(Eugene) Americans Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, new bosses of the 100m since their triumph at the World Championships in Budapest last month, were dominated during the first day of the Diamond League finals on Saturday in Eugene (Ore. UNITED STATES).
Under bright sunshine, the Hayward Field stadium, host of the 2022 World Championships, smiled less on the two rockets on Saturday than the stifling banks of the Danube a month earlier.
At home, Lyles was initially beaten by his compatriot Christian Coleman, despite a superb end to the race. Left behind halfway through, Lyles came back at the end to take second place in 9.85 s (0.1 m/s wind), ahead of Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, 3rd, by a thousandth of a second.
Coleman, 2019 world champion, got himself a nice revenge thanks to a superb start after his failure in Budapest (5th in the 100m) with a victory in 9.83s. He thus equaled the best world performance of the year, already achieved by the Briton Zharnel Hughes (in New York in June), by Noah Lyles (in Budapest in August) and by himself (in Xiamen, China, he two weeks ago).
“I had announced that I was ending my season but people were sad, they wanted me to come to the Pre Classic (name of the meeting, in homage to the rider Steve Prefontaine), explained Lyles. I said to myself that I owed them that, I like competition, and if the fans want it I will come back. I’m happy to have done it, it remains my second best time of the season. »
Lyles, three-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist in the 200m, will not, however, participate in the double lap scheduled for Sunday.
Half an hour later, her flamboyant compatriot Sha’Carri Richardson, also crowned in Budapest, was beaten quite well for her last outing in 2023.
The well-groomed sprinter, all smiles, had swapped her colorful Hungarian braids for the volume of an afro, but only took 4th place in the race in 10.80s.
“The race was incredible, a great way to end the season. It gives me work directions to prepare for the [Paris] Olympic Games next year,” she reacted.
Jamaican world vice-champion Shericka Jackson won in 10.70 s (0.8 m/s), ahead of Ivorian Marie-Josée Ta Lou (10.75 s) and Jamaican Olympic champion Elaine Thompson- Herah (10.79s).
Very in shape, Jackson is eagerly awaited on Sunday in the 200m, a distance that she dominated in Budapest, where she threatens the old world record of the American Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34s in 1988).
Good point for her, the Hayward Field track, in the green suburbs of this small town in Oregon, proved that she was still as fast as ever, with several great performances on Saturday.
At the start of the program, American Olympic vice-champion Rai Benjamin dominated three-time world champion and Norwegian Olympic champion Karsten Warholm in the 400m hurdles in 46.39s, the 4th best time in history, the fastest this year. year.
“I’m back to my old racing pattern, where I can have a great finish. I tried to master that today, and I feel like I did a great job. »
In 3 min 43.73 s, the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen achieved the third best time in history over the mile (around 1609 m), a historic distance but not run in the championship.
Kenyan world champion Faith Kipyegon completed her undefeated 1500m season with a time of 3:50.72, the 5th all-time, less than two seconds shy of her world record set in Florence (Italy) in June (3:49.11). Bahrain’s Winfred Mutile Yavi, crowned in Budapest in the 3000 m steeplechase, ran in 8 min 50.66 s, the second time in history, however far from the record of the Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech (8 min 44.32 s ).
In the shot put, American Chase Ealey won with a throw of 20.76 m, the best performance of the year and a national record. Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas also achieved the “MPM” in the triple jump with 15.35 m (1.2 m/s).
