Athletics-Norway's Warholm shatters own world best time in 300m hurdles
OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -Norwegian hurdling great Karsten Warholm destroyed his own world best time in the rarely run 300 metres hurdles at the Oslo Diamond League meeting on Thursday.
Roared on by the home crowd, the 2020 Olympic champion pulled away from the field over the final 50 metres, leaning across the finish line in 32.67 seconds to break his previous mark of 33.05 set in April.
American Rai Benjamin, the Olympic champion last year in Paris, was second in 33.22, while Alison dos Santos of Brazil was third in 33.38.
World record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden cruised to an easy victory in the pole vault. The twice Olympic and world champion called it a night rather than chase a world record attempt in chilly 14 C temperatures.
The 25-year-old had soared 6.27m in February to break the world mark for the 11th time.
Nico Young became the fastest American over 5,000 metres outdoors when he outsprinted the field to win in 12 minutes 45.27 seconds in a thrilling race full of national records and personal bests.
Ethiopia's Biniam Mehary and Kuma Girma crossed second and third respectively, while Englishman George Mills was fourth in 12.46.59 to obliterate the British record of 12:53.11 held by distance great Mo Farah.
Paris Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya raced to victory in the men's 800m, holding off a fast-closing field over the final 100m to finish in 1:42.78.
"My body felt a little tired as I have come from Kenya so the travel has been long but I am happy with my performance against a strong field," Wanyonyi said. "I am happy with the start to my season in this world championship year."
Julien Alfred, the first athlete from Saint Lucia to win an Olympic gold medal when she triumphed last year in Paris, opened her season with a win in the 100m in 10.89 seconds, setting the pace as the woman to beat at the worlds in Tokyo in September.
"I was a little rusty but I got the win under my belt which is the main thing," Alfred said. "As for my season I am Olympic champion so I am the one to beat but I really want to add world champion to my name as well."
Kenya's Faith Cherotich won the women's 3,000m steeplechase, outsprinting Olympic champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain in a neck-and-neck battle over the final 200m, clocking 9:02.60 to edge Yavi by 0.16 seconds.
Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan, women's javelin gold medallist at the Paris Games, threw almost a metre more than the rest of the field to win in Oslo with a toss of 64.63m.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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