Week in Review: Duplantis leads avalanche of superb performances
Swede sets world record during week that includes two major marathons
What a week!
That was one of my first thoughts when I sat down to begin working on this weekly column to summarize what I found to be the most notable performances in the track and field world during the seven-day period that began on Monday, April 15, and ran through Sunday, April 21.
I had expected it to be a robust one, full of numerous standout efforts at the world-class, collegiate , and high school levels, but it exceeded my expectations with the sheer number of significant marks.
After Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia and Hellen Obiri of Kenya kicked off the proceedings by winning the men’s and women’s titles in the Boston Marathon on April 15, Ayden Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico totaled a yearly world-leading score of 8,732 points in the decathlon at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California, on Wednesday and Thursday.
There was a lot to report on from last week. Therefore, this column is on the long side. If this email appears clipped or truncated in your inbox, you should be able to click on “View entire message” to read it in its entirety.
Friday saw junior Sadie Engelhart of Ventura High in California set a national high school outdoor record of 4:31.72 in the girls’ mile on day three of the Mt. SAC Relays while freshman Doris Lemngole of the University of Alabama ran the second-fastest time in collegiate history in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with a 9:22.31 clocking in the Wake Forest Invitational.
Then came a tidal wave of superb performances on Saturday.
The day began, at least where I live in the Eastern time zone of the U.S, with the first Diamond League meet of the season from Xiamen, China, being shown on Peacock from 7-9 a.m. That was followed by a livestream of the Kip Keino Classic from Nairobi, Kenya, from 9-11:15 a.m.
The meet from Xiamen included Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia running the third-fastest time in history in the women’s 1,500 at 3:50.30, Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya clocking 8:55.40 in the women’s steeplechase, Valarie Allman of the U.S. defeating a stellar field in the women’s discus with a top throw of 69.80 meters (229 feet 0 inches), and unheralded Torrie Lewis of Australia winning the women’s 200 in 22.96 seconds in a race that included World 100-meter champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S.
However, no athlete grabbed the spotlight like Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, as he set the eighth world record of his illustrious career in the men’s pole vault when he cleared 6.24 (20-5½) with room to spare.
What is often called the spring marathon season came to a close last week with the running of the Boston Marathon on April 15 and the London Marathon on April 21. For a detailed report on the Boston Marathon, click here. For a detailed report on the London Marathon, click here.
Next up was the Kip Keino Classic. And while some of the highlights included yearly world-leading performances from Courtney Lindsey of the U.S. and Letsile Tebogo of Botswana in the men’s 200 at 19.71, Emmanuel Wanwonyi of Kenya in the men’s 800 at 1:43.57, and Bayapo Ndori of Botswana in the men’s 400 at 44.10, the best performance of the meet came from Ethan Katzberg of Canada, who won the men’s hammer throw with a 84.38 (276-10) effort that was the farthest in the world since 2008.
The remainder of the day was full of high-quality results in several meets across the U.S.
Among the various performances, Engelhardt ran a 4:33.95 1,600-meter anchor leg on a distance medley relay team that set a national high school outdoor record of 11:21.85 on the final day of the Mt. SAC Relays, University of Tennessee sophomore T’Mars McCallum clocked 9.94 in the 100 in the South Carolina Open, and senior Christian Miller of Creekside High in St. John’s, Florida, topped McCallum’s performance with a national prep record and yearly world-leading time of 9.93 in the Pure Athletics Invitational in Clermont, Florida.
The week then concluded on Sunday with the London Marathon in Great Britain and the World Race Walking Championships in Atalya, Turkey.
In London, Kenyans Peres Jepchirchir and Alexander Mutiso Munyao won the women’s and men’s races, respectively, with Jepchirchir’s 2:16:16 clocking being the fastest time ever run in a women’s-only contest.
In Atalya, Kimberly Garcia of Peru and Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden had solid margins of victory in winning the women’s and men’s 20-kilometer races, respectively, while Italy scored a come-from-behind victory in the fledgling marathon race walk mixed relay event.
Now that you’ve gotten a taste of the action-pack week, I invite you to read further for more details about the plethora of outstanding performances and the athletes who produced them.
Efficiency personified: Mondo Duplantis of Sweden was statistically perfect when it came to his performance in the men’s pole vault in the first Diamond League meet of the season in Xiamen, China, last Saturday as he made all four of his vaults during the competition that was held in warm, humid conditions with very little wind.
His first vault came at 5.62 (18-5¼), followed by his second at 5.82 (19-1), and his third at 6.00 (19-8¼).
When he cleared 6.00, it clinched the victory in the competition in which American Sam Kendricks placed second at 5.82 and was a record 56th time that the 24-year-old Duplantis has cleared six meters or higher in a meet.
Ukrainian Sergey Bubka, who won six consecutive World Athletics titles during a career in which he vaulted for the Soviet Union before its dissolvement in 1990, has the second-most six-meter meets in history at 43.
After clearing 6.00 in Xiamen, Duplantis had the bar raised to 6.24, which was one centimeter higher than the 6.23 (20-5¼) world record he had cleared in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, last September.
Duplantis had grazed the bar on his record clearance in that meet, leaving it quivering on its pegs. But there was no repeat of that on Saturday as he had plenty of room to spare when he went over the bar.
The world record in his first outdoor meet of the season came as a bit of a surprise because Duplantis did not have a great indoor season by his standards, with his top vault in four meets being 6.05 (19-10¼).
“The indoor season wasn’t really what I wanted it to be,” Duplantis said in an interview on Peacock. “I feel like it was a little bit all over the place, a little sloppier than I would have liked. So I think that I brought a little of that fire from the indoors. And I just wanted to do a little better.”
He added that he knew he was in “pretty good shape” and he felt good during the competition.
“The weather was great, no wind, everything added up for what I needed to do to be able to jump that 24 bar, and I was able to do it.”
In a World Athletics post, he commented on the “great energy” he felt from the crowd.
He then added that the “six metre jump felt really smooth and I was thinking 6.24 was in reach. I just thought I’d put in my best jump, and it happened. I think there are still higher heights in me.”
No Kipyegon, no problem: Organizers of the Xiamen Diamond League meet appeared to have suffered a big blow when world record-holder Faith Kipyegon of Kenya withdrew from the women’s 1,500 meters in the days leading up to last Saturday’s meet. But the race turned out to be a superb one as Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia placed first in 3:50.30 after running away from compatriot Birke Haylom during the last lap.
Tsegay’s time was the third-fastest in history behind the 3:49.11 world record that Kipyegon set last year and the former world record of 3:50.07 that Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba ran in 2015, and it bettered her previous best of 3:53.09 from 2021 that stands as the current indoor world record.
The 18-year-old Haylom, who will not turn 19 until next January, finished second in 3:53.22 and moved to 10th on the all-time performer list.
Ethiopians swept the top five places as Worknesh Mesele placed third in 3:57.61, followed by Diribe Welteji in 3:57.62, and Freweyni Hailu in 3:58.18.
After Aneta Lemiesz of Poland led the field through the first 400 meters in 60.76 seconds, fellow pacesetter Nigist Getachew of Ethiopia was in front at the 800 mark in 2:02:01.
The 27-year-old Tsegay, who had lowered the world record in the 5,000 to 14:00.21 last September, moved into first place shortly after that as Getachew dropped out. But Haylom appeared to be on the verge of passing her older — and favored — countrywoman with 450 meters left.
However, she never got by her and Tsegay was in the lead when she came through 1,200 meters in 3:04.82. She then expanded her advantage during the remainder of the race by running the final 300 meters in 45.48 seconds.
The reason for Kipyegon’s withdrawal was not known, but Tsegay seemed thrilled with her first outdoor race of the season after her indoor campaign had ended with an upset loss to Elle St. Pierre of the U.S. in the 3,000 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 2.
“I am very happy,” Tsegay said in quotes on the meet website. “I tried my best. That’s surprising. I know I am in good shape. Next is Olympics, it’s every athlete’s dream.”
Who needs a pacesetter?: Like Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia in the women’s 1,500 meters, Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya produced a stunningly fast time for this point in the season when she won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8:55.40 in the Xiamen Diamond League meet last Saturday.
Chepkoech’s time was the 11th fastest in history and the fourth fastest of her career, and until Saturday, no one had ever come close to even breaking 9:10 in month of April, with the best time in the month of May being an 8:57.97 effort turned in by Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan in 2022.
The target time for the race was said to be 9:05, but Chepkoech had overtaken the pacesetter with six laps left in the race and her split of 2:52.37 at 1,000 meters was nearly 10 seconds faster than the 3:01.67 pace that would have been required for a final time of 9:05.01.
Although the 32-year-old Chepkoech slowed to 3:01.03 and 3:02.00 in her final two kilometers, she finished well in front of compatriot Faith Cherotich, who finished second in 9:05.49, and Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai, who placed third in 9:12.99.
Cherotich was the bronze medalist in last year’s World Championships and Chemutai won the Olympic title in 2021.
“Today is so good and I was moved,” Chepkoech said in quotes on the meet website. “I like the stadium. It is very good. I’m satisfied with my results. This is Diamond League and there are so many people watching us… I’m very happy to see that and really appreciate it.”
Two for two: Daniel Roberts of the U.S. posted his second victory in two outdoor meets this season when he ran a yearly world-leading time of 13.11 seconds in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles in the Xiamen Diamond League meet last Saturday.
The 26-year-old Roberts and Shunsuke Izumiya of Japan both got off to good starts, but Roberts began to inch ahead in the second half of the race before compatriot Cordell Tinch overtook Izumiya in the final 10 meters of the contest to place second in 13.16 to Izumiya’s 13.17.
Defending Olympic champion Hansle Parchment of Jamaica got off to one of his typically mediocre starts, and when the fast finish for which he is known never materialized, he placed sixth in 13.33 in his season-opening race.
In what is hopefully a good sign for Tinch, he turned in his fastest effort since he ran 13.08 to place second in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last July.
Tinch was a huge surprise story last season when he ran 12.96 in the high hurdles while competing for NCAA Division II program Pittsburg State in Kansas after being out of the sport of track and field for nearly three years. But he had not run well after last year’s national championships and had been eliminated in the semifinals of the World Championships after being regarded as a medal contender entering that meet.
Summit meeting: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico won her first meeting of the season with indoor sensation Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas in the women’s 100-meter hurdles in the Xiamen Diamond League meet last Saturday.
Defending Olympic champion Camacho-Quinn ran 12.45 seconds to turn back Charlton in second in 12.49 and Cyrena Samba-Mayela of France in third in a national record of 12.55. They were followed by defending World champion Danielle Williams of Jamaica in fourth in 12.56 and 2022 World champion and world record-holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria in fifth in 12.58.
Charlton and Samba-Mayela, the first- and second-place finishers in the 60-meter hurdles in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 3, got off to very good starts, along with Williams.
Charlton, who twice lowered the world record in the 60 hurdles indoors, began to draw away from Samba-Mayela and Williams midway through the race. But that was right about the time the 27-year-old Camacho-Quinn began to make up ground on everyone.
She pulled even with first-place Charlton going over the tenth — and final — hurdle before drawing away from her on the run-in to the finish line.
Summit meeting II: Valarie Allman of the U.S. posted her third victory of the season without a loss in the women’s discus when she defeated a heavyweight field with a season-best effort of 69.80 (229-0) in the Xiamen Diamond League meet last Saturday.
Yaime Perez of Cuba, who had unloaded a prodigious 73.09 (239-9) throw in a meet in Ramona, Oklahoma, while competing in ideal wind conditions a week earlier, placed second at 68.83 (225-10). She was followed by 2022 World champion Bin Feng of China at 67.07 (220-0), 2021 Olympic silver medalist Sandra Elkasevic (nee Perkovic) of Croatia at 65.60 (215-3), and Kristin Pudenz of Germany at 64.63 (212-0).
Lagi Tausaga-Collins of the U.S., who had upset Allman for the World title last year when she improved her personal best by nearly four meters in the fifth round of the competition, placed 10th at 60.61 (198-10).
The 29-year-old Allman was in fourth place after the first two rounds, but the defending Olympic champion moved in third with a 65.76 (215-9) effort in the third round and she took the lead for good with a throw of 69.73 (228-9) in the fourth.
She then increased her advantage over Perez with a 69.80 (229-0) effort in the fifth round before concluding her competition with a throw of 66.40 (217-10) in the sixth.
“I had so many nerves at the beginning of the competition,” Allman said in quotes on the meet website. “Normally I am more connected to my body, but I think the crowd in the stadium and it being the first Diamond League, it just took me a little bit to find my groove. But once I did, I felt really good about it.”
Upset special: Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. ran surprisingly slow in her first race of the season and that no doubt contributed to an upset loss to unheralded Torrie Lewis of Australia in the women 200 meters in the Xiamen Diamond League meet last Saturday.
Running in lane 9, the 19-year-old Lewis clocked 22.96 seconds to win a tight contest in which Americans Richardson (22.99), Tamara Clark (23.01) and Anavia Battle (23.02) placed second, third, and fourth, respectively.
The race was run into a slight breeze of 0.4 meters-per-second, but that would not have had a huge negative effect on the final times.
Richardson, the defending World champion in the 100 and a sprinter with a personal best of 21.92 in the 200, did not run a strong turn as she was in no better than third place behind American TeeTee Terry and Lewis as she entered the home straightaway while running in lane 5.
She soon overtook Terry and then seemed to be focused on crossing the finish line ahead of Clark and Battle, who were running to her left in lanes 4 and 3. But she appeared to be unaware of Lewis, who just missed her personal best of 22.94 that she had run six days earlier in winning the Australian national title.
“I am super surprised,” Lewis said in quotes on the meet website. “I just had my nationals on Sunday and then I came here. It gave me a good little prime for today’s performance, which is my first Diamond League victory.
“The Egret Stadium is the biggest stadium I’ve ever run in. The crowd is great… I thought they would be in front of me by like 15 meters.”
Man on fire: A hot streak that began in last year’s World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, raged on for Canadian hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg in the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, last Saturday.
The 22-year-old Canuck raised his own national record three times during the competition at Nyayo National Stadium in which his top effort of 84.38 (276-10) was more than three meters better than his pre-meet best, the longest throw in the world since 2008, and moved him to ninth on the all-time performer list.
Mykhaylo Kokhan of Ukraine placed second at 80.76 (264-11), followed by defending Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki of Poland at 79.14 (259-8). Fellow Pole and five-time World champion Pawel Fajdek finished fourth at 75.82 (248-9).
The 22-year-old Katzberg had entered last year’s World Championships with a personal best of 78.73 (258-3), but he set a national record of 81.18 (266-4) in the qualifying round of the meet in Budapest, Hungary, before winning the final with another national record of 81.25 (266-7).
He followed that with a victory in the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, in November in which he had a best of 80.96 (265-7) during a series that included three other throws of 80 meters (262-5) or farther.
Then came his explosion on Saturday.
He raised his national record to 81.79 (268-4) in the first round before topping that mark with an 82.06 (269-3) effort in the second round.
After a foul in the third round, he threw 81.50 (267-5) in the fourth before unleashing his 84.38 (276-10) stunner in the fifth. He followed that with an 83.26 (273-2) effort on his final throw, the second-best mark of his career.
Overall, the average distance of his five fair throws was 82.60 (271-0). In addition, Katzberg has now thrown 80 meters or farther on 14 of his last 19 attempts in competition during his last three meets.
“I found my groove during the competition I enjoyed,” Katzberg was quoted as saying in a post on the-star.co.ke site. “I hope to keep the rhythm as I prepare for the Olympics.”
In a post on his Instagram account, Katzberg alluded to the fact Saturday was his first meet since signing a contract with Adidas. The text was as follows: First competition in the stripes @adidas
Pb 84.38m
Making a name for himself: Courtney Lindsey of the U.S. posted his second yearly world-leading time of the month in the men’s 200 meters when he ran a personal best of 19.71 seconds in the Kip Keino Classic last Saturday.
Lindsey edged Letsile Tebogo of Botswana for the victory as the World Championship bronze medalist was also credited with a time of 19.71 in the race in which William Reais of Switzerland placed third in 20.54.
Although Nairobi’s elevation of more than 5,400 feet (1,646 meters) aids performances in the sprints, hurdles, and jumps, it should be noted than the wind reading for the 200 was negative 1.5 meters-per second.
While it’s very early in the season and the athletics portion of the Olympic Games in Paris will not be held until August 1-11, Lindsey’s victory came against a 20-year sprinter who set an African record of 19.50 in the 200 last season, and ran a world best of 31.52 in the 300 and a personal best of 44.29 in the 400 earlier this year.
The 25-year-old Lindsey, who had previously run a yearly world-leading time of 19.88 in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, on April 12, had a lead over Tebogo when he entered the home straightaway. However, Tebogo appeared to have caught him with 6-7 meters left in the race before Lindsey out leaned the Botswanan at the finish line.
The progress of Lindsey could make for a very interesting 200-meter competition when the U.S. Olympic Team Trials are held from June 21-30 as Americans Noah Lyles, Erriyon Knighton, and Kenny Bednarek have previously combined to win seven of the nine medals in the Olympic Games in 2021, as well as in the World Championships in 2022 and ’23.
Big drop: Bayapo Ndori of Botswana cut more than half a second off his previous best when he won the men’s 400 meters in 44.10 seconds in the Kip Keino Classic last Saturday.
Although the men’s 400 was held before the livestream potion of the meet began, it was a highly entertaining race as the 24-year-old Ndori got out well during the first 200 meters, made a strong move around the second turn, and entered the home straightaway with a small lead on Kenyan Ekwom Zablon and a larger advantage over fellow Botswanan Leungo Scotch.
American Bryce Deadmon was a distant fourth at that point, but he closed better than anyone during the final 70 meters of the race to finish second.
Ndori, who finished sixth in the 2022 World Championships, bettered his previous best of 44.61 with his 44.10 clocking that moved him to sixth on the all-time African performer list and to third on the all-time Botswanan list.
Deadmon’s 44.41 clocking was a season best while Scotch and Zablon finished third and fourth, respectively, in personal bests of 44.54 and 44.69.
Exceling in the short sprint: Kenny Bednarek of the U.S. is best known for his exploits at 200 meters, but he won the men’s 100 in a wind-aided 9.91 seconds in the Kip Keino Classic last Saturday.
Running in the final event of the meet as it began to rain, Bednarek got off to a solid start and was in the lead at the midway point of the race.
Fan favorite Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya, the African record-holder in the 100 at 9.77, wasn’t far behind Bednarek, but he was unable to keep pace with him during the second half of the race for the American had a comfortable margin of victory as Emmanuel Matadi of Liberia finished second in 9.99 and Jeremiah Azu of Great Britain placed third in 10.00. Omanyala clocked 10.03 in fifth.
It was the fifth victory of the outdoor season without a loss for Bednarek as the silver medalist in the 200 in the Olympic Games in 2021 and the World Championships in 2022 has now won a pair of races in the 100 and 400 this season, as well as s solo venture in the 200.
Winning season opener: Mary Moraa of Kenya ran a yearly world-leading outdoor time of 1:57.96 in the women’s 800 meters in the Kip Keino Classic last Saturday.
The defending World champion in the event did not overwhelm her opposition after focusing on the 400 earlier in the season, but she was strong enough in the final home straightaway to finish comfortably ahead of runner-up and fellow Kenyan Nelly Chepchirchir, who ran 1:58.26.
The 23-year-old Moraa, who is scheduled to race Athing Mu of the U.S. and Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain in the 800 in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on May 25, was well back of a pacesetter who went through 200 meters in an unofficial 26.1 seconds and 400 in 56.7 on Saturday. But she was in the lead when she passed the 600-meter mark in 1:27.8.
Her winning effort marked the 10th time she has run under 1:58 in the 800 during her career that also includes a bronze medal in the 2022 World Championships behind Mu and Hodgkinson.
Competing across time zones: Marco Arop of Canada and Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya placed first and second in the men’s 800 meters in last year’s World Championships and they took turns posting yearly world-leading marks in the event last Saturday when they ran in meets that were five time zones apart.
The 25-year-old Arop first lowered the fastest time in the world this year from 1:43.94 to 1:43.61 when he won a tightly contested race in the Xiamen Diamond League meet at about 8 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time, in the U.S.
The 19-year-old Wanyonyi then bettered that mark by four hundredths of a second about two and a half hours later when he ran 1:43.57 in the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi.
While Arop finished a scant five hundredths of a second in front of Kenya’s Wycliffe Kinyamal in Xiamen, Wanyonyi finished a little more than half a second in front of countryman Aaron Kemei, who placed second in a personal best of 1:44.10, in Nairobi.
Back in the mix: Ayden Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico added an even 200 points to his national record in the decathlon when he totaled a yearly world-leading score of 8,732 points in the 10-event endeavor in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California, last week.
The 23-year-old Owens-Delerme totaled 4,621 points on the first day of the competition on April 17 before he added another 4,111points on the second day in his first decathlon since last year’s World Championships in which he failed to clear a height in the pole vault.
His total bettered his previous best of 8,532 that he set when he finished fourth in the 2022 World Championships, topped the previous yearly world lead of 8,708 set by German and University of Texas senior Leo Neugebauer in the Texas Relays in late March, and moved him to 17th on the all-time performer list.
It also came in a competition in which senior Heath Baldwin of Michigan State University finished second with 8,470 points, followed by American Devon Williams with 8,342 points.
Baldwin’s total topped his previous best by nearly 400 points and moved him to sixth on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Owens-Delerme began the competition by running the 100 meters in 10.31 seconds. He then leapt a wind-aided 7.77 (25-6) in the long jump, put the shot 16.26 (53-4¼), cleared 1.98 (6-6) in the high jump, and clocked 47.23 in the 400.
He started the second day with a time of 13.73 in the 110-meter high hurdles before throwing the discus 46.00 (150-11), clearing 5.10 (16-8¾) in the pole vault, throwing the javelin 59.28 (194-6), and clocking 4:45.59 in the 1,500.
While Owens-Delerme set personal bests in the shot put, pole vault, and javelin, his performances in the 400 and 1,500 were well off his personal bests of 45.07 and 4:13.02, respectively, in those events.
Baldwin, who exceeded the qualifying standard of 8,460 points for the Olympic Games in Paris with his performance, registered personal bests in the 100 at 10.79, in the 400 at 48.60, and in the javelin at 71.02 (233-0). However, he left a lot of potential points on the table in the discus when he had to take a very safe throw on his third — and final — attempt after fouling on his first two tries. Consequently, his discus mark of 36.96 (121-3) only gave him 603 points in the event.
On the board: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. opened her season by running the second leg on a women’s 4 x 100-meter relay team that finished second in 42.93 seconds in the Mt. SAC Relays last Saturday.
The 24-year-old McLaughlin-Levrone was part of a Formula Kersee team that also included Keni Harrison on the first leg, Jenna Prandini on the third, and Morolake Akinosun on the anchor. All four athletes train under coach Bobby Kersee.
A Team International squad of Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain, Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland, Lanae Tava-Thomas of Jamaica, and Julien Alfred of St. Lucia won the race by a large margin with a time of 42.03.
Prior to the Mt. SAC Relays, McLaughlin-Levrone’s last race had come in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last July when she won the women’s 400 in a personal best of 48.74 seconds.
That time was the fastest in the world for the year, moved her to 10th on the all-time performer list in the event, and stamped her as a gold-medal contender for the World Championships in August. But she ended up withdrawing from that meet due to what she described at the time as a “minor knee issue.”
Another multi-event personal best: Michelle Atherley of the U.S. registered her first personal best in the heptathlon in nearly three years when she won that multi-event competition with a yearly world-leading score of 6,372 points in the Mt. SAC Relays last week.
The score by the 28-year-old Atherley topped her previous best of 6,352 points that had placed her fourth in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in 2021.
Beatrice Juskeviciute of Lithuania placed second with 6,192 points, followed by Nina Schultz of China with 6,164 points.
Athlerley opened the competition with a time of 12.83 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles before clearing 1.70 (5-7) in the high jump, putting the shot 13.63 (44-8¾), and clocking a wind-aided 23.28 in the 200 to complete the first day.
She then started the second day by spanning 29 (20-7¾) in the long jump before throwing the javelin 39.89 (130-10) and running 2:11.52 in the 800.
Atherley’s marks in the 100 hurdles, shot put, and 200 were her best ever, and her time in the 800 was less than two tenths of a second off her best.
Two for two: Junior Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High in California had a hand in two national federation outdoor records in the Mt. SAC Relays last week.
The North Carolina State-bound runner began her record double last Friday night when she ran 4:31.72 in the mile to break the previous record of 4:33.87 that Katelyn Tuohy had set as a sophomore at North Rockland High in Thiells, New York, in 2018.
Running what basically amounted to a time trial, Engelhardt took the lead within the first 25 meters of the race before coming through the opening 409 meters in an unofficial 65.9 seconds. She then clocked 2:13.3 (67.4) at the 809-meter mark and 3:21.7 (66.4) with a lap to go.
Although her last 400 meters took her roughly 70 seconds, she still managed to take more than two seconds off of Tuohy’s mark while finishing well ahead of runner-up Chiara Dailey of La Jolla in San Diego, who timed 4:48.47.
While one could argue that the national high school record of 4:26.16 in the 1,600 meters, which converts to a mile in 4:27.72, is a superior performance to Engelhardt’s mile at Mt. SAC, that 2022 performance by Addy Wiley of Huntington North High in Huntington, Indiana, did not come in an officially sanctioned prep race and is therefore not eligible for national federation record status.
Englehardt was back on the track the following evening when she ran the 1,600-meter anchor leg on a distance medley relay team that ran 11:21.85 to win the event by more than 33 seconds and break the previous national high school outdoor record of 11:22:23 set by Harvard-Westlake of Studio City, California, in 2011.
Sophomore Melanie True ran 3:36.38 on the opening 1,200-meter leg for Ventura, and senior Valentine Fakrogha followed with a split of 54.73 on her 400-meter carry. Sophomore Aelo Curtis then ran 2:16.79 on her 800-meter leg before Engelhardt split 4:33.95 on her anchor carry.
Good start: Brooke Andersen of the U.S. opened her 2024 season with a yearly world-leading effort of 76.91 (252-4) in the women’s hammer throw in the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville last Saturday.
The 2022 World champion fouled on his first attempt before recording throws of 75.32 (247-1) and 76.52 (212-0) in the next two rounds. She then fouled on her fourth throw before hitting her winning 76.91 (252-4) in the fifth round and 74.57 (244-8) in the sixth.
The 28-year-old Andersen is coming off a 2023 season that saw her win nine of her first 10 meets and move to third on the all-time performer list with a throw of 80.17 (263-0), but she was eliminated in the qualifying round of the World Championships while dealing with a shoulder injury and she then fouled on all three of her attempts in the final of the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, that was held in wet conditions.
Versatile runner: Freshman Doris Lemngole of the University of Alabama moved to second on the all-time collegiate list in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase when she won the event in 9:22.31 in the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, last Friday.
Lemngole’s time gave her an impressive margin of victory over defending NCAA champion Olivia Markezich of Notre Dame, who placed second in 9:36.33.
Lemgole had placed second in the NCAA Cross Country Championships last November before finishing fourth in the 5,000 and third in the 3,000 in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in March.
Markezich finished third in the NCAA cross country meet before placing second in the 3,000 in the NCAA indoor championships. She also finished fourth in the steeplechase in last year’s USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships with a personal best of 9:17.93.
Good sign?: NCAA cross country champion Graham Blanks of Harvard University ran his first race in more than four months when he placed fourth in the invitational race of the men’s 5,000 meters in the Wake Forest Invitational last Friday.
Blanks’ time of 13:37.34 left him nearly 10 seconds behind the winning 13:27.57 effort of Parker Wolfe of North Carolina, but it was the first time he had competed since he set a then-collegiate record of 13:03.78 in the 5,000 in winning the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener indoor meet on Dec. 2.
That performance had come two weeks after Blanks had capped an undefeated cross country season with a victory in the NCAA championships in Earlysville, Virginia, to become the first runner from an Ivy League school to win the men’s title.
Although no announcement had been made about Blanks’ competitive absence during the collegiate indoor season, Nicholas Economides, an assistant director of athletics communications at Harvard, wrote in an email in mid-March that Blanks had an “interruption in training and we took the patient route, he is already back on his feet!”
Another sprint surprise: For the second time during an eight-day period, a sprinter from the University of Tennessee turned in a stunningly fast performance in the 100 meters last week.
The first time occurred on April 13 when senior Jacious Sears cut her personal best from 10.94 seconds to 10.77 in the women’s 100 in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida.
The second happened last Saturday when sophomore T’Mars McCallum slashed his personal best from 10.13 to 9.94 in the men’s 100 in the South Carolina Open in Columbia, South Carolina.
McCallum, whose time was aided by the maximum allowable wind of 2.0 meters-per-second for record purposes, finished well in front of his closest competitors as Matthew Boling placed second in 10.06 and Nyck Harbor of South Carolina finished third in 10.12.
McCallum had run 10.13 in the 100 and 20.71 in the 200 as a senior at Carolina Forest High in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in 2022 before posting season bests of 10.26 and 20.92 last year while finishing third in the former and fifth in the latter in the U20 (under 20) races of the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships.
His 9.94 clocking ranks second on the current yearly world list behind the national high school record of 9.93 that senior Christian Miller of Creekside High in St. John’s, Florida, ran in the Pure Athletics Invitational in Clermont, Florida, last Saturday.
More about Miller: Although Christian Miller of Creekside High in St. John’s, Florida, entered last weekend as a more well-known sprinter than T’Mars McCallum of the University of Tennessee, he still surprised many when he posted a yearly world-leading time of 9.93 in the Pure Athletics Invitational in Clermont, Florida, last Saturday.
Miller, who has signed a national letter of intent with the University of Georgia, had run 10.06 in the 100 and 20.51 in the 200 as a prep junior last year. But he had been overshadowed by Issam Asinga of Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida, who set apparent national high school records of 9.89 in the 100 and 19.97 in the 200 before he was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after testing positive for a banned substance.
While the provisional ban of Asinga occurred last August, shortly before he was scheduled to represent Suriname in the World Athletics Championships, Miller had posted his then-personal bests in winning U20 (under 20) titles in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in early July.
Miller, who will turn 18 next month, had run 10.14 in the 100 in winning a section of the Florida Relays on March 29.
Then came last Saturday when he ran 10.06 in winning a qualifying heat of the Pure Athletics meet before his 9.93 clocking in the final broke the American U20 (under 20) record of 9.97 that had been set by Trayvon Bromell of Baylor University in 2014, as well as the national high school record of 10.00 that had been recorded by Trentavis Friday of Cherryville High in Cherryville, North Carolina, that same year.
Quick hurdling: Tonea Marshall of the U.S. was another athlete who produced a yearly world-leading mark in the Pure Athletics Invitational last Saturday as she ran 12.42 seconds in posting a runaway victory in the women’s 100-meter hurdles.
The 25-year-old Marshall, who has been ranked among the top six 100 hurdlers in the U.S. by Track & Field News during each of the previous three years, finished well in front of second-place Ricarda Lobe of Germany, who ran 12.99.
Marshall’s time, which came after she had run a wind-aided 12.40 in her qualifying heat, trimmed two hundredths of a second off her personal best of 12.44 set in 2021 and moved her into a tie for 13th on the all-time U.S. performer list.
Promising result: Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas, the defending Olympic champion in the men’s 400 meters, ran 44.45 seconds to win that event in the Tiger Classic at LSU last Saturday.
The 28-year-old’s performance followed a winning 31.99 performance for 300 meters in the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida, on March 15. It also came against a field that included second-place Vernon Norwood of the U.S. (44.94) and third-place Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain (45.00).
Hudson-Smith and Norwood had finished second and fourth, respectively, in last year’s World Championships. Gardiner had entered that meet as the gold-medal favorite, but he pulled up with an injury at the 300 mark of his semifinal while leading the race.
The injury was later described as a “grade-one sprain of the tendon extending into his right knee from the right posterior thigh,” and it ended his season.
Tendon inflammation in his right foot had brought his 2022 season to an early end, just before he was scheduled to defend his title in the World Championships.
DMR world record: A Brooks Beasts team of Americans Brannon Kidder, Brandon Miller, Isaiah Harris, and Henry Wynne set a world record of 9:14.58 in the men’s distance medley relay in the Oregon Relays in Eugene, Oregon, last Friday.
The quartet’s clocking broke the previous world record of 9:15.50 that was set by a U.S. national team in the 2015 World Relays in the Bahamas.
Kidder began the record performance at Hayward Field on Friday with a split of 2:49.60 for his 1,200-meter leg and Miller followed with a 46.60 clocking on his 400 carry.
Harris then contributed a 1:45.75 split on his 800 leg before Wynne ran 3:52.63 on his 1,600-meter anchor carry.
A DMR All-Stars team placed second in the race with a time of 9:43.36.
Two liners: Pedro Pichardo of Portugal, the defending Olympic and 2022 World champion in the men’s triple jump, won that event with yearly world-leading outdoor mark of 17.51 meters (57-5½) in a Diamond League opener in Xiamen, China, last Saturday. It was Pichardo’s first competition since a Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, last May as he did not compete in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August due to an injury. . . . . Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia, the world record-holder in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, ran a yearly world-leading outdoor time of 12:58.96 in the 5,000 in the Xiamen Diamond League meet. Nicholas Kipkorir of Kenya and Birhanu Balew of Bahrain placed second and third, respectively, with times of 12:59.78 and 13:00.47 in the race in which Stewart McSweyn of Australia finished 10th in 13:05.18. . . . . Christian Coleman defeated fellow American Fred Kerley, 10.13 to 10.17, in winning the men’s 100 meters in the Xiamen Diamond League meet last Saturday. Coleman, who won his second 60-meter title in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 1, did not have one of his typically great starts in his first 100-meter race of the season, but he lost very little ground to 2022 World champion Kerley during the final 30 meters of the race. . . . . Defending World champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic won the women’s 400 in 50.08 in her first race of the season in the Xiamen Diamond League meet last Saturday. Paulino finished ahead of a field that included Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland in second place in 50.29, Britton Wilson of the U.S. in third in 51.26, and Sada Williams of the Bahamas in fourth in 51.97. . . . . Raynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot of Kenya won the men’s 1,500 in a yearly world-leading time of 3:31.96 in the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, last Saturday. Compatriots Brian Komen and Daniel Munguti set personal bests of 3:32.29 and 3:33.71, respectively, while finishing in second and third place. . . . . Janee Kassanavoid of the U.S. won the women’s hammer throw with a best of 75.99 (249-3) in her season opener in the Kip Keino Classic last Saturday. The silver medalist in last year’s World Championships had the three best throws of the competition as she also had efforts of 74.87 (245-7) and 74.22 (243-6). . . . . Rai Benjamin of the U.S. won the men’s 400 in 44.42 in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California, last Saturday. The Olympic silver medalist in the 400 intermediate hurdles had also won the 400 in the Mt. SAC Relays in 2018 and ’19. . . . . Defending World champion Camryn Rogers of Canada won the women’s hammer throw with a season best of 76.30 (250-4) in the Mt. SAC Relays last Saturday. Rogers also had throws of 75.47 (247-7) and 75.33 (247-1) during the competition in which Anna Purchase of Great Britain placed second at 70.61 (231-8). . . . . Matthew Wilkinson of the U.S. ran a yearly world-leading time of 8:18.53 in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville, Virginia, last Friday. The time bettered Wilkinson’s previous personal best of 8:23.69 that he ran in finishing sixth in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last year. . . . . Cole Hocker of the U.S. opened his outdoor season with a personal best of 13:08.25 in the men’s 5,000 in the Olympic Development event in the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, last Friday. It was Hocker’s first race since he won the silver medal in the 1,500 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 3. . . . . JuVaughn Harrison of the U.S. cleared a yearly world-leading outdoor mark of 2.34 (7-8) in the men’s high jump in the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last Saturday. The silver medalist in last year’s World Championships, Harrison cleared that height on his second attempt and did not take any more jumps in his first outdoor competition of the year in the event. . . . . Aleia Hobbs of the U.S. won the invitational section of the women’s 100 in 10.88 in the LSU Alumni Gold meet last Saturday. It was the first individual outdoor race of the season for Hobbs, whose indoor season had ended on March 2 when a cramp in her lower left leg prevented her from running in the final of the 60-meter dash in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. . . . . Bryce Hoppel of the U.S. won the men’s 1,500 in 3:44.32 in the Kansas Relays in Lawrence, Kansas, last Saturday. It was the first outdoor race of the season for Hoppel, who had concluded his indoor season on March 3 when he won the 800 in 1:44.92 in the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. . . . . Josh Kerr of Great Britian, the defending World champion in the men’s 1,500 meters, won the 800 in 1:45.94 in the Oregon Relays in Eugene, Oregon, last Saturday. It was the first outdoor race of the season for Kerr, whose two-race indoor season included a world indoor record of 8:00.67 in the two mile and a victory in the 3,000 meters in the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 2.
Strong rebounds continue: Kimberly Garcia of Peru and Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden won the women’s and men’s 20-kilometer races, respectively, in the World Race Walking Championships in Antalya, Turkey, on Sunday.
Garcia clocked 1:27:12 in the women’s race while finishing well in front of Ma Zhenxia of China in 1:27:55 and Erica Sena of Brazil in 1:29:22.
Karlstrom timed 1:18:49 in the men’s event while finishing comfortably ahead of Spaniards Paul McGrath in 1:19:14 and Diego Garcia in 1:19:51.
Garcia and Karlstrom had previously won the 20k races in the 92nd Prodebrady Walking event in the Czech Republic on April 6 after each of them had dropped out of their previous races in March.
The 30-year-old Garcia, who had won the 20- and 35-kilometer events in the 2022 World Athletics Championships, dominated the proceedings on Sunday as she was in first place at 19 of the 20 one-kilometer points during the race.
She, compatriot Evelyn Inga, and Ma were clear of the rest of the field when they the passed the first 10 kilometers in 43:39, but it was down to her and Inga when they came through 15 kilometers in 1:05:16. However, Garcia had a four-second lead over her teammate when she came through 16 kilometers in 1:09:38 and her advantage had grown to 14 seconds when she clocked 1:22:49 at 19 kilometers.
Inga looked to be headed to a silver medal at that point in the race, but she ended up finishing fourth in 1:29:26 after she had to serve a two-minute penalty after being assessed her third red card during the race.
China and Peru tied for first place in the team standings with 15 points, but the Chinese, whose top three walkers placed 2-6-7, won the title on the tiebreaker over Peru, whose scoring finishers placed 1-4-10.
Spain finished third with 31 points.
In the men’s race, the 33-year-old Karlstrom covered the second half of the contest nearly two minutes faster than the first.
After being part of a large lead pack that came through 10 kilometers in 40:17, the front group was down to Karlstrom and McGrath when they passed 15 kilometers in 59:33 following a 5k split of 19:16.
They remained together through another kilometer, but World Championship silver medalist Karlstrom was three seconds ahead of McGrath after 17 kilomters and 13 seconds up on him a kilometer later.
He ended up covering his final five kilometers in 19:16 and his last 10k in 38:32.
Spain, led by the 2-3 finish of McGrath and Garcia, won the team title with 13 points, followed by Japan with 26 and Italy with 33.
In the final event of the day, the Italian team of Francisco Fortunato and Valentina Trapletti won the marathon race walk mixed relay.
Fortunato and Trapletti were Italy’s No. 2 entrant in the race, but they won it in 2 hours 56 minutes 45 seconds after the 38-year-old Trapletti sped past Japan’s Kumiko Okada in the final kilometer.
Japan placed second in 2:57:04, followed by Spain in 2:57:47.
The Spanish team included Alvaro Martin, who had won the men’s 20- and 35-kilometer walks in the last year’s World Championships.
A Brazilian team of Caio Bonfim and Viviane Lyra appeared to be headed to victory with two kilometers left in the relay, but Lyra soon had to serve a three-minute penalty for a walking infraction.