Christian Coleman, Shericka Jackson upset world champions in Diamond League finals

EUGENE – American Christian Coleman and Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson won the men and women’s 100m at the Diamond League finals on Saturday, as Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson were denied.

Lyles and Richardson were not the only gold medallists from August’s world championships in Budapest to be disappointed in Eugene, Oregon, where American Rai Benjamin stunned world and Olympic champion Karsten Warholm in the 400m hurdles.

Coleman, the 2019 world champion who finished a disappointing fifth in Budapest, matched the season’s best time of 9.83 seconds for the second time in two weeks as he followed up his Xiamen Diamond League win.

He is one of three men to post that time in 2023, along with Britain’s Zharnel Hughes and Lyles – who was unable to make good on his desire to finish his season with the outright best time of the year.

Lyles, who won 100m and 200m gold in Budapest, was second in 9.85sec and Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya was third in the same time.

After a false start saw Ackeem Blake of Jamaica disqualified, Coleman got off to a solid if unspectacular start.

He powered through the middle stages and had enough to hold off the charging Lyles and Omanyala.

Coleman, 27, said: “This year I feel like I had a mental breakthrough to where I’m able to just find my stride and stick to it. And I feel like next year I’ll be able to capitalise.”

Lyles, exhausted after his 200m Diamond League win in Zurich, had considered opting out of the season finale, but said he was happy he raced in front of home fans after his golden treble in Budapest.

“I was able to do a victory lap, even though I didn’t win the victory, but they were just as excited,” he said.

Jackson powered to victory in 10.70sec, with Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou second (10.75) and Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah third (10.79). Richardson, doomed by a poor start, was fourth in 10.80.

Former 400m specialist Jackson, 29, said: “I just started sprinting in 2021 and to be among these great female sprinters is a good feeling. It always help to push you.”

Benjamin, who disappointed with bronze in Budapest, pulled off a stunner, clocking a Diamond League record – and the fourth-fastest 400m hurdles time ever – of 46.39.

“Went back to my old race model, because my second half is just amazing,” said Benjamin, who closed the gap on Warholm over the final two hurdles and surged past him in the final strides to win by 0.14sec. “Just tried to channel that today and I feel like I did a really good job.”

The Norwegian said: “I thought I had it, but when he comes to the side you know that he’s gonna pass you because he has higher speed over the last hurdle.”

Other world champions fared better. Kenyan Faith Kipyegon remained unbeaten in the women’s 1,500m this year, posting a dominant victory in 3min 50.72sec.

Kipyegon, who won the 2022 world title on the same Hayward Field track and retained her title in Budapest as part of a historic 1,500-5,000 double, was barely challenged, with world silver medallist Diribe Welteji finishing second in 3:53.93 and Olympic silver medallist Laura Muir third in 3:55.16.

Winfred Mutile Yavi of Bahrain took the women’s 3,000m steeplechase in the second-fastest time of 8:50.66 for a decisive win over world-record holder Beatrice Chepkoech (8:51.67) of Kenya.

Japan’s world champion Haruka Kitaguchi clinched the women’s javelin with a 63.78m throw and Venezuela’s four-time women’s triple jump world champion Yulimar Rojas won with 15.35m.

The women’s pole vault showdown between co-world champions Katie Moon and Nina Kennedy fizzled out. America’s Moon won with height of 4.86m while Kennedy was fifth at 4.56.

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen threatened the mile world record, winning in 3:43.73, just 0.6sec outside the mark set by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999. AFP, REUTERS