Week in Review: Headed to a medal in Paris?
Time will tell if Gebrhiwet's 12:36.73 clocking in superb 5,000 portends end to podium drought in global title meets
Is Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia on the precipice of winning his first medal in eight years in a global track and field title meet?
That’s one of the questions I have been asking myself since watching the 30-year-old runner from the Tigray region of his country win a monster 5,000-meter race in the Bislett Games Diamond League meet in Oslo last Thursday when his time of 12 minutes 36.73 seconds was the second fastest in history.
Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda had set the world record of 12:35.36 in August of 2020, but the second-fastest time in history until last week had been the 12:37.35 clocking that Kenenisa Bekele had produced in 2004.
That had been the Ethiopian national record until Gebrhiwet broke away from compatriot Yomif Kejelcha and Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo during the latter stage of the race at Bislett Stadium in which they had finished second and third with the fourth- and ninth-fastest times ever run at 12:38.95 and 12:40.96, respectively.
“The time I achieved is very nice,” Gebrhiwet was quoted as saying on the meet website. “This is my second time running in Oslo and I really like this city and this stadium. When I was here for the first time, I improved my PB. And now it is even better.
“The conditions, the crowd was great and it was a very fast race, not easy for me but it was going very well.”
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.
Gebrhiwet had won a silver medal in the 5,000 meters in the 2013 IAAF — now World Athletics — Championships when he was 19 after winning the U20 (under 20) title in the IAAF — now World Athletics — Cross Country Championships earlier in the year.
That was followed by bronze-medal winning performances in the 5,000 in the World Athletics Championships in 2015 and in the Olympic Games in 2016. However, he has not won a medal on the track in a global title meet since then.
He did place fourth in the 3,000 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in 2018, but that was followed by a ninth-place finish in the 10,000 in the 2019 World Championships and he did not make the Ethiopian Olympic team in 2021 after finishing fourth in the 10,000 in the national trials race.
After not racing in 2022, last year might have been his best season ever, at least in terms of statistics.
He lowered his personal best in the 5,000 from 12:45.82 — set in 2018 — to 12:42.18 before winning the men’s 5k title in 12:59 in the inaugural World Athletics Road Roading Championships in Riga, Latvia, on Oct. 1 and running 57:41 to place third in the Valencia Half Marathon in Spain three weeks later. That time is tied for the fifth-fastest ever and is only 10 seconds off the world record of 57:31 set by Kiplimo in 2021.
Nonetheless, he finished a disappointing sixth in the 5,000 in the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August, when warm and humid conditions no doubt played a part in a tactical race in which Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway and Mohamed Katir of Spain, two runners with personal bests of 3:27.14 and 3:28.76 in the 1,500, finished first and second.
Last Thursday’s race in Oslo was anything but tactical.
With the pace lights on the inside railing of the track set to a final time of 12:41, pacesetter Callum Davies of Australia came through the first kilometer in 2:33.13 before Addisu Yihune of Ethiopia led through 2,000 meters in 5:07.05 and 3,000 in 7:41.05.
The announcers on Peacock in the U.S. described Yihune as a pacesetter at that stage of the race, but he never dropped out of the contest and eventually finished fifth in a personal best.
The race for first was down to Kejelcha, Gebrhiwet, and Kiplimo when Kejelcha came through 4,000 meters in 10:11.86 after the previous kilometer was passed in 2:30.81.
Kejelcha, the world record-holder in the indoor mile at 3:47.01, continued to force the pace and Kiplimo began to fall back with 500 meters to go. But the 5-foot-7 (1.71 meters) Gebrhiwet surged into the lead with just over a lap left and was never seriously challenged after that as he ran his final 400 meters in 54.99 seconds while finishing more than two seconds in front of Kejelcha and more than four in front of Kiplimo.
Burundian-born Thierry Ndikumwenayo of Spain placed fourth in 12:48.10, followed by Yihune in 12:49.65, and Luis Grijalva of Guatemala in 12:50.58.
Dominic Lobalu of Switzerland finished seventh in 12:50.90, with Andreas Almgren of Sweden eighth in 12:50.94, and the Ugandan duo of Cheptegei and Oscar Chelimo ninth and tenth in 12:51.94 and 12:54.59, respectively.
Cheptegei, the three-time defending World champion in the 10,000, was in the lead pack for the first nine laps of the race, but he had fallen 15 meters behind at four kilometers and continued to drop back after that.
Twelve of the first 13 finishers in the race, sans Cheptegei, set personal bests, and six of them, including Gebrhiwet, Grijalva, Lobalu, and Almgren, set national records as well.
In the aftermath of such a sensational competition, Gebrhiwet paid respect to Kejelcha and said he might try to make the Ethiopian Olympic team in the 10,000 meters for the Games in Paris in August. I could not tell from the quotes if trying to make the team in the 10,000 would be in addition to attempting to do so in the 5,000.
“The race had some very nice guys running - my friend Kejelcha is a very good guy,” he said. “I train alone and we did our own race but we are the same country so we are both happy. I will try 10k, maybe I will qualify with the 10k at the Olympics so I want to compete there.”
First round goes to dos Santos: The first major clash of the season in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles went to Alison dos Santos of Brazil when he outdueled home-country favorite and world record-holder Karsten Warholm in the Bislett Games.
Warholm, as he usually does, blazed out to a lead during the first half of the race and had a solid advantage over 2022 World champion dos Santos after the first eight flights of the 10-barrier contest. But dos Santos had begun to narrow his deficit to Olympic and three-time World champion Warholm by the ninth hurdle and he took the lead after clearing the 10th barrier while Warholm hit the final hurdle.
The winning time of 46.63 seconds by dos Santos was the fastest in the world this year and the ninth fastest in history, while Warholm’s time of 46.70 was tied for the 11th-fastest ever. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that Warholm has now finished second in his last three intermediate hurdle races dating back to last year.
The last time Warholm had lost three or more consecutive races in the intermediate hurdles was in 2018, when he was beaten in his first five finals of the year.
The 46.63 clocking by the 24-year-old dos Santos was the second fastest of his career and three days later he ran 47.01 in winning the event in the BAUHAUS Galan Diamond League meet in Stockholm on Sunday.
“It felt good and I loved this track, the people and the energy,” dos Santos said in quotes on the Bislett Games website. “It is always good to come here, to come out and be able to win. It was a tough race but I wanted to show I am there, I am ready and in good shape and that I can go even faster.”
Going all in for the win : If not for a well-timed dive across the finish line, Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway would probably have suffered a rare second consecutive defeat in a 1,500-meter or mile race in the Bislett Games.
Racing five days after he had finished second to Josh Kerr of Great Britain in the Bowerman Mile in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, defending Olympic champion Ingebrigtsen won the 1,500 meters in Oslo with a yearly world-leading time of 3:29.74 after he literally dove across the finish line in a successful effort to hold off second-place Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya, who ran 3:29.77.
Ingebrigtsen and Cheruiyot had finished first and second in the 1,500 in the Olympic Games in 2021, but the Kenyan had a down year last season.
After pacesetter Zan Rudolf of Slovenia came through the first 400 meters in 54.90 seconds and past 800 in 1:51.45 in Oslo, Ingebrigtsen was in the lead at the start of the bell lap and when he reached 1,200 meters in 2:48.43. But he was unable to separate himself appreciably from his closest pursuers down the backstretch and Cheruiyot began to nibble away at his lead as the race entered the last half of the home straightaway.
Just when it looked as though the 28-year-old Kenyan might squeak past the 23-year-old Norwegian, Ingebrigtsen left his feet and dove at the finish line, crossing it while being parallel to the track as Cheruiyot was implementing his best sprinter’s lean while still running upright.
Azeddine Habz of France finished third in 3:30.80, followed by Isaac Nader of Portugal in 3:30.84.
“I really do not think that it was the decision I made to dive into the finish line because everything happened so fast,” Ingebrigtsen said in quotes on the meet website. “But I can tell you that was a sprint off. It was a good race, I felt stronger than last time. So today, it was all about my improvement and at the same time, I wanted to do my best and give the crowd the show. But I can tell you I was getting sore in the last 50m. I was expecting someone to come from the outside so I was very prepared to give it 100 per cent.”
Closing in on sub-44: Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain lowered his European record in the men’s 400 meters to 44.07 seconds when he won the event in the Bislett Games.
The 29-year-old Smith took the lead about 150 meters into the race and kept expanding it all the way through the finish line as he cut .19 seconds off the previous European record of 44.26 that he had set in winning a semifinal of last year World Championships before finishing second in the final in 44.31.
Kirani James of Grenada placed second in 44.58 in Oslo, followed by American Vernon Norwood in 44.68.
“I wasn’t sure what shape I was in and the time didn’t matter in a way as I care about victories rather than times and preparing for the Olympics,” Hudson-Smith said in quotes on the meet website. “At the end of the day times are temporary but medals are forever. I really want to come away from Paris with a medal.”
Still unbeaten: Reigning World champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic won her fourth 400-meter race of the season without a loss while running under 50 seconds for the first time this year in the Bislett Games.
As she typically does, the 27-year-old Paulino began to take charge of the race around the second turn before pulling away from her closest pursuers in the final 80 meters of the contest.
Her time of 49.30 was the fastest outdoor time in the world this year, although Femke Bol of the Netherlands ran 49.24 in February and 49.17 in March while twice lowering the world indoor record in the event.
World Championship silver medalist Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland placed second in 49.80 in Oslo, followed by American Alexis Holmes in 50.40.
Undefeated season continues: Akani Simbine of South Africa won his third 100-meter race of the season without a loss when he ran 9.94 seconds in the Bislett Games.
The 30-year-old Simbine did not have the best start of the race, but no one could match strides with him during the second half of the contest as he finished five hundredths of a second in front of second-place Abdul Hakim Sani Brown of Japan (9.99). Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon placed third in 10.01, followed by defending Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy in 10.03.
Simbine had initially been credited with a yearly world-leading time of 9.90 seconds when he won the men’s 100 in the Atlanta City Games on May 18, but all the marks recorded in that meet were later scratched from the records because the track and jump runways in use at that competition did not meet the specifications required by World Athletics for competitive purposes.
Although Simbine has yet to win a medal in the 100 in the World Championships or Olympic Games, he had placed fourth or fifth in five consecutive global-title meets before being disqualified for a false start in the semifinals of last year’s World Championships.
Big drop: Georgia Griffith of Australia entered the women’s 3,000 meters in the Bislett Games best known for her exploits in the 1,500 meters, but she left the meet as Oceania’s fastest-ever runner over the seven-and-a-half-lap distance.
The 27-year-old Griffith ran her final lap in 61.60 seconds to edge Likina Amebaw for the victory as she clocked 8:24.20 to the Ethiopian’s 8:24.29.
Jessica Hull of Australia finished third in 8:25.82 after entering the meet as the fastest Oceanian runner in history with her 8:24.39 clocking that had placed her fourth in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 2.
Overall, the race was a personal-best fest as 12 of the top 13 finishers ran their fastest-ever outdoor times, with four of them setting area or national records as well.
Griffith slashed more than 13 seconds off her previous best of 8:37.85 that she had run in finishing second in the Australian 3,000-meter championship race in Sydney in March.
“I’m still quite new to 3000m, I do a lot of 1500m’s so I usually kick too soon and I kind of die in the last 50m,” Griffith said in quotes on the meet website, “but today, I really tried to hold back until the last 100m and I got lucky with my kick today and finished strong.”
Not far away from another world record: Statistically speaking, Mondo Duplantis of Sweden cleared winning heights of 6.00 meters (19 feet 8¼ inches) in both the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czechia, on May 28 and in the BAUHAUS Galan Diamond League meet in Stockholm on Sunday. But he had three very good attempts at a world-record height of 6.25 (20-6) in the meet in the Swedish capital.
The 24-year-old Duplantis cleared 5.60 (18-4½) on his first attempt of the competition in Stockholm and also made 5.80 (19-0¼), 5.90 (19-4¼), and 6.00 (19-8¼) on his first try.
When second-place Sam Kendricks of the U.S. missed all three of his attempts at 6.00, Duplantis had the bar raised to 6.25, a height that was a centimeter higher than the world record of 6.24 (20-5¾) that he had cleared for the eighth world record of his career in the Diamond League opener in Xiamen, China, on April 20.
Although each of his attempts at the record height on Sunday were close enough to make you think he might clear the bar as he was inverting himself over it, he brushed it off each time.
“I know I am in good shape at the moment and I am feeling good,” Duplantis said in quotes on the meet website. “I know that there is some more to do and I am just trying to gather as much information as possible from my jumping. If I jump above the 6m and I feel I have a good shot, I give it a try at the world record level. I am just trying to put together the best jump that I possibly can.”
Fast start in the two lapper: Djamel Sedjati of Algeria came out of the gate in supreme fashion last week when he posted a pair of yearly world-leading marks in the men’s 800 meters.
The silver medalist in the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Sedjati ran 1:43.51 in winning his first 800 of the season in the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava before bettering that yearly-world leading mark with a 1:43.23 clocking in placing first in the BAUHAUS Galan Diamond League meet on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Sedjati, who had run a personal best of 2:13.97 in winning a 1,000-meter race in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in late March, displayed a dynamite kick in both of his performances last week as he motored away from his closest opponent in the last 200 meters.
His margin of victory in Ostrava was more than two seconds ahead of Gabriel Tual of France (1:45.79) and he finished a little more than a second in front of World indoor champion Bryce Hoppel of the U.S. (1:44.29) in Stockholm.
“I am very happy with today’s world lead in Stockholm, especially after my world lead in Ostrava some days ago,” Sedjati said in quotes on the meet website. “I have only raced twice this season in order to be ready for the Olympic Games in Paris in August. My goal for the next weeks is to run a new personal best and break the 1:43 barrier. Before the Olympics I will only race the Diamond League in Paris and maybe Nice this month.”
Sedjati set his personal best of 1:43.06 when he placed third in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene last September. The Meeting de Paris Diamond League meet will be held on July 7.
Six and counting: Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania was victorious in the two Diamond League meets held last week as the 21-year-old discus thrower won the men’s event at 70.91 (232-7) in the Bislett Games in Oslo on May 30 and at 68.64 (225-2) in the BAUHAUS Galan meet in Stockholm on Sunday.
Alekna had only one really good throw in each meet, but his 70.91 effort in the second round in Oslo and his 68.64 throw on his third attempt in Stockholm left him well clear of second place Matthew Denny of Australia in both competitions.
The victories also gave him an unbeaten record in six meets this season and he will try to defend his title when the European Athletics Championships are held in Rome from July 7-12.
“I am happy with the victory but maybe not with my performance,” Alekna said in quotes on the BAUHAUS Galan website. “I am probably a bit tired as I competed in Oslo just a couple of days ago. It is my first time competing in back-to-back Diamond Leagues so it is a good experience rather than the table but of course I would like to win the Diamond League.”
Another world-leading mark: Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia posted his second yearly world-leading mark of the outdoor season when he ran 8:01.63 in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the BAUHAUS Galan meet.
The 23-year-old Girma had previously posted a then-yearly outdoor-leading time of 12:58.96 when he won the 5,000 in the Diamond League opener in Xiamen, China, on April 20.
After pacesetter Wilberforce Chemiat Kones of Kenya came through the first kilometer of Sunday’s race in 2:36.44, a pace that projected to a world-record time of 7:49.32, Girma was in the lead when he came through 2,000 meters in 5:18.27, a split that forecast a final mark of 7:57.41.
That would have been the second-fastest time of the world record-holder’s career, but the quick early pace took a toll on him during the last two laps as he ran the sixth-fastest time of life while finishing well clear of compatriot Samuel Firewu’s personal best of 8:05.78 in second place and Mohamed Amine Jihnaoui’s Tunisian record of 8:10.41 in third.
“This competition was very nice – the track, the stadium, all is very nice and I am pleased with the competition,” Girma said in quotes of the meet website. “This time is very good, fast and good time so my tactics worked well. Also, we had a great conditions today so I enjoyed it and I want to come back next time.”
More than adequate opener: Femke Bol of the Netherlands won her season-opening race in the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.07 seconds in the BAUHAUS Galan Diamond League meet.
The 24-year-old Bol, who is coming off an unbeaten 2023 season in which she won her first World title and ran the third-fastest time in history at 51.45, ended up pulling away from her closest competitors in the home straightaway as the Jamaican duo of Rushell Clayton and Andrenette Knight placed second and third in times of 53.78 and 54.62, respectively.
While some observers were quick to point out that Bol’s time was slower than the 52.70-second effort that defending Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. had run in The Edwin Moses Legends Meet at Morehouse College in Atlanta two days earlier, it should be noted that it was Bol’s fastest-ever season opener in the 400 hurdles.
“My first two hurdles can be a bit better, it was a bit slow and the clearing of the hurdles was not that good,” Bol said in quotes on the meet website. “But it’s my fastest season opener, so I can’t complain too much. I started my season a bit later than usual because I had a busy indoor season followed by the World Relays.”
Bol’s indoor season included a pair of world records in the 400 as she ran 49.24 on Feb. 18 and 49.17 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships on March 2.
Slow start: After two consecutive dynamite seasons in the women’s 200 meters, Shericka Jackson of Jamaica has had sluggish performances — by her standards — in all three of her Diamond League races this year.
First, she won a 200 in 22.82 seconds in Marrakech, Morocco, on May 19. Then she finished fifth in 22.97 in the Bislett Games in Oslo last Thursday before placing first in 22.69 in the BAUHAUS Galan meet in Stockholm on Sunday.
While the race in Stockholm had a wind reading of negative 2.0 meters-per-second, that does not explain why she was beaten so badly in Oslo as first-place Brittany Brown of the U.S. clocked 22.32.
For the sake of comparison, the 29-year-old Jackson had a season best of 21.98 in the 200 at this point last year and ended the season with the second-fastest time in history at 21.41.
In 2022, she had best of 22.07 at this point in the season while on her way to a then-career best of 21.45 that was the second-fastest in history at that juncture.
Her fifth-place finish in Oslo snapped a 15-meet winning streak in the 200 and she later admitted that it “hurt.”
However, her post-race comments on the BAUHAUS Galan website made it sound as though she had learned some valuable lessons from the loss.
“I was never going to beat myself up as I know I am training well and things will come together and this has shown today,” she said. “After such a good season last year you would think it would be easy to be motivated but, for me, I think I lost who I was as a person and I was going to training and just going through the motions.
“I think therefore Oslo was a blessing for me. It gave me the realisation that I do still want to be winning. Sometimes I struggle a bit mentally and at Oslo I lost a bit of who I am but now I am back and this was important to me.”
Flying high: World indoor champion Molly Caudery of Great Britain cleared a yearly outdoor world-leading mark of 4.84 (15-10½) in winning the women’s pole vault in the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czechia, on May 28.
It was the second victory in two outdoor meets this season for Caudery, who won four of her five competitions indoors.
Nonetheless, the 24-year-old did not have a particularly smooth upward progression in Ostrava as she need two attempts to clear her opening height of 4.44 (14-6¾) before making 4.54 (14-10¾) on her first try.
She then needed two tries to clear 4.64 (15-2¾) before requiring three attempts to make both 4.74 (15-6½) and 4.84 (15-10½). The bar was then raised to 4.92 (16-1¾), a height that would have moved her to third on the all-time European performer list had she made it.
However, she missed her first two attempts before retiring from the competition.
Three for three: Defending Olympic champion Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas lowered his season best in the men’s 400 meters to 44.39 seconds in winning his third race of the season without a loss in the Ostrava Golden Spike meet.
The 28-year-Gardiner, just held off Alexander Doom of Belgium as the World indoor champion lowered his personal best to 44.44 while narrowly missing the national record of 44.43 set by Jonathan Borlee in 2012.
Although a foot injury forced Gardiner to withdraw from the 2022 World Championships before they started and a leg injury caused him to pull up with 100 meters left in a semifinal of last year’s World Championships, he has not been beaten in a 400 race in which he has finished since he placed second in the 2017 World title meet in London.
Long time coming: Shainer Reginfo of Cuba bettered a national record that was first set 47 years ago when he ran 9.90 seconds to win the men’s 100 meters in the Trofeo de Atletismo Ciudad de Salamanca meet in Spain on Saturday.
The time by the 22-year-old Reginfo, as well as the 9.96 effort of second-place compatriot Reynaldo R. Espinosa, broke the Cuban record of 9.98 that was first set by Silvio Leonard in 1977 and later tied by Roberto Skyers in 2019.
Reginfo and Espinosa, 21, had personal bests of 10.11 and 10.17, respectively, entering the meet.
Attention getter: Oblique Seville of Jamaica had run in one 400-meter race in February — a winning 47.44 in the Camperdown Classics meet — and one 200-meter competition in March — a first-place time of 20.17 in the Velocity Fest 14 — before opening June with a scintillating 9.82 effort to win the 100 in the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday.
Seville’s time was the fastest in the world this year, left him three hundredths of a second in front of reigning World champion Noah Lyles, and bettered his previous personal best of 9.86 that he had first set in 2022 and tied in a first-round heat of the World Championships last year.
It also made the fourth-place finisher in the last two World Championships, the fifth-fastest Jamaican in history, and moved him into a tie for 14th on the all-time performer list. Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya finished third in the race in 10.02, followed by Kendal Williams of the U.S. in 10.06, and World Championship bronze medalist Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain in 10.09.
Not surprisingly, the 23-year-old Seville, who had missed last year’s meet because of an injury, got off to a very good start and Lyles was unable to catch him as Seville looked to his right at Lyles as he was crossing the finish line.
“My coach and I have been working on execution throughout the month, and tonight, the work that I put in has paid off,” Seville was quoted as saying in a World Athletics post. “It is a tremendous feeling as last year I didn’t compete due to injuries. This year, I’m happy to get a personal best and win in front of my Jamaican fans.”
Lyles’ time was tied for the second-fastest of his career, but the three-time defending World champion in the 200 was quoted as saying the starter did not hold the field in the set position long enough.
“I was satisfied with the performance but disappointed with the starter,” he said. “Half of us were not even set when the gun went. Overall, the race was great; I came out here and ran exactly what I thought I would run, which is anywhere faster than 9.88.”
First of the season: Jaydon Hibbert of Jamaica registered the first 58-foot effort of the year in the men’s triple jump when he won the event by more than three and a half feet in the Racers Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old Hibbert, who is in his first season as a professional after setting collegiate outdoor and indoor records as a freshman at the University of Arkansas last year, bounded 17.75 (58-3) on his fourth jump of the competition before passing his final two attempts.
He had jumped 16.45 (53-11¾) in the first round before improving to 17.14 (56-2¾) in the second and 17.30 (56-9¼) in the third.
It was the third victory of the season without a loss for Hibbert, who had previously won the USA Track & Field Bermuda Grand Prix with a wind-aided 17.33 (56-10¼) on April 28 and the Jamaica Athletics Invitational Meet at 17.57 (57-7¾) on May 11.
Bouncing back: One week after being soundly beaten by Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. in the women’s 100 meters in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, Julien Alfred of St. Lucia set a national record of 10.78 seconds in winning the event by more than two tenths of a second in the Racers Grand Prix.
The 22-year-old Alfred had won the 60-meter dash in the World Athletics Indoor Championships on March 2, but her two previous 100-meter efforts this season were comprised of a fourth-place — and wind-aided — time of 11.15 in the Texas Invitational on April 27 and her 10.93 effort in the Pre Classic.
Her time in Kingston was the second-fastest in the world this year and bettered her previous national record of 10.81 from 2022 and moved her into a six-way tie for 18th on the all-time performer list.
World record-holder returns: In her long-awaited return to the women’s 400-meter hurdles, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. won the event with a yearly world-leading time of 52.70 seconds in The Edwin Moses Legends Meet at Morehouse College in Atlanta last Friday.
The defending Olympic and 2022 World champion led the race from start to finish and did not appear to chop her stride at any of the 10 barriers as she posted the ninth-fastest time of her career while winning her eighth consecutive final in the event. Michelle Smith of the Virgin Islands placed second in a national record of 55.96.
The 24-year-old McLaughlin’s last race in the 400 hurdles had come on August 8, 2022, when she had run 51.68 in the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Szekesfehervar, Hungary. That performance had come about two and half weeks after she had become the first woman in history to break 51 seconds in the event when she clocked 50.68 to win the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
McLaughlin-Levrone had focused on the 400 last year, and although knee issues caused her to withdraw from the World Championships last August, she moved to 10th on the all-time performer list when she ran 48.74 to win the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in early July.
In her first three meets of this season, she had run a leg on a 400 relay, clocked 12.71 in the 100 hurdles, and a wind-aided 22.38 in the 200. Then came a personal best of 22.07 in the 200 in the USA Track & Field Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA on May 18 when she ran away from a high-caliber field.
That time, combined with her 400 best from last year, left many people eagerly anticipating her return to the 400 hurdles in the meet at Edwin Moses Track. And while some people might have been hoping she would have run faster than she did, it’s worth noting that she is only one of nine women in history who have bettered her 52.70 clocking.
“It’s a progression, you know, shaking the rust off after two years,” McLaughlin-Levrone said in a trackside interview. “I’ll take a 52.7, things to work on. We haven’t had much hurdle practice so there’s a lot to improve.”
Two liners: Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine cleared 2.00 meters (6 feet 6¾ inches) to win the women’s high jump in her outdoor season-opening meet in the BAUHAUS Galan Diamond League meet in Stockholm on Sunday. The reigning World champion cleared 2.00 on her second attempt after needing three ties to get over 1.97 (6-5½) after first-attempt clearances at 1.90 (6-2¾) and 1.94 (6-4¼). . . . . Chase Jackson of the U.S., the two-time defending World champion in the women’s shot put, posted her fifth victory in six outdoor meets this season when she hit 20.00 (65-7½) in the BALHAUS Galan meet. It was her fourth consecutive victory and marked the third time in the last four meets that her best put has measured at least 20.00. . . . . Andre De Grasse of Canada, the defending Olympic champion in the men’s 200, won the 100 and 200 with season bests in the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czechia, on May 28. De Grasse ran 10.10 seconds in the 100 to finish seven hundredths of a second in front of second-place Ryiem Forde of Jamaica (10.17) and his 20.09 clocking in the 200 left him nearly half a second in front of runner-up Andrew Hudson of Jamaica (20.56). . . . . Trey Cunningham of the U.S. won the men’s 110-meter high hurdles in 13.12 in the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday. The time by Cunningham gave him a solid margin of victory over second-place Rasheed Broadbell of Jamaica (13.24) and was his fastest clocking since the 2022 World Championship silver medalist ran 13.10 in late August of that year. . . . . Christopher Bailey of the U.S. lowered his personal best in the men’s 400 by more than four tenths of a second when he ran a winning 44.42 in The Edwin Moses Legends Meet at Morehouse College in Atlanta on Friday. Bailey’s time, which made him the 55th American to have run under 44.50, bettered his previous best of 44.84 from last year.
National prep records in consecutive races: In what could very well be a first, the U.S. national high school record in the girls’ outdoor mile was lowered twice within about a 15-minute time span during the Hoka Festival of Miles meet in St. Louis last Thursday.
The first record was set in the high school girls championship mile race at St. Louis High School when senior Allie Zealand, a homeschooled runner from Lynchburg, Virginia, ran 4:30.38 to lower the previous record of 4:31.72 that had been set by junior Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High in California in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California, on April 20.
Engelhardt, who has committed to North Carolina State University, then regained her record in the following race when she ran 4:28.46 to finish second behind Jenn Randall of the Eugene Elite club in the women’s mile as she passed three runners in the final 150 meters of the race.
That wasn’t the end of Engelhardt’s racing for the week as she also ran 4:10.18 to finish fourth in the first section of the women’s 1,500 meters in the Music City Track Carnival in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on Saturday.
On the performance enhancing drug front: Isaam Assinga, a sprinter who had been credited with U.S. national high school record times of 9.89 seconds in the 100 meters and 19.97 in the 200 last year before testing positive for a banned substance, has been issued a four-year ban from competition by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
The ban was announced on May 27 in regards to the results of a test that Asinga underwent on July 18 of last year, shortly before he won the 100 meters in a world U20 (under 20) record of 9.89 and the 200 in 20.19 in the South American Athletics Championships in Sao Paolo while competing for his father’s home country of Suriname.
Asinga had competed for Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida, during the high school season. The AIU had announced during the first two weeks in August of last year, not long before the start of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, that he had been provisionally suspended.
According to the AIU, Asinga tested positive for GW1516, a substance that was developed to help build endurance and burn fat, but was found to cause cancer in rodents when tested on them.
In its May 27 press release, the AIU said that Asinga – who contended his positive drug test was due to eating “recovery gummies” – will be stripped of his titles as South America’s double sprint champion and World Under-20 100-metre record holder after being found guilty of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) and banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit for four years.
According to the release, Asinga had maintained that the positive test was the result of him injesting a contaminated product, Gatorade Recovery Gummies for Athletes, which he was given in a ceremony in the U.S. on July 10, 2023, after being named as the Gatorade National Boys Track and Field Player of the Year. However, the Disciplinary Tribunal said Asinga “did not succeed in establishing, by a balance of probability, that the Gatorade Recovery Gummies were the source of the GW1516 metabolites detected in his Sample of 18 July 2023.”
The 19-year-old Asinga plans to appeal the AIU’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. However, any ruling before the Olympic Games in Paris this summer would appear to be unlikely.