European records fell in the women’s 5000m and 400m hurdles at the London Diamond League meeting on Sunday (23), courtesy of the dynamic Dutch duo of Sifan Hassan and Femke Bol.
Reigning European Athlete of the Year Bol was in unstoppable form early in the programme as she clocked 51.45 over the barriers to move up to second on the world all-time list with the third fastest time ever.
“Amazing, I cannot believe it yet. To be honest I felt really good at some points in the race, I tried not to think about the goal [of the European record],” reflected the delighted Dutchwoman.
“I felt so strong coming over the last hurdle so I'm really happy. I've been wanting to run a 51 ever since Tokyo [Olympic Games in 2021],. I had a feeling I could do it but I still can't believe I've done it.
“I hope I can put up a great race at the World Championships and put on a great show, I hope I'm in even better shape there than I am now. There's always room to improve but for now I'm going to enjoy this.” She added.
Hassan makes it hurt
Hassan, who preceded Bol as the European Athlete of the Year when she took that accolade in 2021, was looking to reduce her own continental standard of 14:22.12, which she ran in the same Olympic Stadium in 2019, and reduced it by almost nine seconds when she crossed the line in 14:13.42.
Having passed 3km in 8:35.5 and with just a little less than two kilometres to go, shortly after the designated pacemakers dropped out, Hassan moved to the front of the pack and kept the pace going at a brutal tempo.
She went through 4km in 11:29.1 and it was clear that the European record was hers for the taking, baring accidents.
However, Hassan rarely falters in the and has a capacity to dig deep – as evidenced by her London Marathon win in 2:18:33 on her debut in April – although she had to settle for third place as Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay and Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet came past her with 40 metres to go to take first and second respectively in 14:12.29 and 14:12.92 respectively.
Hassan’s effort in London take her up to ninth on the world all-time list.
Hughes scares Mennea's ancient mark
British sprinter Zharnel Hughes was just 0.01 away from making it a third European record in less than two hours in an Olympic Stadium which was filled with almost 50,000 fans, making it the biggest one-day meeting in the world so far this year.
Hughes, who last month moved up to second on the European 100m all-time 100m list after his 9.83 in New York, now occupies the same place on the 200m list after blasting his way to a British record time of 19.73.
Pietro Mennea's long-standing European record of 19.72, set in the rarefied atmosphere of Mexico City in back 1979 and 16 years before Hughes was born, now looks finally to be living on borrowed time.
“I did it again! I predicted it! I wrote it down that exact time this morning, at about 9.30am. I wanted to get the British record here on home soil and I did it,” commented Hughes.
19.73 🔥@zharnel_hughes breaks the 30-year-old 200m British Record.
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) July 23, 2023
The form of his life 🤯#LondonDL #DiamondLeague pic.twitter.com/gNgaGWpeUJ
“I don't care about winning [he finished third behind USA’s Noah Lyles who clocked a world-leading 19.47], as long as I execute the time that my coach wanted and get the British record. We've got things I can work on but I executed my race and that was to get to 60 metres as fast as possible then just maintain from there, he added.
Another victory to delight the exuberant home crowd came in the women’s 800m, the last event of the afternoon, when Jemma Reekie showed further evidence of her return to close to her best form after a spate of injury problems with a win in 1:57.30.
An audible groan went around the stadium when it was announced that reigning European champion Keely Hodgkinson had withdrawn after feeling ill while warming up but Reekie’s victory, coming through from third to first in the final few metres after a 56.8 first lap, tempered the disappointment by a large margin.
Phil Minshull for European Athletics