Donavan Brazier on the way to his 600m world best in New York (© Kirby Lee)
Last updated: Monday 25 Feb, 09:30 CET
Brazier sets 600m world best in New York
Blazing 600m performances by Donavan Brazier and teenager Athing Mu highlighted the final day of the US Indoor Championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in the New York City borough of Staten Island on Sunday (24).
Brazier, 21, set a world indoor best over the rarely-contested distance, clocking 1:13.77 to smash the previous mark of 1:14.79 set by Kenyan Michael Saruni in January 2018 in Albuquerque. The performance capped a strong indoor season for the former U20 standout who set a North American indoor 800m record on 9 February, clocking 1:44.41.
In the women’s race, Mu, a 16-year-old high school student from New Jersey, produced a shocking 1:23.57 run, the second fastest performance of all time, just 0.13 shy of Olga Kotlyarova's world best set in 2004, when Mu was not yet two years old. Her performance clipped 0.02 from the previous area record set by Alysia Montano in New York in 2013.
Raevyn Rogers, a three-time NCAA 800m champion, was second, clocking 1:24.88.
In a heated battle, Sharika Nelvis won the 60m hurdles in a world-leading 7.85, edging Evonne Britton by a scant 0.01. Britton, who entered the season with an 8.04 lifetime best, has run well in the latter half of the indoor season, most recently with a 7.91 victory in the Birmingham leg of the IAAF World Indoor Tour.
Devon Allen won the men's race in 7.60.
Other winners on Sunday included Katie Nageotte, who successfully defended her pole vault title with a 4.81m clearance, and Keturah Orji, who reached 14.55m in the triple jump.
Olympic 800m bronze medallist Clayton Murphy and Ajee Wilson took the 1000m titles clocking 2:20.36 and 2:34.71, to collect their fifth and ninth national titles, respectively. Shelby Houlihan bounced back from her defeat in Saturday's mile (see below) to win the two miles in 9:31.38, her ninth career national title.
Demek Kemp won the men's 60m in 6.55 while Shania Collins took the women's title clocking 7.16.
Lisek and Kendricks vault 5.93m world lead in Clermont Ferrand
Piotr Lisek and Sam Kendricks scaled a world-leading 5.93m at the All Star Perche pole vault meeting in the central French city of Clermont-Ferrand on Sunday (24).
In another deep competition here, six men cleared 5.80m, with Lisek prevailing over world champion Sam Kendricks, topping the winning height on his second attempt to add a centimetre to the previous world lead set by Armand Duplantis on Friday.
After Kendricks sailed clear on this third try, both then made three unsuccessful attempts at 6.03m. None were particularly close.
Australian Kurtis Marschall topped 5.87m, an absolute PB for the 21-year-old, to finish third.
Pole Pawel Wojciechowski, Brazil's Thiago Braz and Claudio Stecchi topped 5.80m to finish fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
Authorised neutral athlete Anzhelika Sidorova and Angelica Bengtsson of Sweden each cleared 4.81m with their first attempts to tie for the win on the women's side.
The performance marked a significant breakthrough for the 25-year-old Swede, a former world U18 and U20 champion, who added a whopping 11 centimetres to her previous indoor best set in 2015. It was also superior to her outdoor best of 4.73m set last year and added six centimetres to the national indoor record set two weeks ago by Michaela Meijer.
Ninon Guillon-Romarin of France and Alysha Newman of Canada tied for third at 4.73m, the former improving her national record by one centimetre and latter hers by two.
Holloway notches rare 60m/60m hurdles double, Duplantis vaults 5.92m in Fayetteville
Grant Holloway's impressive 2019 indoor campaign continued on the second day of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Championships in Fayetteville on Saturday (23).
In a span of just 22 minutes, the 21-year-old student from the University of Florida sped to victories in the 60m and 60m hurdles in 6.54 and 7.44 respectively, duplicating a double previously won at these championships by Terrence Trammel, a two-time world indoor champion in the event.
In the latter, Holloway was just 0.01 shy of the 7.43 world lead he set on 8 February on this same track. But he had company to the line, chased by 20-year-old Daniel Roberts who improved his lifetime best to 7.48 to move up to No.2 on the 2019 world list.
"Terrence (Trammel) is someone I always looked up to," Holloway said. "Before the season even started, I called and asked him for tips and tricks on how to do both. He greatly gave me answers. Just to be on the same level as he was when he was at South Carolina, it feels great."
In the 60m, he edged teammate Abdul Hakim Sani Brown, Japan's 2015 world U18 100m and 200m champion, who clocked a PB of 6.60.
Holloway's double victory came after a busy opening day when he topped the 60m heats in 6.57 an hour before winning his 60m hurdles heat in 7.48 to break the meeting record held by Olympic champion Omar McLeod. As soon as he crossed the line in the hurdles, Holloway dashed over to the runway for the long jump final and eventually finished second with 7.84m, just two centimetres away from victory.
Yasser Triki broke his own Algerian indoor triple jump record by 12 centimetres with a first-round 17.12m effort, elevating the 21-year-old to No.5 on the 2019 world list. Two-time NCAA indoor champion Lexi Jacobus improved her indoor best to 4.68m to take victory in the pole vault.
Elsewhere, in a spirited women's 400m race, former U20 standout Lynna Irby edged Syaira Richardson 52.02 to 52.09, a season's best for the former and lifetime best for the latter. Quincy Hall from the University of South Carolina dominated the men's race in 45.69.
On Friday (22), European champion Armand Duplantis cleared a world-leading 5.92m to win the pole vault.
The 19-year-old had attempted the height at his three previous competitions this indoor season but hadn’t yet managed to get over it. He made no mistakes in Fayetteville, though, and sailed over the bar on his first attempt at the height.
H O S S #GeauxTigers pic.twitter.com/QMS7XY1PkD
— LSUTrackField (@LSUTrackField) February 23, 2019
He had opened his series with first-time clearances at 5.54m, 5.64m and 5.79m, by which point he had already won. He then moved the bar up to 5.92m and once again went clear, not only breaking his own Swedish indoor record but also adding one centimetre to the US indoor collegiate record set by Shawn Barber in 2015, the year the Canadian went on to win the world title.
Duplantis, one of the IAAF’s Gen 10 athletes, went on to attempt 6.01m but was unsuccessful.
Crouser reaches 22.22m to highlight second day at USA indoor championships
Olympic champion Ryan Crouser's 22.22m effort in the shot put highlighted the second day of action at the USA Indoor Championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in the New York City borough of Staten Island on Saturday (23).
Opening with a 21.41m toss, the 26-year-old improved to 21.48m in the second and 21.96m in the third before reaching his best mark of the day, his second time in as many competitions this season that he has breached the 22-metre mark.
Joe Kovacs, the 2015 world champion, was second with a 21.40m season's best.
Andrew Irwin dominated the men's pole vault, topping 5.80m to win by 19 centimetres over Scott Houston. Irwin, who improved his absolute best to 5.88m earlier this season, cleared both 5.71m and the winning height with his first attempts, before topping out with three misses at 5.93m.
Vashti Cunningham, the 2016 world indoor high jump champion, topped 1.96m to win her fourth consecutive indoor title. The last time someone claimed four straight indoor crowns was 50 years ago. Cunningham, who turned 21 last month, sailed over the winning height on her second attempt before bowing out with three tries at a would-be 2.00m career best.
For the third time since 2015, the championships' track programme included non-standard distances of 300m, 600m, 1000m, one mile and two miles instead of the 400m, 800m, 1500m and 3000m, giving athletes the opportunity to move up or down from their usual distances in years when no national team spots are on the line.
The first of those finals featured the closest race of the day with Brittany Brown edging Gabby Thomas by 0.03 in 35.95 in the 300m, a world lead. Their performances were the sixth and seventh fastest of all time over the rarely-run distance. Dontavius Wright won the men's race in 32.81.
A fight until the END! 👏 Brittany Brown sets a personal record and a meet record in the women's 300m from #ToyotaUSATFIndoors. pic.twitter.com/mgfYnOub2f
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) February 24, 2019
In a tactical mile race, Colleen Quigley upset middle distance standout Shelby Houlihan, fending off the defending champion's daunting kick to win 4:29.47 to 4:29.92.
Drew Hunter, a 3:56 miler, won the two miles, clocking 8:25.29 in the first of two sections. The second section wasn't contested until three hours later, forcing the 21-year-old to nervously await the result of the second race before securing his first national title.
In other action on Saturday, Tim Ehrhardt collected 5868 points to win the heptathlon and earn his first national title. Solomon Simmons, the runner-up in the decathlon at last year's national championships, was a distant second, 102 points behind with 5766.
Kendell Williams highlighted the first day of competition with a convincing victory in the pentathlon on Friday (22), tallying 4496 to top Emilyn Dearman by 140 points. Erica Bougard, who was fifth at last year's World Indoor Championships, pulled out after two events.
Daniel Haugh won the weight throw with a 24.12m effort, the farthest in the world since 2015, to move up to No.15 on the rarely-contested event's all-time list.
Oduduru blazes 20.08 in Lubbock
Divine Oduduru of Nigeria clocked the third fastest indoor 200m performance of all time to highlight the Big 12 Conference Indoor Championships in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday (23).
Competing for host Texas Tech University, the 22-year-old blazed to a 20.08 clocking, a performance that trails just Frank Fredericks' 19.92 world record set in 1996 and Elijah Hall-Thompson's 20.02 from last year on the all-time list.
This is what the fastest 200m in the world looks like.
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) February 24, 2019
Oduduru, the 2014 world U20 silver medallist, 2018 NCAA champion and runner-up over the distance at last year's African Championships, also broke his own national indoor record of 20.18 he set on this same track last year. The performance is also faster than his 20.13 outdoor best set last year.
Two hours earlier, Oduduru won the 60m as well, clocking a 6.52 personal best.
The men's 400m was also fast.
Wil London blasted to 45.19 victory, chopping off 0.54 from his previous indoor best en route to the year's second fastest run. The performance landed London, a semi-finalist at the 2017 World Championships, just inside the all-time top 20 indoors at No.19.
Jonathan Jones, who improved the national record for Barbados to 45.38 16 days ago, led qualifiers with a 45.84 performance on Friday, but didn't finish the final.
Montgomery dashes 45.04 world lead in Birmingham
Kahmari Montgomery clocked a world-leading 45.04 performance to successfully defend his 400m title at the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday (23).
Montgomery, a student at the University of Houston who took a surprise victory at last US Championships, dominated the race, winning by more than a second-and-a-half from teammate Jermaine Holt, who clocked 46.79. The performance elevated the 21-year-old to No.12 on the world all-time indoor list.
Montgomery's previous best indoors was 45.24, set last year. Outdoors, he's clocked 44.58, also in 2018.
Otterdahl throws 21.81m NCAA record in Brookings
Payton Otterdahl broke the NCAA indoor record in the shot put at the Summit League Indoor Track & Field Championships in Brookings, South Dakota, on Saturday (24).
Otterdahl, a student at North Dakota State University, reached 21.81m in the third round to eclipse the 21.73m NCAA indoor mark shared by Ryan Crouser and Ryan Whiting. Otterdahl entered the season with bests of 20.96m outdoors and 19.62m indoors, and surpassed both with a 21.31m season's debut in Fargo on 8 December. He improved to 21.64m on 26 January.
On Friday, Otterdahl also won the 35-pound weight throw with a 23.72m effort.
Chris Nilsen, the 2018 NCAA champion outdoors, topped a season's best 5.75m to win the pole vault. Nilsen, 21, topped 5.86m outdoors and 5.80m indoors in 2018.
Jon Mulkeen and Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
