RABAT, MOROCCO, May 25 — The boisterous crowd at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium was entertained by a string of outstanding performances at the season’s only Diamond League stop in Africa, but for most of the fans, the final event of the evening was the main reason they filled the seats. And they did not leave disappointed after Moroccan steeplechase star Soufiane El Bakkali notched his fourth straight win at the Meeting International Mohammed VI de Rabat.
Coming off a rare two-meet losing streak — the ’24 Diamond League Final and this year’s Xiamen DL in April — the two-time Olympic champion regained his aura of invincibility in a strong performance. El Bakkali followed a swift early pace and pushed hard over the final three laps to win in 8:00.70. Giving the race a burst of drama was Frederik Ruppert, who had worked his way through the field and was steadily closing down on the Moroccan. Ruppert couldn’t match El Bakkali’s final kick, but was rewarded with a German record 8:01.49, smashing his previous PR, the 8:15.05 he ran for 4th at last year’s European Championships, and jumping to No. 7 on the “non-Kenyan born” all-time list, a remarkable compilation attesting to that East African nation’s historical impact on the event.
Paris Olympian Matthew Wilkinson improved his best by 5.48 seconds to 8:11.11 in 7th. That moved the 25-year-old Minnesota alum to No. 8 on the U.S. ATL.
Earlier in the evening, Tshepiso Masalela celebrated his 26th birthday by dominating a crowded 13-man field to win his second DL 800 of the season in a PR 1:42.70. “I was sure that for someone to beat me today it would take him to go 1:41 — which I am ready to go to,” the Botswanan star, a finalist at both the ’23 Worlds and ’24 Olympics, told meet organizers. “Nobody was pushing [after the pacemaker dropped out] so I made sure I followed the plan and pushed hard until the finish line.”
In his wake, Max Burgin (1:43.34 PR) barely held off fast-closing Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi (1:43.37) for 2nd, while Brandon Miller took 4th in a PR 1:43.52 and climbed to No. 12 on the U.S. all-time list.
Jonah Koech emerged from the pack over the final 100 meters to take the 1500 in 3:31.43, just ahead of Reynold Kipkorir (3:31.78), who had used a big kick to win the Doha 5000 a…
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