Two-time Olympic gold medallist Faith Kipyegon of Kenya ran a world-lead time as she won the 1500m race in Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon in USA.
Kipyegon timed 3:52.59 on a night where Trayvon Bromell and Elaine Thompson-Herah grabbed 100m victories as eight world-leading performances highlighted the action at Hayward Field.
Kipyegon’s time was the ninth fastest in the 1500m history. She beat Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay who finished second in 3mins and 54.29secs.
Kipyegon, who trains in Kaptagat, Elgeyo Marakwet County, finished second in the 3000m in the season-opening Doha leg behind Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba.
America’s Bromell, the fastest man in the world last year, bounced back from a false start disqualification in Birmingham last weekend to win a star-studded men’s 100m in 9.93sec.
Jamaica’s Thompson-Herah, who won back-to-back Olympic 100m-200m doubles in 2016 and last year, captured the women’s 100m in 10.79.
Neither was a world best for 2022, but Thompson-Herah said she was just pleased to hit the line first and healthy on a rainy day in Eugene at the same venue that will host the World Championships on July 15-24.
“I’m excited I crossed the line healthy,” Thompson-Herah said. “I don’t care about the time. The rain was falling. It was a little cold.
“It shows I’m on a great path,” added the Jamaican star, who pulled out of the Birmingham Diamond League meeting with a shoulder injury, testing herself in a lower-level meeting in Kingston last Saturday instead.
“I’m getting into shape,” added the Jamaican, who said on Friday that her training had also been disrupted by a nagging Achilles injury. “I’m getting where I need to be.”
Thompson-Herah made a smooth start on the damp track and took control at the 50m mark. Rising US star Sha’Carri Richardson won a close battle for second place ahead of Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, both credited with a time of 10.92.
Richardson, 22, shot to prominence last season at the US Olympic trials with a wind-aided 10.64 in the final. But she missed the Tokyo Games after a positive test for marijuana.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce made it a women’s sprint double for Jamaica with a victory in the 200m in 22.41.
Bromell, who clocked a wind-aided 9.75 in Florida earlier this month, said his race left plenty of room for improvement as he looks toward the US World Championship trials in Eugene next month and the Worlds themselves.
“I was happy to come out with a win, but I felt like there was a lot of technical stuff I messed up on,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I’m already getting messages from my coach.”
Compatriot Fred Kerley, silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics last year, was second in 9.98 and reigning world champion Christian Coleman, still working his way back after an 18-month suspension for violating doping whereabouts rules, completed a US podium sweep in 10.04.
“It went pretty well, just considering the elements and where I’m at in the season,” Coleman said.
Norman impresses in 400
Despite intermittent rain, the day included a host of world-leading performances, starting with Brazilan Alison dos Santos’s 400m hurdles victory in 47.23, which shaved one-hundredth of a second off the world leading mark he posted in winning at the Doha Diamond League meet.
The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist said it was “amazing” to get a chance to test the World Championships venue.
“It’s so nice, because you can feel the energy, you can feel the track, you can feel everything before the championships.”
American Michael Norman shattered a 22-year-old meet record set by Michael Johnson with his 400m triumph in 43.60.
Norman’s fastest performance in more than a year was the best in the world in 2022 and carried him to victory over Grenada’s 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James (44.02) and Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith (44.35).
Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson backed up her victory in Birmingham with a gritty win in the women’s 800m in a world-leading 1:57.72.
Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto won the women’s 3,000m steeplechase in a world-leading 8:57.97. Winfred Mutile Yavi of Bahrain became just the seventh woman to break nine minutes in the event with her second-place finish in 8:58.71.
World record-holder Ryan Crouser won the shot put with a season’s best 23.02 ahead of compatriot Joe Kovacs (22.49) and New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh (21.96).
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the men’s mile in 3:49.76 and Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi won the men’s 5,000m in 12:50.05.
Aregawi’s victory improved on the world leading time of 12:57.99 set by Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Joshua Cheptegei on Friday night in a separate 5,000m race billed as a world record attempt by the Ugandan. BY DAILY NATION