Mahuckikh, who just turned 23, had finished second to Nicola Olyslagers of Australia in the high jump in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, in March, but she won her seventh meet of the outdoor season without a loss in Brussels.
She and Olyslagers both cleared 1.97 meters during the competition, but Mahuchikh was awarded first place because she cleared that height on her first attempt and Olyslagers made it on her second.
Fellow Ukrainian Iryna Gerashchenko placed third at 1.92 (6-3).
Mahuchikh, who had broken a 37-year-old world record when she cleared 2.10 (6-10¾) in the Meeting de Paris on July 7, made 1.88 (6-2), 1.92 (6-3), 1.95 (6-4), and 1.97 (6-5) on her first attempts on Friday. She and Olyslagers both passed at 1.99 (6-6) before they each missed three times at 2.01 (6-7).
“Finally the season is over, I’m exhausted. But I have my diamond and it was important for me and my country that I won today so that I can take the diamond back home to Ukraine,” she said in quotes on the meet website. “I felt a lot of support and energy from my home country this season and with the results, it couldn’t have been better. But now I’m ready to go back home.”
Another threepeat: Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic was another performer who won a third consecutive Diamond League title in Brussels.
Her winning time of 49.45 seconds last Friday was more than a second slower than the 48.17 Olympic record she had set in Paris, but it left her nearly a second in front of second-place Alexis Holmes of the U.S., who ran 50.32. Olympic silver medalist Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain originally finished third in 50.64, but she was disqualified for running out of her lane.
When that happened, Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland moved into third place after running 50.96.
Although Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S., the two-time Olympic champion and six-time world record-setter in the women’s 400 hurdles, won an invitational section of the 400 in 49.11, she was not eligible to compete in the Diamond League Final event because she had not raced in any of the previous 14 Diamond League meets this season.
The victory was the 27-year-old Paulino’s eighth of the year without a loss and the 2023 World champion has now won 11 consecutive finals dating back to last year.
“I ran a decent race at the end of a very long season,” she said in quotes on the meet website. “Of course I would have loved to run faster and closer to my personal best, but it was really, really cold tonight.
“This season was fantastic for me. With the golden medal in Paris, I can say now that I won all the titles that I could win… that doesn't mean that I don’t have any goals left for the next seasons. I want to become better and still win medals at the major championships.”
Capping off a superb season: Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya was beaten twice in the men’s 800 meters this season, but he completed one of the greatest seasons in the history in the event when he came from well back in the home straightway to record a winning time of 1:42.70 in the Memorial van Damme meet last Saturday.
He was followed by Djamel Sedjati of Algeria in 1:42.86 and Marco Arop of Canada in 1:43.25.
Wanyonyi’s time was faster than his world-leading mark of 1:42.80 last year, but the men’s 800 has undergone such as transformation this season that it was only the 26th-fastest time of 2024.
The 20-year-old Wanyonyi had become the first man ever to run under 1:42 four times during a season this year and his top time of 1:41.11 is tied for the fourth-fastest ever. In addition, his second-best time of 1:41.19 left him a hundredth of a second in front of silver medalist Arop in the Olympic final on August 10 and is the sixth-fastest ever run.
His 1:41.11 performance in the Athletissima meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 22 was only two tenths of a second off the world record of 1:40.91 set by fellow Kenyan David Rudisha in the 2012 Olympic Games, but a tired-looking Wanyonyi had finished a well-eaten second to Arop when he ran 1:43.23 in the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzow, Poland, three days later.
Wanyoni trailed Arop, compatriot Wyclife Kinyamal, and Olympic bronze medalist Sedjati when Arop came through 400 meters in 49.28 seconds in Brussels, and he was still in fourth place when Arop passed 600 meters in 1:15.42, followed by Sedjati and Kinyamal.
The race for first place appeared to be between Arop and Sedjati as the Canadian entered the home straightaway with a small lead, and the Algerian looked to have taken control of the race with 40 meters left in the contest. But Wanyonyi had come to life at that moment and he was reeling in Sedjati.
He drew even with him with about 12 meters to go and then went by him a few meters later.
Behind the front three, 1:41.61 performer Gabriel Tual of France placed fourth in 1:43.67, followed by Eliott Crestan of Belgium in 1:43.74 and Kinyamal in 1:44.00.
“It wasn’t very warm today, but even though the race went well,” Wanyonyi said. “The last meters were very hard, they always are. But I worked hard for it and I’m happy that I made it.”
Nice rebound: Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway was beaten three times in nine races in the 1,500 meters or mile this season, but he won his third consecutive Diamond League title in the men’s 1,500 in the Memorial van Damme meet last Friday.
Eight days earlier, Yared Nuguse of the U.S. had outkicked Ingebrigtsen in a highly-anticipated race in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich that also included Olympic champion Cole Hocker of the U.S. and silver medalist Josh Kerr of Great Britain.
Yet the Norwegian moved into the lead with 500 meters left in the race in Brussels and then repelled every challenge that was thrown at him during the remainder of the contest while on his way to a winning time of 3:30.37.
Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya placed second in 3:30.93 to finish a hundredth of a second in front of Hocker, while Nuguse placed sixth in 3:32.30 after he and Cheruiyot got tangled up with one another with 320 meters left in the race.
Although Nuguse managed to stay upright at the time, he lost valuable momentum and he never completely recovered.
“My race went really good, the goal was obviously to finish first and I did that,” Ingebrigtsen said in quotes on the meet website. “For the whole season, I had some good races and some bad races so I hope to perform better next year. I still have some improvements to do and to just keep working hard. And for now, off season starts and I’m going to spend some time with my family.”
One would think that Ingebrigtsen considers his fourth-place finish in the Olympic Games — after he entered the home straightaway in the lead — as one of his bad races. But it was impressive to see the way he rebounded from what had to have been a huge disappointment for the defending Olympic champion in that event.
First, he won the gold medal in the 5,000 meters four days later before running 3:27.83 to win the 1,500 in the Athletissima meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 22 while finishing more than two seconds in front of second-place Hocker.
Then came a scintillating performance in the 3,000 meters three days after that when he took more than three seconds off the world record with a 7:17.55 clocking in the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial.
Although Nuguse pulled away from him during the final 40 meters of the race in Zurich. Ingebrigtsen did not seen upset by the loss as he had said before the race that he was recovering from an illness he had come down with after his world record in the 3,000.
Rising star?: Amos Serem of Kenya won the biggest race of his young career when he outkicked two-time Olympic and two-time World champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco to win the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Memorial van Damme meet last Friday.
Although the 22-year-old Serem had been beaten in seven of nine steeplechase races prior to the Diamond League Final, he had posted tines of 8:02.36 and 8:04.29 in a pair of races in which he finished second.
His victory in Brussels snapped a 15-race winning streak for El Bakkali, whose last loss had come in the 2021 Weltklasse meet.
The race began at a crisp pace as pacesetter Abderrafia Bouassel of Morocco led the field through the first kilometer in 2:40.89, but the tempo lagged in the second kilometer as Serem was in first place when he came through 2,000 meters in 5:28.97.
He was still in the lead with a lap to go and though El Bakkali had moved into second place down the backstretch, he was unable to overtake Serem, who hurdled the barrier at the final water jump and never allowed the Moroccan to seriously challenge him after that.
Serem’s time of 8:06.90 left him nearly two seconds ahead of El Bakkali’s 8:08.60 clocking. Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui of Tunisia finished third in 8:09.68.
“Today, the race was so good. I was competing against the Olympic champion El Bakkali, and I won,” Serem said in quotes on the meet website. “I felt really great today, I believed I could but I didn’t expect it. But I am so happy to close my season like this and to hopefully come back next year. I will prepare for next year and try to be even better!”
Another upset victory: Faith Cherotich of Kenya matched compatriot Amos Serem’s surprise win in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with one of her own in the women’s event in the Memorial van Damme meet last Saturday.
The race had been billed as a rematch between Winfred Yavi of Bahrain and Faith Chemutai of Uganda, the gold and silver medalists in the Olympic Games and runners who had clocked 8:44.39 and 8:48.03, the second- and third-fastest times in history, in the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meet in Rome on August 30.
However, 20-year-old Cherotich won the race in 9:02.36 while finishing in front of second-place Yavi in 9:02.87 and third-place Chemutai in 9:07.60.
Pacesetter Olivia Gurth of Germany had come through the first kilometer in 2:55.43, but the pace slowed significantly in the second kilometer as Cherotich led at 2,000 meters in 6:00.14.
Chemutai was in the lead for most of the ensuing 700 meters, but Cherotich had moved into first place entering the final curve and she repelled Yavi’s vaunted kick in the final straightaway after having finished third in both the Olympic Games and the Golden Gala meet.
“I didn’t expect to win today, but I think that I ran a good race,” Cherotich said in quotes on the meet website. “It wasn’t easy, but I kept saying to myself that, if I’m still in the lead after the last water jump, I was going to win.
“Winning the Diamond League means a lot to me.”
Kenyan favorites roll: While Faith Cherotich of Kenya was an upset winner in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Diamond League Final, compatriots Mary Moraa, Faith Kipyegon, and Beatrice Chebet rolled to victories at the 800-, 1,500-, and 5,000-meter distances during the two-day meet.
Moraa, who had set a world best of 1:21.63 in the 600 in the ISTAF meet in Berlin on Sept. 1, won the 800 in a season best of 1:56.56 last Friday while finishing nearly a second in front of second-place Georgia Bell of Great Britain, who ran 1:57.50.
On Saturday, three-time Olympic champion Kipyegon set a meet record of 3:54.75 in the 1,500 and Olympic champion Chebet did likewise in the 5,000 when she clocked 14:09.82.
Kipyegon finished half a second in front of Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia, who ran 3:55.25, and Chebet was 12-plus seconds in front of 19-year-old Medina Eisa of Ethiopia, who set a world U20 record of 14:21.89 while placing second.
It was the fourth consecutive Diamond League title for the 30-year-old Kipyegon and the fifth of her career.
The 24-year-old Chebet’s effort came nine days after she had posted a yearly world-leading time of 14:09.52 in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich and it was the eighth-fastest performance in history.
An even dozen victories: Jasmin Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico did not have one of the top 12 times in the world this year in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. But when it came to competing well during the last two months of the season, there was not a more consistent performer on the planet.
In an event in which the top five finishers in the Olympic Games — other than bronze medalist Camacho-Quinn — won a combined 16 finals between them during the outdoor season, the 2021 Olympic champion won 12 finals, including eight of her last nine.
Her latest victory came in the Diamond League Final in Brussels last Saturday when she ran 12.38 seconds to dominate a race in which Nadine Visser of the Netherlands placed second in 12.54, Ackera Nugent of Jamaica finished third in 12.55, and Grace Stark of the U.S. crossed the line in fourth in 12.59. In addition, Olympic silver medalist Cyrena Samba-Mayela of France placed seventh in 12.78.
Nugent’s yearly world-leading time of 12.24 seconds was more than a tenth of the second faster than Camacho-Quinn’s season best of 12.35 and the Jamaican also had clockings of 12.28, 12.29, and 12.30.
Stark, the fifth-place finisher in the Olympics, ran a personal best of 12.31 when she placed second to Masai Russell in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, on June 30 and Samba-Mayela ran the same time when she won the European Athletics title in Rome on June 8.
Yet all of them finished well back of the 28-year-old Camacho-Quinn in the Memorial van Damme meet.
According to stats on the meet website, Camacho-Quinn was in sixth place after the first two flights of hurdles in the race, but she had moved into a tie for third by the fourth hurdle and she was in the lead at the fifth.
She was two hundredths of a second ahead of Nugent and Visser at the seventh hurdle. But her lead had grown to .16 and .17 seconds over Visser and Nugent, respectively, when she crossed the finish line with her fifth-fastest time of the season.
Camacho-Quinn had run 12.35 twice and 12.36 twice during the last five weeks of the season.
“Performance wise it was a bit sloppy today, but it’s really cold,” Camacho-Quinn said in quotes on the meet website. “I did the best I could and I was able to win, so I finally have that trophy.
“I got bronze in Paris, but I wasn’t satisfied with that. I almost false started there and when I realized that, I held back a little bit and then the gun went off. Something that minor cost me the gold medal. It was difficult to accept, because I was in great shape and I was ready to make history and to win my second gold medal at the Olympics, but it is what it is and I cannot go back and change it. Now I’m just looking forward.”
Double double: Sasha Zhoya of France and Ackeem Blake of Jamaica, two athletes who were eliminated in the semifinals of the Olympic Games in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles and 100, respectively, posted victories in both the Gala dei Castelli in Bellinzona, Switzerland, on Monday, Sept. 9, and in the Memorial van Damme meet in Brussels last Friday.
Zhoya ran 13.22 to defeat Olympic champion Grant Holloway of the U.S. by a hundredth of a second in Bellinzona before clocking 13.16 to defeat second-place Lorenzo Simonelli of Italy by six hundredths of a second in Brussels.
Fellow 22-year-old Blake clocked 9.96 in Bellinzona to finish well ahead of second-place Akani Simbine of South Africa at 10.04 and then ran 9.93 in Brussels to turn back a field that included the American duo of Christian Coleman in second place at 10.00 and Olympic bronze medalist Fred Kerley in third at 10.01.
“For me it was a surprise to win here today,” Blake said in quotes on the meet website. “It was a very competitive field and it was also my first DL final. This really means a lot to me. It was rather cold to sprint tonight, but I still ran a time pretty close to my personal best. I´ve been working very hard this season and I kept motivated. That’s why I am so strong at the end of this season.”
Finishing strong: Johannes Erm of Estonia and Martha Araujo of Colombia capped the best years of their careers when they won the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively, in the Decastar meeting in Talence, France, last weekend.
Erm, who won the European Athletics Championships in Rome in June, totaled 8,589 points in Talence. He was followed by Sander Skotheim of Norway with 8,517 points, Sven Roosen of the Netherlands with 8,293, and Jente Hauttekeete of Belgium with 8,268.
Araujo totaled a South American record of 6,429 points to finish comfortably ahead of defending champion Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands, who had 6,273. Michelle Atherley of the U.S. was a close third with 6,267 points, followed by Lovisa Karlsson of Sweden with 6,111.
The 26-year-old Erm, who had placed sixth in the Olympic Games in Paris, trailed Skotheim by a score of 4,444 points to 4,332 after the first five events on Saturday, but he took the lead for good in the third event on Sunday when he cleared a personal best of 5.37 (17-7¼) in the pole vault to take a 120-point advantage over the Norwegian in second place.
He added 20 points to his lead when he threw the javelin 60.47 (198-4) before Skotheim trimmed his final advantage to 72 points after running 4:22.74 in the 1,500, while Erm timed 4:33.04.
Erm’s first-day marks were 10.79 seconds in the 100 meters, 7.37 (24-2¼) in the long jump, 14.87 (48-9½) in the shot put, 1.99 (6-6¼) in the high jump, and 47.27 in the 400. He began the second day with a time of 14.21 in the 110 high hurdles before throwing the discus 47.25 (155-0).
His final score of 8,589 points was the second best of his career behind his 8,764-point total in the European Championships and his 8,569 score in the Olympics was his third-best ever.
The 28-year-old Araujo raised her personal best four times this season, with her 6,429 score in Talence topping her previous South American record of 6,386 that she had set in finishing in a three-way tie for seventh in the Olympic Games.
She was in first place after the first day of competition with a total of 3,726 points with her closest pursuers being Atherley with 3,684, Adiana Sulek-Schubert of Poland with 3,638, and Karlsson with 3,610.
She then stayed in the lead with a best of 6.49 (21-3½) in the long jump before really taking control of the proceedings when she threw the javelin 50.64 (166-1).
With her 6.49 leap in the long jump being worth 1,004 points and her 50.65 throw in the javelin garnering another 910, she had a 272-point lead over second-place Oosterwegel entering the 800 meters, the final event of the heptathlon.
Araujo’s time of 2:19.80 was only the 12th best among the 15 performers left in the competition, but her lead was large enough that she still finished 156 points ahead of Oosterwegel, who ran 2:11.56 and picked up 116 points on Araujo in the process.
The Colombian’s first-day marks were 13.12 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, 13.38 (43-10¾) in the shot put, 1.75 (5-8¾) in the high jump, and 24.31 in the 200.
Prior to her performance in the Olympic Games, Araujo had totaled 6,329 points to win the Colombian title in June and 6,274 points to place first in the Ibero American Championships in May.
Two liners: Berihu Aregawi led a 1-2-3 sweep by Ethiopian runners in the men’s 5,000 meters in the Diamond League Final in the Memorial van Damme meet in Brussels last Friday. The Olympic silver medalist in the 10,000 ran 12:43.66 while finishing ahead of the 12:44.25 effort of Hagos Gebrhiwet and the 12:45.63 clocking of Telahun Haile. . . . . European champion Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy won his third Diamond League title in four years in the men’s high jump in the Memorial van Damme meet last Saturday. Tamberi cleared 2.34 meters (7 feet 8 inches) on his third attempt before retiring from the competition. . . . . Anderson Peters of Grenada won his fourth consecutive meet since the Olympic Games when he threw the javelin 87.87 (288-3) in the Diamond League Final last Saturday. Peters’ top throw left him one centimeter in front of 2021 Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra of India, who placed second at 87.86 (288-3). . . . . Olympic champion Nina Kennedy of Australia posted her eighth consecutive victory in the women’s pole vault when she cleared a height of 4.88 (16-0) in the Diamond League Final last Saturday. Kennedy’s last loss came in a Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, on May 10 when she finished second to World indoor champion Molly Caudery of Great Britain on a tiebreaker (total misses) after each of them had made 4.73 (15-6¼) on their first attempt. . . . . Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan won the women’s javelin on the final throw of the competition in the Diamond League Final last Saturday. Kitaguchi threw a season best of 66.13 (216-11) on her sixth attempt after Serbia’s Adriana Vilagos’ sixth-round effort of 65.23 (214-0) had supplanted Kitaguchi’s 65.08 (213-6) mark from the second round as the top throw in the competition. . . . . When Sarah Mitton of Canada won the women’s shot put in the Diamond League Final last Friday, she defeated a field that included all three medalists from the Olympic Games in Paris. World indoor champion Mitton produced her top mark of 20.25 (66-5¼) in the third round while two-time defending World champion Chase Jackson of the U.S. finished second with her fifth-round put of 19.90 (65-3½). . . . . Femke Bol of the Netherlands won the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.45 in the Diamond League Final last Saturday. Her time left her well in front of Olympic silver medalist Anna Cockrell of the U.S., who finished second in 53.71, and Shiann Salmon of Jamaica, who placed third in 53.99.
Contrasting victories: Sabastian Sawe of Kenya kicked to victory in the men’s race of the Copenhagen Half Marathon in Denmark on Sunday while compatriot Margaret Kipkemboi was a runaway winner in the women’s contest.
Sawe, the winner of the half marathon in last year’s World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia, ran a personal best of 58:05 in finishing four seconds in front of second-place Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who was a second ahead of third-place Isaia Lasoi of Kenya.
Kipkemboi, the runner-up in women’s race in Riga, ran 1 hour 5 minutes 11 seconds in Copenhagen to lead a Kenyan sweep of the top three spots as Judy Kemboi placed second in a personal best of 1:05:43 and Catherine Amanag’ole finished third in 1:06:09.
In the men’s race, Diamond League 5,000-meter champion Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia paced a large lead pack through the first five kilometers in 13:53.
Before 10 kilometers, Aregawi was leading a pack comprised of Kiplimo and Kenyans Sawe, Lasoi, Amos Kugat, and Kennedy Kimutai, as well as Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, who was making his half marathon debut after winning his third consecutive Diamond League title in the 1,500 two days earlier.
Ingebrigtsen, who won the 5,000 in the Olympic Games after finishing a disappointing fourth in the 1,500, set a Norwegian road record when he came through 10 kilometers in 27:27. But he pulled up at that point in the race, reportedly stopped two more times, and then finished in 34th place with a time of 1:03:13 while appearing to be completely exhausted.
Kiplimo, the world record-holder in the half marathon at 57:31, was in the lead when he came through 15 kilometers in 41:17 before he, Sawe, and Lasoi passed the 20-kilometer mark in 55:13. However, Sawe eventually broke away from the other two while on his way to a time that was 19 seconds faster than his previous yearly world-leading mark of 58:24 that he had set in Prague, Czechia, in April.
In the women’s race, Kipkemboi was part of a lead pack that came through five kilometers in 15:22 before a Kenyan foursome of her, Kemboi, Amanag’ole, and Sheila Chelangat, and Ethiopian Ftaw Zeray passed 10 kilometers in 30:52.
Kipkemboi and Kemboi comprised a lead duo when they went through 15 kilometers in 46:29, but Kipkemboi was running all herself when she came through 20 kilometers in 1:01:42 while on her way to the second-fastest time of her career.
Reality check: I’m not sure if Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway jumped into the Copenhagen Half Marathon on Sunday as a lark or if he had been thinking about contesting it for quite a while, but the man who has been incredibly successful at distances ranging from 1,500 meters to 5,000 on that track looked quite mortal when he finished in 34th place in 1:03:13.
Ingebrigtsen, who won his third consecutive Diamond League title in the 1,500 in the Memorial van Damme meet in Brussels last Friday, was in the lead pack in Copenhagen when he went through the 10-kilometer mark in a Norwegian record of 27:27. But he pulled up after that and reportedly stopped two more times before he finished in a totally spent condition.
A post on his Instagram account read as follows: Just realized the meaning of the term «run like hell». 😮💨 My deepest respect to all you long distance runners! And thank you @cphhalf for the warm welcome! ❤️
In memory: Otis Davis of the U.S., the 1960 Olympic champion in the men’s 400 meters, died lastSaturday, the University of Oregon track and field program announced on Monday. He was 92.
Davis and Carl Kaufmann of Germany were each credited with setting a world record of 44.9 seconds when Davis edged Kaufman for the gold medal in the 1960 Games in Rome. Although Davis was credited with a fully-automatic clocking of 45.07 seconds for his performance, compared to Kaufman’s 45.08, hand-held timing — kept in tenths of a second — was used to track world records in those days.
In addition to his individual title in the 400, Davis won a second gold medal in Rome when he ran the anchor leg on a U.S. team that set a world record of 3:02.2 in the men’s 4 x 400-meter relay.
He was ranked among the top five quarter-milers in the world by Track & Field News for the 1959-61 seasons, with his highest spot being No. 2 in 1960.
The native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, had a rather unique background as he had served in the U.S. Air Force for four years — during which he played for the basketball team — before coming to the University of Oregon as a 26-year-old freshman who had been awarded a scholarship to play basketball for the Ducks.
He had never run track before, but he asked Oregon coach Bill Bowerman if he could join the team in 1958. After first competing in the high jump and long jump, he went on to win the 220- and 440-yard events in the Pacific Coast Conference Championships.
He entered the Olympic Games as a heavy underdog to Kaufman, but he set an Olympic record of 45.5 in the semifinals and held a commanding lead in the final after covering the first 300 meters of the race in 32.6 seconds. Kaufman was in fourth place after 300 meters with a split of 33.3, but he made up ground on Davis during the remainder of the contest before falling short of catching him by the narrowest of margins.
Davis retired from track and field following the 1961 season, and was a teacher, mentor, and coach during his professional career. He also spent time serving as an athletic director at various U.S. military bases. He was a torchbearer for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and is one of five former University of Oregon track and field athletes featured on the tower at Hayward Field.