MONACO : Olympic 100 metres champion Julien Alfred stormed to a world-leading victory in the women’s 200m at the Monaco Diamond League on Friday, while Jamaica’s Oblique Seville won the men’s 100m in a season-best 9.88 seconds.
Alfred recovered from a slow start to power through the closing stages and clock 21.51 seconds, becoming the third-fastest woman in history over the distance.
The Saint Lucian finished 0.25 seconds ahead of Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands, while American Gabby Thomas, who beat Alfred for Olympic gold in the event in Paris, was third in 21.84.
“It’s not about the reaction time, it’s about how you finish,” Alfred said.
“I didn’t realise how fast it was until I crossed the line.”
Seville, runner-up at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene earlier this month, was never seriously challenged in Monaco, holding off a late charge to finish ahead of American Jordan Anthony (9.92), with Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme third in 10.00.
Kenya’s Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi broke the rarely contested men’s 1,000m world record, clocking two minutes 11.83 seconds to shave 0.13 off the mark set by compatriot Noah Ngeny 27 years ago.
Competing over the distance for the first time, Wanyonyi finished almost a second clear of Britain’s Jake Wightman, while Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati took third.
Botswana’s world champion Busang Collen Kebinatshipi extended his unbeaten Diamond League run in the men’s 400m to five races this season, winning in 43.44 seconds ahead of Americans Jacory Patterson (43.96) and Rai Benjamin (44.13).
“I did not expect me to be fast like this. We are just playing around and see how fast we can go towards the end of the season,” Kebinatshipi said.
“My focus now is on the 400m but maybe in the future, when I achieve what I want in this event, we can switch to 200m.”
Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino maintained her perfect record this season by winning the women’s 400m in 48.67, ahead of American Aaliyah Butler (48.84) and Czech athlete Lurdes Gloria Manuel (49.44).
American Olympic champion Masai Russell continued her impressive form in the women’s 100m hurdles, winning in 12.20 seconds ahead of compatriot Alaysha Johnson, while the Netherlands’ Nadine Visser finished third in 12.49.
Switzerland’s Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu edged American Graham Blanks on the line to win the men’s 5,000m in 12:52.54, with Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew third in 12:52.91.
Australia’s Nina Kennedy cleared a world-leading 4.95 metres to win the women’s pole vault, becoming only the sixth woman to clear that height.
The Olympic champion attempted five metres before ending her competition.
Sweden’s Armand “Mondo” Duplantis won the men’s pole vault with a clearance of 6.07 metres but was unable to clear 6.15 in three attempts.
China’s Yan Ziyi won the women’s javelin with a throw of 68.75 metres, Cuba’s world champion Leyanis Perez claimed the women’s triple jump with 15.06 metres, Greece’s double Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou won the men’s long jump with 8.61 metres, and Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk took the men’s high jump title with 2.32 metres.
