BRUSSELS (AP) — Olympic middle-distance champions Faith Kipyegon and Emmanuel Wanyonyi won their races in the Diamond League Final on Saturday on a good night for Kenya.
Kipyegon, unbeaten in the women’s 1,500 meters for more than three years, timed 3:54.75, snipping 0.58 off the 21-year-old Memorial Van Damme meet record.
“The world record was not on my mind,” said the record-holder. “My goal was to finish my Diamond League season in a good way. It was good race but definitely not an easy one.”
World road mile champion Diribe Welteji was second and Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull third.
The top four in the men’s 800 all finished within one second of each other. Wanyonyi came from behind just before the finish to beat Olympic bronze medallist Djamel Sedjati, Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop and European champion Gabriel Tual.
Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet of Kenya won the women’s 5,000 in 14:09.82, more than nine seconds faster than the meet record. She won by 12 seconds from Ethiopia’s Medina Eisa, who set a world under-20 record.
Kenya’s Faith Cherotich earned her biggest win when she headed off the last two Olympic champions Winfred Yavi and Penruth Chemutai in the women’s 3,000 steeplechase.
“I didn’t expect to win,” Cherotich said. “I kept saying to myself that if I’m still in the lead after the last water jump I was going to win.”
The 200 winning streak of Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo was ended by American Kenny Bednarek.
Since winning the Olympic race in Paris, Tebogo won four more 200s plus a 100 in Rome.
But Olympic silver medallist Bednarek pipped him in Brussels by 0.13 seconds at 19.67.
Another favorite lost when American shot putter Ryan Crouser was second to Italy’s Leonard Fabbri.
Fabbri’s first throw of 22.98 meters broke his own national record plus the meet record, and stood up. Olympic champion Crouser got as close as 22.79 with his fourth throw.
“I know I’m capable to get that 23 meters, so that’s why I’m a little bit upset with the distance,” Fabbri said. “Of course 22.98 is huge.”
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