Herculis, Monaco’s one-day Diamond League event, saw two new world records as the best track and field athletes competed in fifteen competitions on 21 July. Fierce rivalries, personal bests and exhilarating feats of sport amazed fans across the world from the Stade Louis II.
Faith Kipyegon shatters the World record in Monaco!
Faith Kipyegon shocked audiences when she broke two world records at two successive Diamond League meetings. First, the 29 year-old Kenyan clocked in at 3:49.11 in the 1500 metre in Florence. One week later, she broke another world record with 14:05.20 in the 5000 metre in Paris. It seemed almost impossible, but when Faith Kipyegon took on the mile in Monaco, she claimed her third world record of the season! The previous record was held Sifan Hassan, from the Netherlands, at 4:12.33. Faith Kipyegon broke the women’s mile record by nearly five seconds, clocking in at an astounding 4:07.64.
Karsten Warholm beats his own world record in the Hurdles!
Olympic champion, world champion and world record-holder, Karsten Warholm found his third win in Monaco in the 400 metre hurdles. Plagued by injuries last year, he wowed the public in March at the Istanbul European Championships with a gold-medal time of 46.52. In Monaco, the Norwegian clocked in at 46.51, beating his own world record by 0.1 seconds!
Third fastest 100 metre hurdles ever!
The women’s 100 metre hurdles was won by Nia Ali from the USA with a time of 12.30, making her the third-fastest of all time. She beat Jasmine Camacho-Quinn’s world lead of 12.31.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone withdraws from the 400m
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the world record holder in the 400 metre hurdles and the 400 metres, was the favourite in Monaco. But she withdrew from the race due to a pain in her knee. On 21 July, the winner of the women’s 400 metre was Natalia Kaczmaek from Poland with a time of 49.63. In second-place, Shamier Little from the USA with 49.68 and in third was Lieke Klaver with 49.99.
Congratulations to all the winners…
The women’s long jump saw Malaika Mihambo (World and Olympic champion) compete against Ivana Vuleta (World indoor champion) and Jazmin Sawyers (European Indoor champion). But the winner surprised everyone: Italy’s Larissa Iapichino was victorious with 6.95.
All eyes were on world record-holder Armand Duplantis during the men’s pole-vault, but the Swedish athlete came in fourth, losing out to Christopher Nilsen from the USA.
Jakub Vadlejch was the favourite for the men’s javelin. The Czech managed to throw a distance of 85m95 at the Herculis, not quite as far as his world record, but far enough to claim gold.
The women’s high jump was a tight competition! It was claimed by world record holder Nicola Olyslagers from Australia, who jumped 1.99 metres. Iryna Gerashchenko, Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Eleanor Patterson and Angelina Topic all jumped 1.96 metres!
Everyone was shocked when Wyclife Kinyamal won the 800 metre. The Kenyan clocked in at 1:43.22, beating Emmanuel Wanyonyi’s best this year. Wanyonyi, who is also from Kenya, ran 1:43.27 in Paris last month.
The Herculis men’s triple jump was outstanding when Hugues Fabrice Zango from Burkina Faso won with 17.70. France’s star, Jean-Marc Pontvianne, came in 5th with 16.71.
Ethiopia claimed the top three spots in the men’s 5,000 metre. Hagos Gebrhiwet surprised everyone when he came in first with a time of 12:42.18, beating out world record holder Berihu Aregawi (12:42.58). Telahun Haile Bekele came in third with a time of 12:42.70.
The women’s 200 metre was explosive with reigning world champion Shericka Jackson winning with a time of 21.86.
The men’s 100 metre was claimed by the favourite, Ferdinand Omanyala from Kenya, with a time of 9.92.
Simon Kiprop Koech from Kenya won the 3000 metre steeplechase with a time of 8:04.19. Abraham Kibiwot came in second with 8:09.19 and Abrham Sime came in third with 8:10.56.
