BRUSSELS: Kenya’s 1500m queen Faith Kipyegon sealed victory in the finals of the Diamond League in Brussels on Saturday, but Botswanan sprinter Letsile Tebogo and American shot putter Ryan Crouser both tasted rare defeats.
Kipyegon, the three-time Olympic and world champion, has had another sensational year over 1500m, even setting a new world record at the Paris leg of the elite track and field circuit.
And she made no mistake at the King Baudouin Stadium, sprinting away to win in a meet record of 3min 54.76sec.
“The world record was not on my mind today, my goal was to finish my Diamond League season in a good way and I did,” said Kipyegon.
“It was good race, but definitely not an easy one. It was a bit cold to run 61 seconds in the first lap and 62 seconds for the next lap.
“I tried to be myself and focus on the finish line.”
Of the 16 finals on Saturday, the first 16 having been held on Friday, there was a strong showing from Kenyan athletes.
Double Olympic 5,000/10,000m champion Beatrice Chebet also set a meet record of 14:09.82 to win the 5,000m in a powerful solo run.
Faith Cherotich outpaced Bahrain’s Olympic champion Winfred Yavi to win the 3000m steeplechase in 9:02.36 and Emmanuel Wanyonyi produced a devastating final flourish to win a high-quality men’s 800m in 1:42.70.
There was a surprise in the men’s shot put as Italy’s European champion Leonardo Fabbri claimed the win with a meet and national record of 22.98m, improving his own personal best by 3cm.
American Ryan Crouser, the three-time Olympic champion and twice world gold medallist, finished second with a best of 22.79m, but there were no sour grapes despite missing out on the $30,000 winner’s cheque.
“I threw pretty well. It was a very solid performance, five times over 22 meters,” Crouser said.
“I just had not that big throw in me like the one Leonardo Fabbri had. He threw a liftetime best so a big throw from him. The level in the shot put was never this high.”
And Olympic champion Tebogo was outpaced in the 200m by American Kenny Bednarek, who won in 19.67sec.
“I wanted to win the Diamond, but it has been a rollercoaster after the Olympics,” lamented Tebogo.
Fabbri’s shot put victory was one of three on the night for Team Italia, high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi (2.34m) and long jumper Larissa Iapichino (6.80m) also winning.
In field events, two other Olympic champions won their events, Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi taking the women’s javelin with a season’s best of 66.13m and Australia’s Nina Kennedy claiming the pole vault with 4.88m.
Grenada’s Anderson Peters edged India’s Neeraj Chopra by just 1cm for victory in the men’s javelin in 87.87m.
In the absence of Olympic gold and silver medallists Rai Benjamin and Karsten Warholm, it was the bronze medal winner from Paris, Alison Dos Santos, who claimed victory in the 400m hurdles.
The Brazilian clocked 47.93sec while Puerto Rico’s Jamine Camacho-Quinn confirmed her seasonal form to win the 100m hurdles in 12.38sec.
Olympic 400m hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won her second invitational race in two days, clocking 22.40sec for victory in the 200m.
“Vacation and waffles!” the American, who won a 400m race on Friday, said after the race.
“It was great to race here, but to be honest I am just happy with my succesful season and with how everything turned out.
“I am happy that I can walk away healthy and look back on a great season.”
In the absence of McLaughlin-Levrone from the 400m hurdles because she was ineligible having not competed on the Diamond League circuit, it was left for Paris bronze medallist Femke Bol to take the victory in 52.45sec.
The 200m final proper saw American Brittany Brown top the podium in 22.20sec. Her teammate Sha’Carri Richardson was a no-show after her eighth-placed finish in Friday’s 100m.
