London Olympic runner-up Nijel Amos of Botswana won the 800m on Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic in the year’s world-best time, while long-injured reigning Olympic champion David Rudisha finished seventh.
The Diamond League showdown at the University of Oregon produced a number of the year’s best performances, but Amos had the finest, rallying from third around the last turn to pass Rudisha, who faded at the finish, and Ethiopia’s Mohammed Aman and win in 1 minute, 43.63 seconds, 0.36 ahead of second-place Aman in a meet record.
“I was well back, but I wanted to run my race,” Amos said. “I was able to run at my pace. I was going to run my way the whole time.”
Photo: AFP
Rudisha led down the final backstretch in his first race in more than a year after a quad injury similar to one that nagged Amos most of last season as well.
Rudisha fought off a challenge from Aman and led entering the final turn, but Amos charged from the outside and Rudisha’s poor form cost him down the stretch, the 2011 world champion and world record-holder finishing in 1:44.87.
“I’m happy to be back,” Rudisha said. “I had to push hard and the last 100, they passed me. I know in a couple of races I will be ready.”
Photo: EPA
Amos was eager for the challenge, saying: “We can both run better times.”
Rudisha plans to run at the Diamond League event in New York in two weeks.
“This was to sharpen up, to get back into competition,” Rudisha said. “I know now what I need to do. I’m happy now that I know how I run. In a few weeks I’ll improve that last 100.”
American Justin Gatlin won the 100m in a wind-aided 9.76 seconds with a helping breeze of 2.7m per second, edging countryman Michael Rodgers by 0.04 of a second.
France’s Pascal Martinot-Lagarde won the 110m hurdles in 13.13 seconds, with Jamaican Hansle Parchment second in 13.20. The Frenchman’s time edged Parchment by 0.01 for this year’s world best.
Another Frenchman, Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie, won the pole vault by clearing 5.80m.
Grenada’s Kirani James edged American LaShawn Merritt at the line to win the 400m, each finishing in a world-best time for this year of 43.97, while Kenya’s Caleb Ndiku won the 5,000m in this year’s world-best time of 13:01.71.
On the women’s side, reigning Olympic champion Anna Chicherova of Russia cleared 2.01m to win the high jump with the best height of the year worldwide. American Tori Bowie won the 200m in the year’s fastest time, 22.18, with Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare second in a personal-best 22.23 and US star Allyson Felix third in 22.44.
Jamaica’s Novlene Williams-Mills won the 400m in 50.40, edging American Francena McCrory by .13 of a second, and Jamaica’s Kaliese Spencer won the 400m hurdles in 54.29, .93 ahead of American runner-up Kori Carter.
Kenyan Hellen Obiri won the 1,500m in 3:57.05, lowering her own meet record by 1.53 seconds in this year’s world best.
Ethiopian Sofia Assefa turned in this year’s world best in the 3,000m Steeplechase to win in 9:11.39.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS