CHORZÓW, POLAND, August 16 — The World Records that fell more than 30 years ago to a small group of Chinese women still elicit hot debate. After all this time, only one of those marks remains atop the list —a list we don’t recognize — Junxia Wang’s 8:06.11. It got its closest call yet at the Skolimowska Memorial thanks to Faith Kipyegon.
All eyes stayed on the front as Kipyegon followed her pacers, Sage Hurta-Klecker and Jessica Hull. Hurta-Klecker took care of the first K before dropping, a 2:42.07 as the Kenyan passed in 2:42.8. Hull handled the second kilo, passing that mark in 5:25.18, a 2:43.11. Kipyegon clocked 5:25.7. She would need a 2:40.4 final kilometer to add another WR to her list.
A 65.7 on the next lap put her in the hole. Her next lap took 65.0. She only kicked hard the last 200, a 30.6 that yielded a final time of 8:07.04. An African Record, it tops the 8:11.56 that Beatrice Chebet ran at Rabat in May, a mark that some (including T&FN) consider the legitimate WR.
Said Kipyegon, “To be honest, I did not see the clock on the finish line because I was so tired. But now I am very satisfied with the time. I saw the World Record red line during the race but today it was very hot.”
The 100H saw Nadine Visser start in lane 5 after a meet and Dutch Record in the heats of 12.28. With Olympic champion Masai Russell to her left and Ackera Nugent to her right, the pressure was on. Visser put herself into the lead by mid-race and was leading when she struck hurdle 6. That threw off her steps and she faded. Russell turned on the jets for a 12.19 win, breaking the DL record (and tying the No. 3 performance ever).
Tonea Marshall slashed her best to 12.24 (No. 5 American ever), edging Tobi Amusan (12.25) for 2nd. Danielle Williams PRed at 12.31 and in 5th Alia Armstrong moved to No. 9 among Americans with her 12.32 PR. Visser finished 8th in 12.60.
Said Russell, “My travel was so messed up, at first I did not want to race. I came two days ago, there were a lot of obstacles, but I stayed positive. I am definitely very confident going into Tokyo.”
The 1500 produced a WR challenge from Gudaf Tsegay, who followed the rabbit on a breakneck pace through a 1:59.97 first 800 (2:00.4 for Tsegay). She hit 1200 in 3:03.11 and would need a 45.57 final 300 to tie Kipyegon’s record. It wasn’t…
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