Olympic champions Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet broke meeting records on the track at the Allianz Memorial van Damme, while Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri did likewise in the men’s shot put to highlight the second day of action at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels on Saturday (14).
In winning the 1500m, Kipyegon secured her fifth Diamond Trophy and capped yet another unbeaten season at her specialist discipline. On this occasion, the Kenyan was more focused on winning than on improving her own world record. She had world road mile champion Diribe Welteji for company on the final lap, but sprinted away down the home straight to win in 3:54.75, taking 0.58 off a meeting record that had stood since 2003.
Welteji was second in 3:55.25, finishing comfortably ahead of Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull.
Chebet, who had beaten Kipyegon to the Olympic 5000m title, was a clear winner of the 5000m here in Brussels and produced one of the fastest times in history to smash the meeting record by nine seconds.
She led through 2000m in 5:41.27 and 3000m in 8:31.09. By the time she reached 4000m, she had a three-second lead over Ethiopia’s Medina Eisa. That margin continued to grow in the closing stages and she crossed the line victorious in 14:09.82.
Eisa held on for second, clocking a world U20 record of 14:21.89 to finish ahead of compatriot Fotyen Tesfaye (14:28.53).
Prior to the Olympics, European champion Leonardo Fabbri had been the standout performer in the men’s shot put. He even beat world record-holder Ryan Crouser in their final pre-Paris clash, winning in London with 22.52m.
His Olympic experience wasn’t quite what he’d hoped for, though, as he finished fifth with 21.70m – more than a metre shy of the Italian record of 22.95m he’d set earlier in the season. His five competitions after Paris showed some slight improvement, but he hadn’t managed to achieve a victory in any of them.
He more than rectified that in Brussels, though – not only winning, but also beating Crouser, and doing so with a lifetime best of 22.98m. Crouser was second with 22.79m.
Fabbri’s compatriot and fellow European champion Gianmarco Tamberi also returned to winning ways, taking the men’s high jump with 2.34m to claim his third Diamond Trophy.
The 2021 Olympic champion was matched at every height by Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk, both mean clearing 2.28m on their second try before going clear at 2.31m on their first attempt. With the bar set at 2.34m, Tamberi was the only one to go clear, doing so on his third and final jump.
Elsewhere on the track, there were mixed fortunes for Olympic champions Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Letsile Tebogo. Wanyonyi came from behind to take the men’s 800m, but Tebogo was forced to settle for the runner-up spot in the men’s 200m.
There was a silver lining for Tebogo as he won the Jesse Owens Rising Star Award alongside Welteji, as the best performing male and female athletes aged 23 or under.
Given the incredible standard of the event this year, there had been talk of a potential world record in the men’s 800m. The initial pace was quick, too, as Marco Arop covered the first lap in 49.28.
The world champion started to fade with 150 metres to go, though, as Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati started to challenge for the lead. Wanyonyi timed his finish best, though, with the Kenyan overtaking his tiring opponents just before the line to win in 1:42.70. Sedjati was second in 1:42.86 and Arop third (1:43.25).
After finishing behind Tebogo at the Olympics and then at the Diamond League meetings in Silesia and Zurich, Kenny Bednarek finally tasted a moment of glory in the men’s 200m.
The US sprinter got off to a strong start and led the field as they came into the home straight. Botswana’s Tebogo battled down the straight but couldn’t make up ground on Bednarek, who crossed the line in 19.67, finishing 0.13 ahead of the Olympic champion.
