American 800m runners enjoy another huge performance as Timothy Cheruiot wins the Dream Mile and Megan Keith breaks Yvonne Murray’s Scottish outdoor 3000m record.
Cooper Lutkenhaus scored another big win, this time at the Diamond League in Oslo on Wednesday (June 10th), when he beat Olympic champion Emmanuel Vagnoni by one-hundredth of a second.
Just 17, the American clocked a world-leading 1:42.08 as the Kenyan runner-up suffered yet another defeat from the teenager. Canada’s Marco Arop ran 1:43.33 in third.
Competing in Florence on the 45th anniversary of Seb Coe’s former world record of 1:41.73, Lutkenhaus looked poised as he followed Wanyonyi down the back straight before making an early move with 250m to go.
The 21-year-old Vagnoni fought back but Lutkenhaus narrowly held him off, rolling over the finish line as the world indoor champion followed up his latest victory at the Stockholm Diamond League with another big performance.
“I like it here in Scandinavia,” he said. “Two wins here so far and you can’t get any better than that. I thought he was going to take me to the line, so to come away with the win is very exciting.”
The Dream Mile win at this Bislett went to Timothy Cheruiyot, the 2019 world champion, who has recently rekindled his form at the age of 30.
The Kenyan clocked 3:48.21 to go down with USA’s Jared Nugus, both awarded at the same time as Australia’s Cam Myers was third and Great Britain’s Jake Wightman fifth in 3:49.36.
British athletes were out in force in the women’s 3000m, with Megan Keith leading the way with a Scottish outdoor record of 8:28.35, beating Yvonne Murray’s long-standing mark of 8:29.02 from the 1988 Olympics.
Kate’s period also places her 3rd in the UK all-time outdoor rankings behind Paula Radcliffe and Laura Weightman.
The race was won by Ethiopia’s Freyweini Hailu in a world-leading 8:24.22 as Keith was seventh.
Innes Fitzgerald was just off last year’s 8:32.90 PB in 8:33.37 in ninth, while Hannah Nuttall was 12th in 8:35.20.
Ethiopia’s Adisu Yihune won the long-awaited men’s 5000m in a world leading time of 12:47.62 as he edged out Birhanu Balewi of Bahrain.
Sweden’s Andreas Almgren ran 12:48.61 in third place, not far off his European record of 12:44.27, while Americans Parker Wolff (12:49.45), Grant Fisher (12:49.61) and Graham Blanks (12:49.99) were sixth and fourth.
Kai Robinson, meanwhile, broke Craig Mottram’s Australian record of 12:50.82 to finish 8th.
With a 19.84 (0.2) victory, Letsile Tebogo showed his rivals clear in the men’s 200m and reminded the 18-year-old gout (sixth in 20.60) that he still has some way to go before he can challenge the world’s best older athletes.
In the women’s sprints, St Lucia’s Julien Alfred won the wind-aided 100m in 10.76 (3.2) as Britain’s Amy Hunt continued her good form with another sub-11 second run in 10.99.
Earlier in the meet, Henriette Jagger got the two-hour televised Diamond League section of the program off to a thrilling start as she won convincingly in the women’s 400m in 49.52, with Britain’s Amber Anning fourth in 50.55.
Local hero Karsten Warholm couldn’t give the Norwegian crowd a home win in the final event of the night, however, as he couldn’t live with Alison dos Santos’ home straight power as the Brazilian won in 46.89 and Warholm ran 47.40.
American Chase Jackson won the women’s shot put at 20.74m, defeating Dutchman Jessica Schilder (20.11m).
