Week in Review: Kipyegon sets the record straight
Kenyan great's latest world record puts mile and 1,500-meter bests on comparable level
Thanks to Faith Kipyegon, the world record in the women’s mile — a distance rarely raced by the world’s top female competitors — is now comparable to her global best in the more-frequently-contested 1,500 meters.
The Kenyan great saw to that in the Herculis Diamond League meet in Monaco on Friday when her time of 4 minutes 7.64 seconds in the mile took nearly five seconds off the world record of 4:12.33 that Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands set in the same meet in 2019.
Hassan’s mark had shaved .23 seconds off the previous best that had been set by Svetlana Masterkova of Russia in 1996, but it was nonetheless a “soft” record.
I write that because at the time of Hassan’s mile performance, the world record in the women’s 1,500 meters was 3:50.07, a performance that — converted to a mile — calculates to 4:08.48, nearly four seconds faster than Hassan’s actual mark.
Much of that glaring gap was due to the fact that the women’s mile — in stark contrast to the men’s event — has been contested infrequently over the decades at the elite level.
In addition, the track and field community at large did not seem to have a huge interest in seeing who could be the first woman to break a specific barrier, such as 4:10, in the mile.
That was in stark contrast to the worldwide fascination that followed the pursuit of the four-minute mile, which was first achieved by Roger Bannister of Great Britain when he ran 3:59.4 in 1954.
Running under 3:50 was not as big a deal as the first four-minute mile. Yet John Walker of New Zealand will always be best known for being the first man to break 3:50 in the mile with his 3:49.4 clocking in 1975, rather than for winning the 1,500 meters in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal or for setting a world record of 4:51.52 in the 2,000 that season.
Because of that and other factors, the mile — which is a smidge more than 1,609 meters in distance — has always been a big deal in men’s track and field, although it is not contested as often today as it was from the late 1940s through the end of the 1980s.
As someone who grew up in the U.S. and began following track and field in 1972, I am hopeful that Kipyegon’s performance in Monaco will lead to an annual high-profile mile race in which the top women in the world gather to compete against one another.
Last week was an incredibly busy seven days in the track and field world. Therefore, this column is longer than usual. 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.
In addition to the heavily-favored Kipyegon, who had set world records of 3:49.11 in the 1,500 and 14:05.20 in the 5,000 on the first two Fridays in June, the race in Monaco included several women who could either contend for a medal or earn a place in the final of the women’s 1,500 when the World Athletics Championships are held in Budapest, Hungary from Aug. 19-27.
Pacesetter Kristie Schoffield of the U.S. led the field through the first 400 meters in 61.76 seconds and eventually dropped out around 700 meters. Winnie Nanyondo of Uganda handled the pacing duties through 800 meters in 2:04.10 and she continued to run alongside Kipyegon in lane two through right around the kilometer mark before pulling off the track.
Kipyegon had a lead of roughly 30 meters over second-place Freweyni Hailu of Ethiopia at that point, but her advantage had grown significantly when she came through 1,200 meters in 3:06.66.
It seemed inevitable that Hassan’s record was toast at that stage of the race.
The only question was how large a lowering would Kipyegon inflict upon it? Picking up the pace and widening her lead with every stride during the last lap, Kipyegon came through 1,500 meters in 3:51.41 — the eighth-fastest performance ever in that event — before finishing in a time (4:07.64) that left her nearly seven seconds in front of second-place Ciara Mageean of Ireland, who ran 4:14.58. Hailu finished third in 4:14.79, followed by Olympic 1,500 silver medalist Laura Muir of Great Britain in 4:15.24, Jessica Hull of Australia in 4:15.34, and Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. in 4:16.35.
All 13 finishers ran personal bests, with seven of them, including Mageean, Muir, Hull and Hiltz, setting national records.
Kipyegon’s time was only marginally slower than the 4:07.44 time to which her 3:49.11 1,500 best converts.
“I really enjoyed the race,” Kipyegon was quoted as saying on the meet web site. “I came for that, I wanted to chase the world record and thanks God, it was amazing. And just before the World Championships. I was really looking forward to running here. I have done good training so far and I just came for it.”
Kipyegon, the two-time defending Olympic champion in the 1,500, reiterated that she plans to seek her third world title in that event in Budapest and will also run the 5,000.
The 29-year-old mother of one then expressed her continual wonderment at the season she has had. It began with a goal of breaking the world record in the 1,500, but has made her the first woman in history to set world records in the 1,500, mile, and 5,000.
“When I started this season, my goal was to just break the 1500 world record,” she said. “It was still in my head and in my mind. Thank God I did also the one mile and the 5,000.”
More world-record attempts to come?: If things go well for Kipyegon in the World Championships in Budapest, it will be interesting to see what events she contests after that meet. Given her current level of fitness, she would appear capable of lowering the world record in both the 2,000 and 3,000 meters.
The world record for the infrequently-run 2,000 is 5:21.56 and was set by Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi in 2021.
The world record in the 3,000, which is regarded as a significantly higher-quality mark than the 2,000, is 8:06.11 and was set by Junxia Wang of China in 1993.
Not much of a contest: Karsten Warholm of Norway posted a runaway victory over Alison dos Santos of Brazil in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles in the Herculis Diamond League meet.
The race had been billed as a duel between the winners of the last three World Championships in Warholm — titles in 2017 and ‘19 — and dos Santos. But it wasn’t a fair fight, so to speak, for Olympic champion and world-record-holder Warholm has been healthy all season while dos Santos sustained a severe knee injury earlier this year that prevented him from racing until he ran 44.73 seconds in the 400 to finish third in the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Diamond League meet in Chorzow, Poland five days before he raced in Monaco.
The 23-year-old dos Santos was not too far behind the 27-year-old Warholm for the first six flights of hurdles in the 10-hurdle event, but he had begun to lose more ground by the seventh hurdle and he really faded over the final 120 meters of the race as Warholm clocked 46.51 to dos Santos’ 47.66 in second place. CJ Allen of the U.S. finished third in 47.85, followed by the 47.86 personal best of Ludvy Vaillant of France.
Warholm’s time was the fastest in the world this year, the second-fastest of his career behind his world record of 45.94 set in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, and the fourth-fastest in history. It was also the third time he has run under 46.80 since the middle of June.
A hamstring injury sustained in early June of last year had played a major role in Warholm finishing seventh in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July. As a result, he appreciates being healthy as he heads into the global title meet in Budapest that starts in three and a half weeks.
“This is a nice timing as the World Championships is just around the corner,” he was quoted as saying on the meet web site. “Since I was injured last year, I enjoy the racing more. Now I know how is it to be sitting on the outside of the race so I enjoy it… It is very important in this stage of my career.”
Nice timing: Nia Ali of the U.S. has been beaten in nine of the 14 finals in which she has contested the women’s 100-meter hurdles this season. However, she has been on an upward trajectory during the past two weeks as she has run 12.43 seconds or faster in five consecutive races, including a semifinal of the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon on July 8.
Her latest performance came in the Herculis Diamond League meet when she ran 12.30 to edge U.S. teammate Keni Harrison by a hundredth of a second in a race in which fellow Americans Alaysha Johnson and Tia Jones ran identical times of 12.39.
Ali’s time was the fastest in the world this year and took four hundredths of a second off her previous best of 12.34 that she set in winning the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. It also moved her to ninth on the all-time world performer list while making her the third-fastest American in history.
According to statistics on the meet web site, Ali and Harrison were tied for first place after the first five hurdles of the race. But Olympic silver medalist Harrison led her counterpart by three hundredths of a second at the ninth hurdle and by two hundredths at the 10th. However, Ali made up ground on Harrison after clearing the final barrier and then out leaned her at the finish line.
“I started very fast and then in the middle of the race I told myself, Do not fall asleep," Ali was quoted as saying on the meet web site. "I really fight for it because I felt myself a bit behind at the last hurdle, but then I… just attacked the finish line.”
Interesting situation: Wyclife Kinyamal was not named to the Kenyan team for the World Championships in the men’s 800 meters after finishing fourth in that country’s trials race in the nation’s capital of Nairobi on July 8. Yet he ran the fastest time in the world this year when he clocked 1:43.22 in the Herculis Diamond League meet.
Kinyamal, who finished eighth in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July before winning the Commonwealth Games title in Birmingham, England the following month, was in fifth place among the non-pacesetters in the race when he came through 400 meters in 50.3 seconds. But he moved into second place behind Marco Arop of Canada down the backstretch.
World Championship bronze medalist Arop had a solid lead when he came through 600 meters in 1:16.3, but the 26-year-old Kinyamal was only a tenth of a second behind him at 700 meters and the Kenyan moved past him with about 70 meters left in the race.
Algerian Slimane Moula closed well to place second in 1:43.40, followed by Arop in 1:43.51, and World Championship silver medalist Djamel Sedjati of Algeria in 1:43.88.
Previously unbeaten Emmanuel Wanyonyi, winner of the Kenyan trials race, placed eighth in 1:44.35.
Fast times keep coming: A hot year in the men’s 5,000 meters continued in the Herculis Diamond League meet when a trio of Ethiopians broke 12:43, six men ran faster than 12:49, and 13 dipped under 13:00.
Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia and Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who had run personal bests of 12:40.05 and 12:41.73, respectively, in June, were regarded as the co-favorites in the race. But they ended up finishing second and sixth.
After Mounir Akbache of France had led the field through the first kilometer in 2:32.7, fellow pacesetter Justin Kipkoech of Kenya brought them through 2,000 meters in 5:05.8. Kipkoech led the field for another lap before dropping out just after six laps of the 12½ lap race.
With the pacesetters out, Jacob Krop of Kenya led the field through three kilometers in 7:39.2 and four kilometers in 10:13.6.
The lead pack of Krop, Aregawi, Kiplimo, Mohamed Katir of Spain, and Ethiopians Hagos Gebrhiwet and Telahun Bekele continued to run together for the next lap. But Kiplimo was beginning to drop off the back of the lead group with a lap remaining as Gebrhiwet had surged into the lead with just under 600 meters left and he would never trail again.
Aregawi moved from third place to second after he passed Krop down the final backstretch, but he was unable to make much of a dent in Gebrhiwet’s lead in the final 200 meters as the 29-year-old runner finished in 12:42.18 to Aregawi’s 12:42.58.
Bekele placed third in 12:42.70, followed by Katir in 12:45.01, Krop in 12:46.02, and Kiplimo in 12:48.78.
Gebrhiwet moved to eighth on the all-time performer list with his time, while Bekele moved to ninth, and Katir to 11th with a clocking that lowered the previous European record of 12:48.45 held by defending World champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway.
Friday’s race marked the third time this season that the winner of a men’s 5,000 had run under 12:43 and the fourth time that it had taken a time of 12:52.09 or faster to place first.
All told, 18 men have combined to run under the once-magical 13-minute barrier 32 times this season.
The highest totals for a year occurred in 2006 when 19 runners combined to break 13:00 a combined 33 times. It would appear that those figures, particularly the number of sub-13:00 times, are due to be topped by a large margin by the end of this season.
Still unbeaten: Shericka Jackson of Jamaica won her fourth 200-meter race of the season without a loss with a runaway victory in the Herculis Diamond League meet.
Competing against a very good field, the 29-year-old defending World champion was a close second to World bronze medalist Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain after the first 100 meters of the race. But she had taken the lead by 130 meters on her way to a 21.86-second clocking that gave her a comfortable margin of victory over second-place Julien Alfred of St. Lucia, who ran 22.08 to Asher-Smith’s 22.23.
Gabby Thomas of the U.S., who had run a yearly world-leading time of 21.60 to win the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon on July 9, was in fourth place after the first 100 meters, but she did not transition well into the home straightaway and finished seventh in 22.67.
No one’s perfect: Mondo Duplantis of Sweden suffered his first loss of the season in the men’s pole vault in the Herculis Diamond League meet when he could only clear 5.72 meters (18 feet 9¼ inches) to end up in a three-way tie for fourth place.
The loss snapped a 12-meet winning streak for the defending Olympic and World champion, who had raised the world record to 6.22 (20-5) during an indoor meet in Clermont-Ferrand, France in February.
Chris Nilsen of the U.S. placed first after clearing 5.92 (19-5¼) on his first attempt. The silver medalist in the Olympic Games and World Championships missed all three of his attempts at what would have been a personal-best height of 6.02 (19-9).
Close finish: Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya posted his ninth victory in 12 races this season when he won the men’s 100 meters in the Herculis Diamond League meet.
The race lost some of its luster when Akani Simbine of South Africa was a late withdrawal as Simbine had handed defending World champion Fred Kerley of the U.S. his first loss of the season in the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Diamond League meet in Chorzow, Poland five days earlier. But Omanyala nonetheless turned in an impressive performance as he overcame the fast starts of Jamaicans Ackeem and Johan Blake and held off the fast-closing Letsile Tebogo of Botswana.
The 27-year-old Omanyala ran 9.92 to the 20-year-old Tebogo’s 9.93. Ackeem Blake finished third in 10.00, followed by Johan Blake in 10.01. The Blakes are not related.
Big first impression: Simon Kiprop Koech of Kenya turned in an impressive performance in his first international race of the year when he won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Herculis Diamond League meet.
The 20-year-old ran 8:04.19 to defeat better-known countryman Abraham Kibiwott (8:09.54) by more than five seconds and crush his previous best of 8:18.43 that he set in 2021.
Koech, the bronze medalist in the World Athletics U20 (under 20) Championships that year, had won his five previous steeplechase finals this year while contesting each of them in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
After pacesetter El Mehdi Aboujanah of Morocco led the field through the first kilometer in 2:40.09, Koech was in first place when he came through 2,000 meters in 5:22.82. Kibiwott was close behind Koech at that point in the race, but he could not keep pace with his younger countryman over the last 500 meters as Koech moved to third on the yearly world performer list.
Then there were three: After knocking on the door of a sub-52-second clocking in the women’s 400-meter hurdles for the past three seasons, Femke Bol of the Netherlands kicked it in during the London Diamond League meet on Sunday.
Competing in the first track event of the televised portion of the broadcast on Peacock, Bol got off to great start, had to reach a little bit to clear the sixth of 10 hurdles in stride, and then blew open the race over the final 125 meters. Her time of 51.45 seconds crushed her previous national record of 52.03 that she had set in winning the bronze medal in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 and gave her a huge margin of victory over second-place Janieve Russell of Jamaica (53.75) and third-place Shamier Little of the U.S. (53.76).
Bol’s time was the third fastest in history, trailing only the last two world records of 50.68 and 51.41 that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone had set in the World Championships and the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last year.
It also made her the third woman to have broken 52 seconds after McLaughlin-Levrone, who first accomplished the feat in the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, and American Dalilah Muhammad, who ran 51.58 to finish second in the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“Amazing, I cannot believe it yet,” Bol was quoted as saying on the meet web site. “To be honest I felt really good at some points in the race, I tried not to think about the goal. I felt so strong coming over the last hurdle so I'm really happy. I've been wanting to run a 51 ever since Tokyo, I had a feeling I could do it but I still can't believe I've done it.”
Lyles gets a scare: Noah Lyles of the U.S. posted the third-best time of his career when he won the men’s 200 meters in 19.47 seconds in the London Diamond League meet, but he had to withstand a late charge from Letsile Tebogo of Botswana to win the race with the 10th-fastest performance in history.
The two-time defending World champion, Lyles had a small lead over Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain and Tebogo after the first 100 meters and he began to pull away from Hughes halfway down the straightaway. But he was never able to shake the 20-year-old Tebogo, who made up ground on the 26-year-old Lyles during the last 50 meters of the race. His 19.50 clocking was tied for the 12th fastest in history, moved him to sixth on the all-time performer list, and crushed the African record of 19.68 that Frankie Fredericks of Namibia had set in finishing second to American Michael Johnson’s legendary 19.32 world record in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
It also obliterated his previous best of 19.87 that he set in winning the Botswana Golden Grand Prix in Gaborone, Botswana on Apr. 29.
Hughes, the yearly world leader in the 100 at 9.83, finished third in 19.73 to break the British record of 19.87 that John Regis had set in 1994. He also came within a hundredth of a second of the European record of 19.72 that was a world record when Pietro Mennea of Italy ran it in the 1979 World University Games in Mexico City.
Add Lyles: Much was made of the fact that Lyles’ 19.47 performance in London gave him 35 sub-20 clockings during his career, the most ever and one more than world-record-holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica.
However, the 200-meter statistics I find most compelling are the following:
— Bolt broke 19.60 nine times during his career while Lyles has done it seven times;
— Lyles has broken 19.70 16 times during his career while Bolt did it 14 times;
— The average time of Bolt’s top 10 clockings is 19.46 while Lyles’ top 10 average 19.53.
Now there are 10: Jackline Chepkoech of Kenya became the 10th woman in history to break 9 minutes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase when she ran a yearly world-leading time of 8:57.35 in the London Diamond League meet.
The 19-year-old Chepkoech, who won the Commonwealth Games last August, was in second place when countrywoman Beatrice Chepkoech came through 2,000 meters in 6:01.07. But she surged past the world-record-holder with a little more than two laps to go and finished nearly seven seconds in front of her as Beatrice Chepkoech, who is not related to Jackline, ran 9:04.34. Aimee Pratt of Great Britain was a distant third in 9:16.10.
The time by Jackline Chepkoech was the first sub-9:00 clocking of the year, the 11th-fastest in history, and moved her to seventh on the all-time performer list. It also no doubt raised the hopes of Kenyan steeplechase fans as last year’s World Championships in Eugene, Oregon marked the first time that a Kenyan woman had not medaled in the event that was first contested in the 2005 global title meet in Helsinki.
Even better than expected: The last lap speed of Gudaf Tsegay proved decisive in the women’s 5,000 meters in the London Diamond League meet as the 26-year-old Ethiopian won the first race in history in which the top five finishers ran under 14:20.
Based on the list of entries, the race had all the ingredients to be a superb one and it did not disappoint. After pacesetter Rose Davies of Australia led the field through the first kilometer in 2:51.8, Kenyan Margaret Akidor was in first place at two kilometers in 5:42.6 and at three kilometers in 8:35.2.
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands took over the lead after Akidor dropped out and clocked 11:28.4 at 4,000 meters, 12:37.5 at 4,400, and 13:11.8 with a lap to go. But defending World champion Tsegay was patiently running off of Hassan’s shoulder at that point in the race, with World cross country champion Beatrice Chebet of Kenya just back of Tsegay.
Hassan, the defending Olympic champion in the 5,000 and 10,000, hung on gamely for the next 300 meters. But she had no answer when Tsegay and Chebet launched their final kicks in the home straightaway as Tsegay clocked 14:12.29 to Chebet’s 14:12.92. Hassan placed third in a European record of 14:13.42, followed by Medina Eisa of Ethiopia in 14:16.54 and Alicia Monson of the U.S. in an American record of 14:19.45.
Tsegay, who ran her final 300 meters in 43.6 seconds, Chebet, and Hassan ran the fourth, eighth, and 12th fastest times in history, respectively, while moving to fourth, seventh, and ninth on the all-time performer list. Eisa and Monson are now the 12th- and 14th-fastest runners ever.
Dominance continues: Shot putter extraordinaire Ryan Crouser of the U.S. won his seventh and eight meets of the outdoor season without a loss last week with efforts of 22.51 (73-10¼) in the Gyulai István Memorial in Szekesfehervar, Hungary on July 18 and 23.07 (75-8¼) in the London Diamond League meet on Sunday.
The 30-year-old Crouser had one of the best series of his illustrious career in London as all six of his efforts exceeded 22 meters (72-2¼) and he had secondary puts of 22.66 (74-4¼), 22.65 (74-3 ¾), 22.63 (74-3), and 22.60 (74-1¾).
His top put of 23.07 was the 12th farthest in history and was the 12th time in his career that he has exceeded 23 meters (75-5½). Three other men have combined to accomplish that feat four times during their careers.
On a roll: Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast won her seventh consecutive 100-meter race of the season when she clocked 10.75 seconds in the London Diamond League meet.
The silver medalist in the 2017 World Championships, the 34-year-old Ta Lou trailed Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain coming out of the blocks, but she was even with her by 50 meters and ran away from her and everyone else — including Shericka Jackson of Jamaica — during the second half of the race.
Asher-Smith placed second in 10.84, followed by Jackson in 10.94 and Daryll Neita of Great Britain in 10.96. Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. pulled out of the race with hamstring soreness.
Jackson, the silver medalist in the 100 in the World Championships last year, ran a yearly world-leading time of 10.65 to win the Jamaican title on July 7. But she has now lost a pair of races to Ta Lou, as well as to Richardson, this season. Ta Lou finished fifth in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California to start her season in mid-April, but she has won all four of her Diamond League finals this year.
“Today has been so great - I was not feeling my best at first, but I've been listening to everything my coach has told me and I won,” Ta Lou was quoted as saying on the meet web site. “I hope to go back and train even harder for Budapest because I know it will take more to win there, so I'll just fix up on a few small things.”
Five for five: JuVaughn Harrison of the U.S. posted his fifth victory of the season without a loss when he cleared a season best of 2.35 (7-8½) in the men’s high jump in the London Diamond League meet.
The 24-year-old Harrison had cleared 2.20 (7-2½), 2.24 (7-4¼), and 2.27 (7-5¼) on his first attempts, but he found himself trailing three-time defending World champion Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar after it took him two attempts to clear 2.30 (7-6½) and three to get over 2.33 (7-7¾). Barshim cleared 2.30 on his first attempt and 2.33 on his second.
Both jumpers missed their first tries at 2.35, but Harrison took the lead when he cleared the height on his second attempt and Barshim missed.
Barshim, the co-Olympic champion, passed his third try at 2.35 and when he missed his single remaining attempt at 2.37 (7-9¼), Harrison had won his second Diamond League meet of the season.
“I felt good coming into the competition and it was fun to battle with Essa, he's a great competitor,” Harrison was quoted as saying on the meet web site. “My hopes are to win in Budapest and get a [personal best] which I feel confident that I can do it because I'm having a great season.”
Can’t forget about him: A yearly world-leading clocking of 43.74 seconds in the men’s 400 meters on July 18 showed that Stephen Gardiner of the Bahamas should once again be in contention for a gold medal in that event when the World Championships are held in Budapest, Hungary from Aug. 19-27.
The 27-year-old Gardiner had missed last year’s World Championships due to a foot injury, but he looked like the man who had won the World title in 2019 and the Olympic gold medal in 2021 when he posted the second-fastest time of his career in the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Szekesfehervar, Hungary.
The smooth-striding Gardiner got off to good start and had made up the stagger on American Vernon Norwood 160 meters into the race. He ran his typically strong second turn and entered the home straightaway with a stride lead over Rusheen McDonald of Jamaica before widening his advantage during the run-in to the finish.
McDonald placed second in 44.03, to come within a tenth of a second of his national record set in 2015, and Norwood finished third in 44.63.
Don’t overlook her: Julien Alfred of St. Lucia made her first race as a professional track and field athlete a memorable one by handing Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. her first loss of the season in the women’s 100 meters in the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Szekesfehervar, Hungary on July 18.
The 22-year-old Alfred had posted runaway victories in winning NCAA titles in the 60 meters indoors and the 100 and 200 outdoors as a senior at the University of Texas this year. She used her typically strong start to get out ahead of Richardson in the Istvan Memorial and the American never mounted a serious challenge to Alfred in the second half of the race as the St. Lucian sprinter posted a 10.89 to 10.97 victory. Tamari Davis of the U.S. finished third in 11.02.
“A lot of people would say it’s a surprise result, but I felt the power and I knew I could do it,” Alfred was quoted as saying in a World Athletics post. “I could not be in better shape one month before the World Championships.”
Looking dangerous: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica showed no ill effects from some injury issues she had earlier this season as she ran 10.82 and 10.83 in her first two 100-meter races of the season last week.
The two-time Olympic and five-time World champion ran 10.82 in the Spitzen Leichathletik Luzern meet in Lucerne, Switzerland last Thursday before clocking 10.83 in the Meeting Madrid in Spain on Saturday.
The 10.82 clocking puts Fraser-Pryce fourth on the yearly world performer list behind countrywoman Shericka Jackson (10.65), American Sha’Carri Richardson (10.71), and Ivorian Marie-Josee Ta Lou (10.75).
She also posted a simultaneous exhalation and exclamation on Instagram on Monday:
Two liners: Hugues Fabrice Zango of Bukina Faso won the men’s triple jump in the Herculis Diamond League meet in Monaco last Friday when he bounded 17.70 meters (58 feet 1 inch) on the final attempt of the competition. Zango’s last-minute heroics put a damper on the Diamond League debut of Jaydon Hibbert of Jamaica, as the 18-year competitor who just completed his freshman season at the University of Arkansas had a best of 17.66 (57-11¼), as well as secondary jump of 17.53 (57-6¼). . . . . Larissa Iapechino of Italy posted her fourth consecutive victory of the season in the women’s long jump when she leaped an outdoor personal best of 6.95 (22-9¾) in the Herculis Diamond League meet. The runner-up in the European Athletics Indoor Championships has posted six victories in seven meets this season, with her only loss coming in the European Athletics Team Championships in Chorzow, Poland when she placed second to Hilary Kpatcha of France in the first division competition on June 25. . . . . Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland scored a come-from-behind victory in the women’s 400 meters in the Herculis Diamond League meet after yearly world leader Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. was a late withdrawal due to what she described via social media as a “reocurring knee issue.” Kaczmarek passed four runners in the final 50 meters of the race to score a 49.63 to 49.68 victory over American Shamier Little, who placed fourth in the 400 hurdles in the World Championships last year. . . . . Grant Holloway of the U.S. posted his fourth consecutive victory of the season — and his sixth in seven races — when he ran 13.01 in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles in the London Diamond League meet on Sunday. The two-time defending World champion has now run 13.05 or faster seven times this season as five other hurdlers have combined to accomplish that feat an equal number of times. . . . . Yared Nuguse of the U.S. won the men’s 1,500 in 3:30.44 in the London Diamond League meet. Nuguse ran his final 400 in 54.1 and his last 300 in 40.2 in a race in which Narve Gilje Nordas of Norway finished second in 3:50.58 and 12 runners broke 3:32. . . . . Jemma Reekie of Great Britain won the women’s 800 in 1:57.30 in the London Diamond League meet after fellow Brit Keely Hodgkinson was a late scratch due to an illness. Natoya Goule-Toppin of Jamaica finished second in 1:57.61 in a race in which the first five finishers ran 1:58.00 or faster. . . . . Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic handed Erriyon Knighton of the U.S. his first loss of the season in the men’s 200 when he ran 19.99 to the American’s 20.05 in the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Szekesfehervar, Hungary on July 18. The time equaled Ogando’s season best and marked the first time in five finals this year that World Championship bronze medalist Knighton has not run under 20 seconds. . . . . Rajindra Campbell of Jamaica added nearly a meter to his personal best in the men’s shot put when he unleashed a 22.22 (72-10¾) effort in the sixth — and final — round of the Meeting Madrid in Spain on Saturday. That effort topped Campbell’s previous best of 21.31 set earlier this season and broke the Jamaican record of 21.96 (72-0¾) set by O’Dayne Richards in 2017. . . . . Malaika Mihambo of Germany, the defending Olympic and two-time defending World champion in the women’s long jump, will miss the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from Aug. 19-27 because of an injury. The German Athletics Association announced last week that Mihambo suffered a small thigh muscle tear while competing in the country’s national championships on July 9. . . . . Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland has signed a contract with Nike and will give up her final year of collegiate eligibility at the University of Texas. Adeleke had lowered her Irish record to 49.20 in the women’s 400 meters when she won the event in the NCAA Championships on June 10.
Amusan provisionally suspended: The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has provisionally suspended Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, the world-record-holder in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, for allegedly missing three performance enhancing drug tests during a 12-month span.
The AIU made its announcement via Twitter last Wednesday after defending World champion Amusan had taken to social media to assert that she is “a clean athlete” and one who will contest the allegations prior to the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from Aug. 19-27.
Her statement added that she was tested within days of her third missed test and had “faith that this will be resolved in my favor, and I will be competing at the World Championships in August.”
Amusan, 26, crushed the previous world record of 12.20 seconds when she ran 12.12 in a semifinal of the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July. She then won the final in a wind-aided 12.06 roughly an hour and 50 minutes later on the final day of the meet.
Although she had been beaten in five of her first six races this season, she had won her last four competitions. Her last two victories had come in the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Diamond League meet in Chorzow, Poland on July 16, when she ran a season best of 12.34, and in the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Szekesfehervar, Hungary on July 18, when she clocked 12.35.
In memory: John Uelses, the first man in history to clear 16 feet in the pole vault, passed away on December 15 of last year in San Diego, it was revealed last week. He was 85 and died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Uelses set his first world indoor record of 4.83 (15-10) in a meet in Washington, D.C., on January 27, 1962, and six days later he raised that mark to 4.88 (16-0) at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
He then cleared 4.89 (16-0½) at the Boston Games a month later before equaling that mark 29 days later when he became the first man in history to clear 16 feet outdoors in the Santa Barbara Relays in California.
That would be the final world record of Uelses’ relatively short career at the elite level, although he did set a U.S. indoor record of 16-4½ (4.99) in 1964 while competing for La Salle University in Philadelphia.
He was ranked third in the world by Track & Field News in 1961, followed by No. 4 rankings in ’62 and ’63.
Born Hans Joachim Feigenbaum in Berlin in 1937, Uelses came to the U.S. when he was 12 to live with a great aunt and uncle in Miami, Florida. They later adopted him under the name of John Hans Uelses.
He attended Miami Senior High School and played football and competed in the 440 yards, hurdles, and high jump at the start of his prep track career. But after sustaining an ankle injury running the hurdles, someone suggested he give the pole vault a try and he soon became obsessed with the event, and worked with his adoptive father to build a vaulting pit in the backyard at home.
He was awarded a scholarship to pole vault for the University of Alabama, but he eventually ended up competing for the U.S. Marines track and field team — for which he set his world records — and then LaSalle.
A word to readers: I will be on vacation next week and do not expect to post anything during that time.
Upon my return, I will be working on preview capsules for all 49 events that will be contested at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from Aug.19-27.
I plan to post those capsules, as well as a feature or two, in the run-up to the World Championships that start 24 days from now. It has all the makings of a terrific meet, and I’ll be your guide through all the excitement!