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China’s Zheng Ninali and Jiri Sykora of the Czech Republic came out on top at the Arona Combined Events meeting, the Spanish leg of the World Athletics Challenge – Combined Events, held this weekend in the Canary Islands.

Zheng, who previously represented Canada and competed under the name Nina Schultz, added more than 200 points to her PB to win the heptathlon with 6358. Sykora, meanwhile, added one point to the PB he set back in 2016 to win the decathlon with 8122.

Britain’s Holly Mills got off to a strong start in the heptathlon, winning the 100m hurdles in 13.22, just 0.01 outside her recent career best set in Lana. Zheng was also just shy of her recent PB, clocking 13.39 for second overall.

Mills strengthened her lead with a PB of 1.85m in the high jump. The 21-year-old was only bettered in that discipline by Spain’s Claudia Conte, who cleared a PB of 1.88m. Zheng, however, lost out on a few potential points with a clearance of 1.76m.

Switzerland’s 2017 European U23 champion Caroline Agnou was the top performer in the shot put, throwing 14.92m, and was closely followed by France’s two-time European champion Antoinette Nana Djimou (14.86m).

Mills managed 13.26m, enough to hold on to her lead, but Zheng produced a huge PB of 13.86m to climb up to second place overall. Belgium’s European indoor silver medallist Noor Vidts remained in third place overall after throwing 13.31m.

Local star Maria Vicente bookended her day with PBs. Having clocked 13.51 in the 100m hurdles, she ended day one with a 200m PB of 23.33 (0.8m/s), catapulting the 20-year-old into third place overall in Arona, as well as into ninth place on the Spanish all-time list for 200m.

Mills and Zheng, who clocked 24.36 and 24.51 respectively for 200m, held on to first and second place overall with scores of 3823 and 3711.

Since taking bronze in the long jump at the 2019 European U20 Championships, Mills has had to switch her take-off leg for the event. So while her 6.08m leap in Arona was some way off her lifetime best, it was one of her top performances to date using her new approach.

Vicente, however, jumped 6.35m and closed the gap on the Briton to just 46 points. Zheng (6.23m) and Vidts (6.34m) performed solidly to maintain their position in the top four.

The positions changed again after the javelin. Despite a PB of 35.77m, Mills finally surrendered her lead to Zheng, who hurled a lifetime best of 48.26m. Vicente threw 46.75m, moving her into second overall, one place ahead of Mills and just 10 points behind Zheng. Vidts, meanwhile, managed a PB of 38.80m and remained in fourth, just 17 points shy of Mills.

In a thrilling 800m, Zheng ran a massive lifetime best of 2:14.49 to secure the overall victory with 6358. Vicente, who clocked 2:19.82 in the final event, held on to second place with 6274, just 30 points shy of her own national record. Thanks to a PB of 2:09.34 in the 800m, Vidts took third place with a lifetime best of 6240. Mills, who clocked 2:12.40, was relegated to fourth but rewarded with a PB of 6211. Fifth-place finisher Conte also achieved a PB (6029).

“I’m delighted with my performance today,” said the 22-year-old Zheng. “Beyond the win, I’ve managed to be consistent in all the events; the last couple of years had been very difficult for me as I suffered injuries, but this season I’ve come back strongly. I’m especially proud of myself as this year I’ve trained on my own.

“Today I fell 62 points short of the Olympic standard,” added the Commonwealth silver medallist. “I’m not sure if I’ll try it again before the deadline but anyway I’m very happy with my season.”

Sykora makes late charge to win decathlon

The men’s event had been billed as a clash between European indoor silver and bronze medallists Jorge Ureña of Spain and Pawel Wiesiolek of Poland. Unfortunately, neither of them managed to finish the competition, but Sykora came through to lead a Czech 1-2 finish from compatriot Adam Sebastian Helcelet.

France’s Ruben Gado and Spain’s Pablo Trescoli were the fastest in the 100m, both timed at 10.83. Wiesiolek then took the overall lead after equalling his lifetime best of 7.63m in the long jump. 20-year-old Italian Dario Dester managed 7.61m, adding one centimetre to his career best and moving to second overall, 19 points behind the Pole.

A 7.54m leap kept Ureña in third place, but the Spaniard picked up an injury in the long jump and he was forced to drop out after the next event, the shot put.

With a 15.99m heave, Venezuela’s Georni Jaramillo moved into fourth overall after the shot put. Helcelet was the only other athlete to surpass 15 metres (15.32m), elevating him to third while Wiesiolek managed to hold on to the lead after throwing 14.04m.

Wiesiolek, Dester and Helcelet all cleared 1.98m in the high jump, an event topped by Spain’s Pablo Gámez (2.01m). But Dester closed in on Wiesiolek’s lead after clocking 48.36 in the 400m, ending the first day with a score of 4221 to the Pole’s 4239. Helcelet was in third, 95 points behind the Italian, while Sykora was a little further back in fifth (4067).

Dester finally overtook Wiesiolek in the overall standings after the 110m hurdles, clocking 14.46. Jaramillo was the top performer in that event, running 14.12.

The discus provided the biggest turning point of the weekend. Wiesiolek’s competition ended after recording three fouls, while Dester surrendered his lead after throwing 38.21m. 2014 world U20 champion Sykora, meanwhile, threw a PB of 48.86m to jump from fifth to first overall.

Gado then moved back into contention after clearing 5.30m in the pole vault, putting him second overall in between Sykora (4.80m) and Helcelet (4.60m).

Jiri Sykora in action in the decathlon javelin in Arona

The Czech duo dominated the javelin with Helcelet prevailing over Sykora, 67.29m to 66.91m. Norway’s Martin Roe moved into the top three overall after throwing 64.66m.

Sykora finished 10th in the final event, but his 4:51.42 clocking for 1500m was enough to secure victory with 8122. Helcelet ran 4:47.59, giving him a final score of 8058 for second place, while a 4:26.76 1500m win from Gado moved the French decathlete back into a podium position (8038). Roe was fourth with 8016.

The meeting also featured U20 and U18 competitions. In the U20 men’s contest, Belgium’s world U20 indoor record-holder Jente Hauttekeete exceeded the 8000-point barrier for the first time. He set PBs in the opening events, running 10.88 in the 100m and leaping 7.45m in the long jump. He had a scare in the shot put, but threw 14.19m after two fouls to remain on course. He excelled in the high jump, clearing 2.10m, and clocked a 50.08 400m PB to finish the first day.

On the second day the Belgian ran 14.38 in the 110m hurdles, threw 44.89m in the discus, cleared 4.50m in the pole vault and threw the javelin 52.92m before rounding out his weekend with a 4:37.84 clocking in the 1500m.

The 19-year-old ended with a national U20 record of 8034, putting him 12th on the world U20 all-time list.

Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics

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European indoor silver medallist Fanny Roos extended her own Swedish record to 19.33m at the Folksam Grand Prix – a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting – in Sollentuna on Sunday (13).

The 26-year-old dominated the competition, taking an early lead with her opening effort of 18.99m. After fouls in the next two rounds, she improved to 19.04m in round four and backed it up with 18.94m in round five. She saved her best for the final round, though, hurling her shot out to 19.33m.

It added three centimetres to the national record she set in Vaxjo at the end of May and it places her fifth on this year’s world list.

European champion Paulina Guba of Poland was second with a season’s best of 17.92m.

World champion Daniel Stahl notched up another victory in the discus. All four of his valid throws – 65.95m, 67.25m, 66.52m and 68.03m – were farther than anyone else managed. Domestic rival Simon Pettersson was second with 64.42m.

African U20 champion Vincent Keter was a convincing winner of the men’s 1500m. The Kenyan sprinted away from the field to cross the line first in a PB of 3:35.21 with Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran taking the runner-up spot in a PB of 3:35.66.

Keter’s compatriot Mary Moraa, the 2017 world U18 400m silver medallist, enjoyed a decisive victory in the women’s 800m. The 20-year-old, who won in Turku at the start of the week, improved her PB to 1:59.25 with Benin’s Noelie Yarigo finishing second in 2:00.57.

Britain’s Ama Pipi was also in PB form, chopping half a second off her best to win the 400m in 51.53.

Marija Vukovic and Nastassia Mironchyk-Ivanova were among the winners at the Filothei Women Gala – a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting – on Monday (14).

Katerina Stefanidi was also among the athletes in attendance but according to the Greek athletics federation the Olympic champion decided not to compete due to the windy conditions. That women’s pole vault competition was won by Switzerland’s Andrina Hodel thanks to a second-time clearance of 4.35m.

Montenegro’s Vukovic won the high jump, achieving 1.93m on her second attempt before having three tries at 1.96m, which would have been an Olympic qualifying mark and added a centimetre to her own national record. Mironchyk-Ivanova’s 6.79m (-0.7m/s) led the long jump results, as one of her four jumps over 6.70m during the competition, with Serbia’s Milica Gardasevic leaping 6.48m (-0.7m/s) in the final round to place second.

Rafalia Spanoudaki-Chatziriga went quickest in the three 100m races, clocking 11.59 (-0.9m/s).

Debjani clocks 3:33.06 in Geneva

Ismael Debjani improved his Belgian 1500m record to achieve an Olympic qualifying time, while Rasmus Magi was also among the athletes to tune up ahead of Tokyo at AtletiCAGeneve, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting, on Saturday (12).

Debjani ensured that the competition ended on a high as he broke the meeting record in the last event of the day, clocking a dominant 3:33.06 in the first of the two men’s 1500m finals to take 0.64 off his previous best from 2017. He won by more than five seconds, with Czech Republic’s Jan Fris the runner-up in 3:38.88.

The men’s 400m hurdles was much closer, with 2014 European silver medallist Magi challenged by Germany’s Constantin Preis. Magi went close to his Estonian record of 48.40 set at the Rio Olympics in 2016, clocking 48.49 to win the first of the three finals ahead of Preis with a 48.60 PB, his first performance under 49 seconds and an Olympic qualifying mark. France’s Ludvy Vaillant was third in 49.22. Viktoriya Tkachuk of Ukraine won the women’s 400m hurdles in a PB of 54.60.

France’s world indoor 60m hurdles bronze medallist Aurel Manga kept his cool as barriers were falling around him and won the 110m hurdles final in 13.32 (1.1m/s) to match the Olympic qualifying mark. He had earlier won his heat in 13.46. Italy’s Hassane Fofana was second in the final, equalling his PB with 13.44.

France’s Laura Valette was another athlete to match her PB as she clocked 12.87 (1.5m/s) to win the 100m hurdles final ahead of Belgium’s Anne Zagre with 12.90.

A strong finish saw world 200m bronze medallist Mujinga Kambundji secure a 100m win and Olympic qualifying time on home soil as she clocked 11.07 (1.2m/s) from her compatriots Salome Kora (11.12) and Ajla Del Ponte (11.18).

Mouhamadou Fall of France was quickest in the men’s 100m finals, running 10.26 into a -1.7m/s headwind, and he completed a sprint double with a 200m win in 20.37 (0.1m/s) ahead of South Africa’s Clarence Munyai (20.49).

Dutch sprinters Lieke Klaver and Liemarvin Bonevacia triumphed in the two 400m ‘A’ finals, with Klaver pipping Portugal’s Catia Azevedo, the pair clocking an equal PB of 50.98 and 51.02 respectively, and Bonevacia running 45.01 in a strong race.

A close women’s 800m saw Deborah Rodriguez take more than a second off her Uruguayan record to win in 2:00.20 ahead of Lore Hoffmann (2:00.29) and Angelika Sarna (2:00.34).

The men’s high jump was also competitive and saw Bulgaria’s Tihomir Ivanov win on countback as both he and 2007 world high jump champion Donald Thomas of the Bahamas cleared 2.28m. Britain’s Emily Borthwick added one centimetre to the meeting record and also her PB in clearing 1.93m to win the women’s high jump as her compatriot Morgan Lake achieved 1.90m.

Cuba’s Denia Caballero also improved a meeting record with a 60.25m throw to win the discus.

Jess Whittington and Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

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In what may be the most impressive victory of his short but brilliant career, 20-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen upset an exceptional 5000m field, including both the world champion and world record-holder, at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Florence on Thursday (10).

The Norwegian wunderkind took a whopping 13 and a half seconds off his personal best to stop the clock in 12:48.45, a European record and his first sub-13 minute performance, having burned off the world’s most highly-credentialed 5000m runners over the last 200m of the race.

Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet finished second in 12:49.02, ahead of Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed (12:50.12), but world record-holder Joshua Cheptegei paid for his early aggression, fading to sixth in 12:54.69.

“I’ve been doing a lot of good training but it’s just crazy to run this fast in an actual race and also take down the best runners in the world – that’s a lot of fun,’’ Ingebrigtsen said.

“I felt like I saved a lot of energy earlier in the race and I believe the guy that wanted to win the race the most, he won at the end, and that was me.”

The European 1500m and 5000m champion, Ingebrigtsen has targeted the 1500m for the Tokyo Olympic Games as the schedule does not allow for the double, and said this result would not alter his plans.

“I do a lot of training, so I know I’m able to run fast. At the same time, my main focus is not the 5km but most of my training is for the 5km, so for me to able to run fast in the 1500m, I know that I’m also able to run fast in the 5km.”

Hassan rebounds with strong 1500m win

Few athletes have ever had a more eventful week on the track than Sifan Hassan, who set a world 10,000m record on Sunday, lost it to her Ethiopian rival Letesenbet Gidey on Tuesday and rebounded to defeat an Olympic-strength 1500m field in Florence on Thursday.

Coming into the meeting, Hassan claimed that her endurance was better than her speed but when Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon challenged her on the final bend, the Dutch world champion found just enough strength to fight her off and claim the victory in a world-leading 3:53.63.

Kipyegon set a Kenyan record of 3:53.91 but it was still not enough. Laura Muir, in third, also set a near-PB of 3:55.59 in what was easily the fastest race of the year.

“I am so happy and I am so tired,’’ Hassan said afterwards.

“It was an amazing race. I thought Faith was going to beat me in the last 400m because I haven’t been working on speed and I just came from 10,000m so I don’t know where my speed came from, it surprised me.”

Regardless of this result she is not tempted to try to repeat the 1500m-10,000m double she achieved at the 2019 world championships, saying she wanted the fresh challenge of the 5000m-10,000m combination in Tokyo.

Another world champion who showed impressive speed was 200m title-holder Dina Asher-Smith, who was utterly dominant in her favoured event and would have cracked the 22-second barrier if there had been just a smidgen more following wind.

She was well-satisfied with the 22.06 clocking, with a slight tailwind, and believes she is in a good place with the Olympic Games just six weeks away.

“My team and I know I’m in good shape and I’m happy to come out and run that today, but I know I can go quicker so I’m excited to be able to go again,’’ she said.

The highly-credentialed Ivory Coast sprinter Marie-Josee Ta Lou set a season’s best of 22.58 but was some five metres in arrears.

Hurdles meeting records for McLeod and Camacho-Quinn

There were more fast times in the sprint hurdles as Olympic champion Omar McLeod and in-form Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn set meeting records. Camacho-Quinn clocked 12.38 to take down a 41-year-old record, while McLeod set a world-leading time of 13.01 in an equally convincing display.

European indoor 400m champion Femke Bol confirmed her good form with a Dutch record of 53.44 in the women’s 400m hurdles, which ranks her third fastest in the world this year, behind American pacesetter Sydney McLaughlin (52.83).

Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali established early season superiority in the 3000m steeplechase, clocking a world lead of 8:08.54 to defeat Bikila Tadese Takele of Ethiopia (8:10.56) and countryman Mohamed Tindouft (8:11.65). By contrast, the reigning world champion Conseslus Kipruto struggled to stay with the pace and dropped out midway through the race.

In the field, dual Olympic and world discus champion Sandra Perkovic rediscovered her top form to launch the plate 68.31m, her best throw for almost three years.

That was in the second round of the competition, but under the ‘final three’ format, she still had to register the best throw in the last round to claim the victory, which she did with a throw of 66.90m to down her great rival, the reigning world champion Yaime Perez (65.37m in the final round, after a best of 66.82m in the first round).

“I’m back,” an emotional Perkovic declared afterwards.

The 30-year-old Croatian has been searching for this rhythm all season and said this competition, likely to be her last before the Olympic Games, would give her the confidence she needed to contend for a third consecutive Olympic title.

New Zealand’s 2017 world champion Tom Walsh temporarily put aside his grief at the unexpected death of his agent Andy Stubbs last weekend to claim victory in the men’s shot put under the final three format. Walsh was third placed (21.43m) going into the winner-take-all final round but saved his best for last with a throw of 21.47m which Armin Sinancevic (20.93) and Leonardo Fabbri (19.82) could not match.

World pole vault champion Anzhelika Sidorova, competing as a neutral athlete, made an impressive return to international competition, clearing 4.91m to win the women’s pole vault, and a first-time clearance at 2.33m gave fellow neutral athlete Ilya Ivanyuk victory in the high jump on countback from Brandon Starc and Gianmarco Tamberi, who also cleared 2.33m. In a close competition, world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim was bumped off the podium, finishing in fifth place with a best height of 2.30m.

Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Photos by Diamond League AG

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Middle-distance runners Abel Kipsang, Jemma Reekie and Collins Kipruto were among the athletes to break a meeting record at the Meeting de Marseille – a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze competition – in the south of France on Wednesday (9).

Kipsang had opened his 2021 campaign with a string of victories in Kenya, then earlier this month clocked a 1500m PB of 3:33.99 in Montreuil. After a runner-up finish in Hengelo last weekend, the 24-year-old Kenyan returned to winning ways in France.

The pacemaker brought the field through 800m in 1:52.95 with Kipsang sitting in fourth place. He moved into the lead about 250 metres later, while 800m specialist Elliot Giles navigated his way through the field into fourth place.

Giles moved into second place with 200 metres to go, but Kipsang then moved up a gear and sprinted away from his opponents, going on to win by about 10 metres in a lifetime best of 3:32.68, taking almost two seconds off the meeting record.

Giles was rewarded with a PB of 3:33.80 with Spain’s Ignacio Fontes just 0.04 behind. The top nine athletes all finished inside the Olympic qualifying standard of 3:35.00.

Kipsang’s compatriot Collins Kipruto employed a similarly impressive finishing kick to win the men’s 800m.

After the first lap was covered in a swift 49.95, it looked as though European indoor champion Patryk Dobek was on his way to victory. But coming off the final bend, Kipruto moved from third to first and stopped the clock at 1:43.95, taking almost half a second off his PB.

France’s Benjamin Robert came through to take second, clocking a PB of 1:44.53, while Dobek wound up third in 1:44.80.

Reekie produced arguably the most dominant performance of the meeting. The double European U23 champion sprinted away from the field on the second lap of the women’s 800m to win in 1:58.41, the second-fastest outdoor performance of her career to date and a two-second improvement on the previous meeting record held by her training partner, European 1500m champion Laura Muir. Germany’s Christina Hering was second in 2:00.15.

Two other meeting records fell in the sprints.

Following her 11.04 PB in Hengelo last weekend, Britain’s world and Olympic 4x100m medallist Daryll Neita proved her breakthrough wasn’t a one-off, winning the 100m in Marseille in 11.08. The -1.6m/s headwind suggests Neita is just a race or two away from breaking the 11-second barrier. World 200m finalist Gina Bass of The Gambia was second in 11.21.

Poland’s in-form Natalia Kaczmarek won the women’s 400m in a meeting record of 51.16, beating Laviai Nielsen (51.42) and Floria Guei (51.57).

Elsewhere, Slovenia’s Neja Filipic bounded out to a PB of 14.31m to win the women’s triple jump, and recent European Team Championships winner Asier Martinez of Spain won the 110m hurdles in 13.36 (-1.0m/s), just 0.02 shy of his recent PB.

Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

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