By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) – Dutchwoman Femke Bol showed that she is in the hottest form ahead of next month’s world athletics championships when she blasted to a European record of 51.45 seconds in the 400m hurdles at the London Diamond League on Sunday.
Only American world record holder (50.68) Sydney McLaughlin has gone faster and Bol, second behind McLaughlin in last year’s world championship and third behind her at the Tokyo Olympics, will be hoping to finally bag global gold in Budapest.
“Amazing. I’ve been wanting to run a 51 ever since Tokyo, I had a feeling I could do it but I still can’t believe I’ve done it,” Bol said. “I hope we can put up a great race at the World Championships and put on a great show.”
Her compatriot Sifan Hassan, who won the London Marathon in April, looked short of race sharpness as Ethiopian world champion Gudaf Tsegay swept past her old rival on the home straight to win the 5,000 metres in a personal best 14 minutes, 12.29 seconds.
In the women’s 3,000m steeplechase Kenyan Jackline Chepkoech produced a brilliant personal best of 8:57.35, making her the only athlete to go under nine minutes this year.
Slovenian world champion Kristjan Ceh suffered his first Diamond League discus defeat for two years as his 66.02 metre effort was enough for only third place behind Australian Matthew Denny (66.77m) and Sweden’s Daniel Stahl (67.03m)
Around 50,000 fans created a fabulous atmosphere as the Diamond League returned to London’s Olympic Stadium for the first time since 2019, the biggest Diamond League crowd for five years and the last edition of this year’s series before the world championships in Budapest
The latest 100 metres showdown between Jamaican Shericka Jackson and US champion Sha’Carri Richardson later on Sunday is the highlight of the meeting.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Toby Davis)
