Week in Review: Weber joins select club in victory
German and Chopra each top 90 meters in javelin in Diamond League meet in Doha
Javelin thrower Julian Weber of Germany, who finished fourth or sixth in the past five global championships, had the competition of his life last Friday when he raised his personal best to 91.06 meters (298 feet 9 inches) in winning the event in a Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar.
The 30-year-old Weber unleashed the first 90-meter throw of his career on his sixth — and final — attempt to overtake 2021 Olympic and 2023 World champion Neeraj Chopra of India, who had improved his national record to 90.23 (296-0) in the third round.
Anderson Peters of Grenada, the 2019 and 2022 World champion, finished third at 85.64 (281-0) and he was followed by 2012 Olympic champion Kershon Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, who placed fourth at 84.65 (277-6).
Chopra, and then Weber, became the 25th and 26th men to have thrown 90 meters (295-3) or farther with the javelin implement that has been in use since 1986.
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“I don’t know what happened tonight, I think I’ll have to watch it!,” Weber said in quotes on the meet website. “I just felt amazing today, I didn’t know how that happened because the previous weeks weren’t that good for me, but I was just feeling great, my physio gave me a really good massage. The crowd was amazing, there was a great background and also helped me throw beyond 90 metres for the first time.”
He then added that his winning throw came “in the last round, so it came out really perfect. Neeraj Chopra had done his 90m some time before, I was really happy for him because he was fighting for that throw over 90m for some time and it was really special to achieve it tonight.”
Competing in warm conditions with a tailwind that can be advantageous for javelin competitors, Chopra hit 88.44 (290-2) on his first attempt before fouling on his second. He then registered his 90.23 (296-0) effort in the third round before hitting 80.56 (264-4) in the fourth, fouling on his fifth attempt, and closing with an 88.20 (289-4) mark in the sixth.
Webber, who entered the meet with a personal best of 89.54 (293-9) from 2022, threw 83.82 (275-0), 85.57 (280-9), and 89.06 (292-2) on this first three throws. He then hit 88.05 (288-10) in the fourth round before throwing a personal best of 89.84 (294-9) in the fifth and topping that with his 91.06 (298-9) explosion in the sixth.
That winning effort, which came in Weber’s season-opening competition, was the farthest in the world this year, moved him to 17th on the all-time world performer list, and made him the fifth-longest German thrower in history.
Weber was aware that he had gotten off a big throw as he let out a big “Yeaaaaaaah!” when the javelin was still in the air and he followed that by spreading both of his arms wide in celebration.
Shortly after the competition concluded, he held up a World Leader placard for the assembled photographers and then ran over to a group of young fans in the stands and proceeded to slap hands with many of them.
“The backwind here in Doha is great for us javelin throwers, if you make the traveling right and throw a little higher, it just flies great,” said Weber, who finished sixth in an historically deep Olympic final in Paris last summer. “It’s also warm, make you feel relaxed and easy. It all comes into place. I know I have so much potential and when I train well I am confident that good things can happen.”
Chopra, the silver medalist in Paris and in the 2022 World championships in Eugene, Oregon, was glad to have topped his previous national record of 89.94 (295-1) that he set in 2022 while finishing second in the BAUHAUS-Galan meet in Stockholm. But he was disappointed to have been beaten by Weber.
“It is a little bit bittersweet result,” he said. “I am very happy for the 90m, but this second place - it actually happened to me also when I competed in… Stockholm. I threw 89.94 and I was always second. And also here. I broke the national record and got second today. But I am very happy also for Julian Weber. He threw 91 so we both broke 90m for the first time today. We have been trying this for so many years, so finally, we managed to get it.
Chopra now stands 24th on the all-time performer list and third on the all-time Asian list.
Roll continues: Tshepiso Masalela of Botswana had a big win against a high-quality field in the men’s 800 meters in Doha when he ran a yearly world-leading time of 1:43.11.
The time was the second fastest of the 25-year-old Masalela’s career and came in a race in which he outkicked Wyclife Kinyamal of Kenya in the home straightaway and held off a late charge from Bryce Hoppel of the U.S.
It also occurred six weeks after he had run a national record of 3:30.71 in winning a 1,500 in a meet in Cape Town, South Africa.
Pacesetter Patryk Sieradzki of Poland had led the field through the first 400 in 49.51 before Kenyan Laban Chepkwony moved to the front heading down the backstretch.
He was still in the lead when he came through 600 meters, but Kinyamal, Masalela, and Hoppel were close behind and all three of them had overtaken Chepkwony when they came out of the final curve.
Kinyamal was driving hard with his arms at that point, but the smooth-striding Masalela went past him with about 50 meters left and then finished comfortably ahead of Hoppel, who placed second in 1:43.26.
Kinyamal finished third in 1:43.47, followed by Slimane Moula of Algeria in 1:43.55. Chepkwony placed 10th in 1:47.00.
“This is the moment I have been working hard for,” said Masalela, who finished seventh in the 800 in the Olympic Games. “ So I am not surprised that I managed to gain this victory. I want to be the world champion. That is all I want now. That is the goal. I have been dreaming about qualifying to the world championships and now, it is an easy test for me. So I am looking forward to it. We are going to celebrate with the teammates from Botswana tonight.”
Showdown winner: Faith Cherotich of Kenya outkicked Olympic champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain for the second race in a row in winning the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in Doha.
The 20-year-old Cherotich ran a yearly world-leading time of 9:05.08, with Yavi second in 9:05.26, and Sembo Almayew of Ethiopia third in 9:09.27.
Noah Jeruto of Kazakhstan, the 2022 World champion, placed fourth in 9:11.78, while Olympic silver medalist Peruth Chemutai of Uganda was seventh in 9:15.55.
Cherotich had finished third in the Olympic Games behind Yavi and Chemutai, but she had capped her season by outkicking Yavi in the Diamond League Final in Brussels last September.
Pacesetter Ikram Quaaziz of Morocco led the field through the first kilometer in 3:01.45 on Friday, but the tempo had slowed when Cherotich was in first place passed two kilometers in 6:08.94.
Yavi was in front with two laps to go and she was just ahead of Cherotich when she began the bell lap. Almayew was in third place at that point, but she was five meters back of Cherotich and losing ground.
Yavi still had the lead when she cleared the final water jump and the last barrier early in the home straightway, but Cherotich began to challenge her with 50 meters to go and the smooth-running Kenyan moved into the lead with 10 meters left in the race as Yavi was visibly straining.
“First of all, I am very surprised by this result and I did not expect to win today,” Cherotich said. “I wanted to make sure that I secure this place and it worked well in the finish line. It was not an easy run because all of us were here to win. It felt almost like Olympic final. When I won my medal in Paris, it helped me a lot in my life and helped me to focus on training and competing even more. I think I can build on this momentum and continue with good results this season.”
New face continues to shine: Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce garnered most of the pre-meet publicity when it came to the women’s 100 meters in Doha, but the five-time World and two-time Olympic champion had to take a back seat to 20-year-old compatriot Tia Clayton when the race was run.
Clayton, who finished seventh in the Olympic final in Paris last summer, beat Fraser-Pryce and everyone else in the field out of the blocks and never lost her lead before crossing the finish line in a yearly world-leading time of 10.92 seconds while being aided by a breeze of 2.0 meters per second.
Tina Clayton, Tia’s twin, finished second in 11.02, followed by Amy Hunt of Great Britain in 11.03. Fraser-Pryce and Patrizia Van der Weken of Luxembourg placed fourth and fifth, respectively, with identical times of 11.05.
“I made the world leading mark, but honestly I didn't do the best possible,” said Tia Clayton, who cut her personal best from 11.23 to 10.86 last year. “I didn't do it because I couldn't do the start I always get, but other than that it was a great race for me. It is very special for me and my twin sister to finish first and second in this event tonight. I wouldn't say that I was nervous, but I just needed to get it together.”
Slow out of the gate: Sha’Carri Richardson’s season got off to sluggish start in the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo on Sunday as the 2023 World champion finished fourth in the women’s 100 meters in a time of 11.47 seconds.
The Olympic silver medalist had one of her typically-mediocre starts and her top-end speed never kicked into overdrive as unheralded Bree Rizzo of Australia won the race in 11.38 while running into a wind of 0.9 meters per second.
TeeTee Terry of the U.S., who trains with Richardson, placed second in 11.42, followed by Sade McCreath of Canada in 11.46.
That’s more like it: Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan, the defending World and Olympic champion in the women’s javelin, posted a season best of 64.16 (210-6) in winning the event in Tokyo.
The 27-year-old Hitaguchi had thrown 60.88 (199-9 ) while finishing fourth in a Diamond League meet in Shaoxing/Keqiao, China, on May 3. But she exceeded that mark three times in Tokyo as she had a throw of 61.41 (201-5) in the first round, 64.16 (210-6) in the fifth, and 61.37 (201-4) in the sixth.
Compatriot Momone Ueda finished second at 60.66 (199-0), followed by Olympic silver medalist Jo-Ane Van Dyk of South Africa at 59.51 (195-3).
A world best in an off-distance event: Favour Ofili of Nigeria set a world best of 15.85 seconds in winning the infrequently-run women’s 150 meters in the Atlanta City Games last Saturday.
The time by the 22-year-old Ofili bettered the previous world best of 16.23 set by Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas in 2018.
Tamari Davis of the U.S. also broke the previous world best when she crossed the finish line in 16.14. Ashanti Moore of Jamaica finished third in 16.50, followed by Kennedy Blackmon of the U.S. in 16.68.
With the race being contested on a five-lane, elevated, straightway in Piedmont Park, Davis came out of the blocks ahead of Ofili, but the Nigerian eventually caught and passed her while winning the race by nearly three tenths of a second.
A beaming Ofili, who had turned pro after her sophomore season at LSU, told Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports that she was “surprised with the time.”
When Johnson asked her how she had approached contesting the unusual 150-meter distance, she said she had been told to “treat it like it’s a long 100.”
For those looking to put Ofili’s performance in perspective, a Track & Field News post stated that Florence Griffith-Joyner had clocked 16.10 — while running the first 100 meters of the race around a turn — for the first 150 when she set the world record of 21.34 in the 200 in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.
In addition, Elaine-Thompson Herah of Jamaica had run 16.06 while on her way to a winning time of 21.53 in the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
In her previous meet prior to the Atlanta City Games, Ofili had run a wind-aided 10.94 in the 100 to finish third in the Grand Slam Track meet in Miramar, Florida, on May 2 before finishing fourth in the 200 in 22.27 on the following day.
Another world best in an off-distance event: Alison dos Santos of Brazil had preceded Favour Ofili’s world best in the women’s 150 meters in the Atlanta City Games with a world best of 21.85 seconds in the men’s 200-meter low hurdles.
The bronze medalist in the 400 intermediate hurdles in the previous two Olympic Games, the 24-year-old dos Santos finished well clear of runner-up Caleb Dean of the U.S., who ran 22.30. Compatriot Sean Burrell finished third in 23.00.
Dean, who capped his senior season at Texas Tech University by winning the intermediate hurdles in 47.23 in last year’s NCAA championships, got off to a good start and was well ahead of dos Santos after the first three flights of the 10 hurdles that measured 30 inches (76 centimeters) in height.
However, dos Santos had reduced his deficit by the fourth hurdle and he had taken the lead by the fifth.
Nice opener: Carey McLeod of Jamaica was victorious in his first long jump competition of the year in the Atlanta City Games as he came from behind to defeat World indoor champion Mattia Furlani of Italy.
The 27-year-old McLeod did not produce a notable series of marks, but his fourth-round effort of 8.33 (27-4) topped the 8.28 (27-2) best that Furlani had leaped in the first round. Emanuel Archibald of Jamaica placed third at 8.22 (26-11¾).
McLeod, who had finished fourth in the World outdoor championships in 2023, leaped 7.98 (26-2¼) on his first attempt and 7.85 (25-9¼) on his second before fouling in the third round. He got off his winning leap in the fourth round before registering fouls on his fifth and sixth attempts.
Adding to her laurels: Amanda Moll of the University of Washington added two centimeters to her collegiate outdoor record in the women’s pole vault when she cleared 4.78 (15-8 ¼) in the Big Ten Conference championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Sunday.
Moll, a sophomore who had raised the collegiate indoor record to a yearly world-leading height of 4.91 (16-1¼) on March 1, finished well ahead of her twin, Hana, who placed second at 4.58 (15-¼), and defending NCAA outdoor champion Chloe Timberg of Rutgers, who was third at 4.38 (14-4½).
Amanda Moll was not particularly sharp during the competition as she needed three attempts to clear her opening height of 4.28 (14-½), two to make 4.38 (14-4½), and three again to get over 4.48 (14-8 ¼).
She cleared 4.58 (15-¼) on her second attempt before she and Hana passed at 4.63 (15-2¼) and 4.68 (15-4¼).
While Hana missed all three of her tries at the following height of 4.78 (15-8¼), Amanda cleared the bar on her third attempt before missing three times at 4.92 (16-1¾).
Four for four: Sophomore JaMeesia Ford of the University of South Carolina had a hand in four victories in the Southeastern Conference championships in Lexington, Kentucky, last Saturday.
Ford began her day by anchoring the Gamecocks to a win in the women’s 4 x 100-meter relay in 42.75 seconds and she then ran 11.06 in the 100 and 22.01 in the 200 before running the third leg on a 4 x 400 relay team that clocked 3:24.36.
South Carolina’s 400 relay team of senior Jayla Jamison, and sophomores Cynteria James, Zaya Akins, and Ford finished nearly three tenths of a second in front of LSU, which placed second in 43.02. And the 4 x 400 team of Akins, James, Ford, and Jamison finished nearly sixth tenths of a second in front of runner-up Georgia, which timed 3:24.85.
Ford was credited with a split of 49.56 on her carry and 400 winner Aaliyah Butler of Georgia ran 48.96 on her anchor leg for the Bulldogs.
Ford had tied her personal best in the 100 when she had edged fellow sophomore Tima Godbless of LSU in a race in which they were both credited with times of 11.06 after each of them were clocked in 11.055.
Ford’s 22.01 clocking in the 200 was a personal best and gave her a large margin of victory over junior Jasmine Montgomery of Texas A&M, who ran 22.39. It also moved her to fifth on the all-time collegiate performer list and puts her third on the yearly world list in the event.
Ford is the first athlete in the history of the SEC championships to have won two individual titles and run on two victorious relay teams in the same meet.
Two for two: Jordan Anthony of the University of Arkansas continued his superb sophomore season by winning the men’s 100 and 200 meters for the team champion Razorbacks in the SEC championships last Saturday.
Anthony, who had won the 60 in the NCAA indoor championships in March, won the 100 in 9.95 seconds and the 200 in 19.93 while turning back a pair of highly-touted competitors from Auburn.
Both of Anthony’s times were personal bests.
He finished six hundredths of a second in front of sophomore Kanyinsola Ajayi in the 100, with LSU freshman Jelani Walker another hundredth of a second behind in 10.02.
Anthony broke 20 seconds for the first time in the 200 when he won the final in 19.93 after having run a personal best of 20.10 in a qualifying heat two days earlier.
Senior Makanakaishe Charamba of Auburn had lowered the Zimbabwean record to 19.92 in his qualifying heat, but he finished second in 20.08 in the final, followed by LSU sophomore Jaiden Reid, who ran 20.15.
Another personal best: Junior Kendrick Smallwood of Texas set his fourth career best of the season in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles when he edged sophomore Ja’Kobe Tharp of Auburn for the SEC title last Saturday.
Smallwood clocked 13.13 seconds to finish just ahead of Tharp at 13.15. They were followed by senior Ja’Qualon Scott of Texas A&M, who placed third in 13.18 in the first race in collegiate history in which three men ran under 13.20.
Smallwood moved into a tie for fifth on the all-time collegiate list with his effort, with Tharp moving into a tie for seventh, and Scott now tied for 10th.
An injury-shortened 2024 season had left Smallwood with a personal best of 13.74 to start this year, but he ran 13.35 to win his heat in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in March 28 before running 13.26 in a qualifying heat of the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, on April 19.
He then ran 13.25 to win his qualifying heat in the SEC meet last Friday before slashing two tenths of a second off that mark in the final while turning back Tharp, who had won the 60 high hurdles in the NCAA indoor championships in March.
Another personal best II: Freshman Micahi Danzy of Florida State registered his third personal best of the season when he won the men’s 400 meters in 44.38 seconds in the Atlantic Coast Conference championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, last Saturday.
Danzy, who had run 45.88 as a senior at Florida State University High School in Tallahassee last year, crushed his previous best of 45.00 while finishing well in front of Duke freshman Joseph Taylor, who placed second in 44.98, and Cal senior Johnny Goode, who was third in 45.02.
The top six finishers set personal bests in the meet at Wake Forest University’s Kentner Stadium and Danzy’s time was the fastest collegiate clocking of the year. It also moved him to seventh on the world all-time U20 performer list.
After lowering his indoor personal best to 46.06 while finishing third in the ACC championships in March, Danzy dropped his outdoor best to 45.41 when he finished second in the LSU Alumni Gold meet on April 26.
Then came a winning time of 45.00 in the East Coast Relays at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville on May 3.
He ran 46.13 in his qualifying heat of the ACC championships last Friday before his breakthrough performance in the final on Saturday.
Another personal best III: Like Micahi Danzy of Florida State in the men’s 400 meters, junior Christian Jackson of Virgina Tech posted his third personal best of the year when he won the men’s 800 in 1:44.83 in the ACC championships last Saturday.
Jackson, who was in first place when he came through the first lap in 51.00, was followed across the finish line by sophomore Brian Kweyei of Clemson in 1:45.09 and fellow junior and Virginia Tech teammate Nicholas Plant in 1:45.99. Like Jackson, Kweyei and Plant also ran personal bests.
Jackson began the year with a personal best of 1:47.43 before running 1:47.18 to place third in the ACC indoor championships. He then clocked 1:46.36 to win the Wake Forest Invitational on April 18.
Like Danzy, his winning time on Saturday was the fastest collegiate time of the year.
Four for four: Junior Mykolas Alekna of Cal won his fourth discus competition of the season without a loss when his top mark of 69.86 (229-2) in the ACC championships gave him a 30-foot margin of victory over second-place Uladzislau Puchko of Virginia Tech, who had a best of 60.68 (199-1).
The silver medalist in the Olympic Games last year, Alekna registered his best throw in the second round, but he also had efforts of 69.72 (228-9) in the sixth round, 66.12 (216-11) in the first, and 66.00 (216-6) in the fourth.
Alekna had topped 70 meters (229-8) in each of his first three meets of the season and he set world records of 74.89 (245-8) and 75.56 (247-11), respectively, on his first and fourth throws of a meet in Ramona, Oklahoma, on April 13.
That performance made Alekna the first man to have set multiple world records in the discus in the same meet since Mac Wilkins of the U.S. set a trio of global bests in a meet in San Jose, California, in 1976.
Hurdlers shine: Seniors Nathaniel Ezekiel of Baylor University and Jamar Marshall Jr. of Houston produced the top two men’s performances of the Big 12 Conference championships in Lawrence, Kansas, last Saturday when they won the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles and 110 high hurdles, respectively.
Ezekiel cut a tenth of a second off his Nigerian record when he won his qualifying heat in 47.90 last Thursday and he lowered it by another hundredth of a second when he won the final in 47.89 while finishing well ahead of second-place Oskar Edlund of Texas Tech, who ran 49.00.
Ezekiel’s times were the seventh and eight fastest in collegiate history and he is the only collegian to have run 48.00 or faster three times during his career.
Marshall won the high hurdles in 13.13 while crushing his personal best of 13.37 and finishing five hundredths of a second in front of sophomore Demario Prince of Baylor, who placed second in a personal best of 13.18.
Those times tie them for fifth and 10th, respectively, on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Marshall had tied his personal best from 2023 when he ran 13.39 to finish second in the Texas Invitational on April 25 and he had run 13.37 while running into a breeze of 2.0 meters per second in his qualifying heat of the Big 12 meet last Friday.
Prince had entered the meet with a best of 13.44 before running 13.52 into a 2.6 meter-per-second breeze in his heat, and then clocking 13.18 in the final to move to 11th on the all-time Jamaican performer list.
Welcome to the club: Senior Alexis Brown of Baylor became the third collegiate woman and the 14th American to have leaped seven meters (22-11¾) or more in the women’s long jump when she spanned a distance of 7.03 (23-¾) to win the event in the Big 12 Conference championships last Friday.
NCAA indoor champion Brown hit her big mark in the first round before leaping 6.96 (22-10) in the second, and fouling in the third. She then passed her final three jumps.
Janae De Gannes, Brown’s freshman teammate, finished second at 6.49 (21-3½).
Brown, who entered the meet with an outdoor personal best of 6.89 (22-7¼), now ranks third on the all-time collegiate performer list behind Tara Davis, who leaped 7.14 (23-5¼) for Texas in 2021, and Ackelia Smith, who jumped 7.08 (23-2¾) also for Texas, in 2023.
Brown’s mark is the longest outdoor mark in the world this year puts her in a four-way tie for eighth on the all-time U.S. list.
Big breakthrough: BYU senior Meghan Hunter’s first sub-2:00 clocking of her career in the 800 meters came in the final of the Big 12 Conference championships last Saturday when she ran 1:58.99.
Hunter’s time left her well ahead of Texas Tech junior Fanny Arendt, who finished second in 2:00.91, and moved her to third on the all-time collegiate performer list behind Athing Mu, who ran 1:57.73 during her freshman — and only — season at Texas A&M, and Michaela Rose of LSU, who lowered her best to 1:58.12 earlier this month.
Hunter had run a personal best of 2:00.21 in a meet at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center in January, but she had been eliminated in her qualifying heat of the NCAA indoor championships in March.
Two-sentence briefs: Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won hie second 200-meter race of the season without a loss when he ran 20.10 seconds in a Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, last Friday. Tebogo appeared to have the victory well in hand with 15 meters to go, but he eased up while looking over at Courtney Lindsey of the U.S. and finished a scant hundredth of a second in front of the American. . . . . . . Olympic bronze medalist Matt Denny of Australia won a clash of discus heavyweights in Doha when his top mark of 68.97 meters (226 feet 8 inches) left him well ahead of Daniel Stahl of Sweden at 67.06 (220-0) and Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia at 66.92 (219-7). Stahl has won three global titles, including the 2021 Olympic Games, and Ceh was the 2022 World champion. . . . . . . Molly Caudery of Great Britain, the 2024 World indoor champion in the women’s pole vault, won that event at the height of 4.75 (15-7) in Doha. She was followed by Roberta Bruni of Italy and three-time global outdoor champion Katie Moon of the U.S., who each cleared 4.63 (15-2¼). . . . . . . Akani Simbine of South Africa won his fourth 100-meter race of the season without a loss when he ran a wind-aided 9.86 in the Atlanta City Games last Saturday. Simbine, who placed fourth in the Olympic Games in Paris last year, finished well ahead of Nigerian Udodi Onwuzurike, the runner-up in 10.05. . . . . . . Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain ran a wind-aided 19.55 in winning the men’s straightaway 200 in the Atlanta City Games. Hughes, who finished fourth in the 200 in the 2023 World championships, was followed by second-place Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago in 19.63 and third-place Wayde van Niekirk of South Africa in 20.03. . . . . . . Keni Harrison of the U.S. ran a wind-aided 12.30 in winning the women’s 100 hurdles in the Atlanta City Games. Harrison, the fourth-fastest performer in history at 12.20, finished ahead of compatriots Tia Jones and Grace Stark, who placed second and third, respectively, with identical times of 12.36. . . . . . . World indoor champion Claire Bryant of the U.S. won her third long jump competition of the outdoor season without a loss when she leaped a wind-aided 7.03 (23-0¾) on her final effort to defeat Olympic bronze medalist Jasmine Moore by one centimeter. Bryant had tied her outdoor personal best of 6.93 (22-9) in the third round before topping that mark with her wind-aided jump in the sixth. . . . . . . Sophomore Doris Lemngole of the University of Alabama won the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000 in the Southeastern Conference championships in Lexington, Kentucky, last weekend. Lemngole ran 9:20.83 in the steeplechase, the No. 7 clocking in collegiate history, last Friday before timing 15:11.62 in the 5,000 on Saturday. . . . . . . Freshman Saad Hinti of the University of Tennessee lowered his Moroccan record to 48.44 in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles when he won that event in the SEC championships last Saturday. Hinti had set the previous record of 48.82 in winning the African Games last year. . . . . . . Senior Parker Wolfe of the University of North Carolina won the men’s 10,000 and 5,000 meters in the ACC championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina last week. Wolfe clocked 28:51.09 in the 10,000 last Thursday before running 13:13.49 in the 5,000 on Saturday.
Ethiopian double: Selemon Barega and Medina Eisa of Ethiopia won the men’s and women’s titles in the Great Manchester Run in Great Britain on Sunday.
Barega, the 2021 Olympic champion in the 10,000 meters, clocked 27:49 over the 10-kilometer course while turning back second-place Santiago Catrofe of Uruguay in 27:52 and third-place Vincent Ngetich of Kenya in 27:58.
Eisa timed 30:42 while finishing well ahead of Emily Sisson of the U.S., who placed second in 31:03. Gotytom Gebreslase, the 2022 World champion in the marathon, placed third in 31:11, with Olympic marathon bronze medalist Hellen Obiri of Kenya fourth in 31:16.
The 25-year-old Barega, who had made his marathon debut in Seville, Spain, in February when he clocked a winning time of 2:05:15, was in the lead with Catrofe and Ngetich at the midway point of the men’s race before breaking away from his two closest competitors in the final kilometer.
The 20-year-old Eisa, who had lowered her personal best in the 3,000 meters to 8:23.08 while finishing second in the Grand Slam Track meet in Miramar, Florida, on May 4, was part of a nine-woman lead pack that came through five kilometers in 15:36 on Sunday.
However, she broke the race open after running her sixth kilometer in 2:59 and her seventh in 2:58. Her pace slowed after that, but she still ran the second half of the race in 15:06.
Gebreslase and Obiri were battling for second place for much of the second half of the contest, but Sisson, the U.S. record-holder in the marathon at 2:18:29, closed better than either of them.
Walk record falls again: Massimo Stano of Italy lowered the world record in the men’s 35-kilometer walk to 2 hours 20 minutes 43 seconds in the European Race Walking Team Championships in Prodebrady, Czechia, on Sunday.
The time by the 33-year-old Stano bettered the previous world record of 2:21:40 set by Evan Dunfee of Canada on March 22. Dunfee’s time had sliced seven seconds off the world record set by Japan’s Masatora Kawano in October of last year.
Stano’s time also crushed his previous personal best of 2:23:40 that he had set in winning the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Christopher Linke of Germany finished second behind Stano on Sunday in a national record of 2:23:21 and Miguel Angel Lopez of Spain also set a national best of 2:23:48 while placing third.
According to a World Athletics post, 2021 Olympic 20k champion Stano was 34 seconds behind Maher Ben Hilma when the Pole went through 20 kilometers in 1:21:08. But the Italian took the lead at 23 kilometers and was all by himself when he clocked 2:00:57 at 30 kilometers after having covered the previous 10 kilometers in 39:15.
He then walked his final five kilometers in 19:46 in the 35k event that first became part of the men’s and women’s program in the World Athletics Championships schedule in 2022.
Maria Perez of Spain, the double World champion in 2023, won the women’s 35k race in 2:38:59, despite having had to take a bathroom break in the 21st kilometer.
Antonella Palmisano of Italy, the 2021 Olympic champion in the 20-kilometer walk, clocked 2:39:35 in her debut at the 35k distance and compatriot Nicole Colombi finished third in 2:41:47.
Palmisano became the seventh woman to have broken 2:40:00 in the event.
The 29-year-old Perez, who had set a world record of 2:37:15 on the same Prodebrady course in 2023, clocked 1:31:45 for the first 20 kilometers of Sunday’s race before she needed to make a pit stop. Nonetheless, she still had a 32-second lead when she came through the 25-kilometer mark and she ended up finishing 36 seconds ahead of Palmisano.
In the 20k events, Paul McGrath of Spain won the men’s title in 1:18:08 and Lyudmila Olyanovska of Ukraine took the women’s in 1:27:56.
Altered format: Grand Slam Track announced last week that the upcoming meet in Philadelphia will be condensed from three days to two, with the men’s and women’s 5,000 meters not being contested as part of the long distance event category.
With the elimination of those two races, the meet will consist of 11 events on both Saturday, May 31, and Sunday, June 1.
The first two meets of the inaugural Grand Slam Track season, which were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from April 4-6, and in Miramar, Florida, from May 2-4, had consisted of eight events being held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
With the 5,000 meters no longer part of the schedule, the prize money for the long distance event category will be cut in half, with the winners of the men’s and women’s 3,000 meters being awarded $50,000 for first place with the breakdown for second through eighth at $25,000, $15,000, $12,500, $10,000, $7,500, $6,250, and $5,000, respectively.
In a statement from Grand Slam Track, founder and commissioner Michael Johnson said that “We’ve said all along we want to listen to our fans, athletes, and coaches, and having heard feedback from various stakeholders, we’ve made the decision to condense our schedule in Philadelphia into two, high-octane, and intense days of combat racing.
“We want to be the most flexible, adaptive, and fan-first league in sports, and we believe making these changes will improve the Grand Slam Track experience for all.”
The revised format for Philadelphia means that competitors in the long hurdles event category will run the 400 hurdles and 400 on consecutive days, instead of on Friday and Sunday.
Peacock will continue to broadcast and livestream the meet in the U.S., with the first race on May 31, the women’s 400 hurdles, scheduled to start on 4:39 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, and the last, the women’s 100 hurdles, slated to go off at 6:22.
The events will start at 3:41 p.m. on June 1 with the running of the men’s 400 intermediate hurdles and the meet will conclude at 5:22 with the men’s 100.
Add Grand Slam Track: The third Grand Slam Track Meet of season in Philadelphia from May 31-June 1 will see Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. compete in the women’s short hurdles event category.
The short hurdles division consists of the 100 hurdles and the 100, while the long hurdles category, which McLaughlin-Levrone won in the first two meets of the season in Kingston, Jamaica, and Miramar, Florida, is comprised of the 400 hurdles and the 400.
The 25-year-old two-time Olympic champion in the women’s 400 hurdles, McLaughlin-Levrone set her personal best of 12.65 in the 100 hurdles in 2021 and she clocked a wind-aided 11.07 in the 100 during her freshman — and only — season at the University of Kentucky in 2018.
In addition to McLaughlin-Levrone running in the short hurdles category in Philadelphia, Hobbs Kessler and Josh Hoey of the U.S. are scheduled to make their Grand Slam Track debuts in the men’s short distance division that is comprised of the 800 and 1,500.
Kessler placed fifth in the 1,500 in the Olympic Games in Paris and he was also a member of the U.S. team in the 800.
Hoey won the men’s 800 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, in March and he also lowered his personal best to 3:33.66 in the 1,500 in February.
They will be part of a field that is expected to include compatriots Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse, Great Britain’s Josh Kerr,, and Canada’s Marco Arop.
Hocker, Kerr, and Nuguse placed 1-2-3 in the 1,500 in the Olympics and Arop was the silver medalist in the 800.
On the performance enhancing drug front: Maryna Bekh-Romachuk of Ukraine, a silver medalist in the women’s long jump in the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, and in the triple jump in the 2023 global title meet in Budapest, Hungary, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in a doping case involving the possible use of testosterone.
The AIU also said last week that Kenyan distance runner Nehemiah Kipyegon has been banned for three years after he had tested positive for the presence of the prohibited substance trimetazidine.
Kipyegon, 27, is a far-less accomplished athlete than the 29-year-old Bekh-Romachuk, as his World Athletics profile lists his personal bests as 1:00:34 in the half marathon and 28:24 for 10 kilometers on the road.