Julien Alfred scorches women’s 200m, Oblique Seville wins men’s 100m in Monaco

MONACO – Julien Alfred ran 21.51 seconds to win the women's 200 metres in Monaco on Friday, becoming the third-fastest woman over the distance, as Jamaica's world champion Oblique Seville made easy work of the men's 100m.

The Saint Lucian charged down the final 50 metres to set a new world lead at the Diamond League event, crossing the line 0.25 seconds faster than Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands.

American Gabby Thomas (21.84), who denied Alfred the gold medal at the Paris Games, was third.

"It's not about the reaction time, it's about how you finish," said Alfred, the Olympic champion in the 100m. "I didn't realise how fast it was until I crossed the line."

Seville finished second earlier this month in Eugene but was unstoppable in Monaco as he held off a late charge to cross the line in 9.88, with American Jordan Anthony second in 9.92 and Cameroon's Emmanuel Eseme (10.00) third.

In other events, Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi broke the world record in the rarely contested 1,000m in 2min 11.83sec, shaving 0.13sec off compatriot Noah Ngeny's previous mark set 27 years ago.

The Olympic 800m champion crossed the line nearly a full second ahead of Briton Jake Wightman, while Algeria's Djamel Sedjati was third.

"This was the first time I ran the 1,000m, and directly breaking the world record makes me so happy. I want to thank the other athletes to push me to my limit," he said.

Botswana's world champion Busang Collen Kebinatshipi collected his fifth straight Diamond League win in the 400m this season in 43.44 seconds, finishing far 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," said Kebinatshipi. "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 Marileidy Paulino kept her unbeaten run this season on track, winning the women's 400m in 48.67. American Aaliyah Butler (48.84) and Czech Lurdes Gloria Manuel (49.44) were second and third.

Australia's Nina Kennedy won the women's pole vault with a terrific 4.95 metres leap to set the new world lead, becoming only the sixth woman ever to clear the height.

Mondo Duplantis, who has fans on the lookout for a world record any time he competes, produced a win that is tame by his standards, leaping over 6.07 metres as he failed to clear 6.15 on three attempts. REUTERS