Julien Alfred coasts in 200m in London, but Noah Lyles pipped in season-opening 100m
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Botswana's Letsile Tebogo, Lyles Noah of the US, Jamaica's Oblique Seville and Britain's Zharnel Hughes during the 100m final.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
LONDON – Julien Alfred fired out a broadside at her rivals for the women’s world 200m crown with an impressive victory in the London Diamond League meet on July 19, but Noah Lyles was pipped in his opening 100m of the season.
Alfred, the 100m Olympic champion, set a meet record with a world-leading 21.71 seconds at a 60,000-capacity sold-out London Stadium.
It put her joint-ninth on the all-time list for the 200m in a massive boost for the St Lucia sprinter before the world championships in Tokyo in September.
“It was a strong first 150 metres of the race and I managed to control it to finish strongly,” said Alfred, whose 100m gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics was the first of any colour for her tiny Caribbean island homeland.
“It was a great race for me, and races like this give me a lot of confidence as we get closer to Tokyo. I did the 200m last year before the Olympics and I finished second, but seeing how I ran today and how comfortable I felt, I am a lot more confident in my 200m heading into the worlds.”
Lyles, who won the men’s 100m Olympic gold in Paris last August, suffered a dreadful start and was left chasing Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, who clinched a straightforward gun-to-tape win in 9.86sec.
The 28-year-old American, making a late start to the season after coming back from an ankle tendon injury, insisted, however, that he felt great with a 10.00sec.
“I feel extremely healthy and I am feeling no pain,” he said. “I wanted the win but I think it was my fastest-ever season-opener, so I will take that result today.”
In an afternoon of high-class track and field, Femke Bol produced yet another dominant run in the 400m hurdles for her 29th consecutive Diamond League win.
The Dutch athlete clocked 52.10sec, finishing a full second ahead of American Jasmine Jones.
“I wanted to run quicker in Monaco but my second bend was really not great there,” Bol said, referring to her world-leading 51.95sec from last week.
“I had hoped to do better here. I think I executed the second bend better here but other elements were a little less good, so it is a bit disappointing.”
Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi, hunting down compatriot David Rudisha’s 800m world record of 1min 40.91sec – set when he won Olympic gold in this same stadium in 2012 – fell short.
The current Olympic champion edged out Canada’s reigning world champion Marco Arop for victory in a meet-record 1:42.00.
There was also a meet mark of 3:28.82 for Kenya’s Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech in a loaded men’s 1,500m, as reigning world champion Josh Kerr came second in 3:29.37. AFP
