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Kenya’s 1500m queen Faith Kipyegon secured victory in the Diamond League final in Brussels on Saturday, but Botswana sprinter Letsile Tebogo and American shot putter Ryan Crouser both suffered rare defeats.
Kipyegon, the three-time Olympic and world champion, had another sensational year in the 1500m, even setting a new world record at the Paris leg of the elite athletics tour.
And she made no mistakes in the King Baudouin Stadium, sprinting away to win with a competition record of 3 minutes and 54.76 seconds.
“The world record was not my goal today, my goal was to finish my Diamond League season well and I did that,” said Kipyegon.
“It was a good race, but definitely not an easy one. It was a bit cold to run 61 seconds on the first lap and 62 seconds on the next.”
“I tried to be myself and focus on the finish line.”
Kenyan athletes were strongly represented in the 16 finals on Saturday (the first 16 took place on Friday).
Two-time Olympic 5,000/10,000 m champion Beatrice Chebet also set a competition record of 14:09.82, winning the 5,000 m in a powerful solo run.
Faith Cherotich outpaced Bahraini Olympic champion Winfred Yavi to win the 3000m steeplechase in 9:02.36 minutes, and Emmanuel Wanyonyi produced a stunning final sprint to win a high-class men’s 800m race in 1:42.70 minutes.
There was a surprise in the men’s shot put: Italian European champion Leonardo Fabbri took the win with a competition and national record of 22.98 m and improved his personal best by 3 cm.
– The best of my life –
American Ryan Crouser, a three-time Olympic champion and two-time gold medalist at the World Championships, finished second with his personal best of 22.79 m, but despite missing out on the winner’s check of $30,000, there was no jealousy.
“I threw pretty well. It was a very solid performance, five times over 22 meters,” Crouser said.
“I just didn’t have as much strength in me as Leonardo Fabbri. He had a personal best in the shot put, so that was a big hit from him. The level in the shot put has never been that high.”
And Olympic champion Tebogo was overtaken in the 200-meter race by American Kenny Bednarek, who won in 19.67 seconds.
“I wanted to win the diamond, but after the Olympics it was a rollercoaster ride,” complained Tebogo.
Fabbri’s victory in the shot put was one of three victories that evening for Team Italia. High jumper Gianmarco Tamberi (2.34 m) and long jumper Larissa Iapichino (6.80 m) also won.
Two other Olympic champions won in the field competitions: Japanese Haruka Kitaguchi won the women’s javelin throw with a season’s best of 66.13 m and Australian Nina Kennedy won the pole vault with 4.88 m.
Anderson Peters from Grenada beat India’s Neeraj Chopra by just 1 cm and won the men’s javelin throw with 87.87 m.
In the absence of Olympic gold and silver medalists Rai Benjamin and Karsten Warholm, it was Paris bronze medalist Alison Dos Santos who took victory in the 400-meter hurdles.
The Brazilian achieved a time of 47.93 seconds, while Jamine Camacho-Quinn from Puerto Rico confirmed her seasonal form and won the 100 m hurdles in 12.38 seconds.
Olympic 400m hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won her second invitational race in two days, taking victory in the 200m with a time of 22.40 seconds.
“Vacation and waffles!” said the American, who won a 400-meter race on Friday, after the race.
“It was great to race here, but honestly I’m just happy with my successful season and how everything went.
“I am happy that I can go home healthy and look back on a great season.”
Since McLaughlin-Levrone was unable to compete in the 400-meter hurdles because she had not participated in the Diamond League Tour and was therefore ineligible to take part, it was left to the bronze medalist from Paris, Femke Bol, who took the win in 52.45 seconds.
In the actual 200m final, American Brittany Brown topped the podium with a time of 22.20 seconds. Her teammate Sha’Carri Richardson did not show up after finishing eighth in the 100m race on Friday.
lp/dmc
