Sat. Jul 6th, 2024
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Keely Hodgkinson led a British one-two in the women’s 800m in the Diamond League meeting in Oslo, Norway.

Olympic silver medallist Hodgkinson continued her unbeaten streak in 2022 with a season’s best of 1:57.71, crossing the line ahead of Laura Muir.

“I was fairly happy but I wanted faster. A win is a win though,” she told the British Athletics website.

“It was great to have that race with Laura and she’s running well.”

The 20-year-old Hodgkinson added: “I’m trying to take it week by week, but I love championship racing and running the rounds, so I’m looking forward to Eugene.”

Briton Reece Prescod was beaten by 0.01 seconds as Olympic bronze medallist Andre de Grasse won the men’s 100m.

Sweden’s world record holder Armand Duplantis cleared 6.02m for the highest pole vault of 2022.

The 22-year-old Duplantis battled through slippery conditions to jump 22cm higher than Norwegian pair Sondre Guttormsen and Pal Haugen Lillefosse, who both crashed out at 5.86m.

“I felt good jumping, despite it being a hectic day with the rain coming on and off. It was tiring coping with that but I’m happy with 6.02m,” said the Olympic champion.

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen thrilled the home crowd in Oslo after he stormed to victory in the men’s ‘dream mile’ race, running 3:46.46 to narrowly miss out on breaking Steve Cram’s European record of 3:46.32 set in 1985.

Oliver Hoare set an Australian record in second as Britain’s Jake Wightman finished third, breaking Graham Williamson’s 40-year-old Scottish mile record by 0.34 seconds while compatriot Neil Gourley came fourth in a new personal best of 3:52.91.

After recording the third-quickest 110m hurdles time in history on Sunday, American Devon Allen was 0.38 seconds off his personal best, but finished first despite hitting the third and seventh hurdles.

“Every race I run is to win – 13.22 in these conditions is not too bad. There was rain, the head wind,” said Allen, who is to pursue an NFL career after earning a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in April.

Ethiopia had a one-two-three finish in the men’s and women’s 5000m, with Dawit Seyaum setting a new national record with a time of 14:25.84 in the women’s race as Eilish McColgan failed to finish despite leading the pack early on. Telahun Bekele finished ahead of Samuel Tefera and Milkesa Mengesha in the men’s event.

With home favourite Karsten Warholm, the 400m hurdles world record holder, absent though injury, Brazil’s Olympic bronze medallist Alison dos Santos eased ahead of the field to a 47:27 finish.

Britain’s Beth Dobbin was denied first place in the women’s 200m, despite setting a season’s best, as Ida Karstoft set a new national record for Denmark.

A bronze medallist in Tokyo, the Netherlands’ Femke Bol broke a meeting record set by Deon Hemmings in 1997 in the women’s 400m hurdles, crossing the line 15m ahead of the rest of the field.

Elsewhere, Kirani James, of Grenada, who won gold in the 400m at London 2012, fought off challenges in the final straight to earn consecutive Diamond League wins.

Briton Sophie McKinna finished ninth in the shot put as America’s Chase Ealey threw a personal best to claim victory, while two-time Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic won the discus.

A gold-medal winner at Tokyo 2020, Miltiadis Tentoglou’s jump of 8.10m gave him two Diamond League successes in a row.

The Diamond League moves to France for the seventh meeting of the season in Paris on Saturday, while the World Championships take place in Eugene between July 14-25.

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