Olympic finalist Liemarvin Bonevacia from the Netherlands continued his best season to date at the age of 32 with a Dutch 400m record and European lead at the Citius Meeting in Bern, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze event, on Saturday (21).
Bonevacia, who also ran the first leg of the Netherlands’ silver medal-winning team in the 4x400m in Tokyo 2020, stopped the clock at 44.48 to improve his previous European lead and Dutch record of 44.62 which he set in the semifinal of the Olympic Games.
Bonevacia also moves to ninth on the European all-time list and within 0.15 of the long-standing European record of 44.33 which was set by Thomas Schonlebe at the 1987 World Athletics Championships in Rome. That mark will celebrate its 34th birthday next week although Karsten Warholm will look to claim ownership of the record in Lausanne on Thursday (25) evening.
After some scintillating splits in the 4x400m relays in Tokyo, Katejan Duszynski - who anchored Poland to the inaugural mixed 4x400m title in Tokyo - broke the 45 second-barrier for the first time, finishing second to Bonevacia in 44.92.
Another highlight was Jessie Knight atoning for the misfortune of falling just before the first barrier in her 400m hurdles heat at the Tokyo Olympics. The Brit won in a lifetime best and meeting record of 54.23 ahead of reigning European champion Lea Sprunger from Switzerland who set a season’s best of 54.51 in one of her last races before retirement.
Other standout performances from a Swiss standpoint on the track included Ajla Del Ponte and Jason Joseph following up their recent Swiss records in La-Chaux-de-Fonds with commanding victories in Bern. Olympic finalist Del Ponte won the 100m in 11.04 ahead of teammate Salome Kora in 11.21 while Joseph won the 110m hurdles in 13.28 by more than three-tenths from Finland’s Elmo Lakka in 13.60.
Fresh from lifetime bests in the 200m and 400m in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Poland’s Anna Kielbasinska won the 200m in Bern in 22.92 ahead of Lieke Klaver from the Netherlands in 22.96 and France’s Mouhamadou Fall won the 100m in 10.08.
European U20 decathlon champion Simon Ehammer broke the eight metre-line again in the individual long jump with 8.06m and Italy’s Elena Vallortigara cleared 1.93m for victory in the high jump.
Due to meetings being cancelled due to the pandemic, two Diamond League events were incorporated into the programme in Bern. Czech Republic’s Nikola Ogrodnikova threw 64.16m in the javelin before winning the Final Three format with 58.75m from teammate Barbora Spotakova with 58.43m and Chase Ealey from the United States won the shot put with 19.05m.
Full results here.
Ingebrigtsen and Kambundji among the winners in Eugene
Continuing from where he left off in Tokyo, Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen was a commanding winner of the prestigious Bowerman Mile at the Eugene Diamond League on Saturday (21) night.
Ingebrigtsen moved past renowned Australian front runner Stewart McSweyn on the back straight on the last lap before kicking to an unopposed victory in a world lead of 3:47.24, also a meeting record and a Norwegian record.
Ingebrigtsen will be back in action later this week in Lausanne when he takes on the likes of Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega from Ethiopia over 3000m.
Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji scored the very first Diamond League victory over her career in the 200m, defeating a high class field in the process. Kambundji won in a wind-aided 22.06 ahead of US champion Gabrielle Thomas in 22.11 with world and European champion Dina Asher-Smith returning to form after a hamstring injury in third in 22.19.
Ukraine’s Iryna Herashchenko won the high jump in a jump-off from Vashti Cunningham from the United States and Portugal’s recently crowned Olympic champion Pedro Pablo Pichardo won the triple jump with 17.63m.
Elsewhere this weekend…
At the Czech Clubs League in Prague on Sunday (22), Tomas Stanek achieved a season’s best of 21.53m in the shot put and former European indoor 60m hurdles champion Petr Svoboda also set a season’s best of 13.39 in the 110m hurdles, his fastest time in seven years.
At the CAS Meeting in Schifflange, Luxembourg on Sunday (22), Bob Bertemes won the shot put with 21.70m. Germany’s Marc Reuther clocked 1:44.71 in the 800m and teammate Julian Wagner won the 100m in a lifetime best of 10.11.
In Cles, Italy on Saturday (21) Olympic 5000m finalist and European U23 champion Nadia Battocletti set a world lead of 5:37.60 over the rarely-run distance of 2000m.