Lyles, Semenya shine as Chepkoech smashes steeple world record

New American sprint hope Noah Lyles raced to a dominant 200m victory in Friday’s Diamond League meet in Monaco, where South African Caster Semenya also shone in the 800m and Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech smashed the steeplechase world record.

Lyles celebrated his 21st birthday in style, the wannabe rapper scorching to victory in 19.65 seconds, the fastest run this season and a meet record.

World champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey finished second in 19.99, but Lyles was well clear of the field in perfect, balmy conditions at Monaco’s Louis II stadium.

“It was a great race, especially improving the meet record,” said Lyles, a notoriously bad starter.

“I had the same (good) start as I had in Eugene and I felt it. It gives me confidence in what I can do next.”

It was another gun-to-tape win for Semenya, who is challenging the IAAF over controversial new rules track and field’s ruling body plan to introduce on high testosterone levels in female athletes.

She shot out past even the pacesetters and with Czechoslovakian Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 1983 world record of 1:53.28 seemingly in imminent danger, Semenya blasted through the first lap in 55.76sec and increased her lead over the chasing pack as she lengthened her stride down the back straight before rounding the final bend.

– ‘Just fantastic’ –

The 27-year-old, double Olympic champion (2012, 2016) and three-time world champion (2009, 2011, 2017), eventually tied up slightly as she pushed through to the line in 1:54.60, also a meet record.

“It was just fantastic!” beamed Semenya. “Only the last 100m were a little off for me.

“Today I wanted to break 1:54 but maybe next time. I wasn’t thinking about the world record and it wasn’t on my mind.”

But it was a relatively unknown Kenyan, Chepkoech, who stole the plaudits by setting a new 3000m steeplechase world record.

Chepkoech, 27, ran 8min 44.32sec to shatter the previous best set in 2016 by Kenyan-born Bahraini Ruth Jebet, whose name headlined an Athletics Integrity Unit report released earlier Friday into alleged doping.

Olympic champion Jebet had run 8:52.78 before Chepkoech, aided by a couple of pacemakers, shot around more than six seconds faster, her remarkable effort also smashing her own previous personal best by more than 15 seconds.

“I wanted to break the world record, that was the plan from the start of the season,” she said.

“I felt strong during the race and was thinking I might be able to break 8:50, but not at all dreaming about 8:44.

“It’s a great feeling to bring the world record back to Kenya.”

Marie-Josee Ta Lou racked up a fifth win of the season in the Diamond League by winning the 100m in 10.89sec ahead of Ivorian compatriot Murielle Ahoure (11.01sec), with Jamaica’s double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson taking third (11.02).

“It’s an incredible year for me,” said Ta Lou, a double world silver medallist in 2017. “I’m performing really regularly and the goal was to go under 10.90 and I did just that so I’m super happy.”

Setting the scene for a night of unforgettable track action, Shaunae Miller-Uibo shattered the Bahamas and Diamond League records with a blistering 48.97sec in the opening 400m, Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Nasr coming in second in an Asian record of 49.08.

“I’m so happy I got this sub-49 I was waiting for,” said Miller-Uibo, who became only the fifth female in history to have gone sub-49 in the 400m and sub-22 in the 200m.

“The next goal is to remain consistent on this level and long term another barrier is 48 seconds,” with the world record of 47.60sec set by East German Marita Koch back in 1985.

That scintillating start to action was followed up by Botswana’s Nijel Amos running a season-topping 1:42.14 in the 800m, and then Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya also setting a world lead (and personal best) of 3:28.41 in the 1500m.

RESULTS

200m Wind +0.9m/s
						pts
1 Noah LYLES			USA 	19.65	8	
2 Ramil GULIYEV			TUR 	19.99	7	
3 Alex QUIÑÓNEZ			ECU 	20.03	6	
4 Alonso EDWARD			PAN 	20.15	5	
5 Jereem RICHARDS		TTO 	20.16	4	
6 Aaron BROWN			CAN	20.17	3	
7 Luxolo ADAMS			RSA 	20.65	2	
8 Ameer WEBB			USA 	20.77	1	


800m


1 Nijel AMOS			BOT 	1:42.14
2 Brandon MCBRIDE		CAN 	1:43.20
3 Saúl ORDÓÑEZ			ESP 	1:43.65
4 Cornelius TUWEI		KEN 	1:43.82
5 Jonathan KITILIT		KEN 	1:43.91
6 Pierre-Ambroise BOSSE		FRA 	1:44.20
7 Joseph DENG			AUS 	1:44.21
8 Marcin LEWANDOWSKI		POL 	1:44.32
9 Peter BOL			AUS 	1:46.64
10 Alfred KIPKETER		KEN 	1:48.68
11 Drew WINDLE			USA 	1:50.44
Harun ABDA			USA 	DNF


1500m
						pts
1 Timothy CHERUIYOT		KEN 	3:28.41	8
2 Elijah Motonei MANANGOI	KEN 	3:29.64	7
3 Filip INGEBRIGTSEN		NOR 	3:30.01	6
4 Jakob INGEBRIGTSEN		NOR 	3:31.18	5
5 Ayanleh SOULEIMAN		DJI 	3:31.19	4
6 Brahim KAAZOUZI		MAR 	3:31.62	3
7 Matthew CENTROWITZ		USA 	3:31.77	2
8 Aman WOTE			ETH 	3:31.90	1
9 Chris O'HARE			GBR 	3:32.11	
10 Jakub HOLUŠA			CZE 	3:32.49	
11 Charles Cheboi SIMOTWO	KEN 	3:32.77	
12 Jake WIGHTMAN		GBR	3:33.96	
13 Ferguson Cheruiyot ROTICH	KEN 	3:35.26	
14 Abdelaati IGUIDER		MAR	3:38.08	
Jackson Mumbwa KIVUVA		KEN 	DNF	
Bram SOM			NED 	DNF	


3000m Steeplechase
						pts
1 Soufiane ELBAKKALI		MAR 	7:58.15	8
2 Evan JAGER			USA 	8:01.02	7
3 Conseslus KIPRUTO		KEN 	8:09.78	6
4 Benjamin KIGEN		KEN 	8:09.98	5
5 Hillary BOR			USA 	8:14.21	4
6 Abraham KIBIWOTT		KEN 	8:17.40	3
7 Kennedy NJIRU			KEN 	8:18.04	2
8 Ibrahim EZZAYDOUNY		MAR 	8:20.22	1
9 Getnet WALE			ETH 	8:22.68	
10 Abdelkarim BEN ZAHRA		MAR	8:23.41	
11 Matthew HUGHES		CAN 	8:24.85	
12 Emmanuel KIPRONO		KEN 	8:28.39	
13 Napoleon SOLOMON		SWE 	8:32.63	
14 Stanley Kipkoech KEBENEI	USA 	8:37.42	
Andrew BAYER			USA 	DNF	
Nicholas Kiptonui BETT		KEN 	DNF	
Chala BEYO			ETH 	DNF	


110m Hurdles
						pts
1 Sergey SHUBENKOV		ANA 	13.07	8	
2 Orlando ORTEGA		ESP 	13.18	7	
3 Pascal MARTINOT-LAGARDE	FRA 	13.20	6	
4 Hansle PARCHMENT		JAM 	13.21	5	
5 Devon ALLEN			USA	13.38	4	
6 Balázs BAJI			HUN 	13.38	3	
7 Aries MERRITT			USA 	13.49	2	
8 Kevin MAYER			FRA 	13.82	1	


High Jump
						pts
1 Danil LYSENKO			ANA 	2.40	8
2 Yu WANG			CHN 	2.30	7
3 Majd Eddin GHAZAL		SYR 	2.27	6
4 Naoto TOBE			JPN 	2.27	5
5 Gianmarco TAMBERI		ITA 	2.27	4
5 Donald THOMAS			BAH 	2.27	4
7 Michael MASON			CAN 	2.27	2
8 Bryan MCBRIDE			USA 	2.24	1
8 Mathew SAWE			KEN 	2.24	1
10 Jeron ROBINSON		USA 	2.20	


Triple Jump
						Wind	pts
1 Christian TAYLOR		USA 	17.86	+2.1	8
2 Pedro Pablo PICHARDO		POR 	17.67	+2.4	7
3 Omar CRADDOCK			USA 	17.37	+0.5	6
4 Chris BENARD			USA 	17.26	+2.0	5
5 Donald SCOTT			USA 	17.02	+2.4	4
6 Jean-Marc PONTVIANNE		FRA 	16.71	+1.3	3
7 Harold CORRÉA			FRA 	16.46	+0.8	2
8 Nelson ÉVORA			POR 	16.24	+1.9	1


Shot Put
						pts
1 Ryan CROUSER			USA 	22.05	8
2 Darrell HILL			USA 	21.72	7
3 Darlan ROMANI			BRA	21.70	6
4 Michał HARATYK		POL 	21.59	5
5 Tomas WALSH			NZL 	21.49	4
6 David STORL			GER 	21.41	3
7 Tomáš STANĚK			CZE 	21.24	2
8 Curtis JENSEN			USA 	20.57	1
9 Frédéric DAGÉE		FRA 	19.58	
10 Kevin MAYER			FRA 	14.94	


Results Women


100m Wind +0.1m/s
							pts
1 Marie-Josée TA LOU			CIV 	10.89	8	
2 Murielle AHOURÉ			CIV 	11.01	7	
3 Elaine THOMPSON			JAM 	11.02	6	
4 Jenna PRANDINI			USA 	11.09	5	
5 Dafne SCHIPPERS			NED 	11.12	4	
6 Mujinga KAMBUNDJI			SUI 	11.15	3	
7 Carina HORN				RSA 	11.21	2	
8 Blessing OKAGBARE-IGHOTEGUONOR 	NGR 	11.32	1	


400m
						pts
1 Shaunae MILLER-UIBO		BAH 	48.97	8	
2 Salwa Eid NASER		BRN 	49.08	7	
3 Shakima WIMBLEY		USA 	50.85	6	
4 Phyllis FRANCIS		USA 	51.05	5	
5 Anita HORVAT			SLO	51.22	4	
6 Libania GRENOT		ITA 	51.56	3	
7 Jessica BEARD			USA 	51.58	2	
8 Floria GUEI			FRA 	51.66	1	


800m
						pts
1 Caster SEMENYA		RSA 	1:54.60	8
2 Francine NIYONSABA		BDI 	1:55.96	7
3 Natoya GOULE			JAM 	1:56.15	6
4 Ajee WILSON			USA 	1:56.45	5
5 Habitam ALEMU			ETH 	1:56.71	4
6 Rababe ARAFI			MAR	1:57.47	3
7 Raevyn ROGERS			USA 	1:57.69	2
8 Charlene LIPSEY		USA 	1:58.42	1
9 Renelle LAMOTE		FRA 	1:58.83	
10 Emily Cherotich TUEI		KEN 	1:59.45	
11 Margaret Nyairera WAMBUI	KEN 	1:59.70	
12 Selina BÜCHEL		SUI 	2:00.75	


100m Hurdles Wind -03.m/s


1 Queen HARRISON		USA 	12.64	
2 Dawn HARPER-NELSON		USA 	12.90	
3 Yanique THOMPSON		JAM 	12.92	
4 Eline BERINGS			BEL 	12.94	
5 Soléne NDAMA			FRA 	13.01	
6 Kori CARTER			USA	13.03	
7 Beate SCHROTT			AUT 	13.22	
8 Shimayra Crystal WILLIAMS		JAM 	13.36	


3000m Steeplechase
						pts
1 Beatrice CHEPKOECH		KEN 	8:44.32	8
2 Courtney FRERICHS		USA 	9:00.85	7
3 Hyvin KIYENG			KEN 	9:04.41	6
4 Emma COBURN			USA 	9:05.06	5
5 Norah JERUTO			KEN 	9:07.20	4
6 Peruth CHEMUTAI		UGA 	9:07.94	3
7 Roseline CHEPNGETICH		KEN 	9:08.23	2
8 Daisy JEPKEMEI		KEN 	9:10.71	1
9 Winfred Mutile YAVI		BRN 	9:10.74	
10 Celliphine Chepteek CHESPOL	KEN 	9:12.05	
11 Karoline Bjerkeli GRØVDAL	NOR 	9:18.36	
12 Colleen QUIGLEY		USA 	9:20.99	
13 Aisha PRAUGHT		JAM 	9:25.48	
14 Rosie CLARKE			GBR 	9:38.71	
15 Ophélie CLAUDE-BOXBERGER	FRA 	9:52.59	
Caroline TUIGONG		KEN 	DNF	


Pole Vault
						pts
1 Anzhelika SIDOROVA		ANA 	4.85	8
2 Yarisley SILVA		CUB 	4.80	7
2 Katerina STEFANIDI		GRE 	4.80	7
4 Sandi MORRIS			USA 	4.80	5
5 Katie NAGEOTTE		USA	4.75	4
5 Jennifer SUHR			USA 	4.75	4
7 Eliza MCCARTNEY		NZL 	4.75	2
8 Ninon GUILLON-ROMARIN		FRA 	4.75	1
9 Angelica BENGTSSON		SWE 	4.60	
10 Iryna ZHUK			BLR 	4.60	
Holly BRADSHAW			GBR 	NM	


Shot Put
						pts
1 Lijiao GONG			CHN 	20.31	8
2 Raven SAUNDERS		USA 	19.67	7
3 Christina SCHWANITZ		GER 	19.51	6
4 Valerie ADAMS			NZL 	19.31	5
5 Maggie EWEN			USA 	18.62	4
6 Paulina GUBA			POL 	18.54	3
7 Michelle CARTER		USA 	18.04	2
8 Danniel THOMAS-DODD		JAM 	17.74	1