Lyles Nabs 200 Meters At The Line Against Olympic Champion Tebogo To Close Out Diamond League Finale; Brittany Brown Clutch When It Counts While Yared Nuguse And Josh Hoey Come Up Short
By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor
Photos courtesy Diamond League AG
Before the curtain fell on the Wanda Diamond League season on Thursday in Zurich, Switzerland, Noah Lyles lit up the stage like few others ever have.
In a race nearly as close as his Olympic 100 meters victory last year in Paris, Noah Lyles ran down Botswana’s Olympic champion in the 200, Letsile Tebogo, and pipped him at the finish line, 19.74 to 19.76.
It was a fitting end to a breathless final day of the Diamond League circuit.
“I think the most important thing is getting wins, confidence,” Lyles said. “Every race I’ve been in has been either second or first. I can’t be unhappy with that and we’ll just keep improving as we go on.”
The World Athletics Championships in Tokyo begin in 16 days, on Sept. 13.
Brittany Brown will be there, thanks to her victory in the 200 meters, where she ran down Dina Asher-Smith to reach the finish line in a season’s best time of 22.13 seconds. Brown will be the fourth American in Tokyo in the women’s 200 meters with her wild card entry.
Four meet records kept the energy high at the Weltklasse, where forecasted rainy weather did not arrive.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Norway’s Karsten Warholm dominated with a meet record time of 46.70, with Olympic champion Rai Benjamin absent and preparing for Tokyo.
Femke Bol of The Netherlands, who has a clear path to the world title in the women’s 400 hurdles since Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is focusing on a different event, broke the meet record with 52.18.
Cordell Tinch won the men’s 110-meter hurdles title in a meet record 12.92 seconds as yet another Olympic champion, Grant Holloway, was absent.
Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain won the women’s 400 meters in a meet record time of 48.70, taking down a Jarmila Kratochvilova meet record from 1982 (48.86). Naser held off a charge by Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic.
A total of 26 Diamond League champions were settled across an array of events Thursday at Letzigrund Stadium.
Jacory Patterson of the U.S. strengthened his grip on the men’s 400 meters with his victory in a new personal best time of 43.85 seconds.
Olympic 100 meters champion Julien Alfred won her specialty in a time of 10.76 seconds. It was her first race since London on July…
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