Yared Nuguse wins stacked Diamond League 1,500 metres, Beatrice Chebet misses world record

ZURICH – American Yared Nuguse fought off a high-calibre field to win the 1,500 metres at the Diamond League meet in Zurich on Sept 5, on a night when the weather dampened world-record expectations at the Letzigrund Stadium.

Nuguse, who took the bronze at the Paris Games, kicked for home in the final 50m to come out on top in 3min 29.21sec. He saw off Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who had to settle for second in 3:29.52, with American Olympic champion Cole Hocker coming in third in 3:30.46.

“This race was so highly anticipated and I knew that it was going to be quick in the end,” said Nuguse.

“Everyone could have got this race. I am glad I was still able to win. From the beginning, I just tried not to do any wrong move and then you need to be ready for the end.”

He added that it had been a “lot less stressful” than the Olympics.

“It is so much more fun running with these guys today,” he said.

Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet came to Zurich with the women’s 5,000m world record in her sights, but the 14:00.21 set in 2023 by Gudaf Tsegay was a stretch too far.

The Kenyan, who won the 5,000 and 10,000m double in Paris and broke the 10,000m record in May, had to settle for a time of 14:09.52 in the rain, which is the quickest in 2024.

“I really wanted to run the world record, but I missed it, this is due to the weather,” Chebet said. “And the pacemaker was supposed to pace until 3,000 metres but she dropped off earlier. I used a lot of energy to push.”

In the women’s 100m, world champion Sha’Carri Richardson ran 10.84sec and defeated Olympic champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia.

The American, silver medallist behind Alfred in Paris, lined up alongside her rival on the blocks. But it was Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith who got away quickest before Richardson took the lead, and Alfred came second in 10.88sec, 0.01sec ahead of the Briton.

There were wins for Olympic champions Letsile Tebogo, in the men’s 200m in a rapid 19.55sec, and Grant Holloway (12.99sec) in the 110m hurdles, but there was disappointment for the Zurich crowd when world-record holder Norwegian Karsten Warholm pulled out of the 400m hurdles.

Tokyo Olympic champion and Paris Games silver medallist Warholm had been in action the previous night when he lost a 100m sprint showdown with Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, and was forced to withdraw from his race with a hamstring issue.

Duplantis did win the pole vault, but was clearly feeling the effects of his sprint win, as he won with a jump of 5.82m, a long way off his world record of 6.26m. REUTERS, AFP