Hull and Sedjati continue rolls in Monaco
Australian sets world record in women's 2,000, Algerian's time in men's 800 is world's fastest since 2012
Thanks to dominating victories in the Herculis EBS Diamond League meet in Monaco on Friday, Jessica Hull of Australia and Djamel Sedjati of Algeria stamped themselves as two of the hottest competitors in the world 20 days before the athletics portion of the Olympic Games in Paris are scheduled to begin.
Hull set a world record of 5 minutes 19.70 seconds in the women’s 2,000 meters after lowering her personal best in the 1,500 by more than five seconds with a runner-up time of 3:50.83 in the Meeting de Paris last Sunday.
Sedjati ran a yearly world-leading time of 1:41.46 in the men’s 800 after previously slashing a second and a half off his personal best when he clocked a winning 1:41.56 in Paris in the first race in history in which three men ran under 1:42.
“I definitely felt Paris’s race all week in the legs” Hull was quoted as saying on the meet website. “So today the goal was just to be strong, even if my legs were very heavy. I ran at a different pace and level of fatigue I have never been at before.
“It was incredible, when I was on my own in the last lap, everyone was cheering for me. The wavelights also helped, I was just looking at the lights hoping that they don’t catch me. It is amazing to be called a world record holder now.”
Although Hull’s effort came in an event that is contested infrequently at the international level, her time nonetheless cut nearly two seconds off the previous record of 5:21.56 that had been set by Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, in 2021.
Eight of the 11 finishers in the race set national records, with Melissa Courtney-Bryant finishing second in a British best of 5:26.08 and Edinah Jebitok placing third in a Kenyan record of 5:26.09.
Cory Ann McGee, who had finished fifth in the 1,500 in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene on June 30, placed fourth in 5:28.78 to crush the North American record of 5:32.7 set by Mary Decker in 1984.
Courtney-Bryant and Jebitok moved to sixth and seventh, respectively, on the all-time performer list with their efforts, and McGee is now 11th.
The 27-year-old Hull was regarded as the pre-race favorite after pushing Kenyan great Faith Kipyegon to a world record of 3:49.04 in the 1,500 in Paris. And she had pace-setting help for just under 1,500 meters of the contest as Lorena Martin of Spain led the race through hand-held splits of 63.5 seconds for 400 meters and 2:07.7 for 800.
Compatriot Esther Guerrero then clocked a fully-automatic 2:39.88 for the first kilometer and a hand-held 3:12.1 for 1,200 meters. American Heather MacLean, seventh in the 1,500 in the U.S. Trials, then took over the lead for the next 280 meters before pulling off the track.
Hull was on her own after that and the supreme effort she was putting forth was evident in her stride and on her face as she came through 1,600 meters in a hand-held 4:16.7.
While the quick tempo from the start of the race prevented her from picking up the pace in a significant way on the last lap, she held her form well and was ecstatic after crossing the finish line.
According to the splits on the meet website, Hull had had run 64.2 seconds for the first lap before clocking 64.2 (2:08.4), 64.1 (3:12.5), 64.2 (4:16.7), and 63.0 (5:19.70), respectively, for the last four.
“The last 200m were a long way, I didn’t want to let down the spectators,” she said on the meet site. “I ran hard for this record, I worked extremely hard for this too. There are for sure some women who can run that 5:19, but for now I have my place in the history books. I am running so fast now, because I have been healthy for four years and have a really strong body now.”
Sedjati was the silver medalist in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene before a lane violation led to his disqualification from last year’s meet in Budapest, Hungary, after he had finished sixth.
He began the season with a personal best of 1:43.06, but lowered that mark to 1:41.56 when he won a scintillating homestretch duel in the Meeting de Paris to move to third on the all-time performer list. He then trimmed a tenth of a second from that time when he ran the seventh-fastest time in history in Monaco.
In contrast to the race in the Meeting de Paris, in which he finished two hundredths of a second in front of Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya and five hundredths ahead of Gabriel Tual of France, Sedjati’s 1:41.46 clocking on Friday left him well clear Mohamed Attaoui of Spain, who set a national record of 1:42.04.
Tual placed third in 1:42.10, followed by Aaron Kemei Cheminingwa of Kenya in 1:42.13, Ben Pattison of Great Britain in a personal best of 1:42.27, and defending World Champion Marco Arop of Canada in 1:42.93.
A record total of 10 men ran under 1:44 in the race in which Bryce Hoppel, the U.S. Olympic Trials champion in 1:42.77, was a late scratch.
“I would like to thank everyone, especially my family and my coach,” Sedjati said in quotes on the meet site. “It’s the fourth time I run a world lead and the second time an Algerian record. I have worked really hard for that. Now I am thinking of the world record, I hope to run it at the Olympic Games.”
The current world record of 1:40.91 was set by Kenyan David Rudisha when he won the Olympic title in London in 2012 after leading the race from start to finish.
In contrast, Sedjati was in fifth place, about a second off the lead when pacesetter Ludovic Meur of France came through 400 meters in 49.14 seconds. He was still in fifth entering the backstretch, but he had moved into second place behind Arop when the Canuck clocked 1:15.5 at 600 meters.
The 25-year-old Sedjati ran just off Arop’s right shoulder through the final turn before launching a kick entering the home straightaway to which Arop had no response.
Sedjati’s split of 12.8 seconds for the final 100 meters was 1.6 seconds faster that Arop’s 14.4 and it was also two tenths of a second faster than anyone else in the race.
Behind Sedjati, Attaoui moved to ninth on the all-time performer list and to fourth on the all-time European list.
Pattison, the bronze medalist in the World Championships last year, moved to 14th and fifth, respectively, on those same lists.
“I have two more weeks to prepare it,” Sedjati said of a potential effort to break the world record in the Olympic Games. “I will focus on that and put in the necessary work so that I can achieve my goal. I will keep the preparation the same. My mindset is that the hard work I have put in will pay off.”
There were numerous other outstanding performances in the meet, topped by Rai Benjamin’s 46.67 clocking in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles, Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s European record of 3:26.73 in the men’s 1,500, and Quincy Hall’s personal best of 43.80 in the men’s 400.
Benjamin won a clash of titans in the intermediate hurdles as defending Olympic champion and three-time World champion Karsten Warholm of Norway placed second in 46.73 and 2022 World champion Alison dos Santos of Brazil finished third in 47.18.
With Warholm, Benjamin, and dos Santos entering the meet as the three fastest performers in history at 45.94, 46.17, and 46.29, respectively, the race in the intermediates was expected to be a hard-fought affair.
Warholm, as he always does, drove hard to the first hurdle and was tied for first with dos Santos after three hurdles. But the Brazilian led over hurdles four and five and the duo was tied for first place at hurdle six before Warholm had a small lead midway through the second turn.
The 26-year-old Benjamin was in third place at hurdle seven, but he had basically drawn even with dos Santos by hurdle eight and was clear of him by hurdle nine early in the home straightaway.
He then began to close in on Warholm and moved past him shortly after they had cleared the 10th — and final — barriers of the race.
Benjamin’s time was the 12th fastest in history and the sixth fastest of his career.
“I did not run the race I wanted to execute, but it was all about getting in and seeing what do I have in me,” Benjamin said. “I did not run the home straight so strong as I usually do but that is okay as I won. I still need to get back home and prepare for the rest of the season. Paris is going to be madness. I have to win there. I believe I can do it. I will go back home and try to get as sharp as possible.”
Ingebrigtsen, 23, had been beaten by Great Britain’s Josh Kerr in a highly-anticipated mile race in the Prefontaine Classic on May 25. But he has won six consecutive races since that season opener, including his third consecutive titles in the 1,500 and 5,000 in the European Athletics Championships in Rome in early June.
With the pace lights on the inside railing of the track set to a time of 3:27.50, defending Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen ran in third place as pacesetter Zan Rudolf of Slovenia clocked 55.17 for the first 400 meters and 1:50.66 for 800.
Pieter Sisk of Belgium took over the rabbiting duties for the next 200 meters, but Ingebrigtsen was well clear of second-place Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya and third-place Yared Nuguse of the U.S. when he was credited with a split of 2:32.7 with a lap left in the race.
His lead continued to grow as he headed down the backstretch and he was a solid 10 meters ahead of second-place Nuguse with half a lap left in the race. Although it was hard to see any visual evidence of the smooth-striding Ingebrigtsen picking up the pace, his advantage continued to expand for the remainder of the contest and his lean at the finish line gave him a final time of 3:26.73 that bettered his previous European record of 3:27.14 set last year and tightened his hold on fourth on the all-time performer list.
It was also the sixth-fastest performance in history and edged him closer to the world record of 3:26.00 set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1998.
Cheruiyot, the silver medalist behind Ingebrigtsen in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, finished second in 3:28.71, followed by Brian Komen of Kenya in a personal best of 3:28.80, Nuguse in 3:29.13, and Neil Gourley of Great Britain in 3:30.65.
Komen’s time moved him into a tie for 12th on the all-time world performer list, as well as into a tie for sixth on the all-time Kenyan list.
“I feel amazing. It is truly amazing how we as athletes develop ourselves and we run even faster at almost every competition we participate at,” said Ingebrigtsen, who was upset by Kerr in last year’s World Championships. “I really enjoy competing in Monaco, especially when a lot of Norwegian fans are here. That helps me a lot.”
Hall won his third consecutive final of the season in the men’s 400 after finishing seventh, sixth, and fifth, respectively, in the first three Diamond League meets in which he raced.
His 43.80 clocking was the first sub-44 time in the world this year, crushed his personal best of 44.17 that he set in winning the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 24, and moved him to 13th on the all-time performer list and made him the ninth fastest American in history.
It also made him the 23rd man — and the 14th American — to have broken the 44-second barrier.
Compatriot Vernon Norwood placed second in 44.34 on Friday, followed by Lythe Pillay of South Africa in 44.58.
Christopher Morales Williams of Canada placed sixth in 45.11 after having run a national-record and yearly world-leading time of 44.05 in winning the SEC title for the University of Georgia in early May.
Norwood, who finished a spot behind bronze medalist Hall in last year’s World Championships, was in the lead for the first 180 meters of the race on Friday. But Hall had a small lead at the 200 mark when his split of 21.19 seconds was just ahead of Norwood’s 21.21.
His advantage only grew from there as he was .21 seconds up on Norwood when he came through 300 meters in 32.15 and his lead was three tenths of a second at the 350 mark.
“There was not any difference in today’s race and any other race,” said Hall, who made the transition from an intermediate hurdler to a one-lap sprinter last year. “I knew I could run fast. After the American trials I knew I needed to step up my game a little bit and that it would be enough to run this fast.
“I feel like I have more in my tank. I just need to start strong and then I can finish strong as well. Going to Paris, I do not feel like I have a target on my back.”
There were nine others events contested in the meet, with the top winning performances coming from Grant Holloway of the U.S. in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles, Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland in the women’s 400, Julien Alfred of St. Lucia in the women’s 100, Nina Kennedy of Australia in the women’s pole vault, and Leyanis Perez Hernandez of Cuba in the women’s triple jump.
Holloway, who had clocked 12.86, the fourth-fastest time in history, in winning the high hurdles in the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 28, ran 13.01 on Friday to turn back European champion Lorenzo Ndele Simonelli of Italy in second place in 13.08, and fellow Americans Cordell Tinch and Trey Cunningham in third and fourth place with times of 13.10 and 13.13.
Holloway did not get a great start by his standards, but the three-time defending World champion still had a solid margin of victory over runner-up Simonelli.
Adeleke won the women’s 400 in 49.17 to finish well ahead of second-place Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands, who ran a personal best of 49.64. Kendall Ellis, winner of the U.S. Olympic Trials in 49.46, placed third in 50.39.
Adeleke had set a national record of 49.07 while finishing second to Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland in the European Championships.
Alfred clocked 10.85 in the women’s 100 to finish comfortably in front of the 10.99 efforts of second-place Tamari Davis of the U.S. and third-place Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain.
Alfred and Davis were essentially tied for first place after the first 20 meters of the race, but the former multiple NCAA champion for the University of Texas simply sped away from her closest pursuers after that before easing during the last five meters of the contest.
Kennedy and European champion Angelica Moser of Switzerland each cleared 4.88 meters (16 feet) in the women’s pole vault, but the Australian placed first because she made the height on her first attempt and Moser did so on her third try while setting a national record.
World indoor champion Molly Caudery of Great Britain, the yearly world leader at 4.92 (16-1¾), finished third at 4.83 (15-10). She had taken the lead after clearing 4.83 on her first attempt, but she did not make another bar after that.
She had missed her initial try at 4.88 and then passed to 4.93 (16-2) because Kennedy had taken the lead with a first-attempt clearance at 4.88. She then missed both of her remaining attempts at 4.93 while Kennedy and Moser were unsuccessful on all three of their tries.
Defending Olympic champion Katie Moon of the U.S. tied for fifth place at 4.66 (15-3½).
Perez Hernandez bounded 14.96 (49-1) to win the women’s triple jump ahead of World indoor champion Thea LaFond of Dominica, who placed second at 14.87 (48-9½). Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk of Ukraine, the runner-up in last year’s World outdoor championships, finished third at 14.81 (48-7¼) while competing in her first meet of the season after a foot injury had prevented her from jumping earlier in the year.
In addition to her winning jump, World indoor silver medalist Perez Hernandez also had efforts of 14.95 (49-0¾) and 14.87 (48-9½).
In other men’s events, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won the 200 in 19.87 seconds and World indoor champion Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won the high jump at 2.33 (7-7¾).
Noah Lyles of the U.S., the yearly world leader in the 200 at 19.53 seconds had withdrawn from the event earlier in the week so he could spend another week in Florida training in preparation for the Olympic Games.
In other women’s events, reigning World champion Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan won the javelin at 65.21 (213-11) and Margaret Akidor of Kenya placed first in the women’s 5,000 in a personal best of 14:39.49.
Kitaguchi moved from second place to first on her sixth — and final — throw of the competition and Akidor ran her final lap in about 59.9 seconds in a race in which there was an 11-runner lead pack with two laps left in the contest.