ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND, August 31 — Cool weather may have dampened some of the speed at the Weltklasse, but a stunning hurdle run by Kyron McMaster produced the upset of the meet. The British Virgin Islander, who won silver in the Budapest 400H, here found himself in lane 6, just inside gold medalist Karsten Warholm.
As he usually does, Warholm got out fast, but McMaster ran faster, leading for the first 6 hurdles. Only at the seventh barrier did the Norwegian pull even. The two battled terrifically down the straight. In the final step, McMaster dug deeper, and crossed the line just 0.03 ahead of Warholm, 47.27–47.30. Alison dos Santos finished 3rd in 47.62, well ahead of American CJ Allen (48.28).
Said McMaster, “It feels good to get this win after the World Championships last week. I executed and did what I had to do.”
For his part, Warholm admitted, “McMaster gave me a really nice fight. I respect him for keeping the fight in the last meters. The next time, it will be my time for a revenge.”
The 1500 was another race that featured an upset of sorts. Gold medalist Josh Kerr followed the pacer through 800 in 1:51.26 but was suddenly left in front with no one to help with the pace. He didn’t flinch, but wasn’t successful in dropping his many pursuers. With 300 left (2:48.42), the Scotsman still had most of the field in striking distance behind him. He continued to drive hard, and on the final stretch, straining to hold off Budapest 4th-placer Abel Kipsang on the outside, he made the mistake of swinging a bit too wide.
That left a small door open for American Yared Nuguse, who snuck by on the inside with a lean to steal a 0.02 win over Kerr, 3:30.49–4:30.51. Kipsang ran 3rd in 3:30.85, with Britain’s George Mills PRing at 3:30.95. Cole Hocker crossed 9th in 3:32.00.
Said Nuguse, “I was going for it when Kerr opened on the inside. It was a great competition, a great time for me. This race was amazing.”
A swift pace from the start characterized the 5000, with steeple silver medalist Lamecha Girma leading at 3000 (7:43.17). The pack had rapidly thinned out, and Grant Fisher, coming back from a stress reaction, was among those who appeared to have lost contact. Up front, Yomif Kejelcha was the only one with an appetite for the fast pace. Soon the Ethiopian was running alone, with a far-back chase pack of…
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