Maude Mathys and Kilian Jornet have had a stranglehold on The Race of the Five 4000s in recent years and they are among the athletes returning to the Sierre-Zinal event on Saturday (13) looking for further success.
The&nbsp;2022 World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) World Cup hits the half way point with this Gold Label race in Switzerland.
Since the first edition in 1974, the best of the best of have been gathering in the Swiss Canton of Valais every August to race the 31km from Sierre to Zinal. From the long grind of the monstrous opening climb to the final, frantic downhill, every year The Race of the Five 4000s provides fierce racing and high drama. Weisshorn, Zinalrothorn, Obergabelhorn, Matterhorn and Dent Blanch; these giants of the Alps have watched on as the giants of mountain running do battle on this historic, iconic course.
In the women&rsquo;s race, Mathys returns on the hunt for her fourth win, clearly as fit as ever after claiming double gold at the European Championships in La Palma. Mathys has been unstoppable here, running the three fastest winning times in the last three editions, culminating in last year's 2:46:03.
She will be joined on the start line by another three-time winner, Lucy Murigi, who will be looking for her first World Cup win of the year after second places at Grossglockner Berglauf and Giir di Mont. Camilla Magliano, third in the World Cup standings, will also start.
There are a number of previous podium finishers looking for an upgrade. Anais Sabrie, second in 2020 and third in 2021, will be looking to move up to the top step, while Simone Troxler and Emma Pooley, third in 2018 and 2020 respectively, are also back for more.
Joyce Njeru has been the standout performer on the Valsir Mountain Running World Cup this year, winning four Gold Label races from four starts. Only one woman has beaten her in Europe this season, Kisang Philiaries at Thyon-Dixence just last weekend. Both women will start among the favourites.
Sara Alonso will look to extend her lead in the Golden Trail World Series standings, after a win at the Mont Blanc Marathon and third place at Zegama-Aizkorri. Third place finisher in the Golden Trail World Series, Fabiola Conti, also starts, as does Sophia Laukli, winner of last weekend's Stranda Fjord Trail Race.
Also in the race are Nuria Gil and Mathilde Sagnes, silver and bronze respectively in the trail race at the European Championships, as well as previous World Cup winners Sarah Tunstall, Sarah McCormack and Alice Gaggi. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62f69c651317e6c6e378b32a.jpg" alt="Kilian Jornet and Maude Mathys at Sierre-Zinal" />
Kilian Jornet and Maude Mathys at Sierre-Zinal (&copy; Marco Gulberti / Corsa in Montagna)
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If Jornet wins the men&rsquo;s race this weekend, it will be an unbelievable 10th victory for the Catalan at Sierre-Zinal. For anyone else, a win at the Hardrock 100 four weeks before the race would be enough to count them out of contention, but it's a double that Jornet has done three times before. His 2:25:35 from 2019 is the course record.
Petro Mamu, the 2016 champion, returns, as does the great Mexican, five-time winner Ricardo Mejia, and USA's Pablo Vigil, who won four times in a row between 1979 and 1982.
The other most consistent men&rsquo;s performer at this race in recent years is Robbie Simpson. He'll be looking to take a first win after four second places, including last year. Cesare Maestri was third in 2021 and comes into the race on the back of gold and silver medals at the European Championships. Other returning podium finishers include Fred Tranchand and Remi Bonnet, second and third respectively in 2020.
Patrick Kipngeno hasn't put a foot wrong this year. On top of his perfect record in the Valsir World Cup, last weekend he broke the great Jairo Correa's 1990 course record at Thyon-Dixence. Also under the course record at that race was Mark Kangogo, who lines up here too. Kipngeno's teammate Philemon Kiriago has hardly been less impressive and will come into the race on a high after taking the win at Fletta Trail on Sunday following a string of second places.
The top three from the Golden Trail World Series will all be on the start line: Elhousine Elazzaoui, trail world champion Jon Albon and Davide Magnini, who has twice made the top five here.
European champions Sylvain Cachard and Maximilien Drion will start, alongside bronze medallists Dominik Rolli and Danial Osanz.
As ever at Sierre-Zinal, there are plenty of wild cards shuffled into the pack. Olympic marathoners have had plenty of success here and a few more will look to have an impact this weekend, including Anna Hahner of Germany and Hassan Chahdi of France, who set his marathon best of 2:08 in February of this year. US cross country legend Garrett Heath is another one to watch as he continues his journey into trail and mountain running.
Ally Beaven (WMRA) for World Athletics

Maude Mathys and Kilian Jornet have had a stranglehold on The Race of the Five 4000s in recent years and they are among the athletes returning to the Sierre-Zinal event

Mathys and Jornet head fields for Sierre-Zinal

Outside his home in Brovary, Ukraine, Artur Felfner looked to the skies in late February and saw a terrifying sight.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Russian bombs were dropping on all people in the area,&rdquo; says Felfner. &ldquo;The first day, I see Russian planes (dropping) bombs in my city &ndash; not (on) my home, but near my home.&rdquo;
Brovary is a city of about 100,000 inhabitants, an eastern suburb of the country&rsquo;s capital, Kyiv, and Felfner struggles to find the words when asked to describe what life was like there at the end of February and the start of March.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really not good,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think about sport in this time.&rdquo;
On 26 March, he left Ukraine and travelled to Portugal, where he was based for two months alongside other Ukrainian athletes like Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk and Yaroslava Mahuchikh. In May Felfner relocated to Finland, where he spent the next two months with his coach, Rymko Vyacheslav, and trained alongside Finnish thrower Janne Laspa, who had beaten Felfner to gold by just 14cm at last year&rsquo;s World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I have to say thank you so much to Finland,&rdquo; says Felfner. &ldquo;The conditions there were so good. And I did it.&rdquo;
By &lsquo;did it&rsquo;, he means he became a world U20 champion, despite all he faced this year. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62f66a9dd903618d42fdb452.jpg" alt="Ukraine's Artur Felfner celebrates his javelin win at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22" />
Ukraine's Artur Felfner celebrates his javelin win at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 (&copy; Marta Gorczynska)
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Granted, Felfner was the overwhelming favourite for men&rsquo;s javelin gold at the&nbsp;World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22, but that&rsquo;s not to say it came easy. He went into the event as the only thrower who&rsquo;d ever gone beyond the 80-metre mark, launching the spear 84.32m in Samorin, Slovakia, in June, moving him to fourth on the world U20 all-time list.&nbsp;
But going to Cali he had a niggle in his foot and, given the Ukrainian team did not have a physio there, Felfner&rsquo;s coach asked for help from the Irish team that was sharing their hotel. The Irish team physiotherapist, John Fagan, treated Felfner&rsquo;s injury and taped his foot ahead of the qualification round and final.
The evening of his final last Friday (5), Felfner had one last issue to contend with: an hour-long delay due to a thunderstorm.&nbsp;
When he eventually took to the runway, he grabbed the lead in the opening round with a 76.20m throw, but was soon overtaken by Germany&rsquo;s Max Dehning, who threw 77.24m in the second round. It took Felfner until the fifth round to better that, but his 79.36m there put the competition to bed.&nbsp;
Not that he was overly impressed by his effort.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The result is not good for me, I need over 80 metres,&rdquo; he said, draped in a Ukrainian flag, the symbolism of his victory not lost on him. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really important for me, yes. A lot of guys in Ukraine tonight &ndash; my family, my friends &ndash; see this competition on (the) live stream and I&rsquo;m so happy about that medal.&rdquo;
During the first few months of the war, his mother and brother relocated to Bulgaria, but they have since returned to Brovary, and Felfner hopes to join them in September. But first, he&rsquo;s got another championship looming: next week&rsquo;s Europeans in Munich. Felfner is ranked ninth in the men&rsquo;s javelin field, and his goal is simple.&nbsp;
&ldquo;If I throw qualification, I&rsquo;ll be really happy,&rdquo; he says.&nbsp;
For many years, the javelin has been the world around which his life has orbited. On the inside of Felfner&rsquo;s right wrist, there&rsquo;s a tattoo of a figure throwing a spear, which he had inked there at the age of 15, shortly after he first surpassed the 70-metre barrier.&nbsp; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62f66ad7d903618d42fdb455.jpg" alt="Ukrainian javelin thrower Artur Felfner at the 2021 European U20 Championships in Tallinn" />
Ukrainian javelin thrower Artur Felfner at the 2021 European U20 Championships in Tallinn (&copy; Getty Images)
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He was eight when he first tried the event, picking it up from his father, an athletics coach. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s not good with technique,&rdquo; says Felfner.&nbsp;
In his early teens, Felfner enrolled in a sports school and began to work with Vyacheslav, his current coach. His big breakthrough came in 2019, when he threw 79.37m at an international match event in Kyiv. He was just 15 at the time. The following year, he improved to 82.08m and in 2021 he won European U20 gold and world U20 silver.
When it comes to throwing, his role model is two-time Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway, whose technique he has studied extensively, alongside that of world record-holder Jan Zelezny. In June, Felfner edged ahead of Thorkildsen on the world U20 all-time list with 84.32m, and only three athletes are now ahead of him on that list.&nbsp;
Two of them &ndash; India&rsquo;s Neeraj Chopra and Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s Keshorn Walcott &ndash; went on to become Olympic champions, but when Felfner looks at the road ahead, he&rsquo;s taking it steady. He has three main goals next year: to throw over 85 metres, to qualify for the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, and to take gold at the European U23 Championships in Espoo, Finland.&nbsp;
But, more immediately, he&rsquo;s looking forward to something else: his return to Brovary next month to recommence his studies and reunite with his family.&nbsp;
And as he notes, most importantly of all: &ldquo;They are safe.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Cathal&nbsp;Dennehy for World Athletics

World Athletics U20 Championships

Outside his home in Brovary, Ukraine, Artur Felfner looked to the skies in late February and saw a terrifying sight. 

Despite all he faced, Felfner achieves aim - getting gold for Ukraine

Defending champions Ruth Chepngetich and Seifu Tura lead this year&rsquo;s Bank of America Chicago Marathon field, joined by some of the world&rsquo;s best athletes who will be vying to dethrone them at the World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race on 9 October.
Kenya&rsquo;s 2019 world marathon champion Chepngetich started on world record pace in last year&rsquo;s race and although she slowed over the second half of the course, she had enough to take the crown in 2:22:31. Her PB of 2:17:08 set in Dubai in 2019 makes her the fourth-fastest ever women&rsquo;s marathon runner but she was unable to finish when racing in last month&rsquo;s World Championships marathon in Oregon.
Unlike the fast pace set by his fellow champion last year, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Tura waited until 38km to pull ahead and win the biggest race of his career so far. With a 2:04:29 personal best, Tura clocked 2:06:12 to win in 2021 and was sixth in the World Championships marathon in Oregon.
Kenya&rsquo;s Celestine Chepchirchir and Vivian Kiplagat plus Ethiopia&rsquo;s Haven Hailu Desse&nbsp;are among some of this year&rsquo;s elite women hoping to prevent a repeat victory from Chepngetich.
Chepchirchir, winner of the 2019 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, enters this year&rsquo;s race fresh off a personal best of 2:20:10 set at the Seoul International Marathon. Kiplagat, winner of this year&rsquo;s Milan Marathon in a 2:20:18 PB, attempted to stay on Chepngetich&rsquo;s heels during last year&rsquo;s Chicago Marathon before fading to fifth place. Desse, meanwhile, made her marathon debut in 2020 and set a personal best of 2:20:19 in 2021 to finish third in Amsterdam, before claiming her first marathon victory in Rotterdam in April.
Emily Sisson, Laura Thweatt, Sarah Sellers and Sara Vaughn lead a strong delegation of US women. Sisson, a six-time national champion and the US half marathon record-holder with 1:07:11, could now have her sights on the US marathon record of 2:19:12 as she races to break the tape in Chicago.
In the men&rsquo;s competition, Tura will clash with his compatriots Herpasa Negasa, Dawit Wolde and Asrar Abderehman, plus Uganda&rsquo;s Stephen Kissa and Kenya&rsquo;s Benson Kipruto.
Negasa had a breakthrough in 2019 when he shaved almost six minutes from his PB in Dubai to run 2:03:40. He heads to Chicago after a second place performance in Seoul, clocking 2:04:49.
Wolde boasts a marathon personal best of 2:04:27, set in 2021 to finish third in Rotterdam, while Abderehman made headlines in February when he broke the course record at the Zurich Seville Marathon, taking three minutes off his PB to run 2:04:43. &nbsp;
Kissa, a Tokyo Olympian in the 10,000m, brings years of track speed to the road, running 2:04:48 for his debut marathon in Hamburg in April. Kipruto&rsquo;s 2:05:13 personal best may not be the fastest in the field, but he has performed well at the marathon distance, winning the Boston and Prague Marathons in 2021 and finishing third in Boston this April. He also finished seventh in London in 2020 and won the Toronto Marathon in 2018.
USA&rsquo;s Conner Mantz &ndash; who is coached by 1994 Chicago Marathon runner-up Ed Eyestone &ndash; and Australia&rsquo;s Patrick Tiernan make their marathon debuts. They will be joined by 2021 sixth-place finisher Colin Mickow, Japan&rsquo;s Hiroto Fujimagari, Kenya&rsquo;s John Korir and USA&rsquo;s Frank Lara on the start line.
Organisers for World Athletics
 Women
Ruth Chepngetich (KEN) 2:17:08 Celestine Chepchirchir (KEN) 2:20:10 Vivian Kiplagat (KEN) 2:20:18 Haven Hailu Desse (ETH) 2:20:19 Emily Sisson (USA) 2:23:08&nbsp; Laura Thweatt (USA) 2:25:38&nbsp; Sarah Sellers (USA) 2:25:43&nbsp; Sara Vaughn (USA) 2:26:53 Susanna Sullivan (USA) 2:26:56&nbsp; Diane Nukuri (USA) 2:27:50&nbsp; Krista DuChene (CAN) 2:28:32 &nbsp; Maggie Montoya (USA) 2:29:08 &nbsp; Ursula Sanchez (MEX) 2:29:11 Carrie Verdon (USA) 2:31:51&nbsp; Rachel Hannah (CAN) 2:32:09&nbsp; Brittney Feivor (USA) 2:32:41&nbsp; Meriah Earle (USA) 2:34:19&nbsp; Marie-Ange Brumelot (FRA)&nbsp; Kristen Heckert (USA) 2:38:54&nbsp; Olivia Pratt (USA) 2:40:42&nbsp; Jessie Cardin (USA) debut Makena Morley (USA) debut&nbsp;
Men
Herpasa Negasa (ETH) 2:03:40 Dawit Wolde (ETH) 2:04:27&nbsp; Seifu Tura (ETH) 2:04:29&nbsp; Asrar Abderehman (ETH) 2:04:43&nbsp; Stephen Kissa (UGA) 2:04:48&nbsp; Benson Kipruto (KEN) 2:05:13&nbsp; Eric Kiptanui (KEN) 2:05:47&nbsp; Kyohei Hosoya (JPN) 2:06:35 Hamza Sahli (MAR) 2:07:15 Ichitaka Yamashita (JPN)&nbsp; Hiroto Fujimagari (JPN) 2:08:20&nbsp; Kiyoshi Koga (JPN) 2:08:30 Riki Nakanishi (JPN) 2:08:51&nbsp; John Korir (KEN) 2:09:08&nbsp; Matt McDonald (USA) 2:10:35&nbsp; Jerrell Mock (USA) 2:10:37&nbsp; Jeisson Suarez (COL) 2:10:51&nbsp; Colin Mickow (USA) 2:11:22&nbsp; Frank Lara (USA) 2:11:32 Reid Buchanan (USA) 2:11:38&nbsp; Wilkerson Given (USA) 2:11:44 Tyler McCandless (USA) 2:12:28 Turner Wiley (USA) 2:13:40&nbsp; Nico Montanez (USA) 2:13:55 &nbsp; Alan Peterson (USA) 2:14:45&nbsp; Dan Kremske (USA) 2:14:53&nbsp; Zach Panning (USA) 2:15:04&nbsp; Paul Hogan (USA) 2:15:08&nbsp; Clayton Young (USA) 2:16:07&nbsp; Garret Lee (USA) 2:18:21&nbsp; Abdulmuhsen Alali (KUW) 2:19:17&nbsp; Chase Weaverling (USA) 2:20:58 John Dressel (USA) debut&nbsp; JP Flavin (USA) debut&nbsp; Conner Mantz (USA) debut Patrick Tiernan (AUS) debut

Ruth Chepngetich and Seifu Tura will be at the helm of this year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon field

Chepngetich and Tura to defend Chicago Marathon titles

Endurance medicine conference

Endurance Medicine 2022: Washington, DC

Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir, world champion Gotytom Gebreslase and world cross-country champion Hellen Obiri will toe the line at the TCS New York City Marathon, a World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race, on 6 November.
Jepchirchir&rsquo;s fellow defending champion Albert Korir is one of the headline names in the men&rsquo;s race. The Kenyan will take on Boston Marathon champion Evans Chebet, 2020 London Marathon champion Shura Kitata and Olympic silver medallist Abdi Nageeye.
Two-time world half marathon Jepchirchir is the only athlete &ndash; man or woman &ndash; to have won the Olympic, New York City, and Boston marathons.&nbsp; She is also the fifth-fastest woman in history, having won the 2020 Valencia Marathon in 2:17:16, making her the fastest entrant for the women&rsquo;s race in New York.
Last year, Jepchirchir won the Olympic marathon by 16 seconds, and then four months later won the New York City Marathon in 2:22:39, just eight seconds off the course record. Then in April, in a back-and-forth race that came down to the final mile, Jepchrichir fended off Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh in a thrilling sprint to the finish to take the Boston Marathon title.
Obiri, a two-time world champion over 5000m, will be making her marathon debut. The double Olympic silver medallist set a half marathon PB of 1:04:22 earlier this year and went on to claim silver over 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Gebreslase, the 2021 Berlin Marathon champion, struck gold in the marathon at the recent World Championships, smashing the championship record with 2:18:11.
Two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat, Israel&rsquo;s world marathon bronze medallist Lonah Salpeter and Ethiopia&rsquo;s 2015 world 5000m silver medallist Senbere Teferi are also in the line-up, as is USA&rsquo;s Sara Hall and Britain&rsquo;s Jess Piasecki.
Such is the quality of the men&rsquo;s field, defending champion Korir isn&rsquo;t among the 10 fastest entrants.
Chebet, who won the Boston Marathon earlier this year, has the fastest PB of the field with the 2:03:00 he ran to win the 2020 Valencia Marathon.
Kitata finished second in New York in 2018, seven months after clocking his PB of 2:04:49 when finishing second in London.
Brazil&rsquo;s South American record-holder Daniel Do Nascimento, Dutch record-holder Nageeye, Japan&rsquo;s Suguru Osako and USA&rsquo;s two-time Olympic medallist Galen Rupp are also among the faster entrants in the men&rsquo;s race. Elite field
Women Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) 2:17:16 Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (ISR) 2:17:45 Gotytom Gebreslase (ETH) 2:18:11 Edna Kiplagat (KEN) 2:19:50 Sara Hall (USA) 2:20:32 Jess Piasecki (GBR) 2:22:27 Des Linden (USA) 2:22:28 Mao Uesugi (JPN) 2:22:29 Viola Cheptoo (KEN) 2:22:44 Emma Bates (USA) 2:23:18 Caroline Rotich (KEN) 2:23:22 Senbere Teferi (ETH) 2:24:11 Lindsay Flanagan (USA) 2:24:35 Dakotah Lindwurm (USA) 2:25:01 Eloise Wellings (AUS) 2:25:10 Jessica Stenson (AUS) 2:25:15 Gerda Steyn (RSA) 2:25:28 Annie Frisbie (USA) 2:26:18 Aliphine Tuliamuk (USA) 2:26:50 Stephanie Bruce (USA) 2:27:47 Nell Rojas (USA) 2:25:57 Roberta Groner (USA) 2:29:09 Molly Grabill (USA) 2:29:17 Ruth Van der Meijden (NED) 2:29:30 Sharon Lokedi (KEN) debut Hellen Obiri (KEN) debut
Men Evans Chebet (KEN) 2:03:00 Shura Kitata (ETH) 2:04:49 Daniel Do Nascimento (BRA) 2:04:51 Abdi Nageeye (NED) 2:04:56 Suguru Osako (JPN) 2:05:29 Galen Rupp (USA) 2:06:07 Tadesse Abraham (SUI) 2:06:38 Mohamed El Aaraby (MAR) 2:06:55 Olivier Irabaruta (BDI) 2:07:13 Tetsuya Yoroizaka (JPN) 2:07:55 Leonard Korir (USA) 2:07:56 Albert Korir (KEN) 2:08:03 Girma Bekele Gebre (ETH) 2:08:23 Scott Fauble (USA) 2:08:52 Abdi Abdirahman (USA) 2:08:56 Marty Hehir (USA) 2:08:59 Elkanah Kibet (USA) 2:09:07 Daniele Meucci (ITA) 2:09:25 Jared Ward (USA) 2:09:25 Mick Iacofano (USA) 2:09:55 Reed Fischer (USA) 2:10:42 Nathan Martin (USA) 2:11:05 Matt Llano (USA) 2:11:14 Frank Futselaar (NED) 2:11:30 Matt Baxter (NZL) debut Shadrack Kipchirchir (USA) debut

Peres Jepchirchir, Gotytom Gebreslase and Hellen Obiri will toe the line on 6 November

Global champions Jepchirchir, Obiri and Gebreslase confirmed for New York City clash

A stubborn resistance can be a positive trait for many elite athletes. The refusal to yield space or submit to internal fatigue is a valuable characteristic for any 800m runner of substance.&nbsp;
But for Slovenia&rsquo;s Anita Horvat, it was only when she backed down and took on the recommendations of others that her career moved on to a different level. And it has led to a breakthrough season where she reached the 800m final at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, placing seventh.
A successful 400m runner, Horvat represented Slovenia in that discipline at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships and the Tokyo Olympics. It has also brought her the national record of 51.22 and six national titles over 400m.&nbsp;
She also teamed up with compatriot Zan Rudolf to finish third in the mixed 2x2x400m at the 2021 World Relays in Silesia, Poland, offering a glimpse into her endurance as well as her speed.
&ldquo;When I was running 400 metres, other coaches were always telling me that I should run 800m because I had a body for 800m, but I was not ready to listen,&rdquo; she now freely admits. &ldquo;When I changed coach, we talked about it and decided to change.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Last year it was Olympic season and I stayed with 400 so I could qualify, but this season we said we would try 800 more seriously.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62f4fa44be5644bec4e3f235.jpg" alt="Anita Horvat running alongside Shaunae Miller-Uibo in the 400m at the Tokyo Olympics" />
Anita Horvat running alongside Shaunae Miller-Uibo in the 400m at the Tokyo Olympics (&copy; Getty Images)
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 The results have been clear evidence that the move has paid off handsomely. Her first 800m of the year came indoors and was a modest 2:05.23 in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. She chopped two seconds off that time two weeks later with a 2:03.27 clocking in Padua. And by the time the outdoor season began, she was really finding her stride in her new event.&nbsp;
She logged 2:01.60 in Savona, Italy, in May and followed it with a run of top-three finishes, including a 2:00.31 victory at the Slovenian Championships. Her consistency meant that she qualified for the World Championships through her world rankings position.
Having also qualified in the 400m, Horvat lined up for her &lsquo;old&rsquo; event on the third day of the championships, but finished sixth in her heat. Four days later, she finished second in her heat of the 800m and then placed third in her semifinal, breaking the two-minute barrier for the first time (1:59.60) and qualifying for her first global championships final. She eventually placed seventh in 1:59.83.
&ldquo;It was full of surprises,&rdquo; she says of her experience in Eugene. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect that I would run that fast and get to the final. It was a really surprising championship for me. Everything is possible. I have learned that I belong among the best in the world. I gained some confidence there.&rdquo;
Since then, Horvat has maintained the momentum, racing to another lifetime best at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Silesia, placing third in 1:58.96 in a race won by USA&rsquo;s world indoor champion Ajee Wilson.
&ldquo;I think it is like a dream season. I never even dared to dream about what I am doing right now with my results,&rdquo; she smiles. &ldquo;I am very, very happy with my progress.&rdquo;
But as her speed improves, she also recognises the need to refine her tactics for the two-lap tussle. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62f4fa5bbe5644bec4e3f238.jpg" alt="Anita Horvat in the 800m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Anita Horvat in the 800m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 &ldquo;In 400 you have your own lane. In 800, you need to fight for space. I don&rsquo;t like it right now. I don&rsquo;t know the tactics. I don&rsquo;t know the girls. It&rsquo;s a bit hard for me, but I will get used to it. I am trying not to be too aggressive, but eventually I will have to &ndash; because they are.&rdquo;
Based in Trbnje, Horvat is coached by former Slovenian 110m hurdles champion Tevz Korent in a group that contains several rising talents including Marusa Mismas and Veronika Sadek. Mismas was sixth in the steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics last year and Sadek finished fifth in the 800m at the recent World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22.
Horvat also has another important member of her training group to accompany her on runs through nearby forests. &ldquo;I have a dog, I love him,&rdquo; she says of her canine companion. &ldquo;He is a King Charles spaniel called Jack. He runs with me and is a very sporty dog.&rdquo;
As well as Jack, her family ties have played a critical role in her ascent in the sport. The athletics career of her elder sister Janja made an indelible impression on her growing up.&nbsp;
&ldquo;My big sister was an athlete, she ran the 400m hurdles,&rdquo; recalls Horvat. &ldquo;She is nine years older than I am. I was always cheering for her, going to her races. She was always winning nationals.
&ldquo;I really enjoyed it and I always said as a child that I wanted to be an athlete. So, a few years later I started with athletics and here I am!&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62f4fa922958707c975f493f.jpg" alt="Anita Horvat at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Anita Horvat at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 Looking ahead to the rest of the season, she is focused on the European Championships in Munich, where the athletics takes place 15-21 August.
Horvat will head to the German city with expectations raised, but with ambitions kept in check. &ldquo;I want to run faster,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I want to get to the final and you know, be fast in the final.&rdquo;
As for trying a further step in middle distance to 1500m, that strong-willed streak remerges. &ldquo;No, no definitely not. 800m is the limit,&rdquo; she insists with a smile. But for Horvat, in her new event, the sky is perhaps the only other limit.
Chris Broadbent for World Athletics

From Slovenian record-holder at 400m to World Championships finalist at 800m. And that's just the beginning

Horvat starting to reap the rewards after switch to 800m

In the hours before the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco began, thunder rolled across the Cote d&rsquo;Azur. But it was left to two of the fastest women in the world &ndash; Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Faith Kipyegon &ndash; to provide the lightning on Wednesday (10).
World 100m champion Fraser-Pryce is affectionately known as Mommy Rocket, and Kipyegon has adopted the logo Mother Stronger. They both make a mockery of the theories of a previous age that mothers could not be great athletes.
Tonight Olympic and world champion Kipyegon broke every 1500m record in the book, except the one she most desired, as she flew around the track in a different race from the rest of the field.
The diminutive Kenyan tracked the pacemakers through the first 900m, by which time she had left the other competitors far in her wake. For the last 600m she had only the pacing lights for company and knew she was within touching distance of Genzebe Dibaba&rsquo;s 2015 world record of 3:50.07. 
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vDq4k024x8Y" width="100%" height="475" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 When Kipyegon crossed the finish line, she had broken the Kenyan record, the meeting record and her personal best, but had fallen an agonising 0.3 short of the world mark. She remains the second-fastest in history but is getting closer to No.1 with every attempt.
&ldquo;I have been chasing the time for quite some time but I am happy with the personal best,&rdquo; she said.
&ldquo;I knew this was the best place to get the world record so I am disappointed I lost it in the last metres.&rdquo;
The world record is the only honour to elude Kipyegon, who has won both the Olympic and world 1500m titles after returning from the birth of her first child in 2019.
Second-placed Heather MacLean was more than eight seconds behind but still under four minutes (3:58.89), as was her US compatriot Elise Cranny in third (3:59.06).
World 100m champion Fraser-Pryce continued to defy the aging process, setting a world-leading 10.62 to win by a full metre from world 200m champion Shericka Jackson, who set a personal best of 10.71 as she tried to keep pace with her compatriot. 
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 With this performance, Fraser-Pryce became the first woman to break 10.7 six times in one season.
&ldquo;To be able to run 10.6 consistently means a lot to me,&rdquo; she said.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s remarkable. It is very hard to keep the speed on this high level. I&rsquo;m in my late thirties and I think I feel like I have more to give. I look forward to doing my personal best (10.60) for the rest of the season.&rdquo;
Fraser-Pryce also inspired an African record from Marie-Jose Ta Lou (10.72) in third place and an equal personal best of 10.81 from Aleia Hobbs in fourth.
The world champions also collided in the men&rsquo;s 200m, where Noah Lyles prevailed over 400m specialist Michael Norman at his specialist distance in 19.45, but could not quite reproduce his breath-taking speed in Oregon (19.31).
Lyles, who broke his own meeting record by 0.2, described his run as &ldquo;kind of wobbly&rdquo; and said he hoped to improve at his next start in Lausanne.
Exciting teenager Erriyon Knighton (19.84) split the two world champions with Norman third (19.95). 
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 In the third clash of the Oregon titans, 1500m winner Jake Wightman triumphed over 1000m in 2:13.88, to move to No.9 on the world all-time list over the rarely-raced distance. Canada&rsquo;s world 800m bronze medallist Marco Arop was the only one to follow the world-record pace, with Wightman 20 metres behind him in no-man&rsquo;s-land for much of the race. However, Wightman began to reel in the Canadian with 200 metres to go and passed him 10 metres before the finish line.
Wightman said this was a perfect tune-up for next week&rsquo;s European Championships in Munich, where he will step down to the 800m and shapes as a serious threat on this evidence.
The women&rsquo;s 800m saw Natoya Goule slip under 1:57 for the first time this season, clocking 1:56.98 to win from US duo Sage Hurta (1:57.84) and Olivia Baker (1:58.05).
World champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo also had it all her own way in the 400m (49.28) winning by more than half a second from Candice McLeod (49.87) and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sada Williams (50.10).
In the men&rsquo;s 3000m, Burundi&rsquo;s Thierry Ndikumwenayo produced the most surprising result of the day, overhauling last year&rsquo;s Diamond League champion Berihu Aregawi in the home straight to win in a world-leading 7:25.93, a nine-second personal best, Diamond League record and national record. Aregawi (7:26.81) also set a personal best in second, as did Grant Fisher in third (7:28.48, a North American record). 
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 Meanwhile, novice steeplechaser Werkuha Getachew continued to build her reputation after claiming the silver medal in Oregon last month, winning the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeple in Monaco in 9:06.19, from fellow Ethiopian Zerfe Wondemagegn (a personal best of 9:06.63) and Elizabeth Bird in a British record of 9:07.87.
The Olympic and world champion and world record-holder Sydney McLaughlin was an interested face in the crowd rather than on the track for the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles, having withdrawn from the meeting last week. In her absence, Jamaica&rsquo;s 2019 world bronze medallist Rushell Clayton took the win in a personal best of 53.33, from her compatriot Janieve Russell (53.52).
In the high hurdles, world 110m champion Grant Holloway dipped under 13 seconds for the first time this season, winning in 12.99. World silver medallist Trey Cunningham ran him close (13.03) as did Olympic champion Hansle Parchment (13.08).
<h2>Barshim wins a jump off</h2>
In contrast to his famous Olympic high jump victory, shared with Gianmarco Tamberi, after they declined to break their tie, Qatar&rsquo;s Mutaz Barshim was forced to endure a jump-off to claim the win in Monaco.
At the end of the regular competition, world champion Barshim and world silver medallist Woo Sanghyeok had identical scorecards, both having maintained clean sheets to 2.32m, where both failed to clear the bar. A fourth attempt at that height also eluded them before Barshim made the only successful attempt at 2.30m to secure the victory.
World and Olympic triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas was also forced to work for the win after runway issues left her without a mark after three rounds. It wasn&rsquo;t until the fifth round that Rojas finally found the take-off board and her one decent jump (15.01m) was enough to maintain her winning streak. World silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts led through most of the competition after a first-round leap of 14.91m and finished second, five centimetres ahead of USA&rsquo;s Tori Franklin, as they reproduced the World Championships podium. 
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 Cuba&rsquo;s Maykel Masso took an early lead in the men&rsquo;s long jump when he soared to a season&rsquo;s best of 8.35m in the second round and despite the presence of two of the three men who trumped him for the medals in Oregon, neither of them could best him.
Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou responded in the third round with 8.31m, as did USA&rsquo;s Marquis Dendy, but neither could improve their positions in the subsequent rounds. Tentoglou took second place on a countback from Dendy.
The women&rsquo;s pole vault was also a tight affair with the top three women all clearing 4.66m. Commonwealth Games champion Nina Kennedy&rsquo;s first-time clearance gave her a first-time Diamond League victory from world indoor champion Sandi Morris and 2016 Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi. 
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 Kennedy was one of two Australian winners in the Stade Louis II as world javelin champion Kelsey-Lee Barber extended her hot streak.
In contrast to her usual final-round heroics, Barber set the standard early tonight, taking the lead with a first-round throw of 62.96m. The Commonwealth Games champion improved to 64.50m in the third round and that was enough to take the win from Japan&rsquo;s Haruka Kitaguchi (62.37m) and fellow Australian Mackenzie Little (61.76m).
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Faith Kipyegon comes within 0.3 of world 1500m record, Fraser-Pryce dashes to 10.62 over 100m

Kipyegon and Fraser-Pryce continue hot streak in Monaco

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Noah Lyles, Faith Kipyegon and Shericka Jackson will be <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/diamond-league/news/monaco-herculis-kipyegon-rojas-lyles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">among the world champions hoping to secure qualification</a> for the Wanda Diamond League final at the 10th leg of the season at Herculis Monaco on Wednesday (10).
The action begins at 18.30 local time (CEST) with the men's long jump and the main programme kicks off at 20.00 with the women's 400m hurdles.
Here&rsquo;s how you can follow the action in Monaco.
&nbsp;
<h2>Where to watch</h2>
<a href="https://monaco.diamondleague.com/en/programme-resultats-monaco-en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results, programme and entry lists</a> | <a href="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/62f3a06642256147c5e4f06a.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Media information sheets and athlete biographies</a>
The meeting will be streamed in a number of territories on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/diamondleague/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wanda Diamond League YouTube page</a> from 21:00 local time (CEST). The livestream will not be available in all territories. To find out where the meeting may be broadcast in your country, check the list below. If your country does not appear on the list, please check local listings. The list is subject to change, and some broadcasters may only show highlights coverage, while others will show the meeting live. Please check your local listings to find out more information. 
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; border-color: #333333; border-style: solid; width: 100%;" border="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="60%">Territories</td>
<td valign="top" width="40%">Broadcaster</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Africa: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Reunion, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Socotra, South Africa, St. Helena and Ascension, Swaziland, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Zanzibar, Algeria, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Mayotte, Morocco, Saint Helena, Somalia, Togo, Tunisia, Western Sahara</td>
<td valign="top">Supersport (English) / Canal+ (French)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Argentina</td>
<td valign="top">TeleRed</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Australia</td>
<td valign="top">Fox Sports</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Baltics: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania</td>
<td valign="top">TV3 (SIA)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Balkans:&nbsp;Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia</td>
<td valign="top">Sportklub</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Belgium</td>
<td valign="top">VRT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Brazil</td>
<td valign="top">Globo / Newco - Band Sport</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Bulgaria</td>
<td valign="top">A1 - Sport Max</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba), Cayman Islands, Cuba, Cura&ccedil;ao, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Barth&eacute;lemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands</td>
<td valign="top">Flow Sports</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">China</td>
<td valign="top">CCTV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Czech Republic</td>
<td valign="top">Ceska Televize</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Denmark</td>
<td valign="top">NENT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Finland</td>
<td valign="top">MTV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">France / Monaco</td>
<td valign="top">L'Equipe / Sportall / AthleTV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Germany</td>
<td valign="top">Sky Deutschland</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Greece / Cyprus</td>
<td valign="top">TAF / ERT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">India</td>
<td valign="top">Viacom 18</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Israel</td>
<td valign="top">Charlton</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Italy and the Vatican City</td>
<td valign="top">Sky / Rai</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Hungary</td>
<td valign="top">MTVA</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Macau</td>
<td valign="top">TDM</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic</td>
<td valign="top">Sky Mexico</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Netherlands</td>
<td valign="top">Ziggo Sports / NOS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">New Zealand</td>
<td valign="top">Spark</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Norway</td>
<td valign="top">NRK</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Poland</td>
<td valign="top">Polsat</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Portugal</td>
<td valign="top">Sport TV Portugal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Singapore</td>
<td valign="top">Starhub</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">South Korea</td>
<td valign="top">KBS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Slovakia</td>
<td valign="top">RTV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Spain</td>
<td valign="top">Movistar</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Sweden</td>
<td valign="top">C More-TV4 / SVT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Switzerland</td>
<td valign="top">SRG</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Thailand</td>
<td valign="top">Cineplex / Mono</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Turkey</td>
<td valign="top">Ssport</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">United Kingdom, Guernsey, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man- audio BBC Service overseas</td>
<td valign="top">BBC</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Ukraine</td>
<td valign="top">Sentana</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">USA</td>
<td valign="top">NBC Sports</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Vietnam</td>
<td valign="top">SCTV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
Bhutan, Bolivia, Chile, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Mongolia, Myanmar, North Korea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka, Uruguay, Venezuela
</td>
<td valign="top">Wanda Diamond League YouTube / Facebook</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;
<h2>Social media</h2>
- World Athletics: <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldAthletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/worldathletics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@worldathletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> - Wanda Diamond League: <a href="https://twitter.com/diamond_league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DiamondLeague/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/diamondleagueathletics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a> - Herculis EBS: <a href="https://monaco.diamondleague.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Website</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/MeetingHerculis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/meeting.herculis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;" href="https://www.instagram.com/diamondleaguemonaco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a>
&nbsp;

Here's how you can catch all the action from the Herculis EBS meeting

How to follow and watch the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco

The road to the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23 got a little more travelled on Sunday (7), when the official test event was staged.
With just over six months to go until Australia hosts its first senior World Athletics Series event, 500 runners from across New South Wales laced up their spikes on the Mount Panorama course and put it through its paces in the NSW Short Course Cross Country Championships.
Runners took on the &lsquo;Billabong&rsquo;, &lsquo;Bondi Beach&rsquo; and &lsquo;Mount Panorama&rsquo; sections of the route. Adding to the challenge was a plethora of mud, thanks to significant mid-week rain in the region. 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LP68-6wtYL8" width="100%" height="475" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 Additional elements will be added to the course in time for the global event, including the &lsquo;Vineyard&rsquo;, &lsquo;Berm&rsquo;, &lsquo;Bush&rsquo; and &lsquo;Aussie Outback&rsquo;.
Among those hoping to be on the start line on 18 February is newly-crowned Commonwealth Games 1500m champion Olli Hoare, who revealed in Birmingham that the World Cross Country Championships would be his next major target. He said he and fellow world-class middle distance man Stewart McSweyn were preparing to lead the Australian charge on home soil next year.
&ldquo;We have an amazing group of guys, and we want to do some damage there,&rdquo; Hoare said. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62f2dc2cf35f9c87a6ece4ec.jpg" alt="The NSW Short Course Cross Country Championships" />
The NSW Short Course Cross Country Championships (&copy; Fred Etter)
</div>
On Sunday, the open women&rsquo;s 6km event saw two World Cross Country Championships team prospects in action. Holly Campbell took the title in 22:34, defeating Sydney-based South African Aynslee Van Graan, who competed at the 2019 edition of the global showpiece in Denmark.
The men&rsquo;s event was won by Ethan Wyatt-Smith from Drew Fryer, 20:14 to 20:23.
Organisers for World Athletics

World Athletics Cross Country Championships

The road to the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23 got a little more travelled on Sunday

Athletes put WXC Bathurst 23 course through its paces

Ten years on, the men&rsquo;s 800m final at the London Olympics remains suspended in time as 1:40.91 of sheer athletic perfection and grace.
It might have been a decade ago but David Rudisha&rsquo;s run in the English capital&rsquo;s showpiece Olympic arena on the evening of Thursday 9 August 2012 is a timeless two-lap tour de force.
If you check out the Kenyan&rsquo;s gait as he strides majestically up the home straight, you will see the form not so much of a master of the middle distances, but of a natural sprinter pushing back the boundaries of high-speed endurance.
That, in essence, is what the 6ft 3in Maasai warrior accomplished as he claimed Olympic 800m gold in the style of Alberto Juantorena, setting new world record figures in the process.
In Montreal in 1976, Juantorena took 0.20 off Marcello Fiasconaro&rsquo;s world record as he galloped to victory in 1:43.50. The great Cuban was nicknamed El Caballo, the horse.
There was more than a touch of the thoroughbred about Rudisha&rsquo;s stunning display of sustained pace. He blitzed through 200m in 23.5, 400m in 49.28 and 600m in 1:40.91.
A herd of 50 cattle were slaughtered in his honour at his initiation ceremony as fully-fledged Maasai warrior in 2010. Two years on, the smooth-striding powerhouse of a Kenyan slaughtered both the opposition and his own world record.
<h2>"Most extraordinary piece of running ever"</h2>
Rudisha led from gun to tape and finished 0.18 clear of 18-year-old Botswanan Nijel Amos in 1:40:91. That was precisely 0.10 inside the global mark he set in Rieti in 2010.
His average speed per 200m section was 25.22. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62f25feacc5b701f98f895c1.jpg" alt="David Rudisha next to his world 800m record figures at the London 2012 Olympic Games" />
David Rudisha next to his world 800m record figures at the London 2012 Olympic Games (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
The 80,000 crowd watched in wonder. Up in the main stand, the chairman of the London 2012 organising committee, Sebastian Coe, was as awestricken as anyone. &ldquo;It was the most extraordinary piece of running I have ever seen,&rdquo; he said.
The future president of World Athletics was a two-time world record-holder for the two-lap distance. His best time was 1:41.73, which Amos matched with a world U20 record in second place.
&ldquo;That is one of the few races I watch back and I remember everything about it,&rdquo; the quietly-spoken, self-effacing Rudisha confided in a Kenyan television documentary. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just as fresh as yesterday.
&ldquo;I ran the race exactly the way I planned, only a little faster. I wanted to run 1:41.00. When I saw 1:40-something on the clock, it was a little bit of a surprise.&rdquo;
<h2>"Iconic race"</h2>
Breathtaking as it was for the watching world to behold, the performance came as little surprise to the genial soul who was the chief architect of Rudisha&rsquo;s 2012 Olympic success &ndash; and those of countless other Kenyans on the international track and field stage.
As was his wont on the major occasions for his athletes, Brother Colm O&rsquo;Connell was far from the madding crowd of London. The Irish missionary watched the fastest 800m race in history on television, while leaning against the bar of the Kerio View Hotel on the edge of the Great Rift Valley in Iten. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/1c084208-8a04-4277-be8d-e25ddf90905f.jpg" alt="World record-holder David Rudisha with his coach, Colm O'Connell" />
World record-holder David Rudisha with his coach, Colm O'Connell (&copy; Myra McSweeney)
</div>
In keeping with his unassuming nature, Brother Colm likes his world-beating middle and long distance runners to get on with the business of winning their global titles without their coach getting in the way of the attendant fuss at major championships. He raised a quiet pint in celebration of Rudisha&rsquo;s awesome victory, the champagne moment of the track and field programme at London 2012.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t need to be in London to see David running in an iconic race,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When my athletes develop and grow to become successful senior athletes, that&rsquo;s enough for me. They don&rsquo;t need me to be there with them at their major races.
&ldquo;David had everything in place when he went to London.&nbsp; He was a championship runner. He was world record-holder. He was prepared mentally.
&ldquo;He was on top form, on top of his game. He had everything he needed, and everything went well for him there.&rdquo;
Everything has gone rather well for Brother Colm since the day he arrived at St Pat&rsquo;s - St Patrick&rsquo;s High School, a boarding school for boys, 7,900 ft above sea level at Iten in Kenya&rsquo;s Rift Valley.
A geography teacher with no prior involvement in athletics, he learned the rudiments of middle and long distance training from the colleague he was being trained to succeed as PE coach: Pete Foster, brother of Brendan Foster.
&ldquo;I arrived in July 1976, the same week the Montreal Olympics opened,&rdquo; he recalled. &ldquo;We listened on Pete&rsquo;s beaten-up old radio to the BBC commentary of Brendan running in the 10,000m and winning a bronze medal.&rdquo;
<h2>"OK, the genes are right"</h2>
Rudisha became Brother Colm&rsquo;s sixth Olympic champion. His first was Peter Rono, who succeeded Coe as 1500m champion with his surprise victory in Seoul in 1988.
He first saw Rudisha run in in 2004, in a 200m race at the Rift Valley Provincial District Primary School Championships. &ldquo;Soon after, I saw this tall young Maasai boy running in another race and I invited him to a training camp,&rdquo; Brother Colm recalled.
&ldquo;I asked him what his name was and he said, 'David Rudisha'. I said, 'There&rsquo;s only one other Rudisha I&rsquo;ve ever heard of: Daniel Rudisha. Are you related to him?'
&ldquo;He said, &lsquo;Yeah, he&rsquo;s my father.&rsquo; I thought, &lsquo;OK, the genes are right&rsquo;.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/cfeb6b7c-bc68-4404-adb3-8b3d58f775e3.jpg" alt="Steve Cram, David Rudisha, Sebastian Coe and Alberto Juantorena at the IAAF Centenary Historic Exhibition" />
Steve Cram, David Rudisha, Sebastian Coe and Alberto Juantorena at the Centenary Historic Exhibition (&copy; Giancarlo Colombo)
</div>
Rudisha&rsquo;s father anchored the Kenyan 4x400m relay team to silver medals behind USA at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968.
&ldquo;David was big and strong for his age and he actually started as a decathlete,&rdquo; Brother Colm recalled. &ldquo;When I started coaching him, he&rsquo;d moved on to being a 200m/400m runner.
&nbsp;&ldquo;That first year he ran sprints and then, almost by chance at the end of a month&rsquo;s training with me in 2005, I said to him, &lsquo;I&rsquo;d just like to see you run 800m, just to see what you can do.&rsquo;
&ldquo;He ran 1:49 on the track at St Pat&rsquo;s.&rdquo;
Just a year later, in August 2006, Rudisha won the 800m title at the World U20 Championships in Beijing in 1:47.40. In 2008 he ran 1:44.20 to win the African senior title in Addis Ababa.
Two years after that, on 22 August 2010, came his first world record. His 1:41.09 in Berlin eclipsed the 1997 mark of 1:41.11 held by another of Brother Colm&rsquo;s St Pat&rsquo;s proteges, the Kenyan-turned-Dane Wilson Kipketer.
Seven days later Rudisha improved his world record to 1.41.01 in Rieti, and twelve months later he won the world 800m title in Daegu.
<h2>Successful title defence in Rio</h2>
If 2012 was to be his annus mirabilis, there were three years of heartache and toil to endure before the 800m Olympic champion and world record-holder overcame a serious knee problem and regained his world title in Beijing in 2015.
The year after that, in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, he became the first man since the great flying Kiwi Peter Snell to retain the Olympic 800m title. Then, since a final flurry on the European circuit in 2017, has he not run since run due to injury, though he has yet to announce his official retirement. He is still the fastest 800m man in history, and perhaps the finest of all the golden boys to have emerged from Brother Colm O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s truly grounded school of champions. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/c358796f-8cab-4cea-9cb4-8eaa14d1671f.jpg" alt="David Rudisha at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games" />
David Rudisha at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (&copy; Getty Images)
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The long-time head coach of St Pat&rsquo;s chuckles at the mention of the Swedish scientist who brought him the gift of a heart rate monitor. &ldquo;Yeah, it&rsquo;s still in my drawer,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I come from a background of not being very technical, of having very basic facilities. Like other traditional coaches, I like to keep it simple.
&ldquo;I think most of the Kenyan athletes will tell you that their approach is not very scientific - in terms of heart rate monitors and measuring blood and lactic acid, all these factors you have in the west. Coming from a poor background, science and facilities were never going to be big factors in their training or lifestyle.&rdquo;
There was, however, one piece of modern technology that Rudisha utilised to help him become the fastest two-lap runner in history. The one-time decathlete might have been cast in a similar mould to Juantorena but it was the featherweight Coe that he always strove to emulate.
&ldquo;If you see the way Sebastian Coe used to run, he was small, yes, but he was a really strong athlete,&rdquo; Rudisha said. &ldquo;I watched many videos of his races on YouTube and in his world records he was really strong, pushing in the last 200m all the way.
&ldquo;He became a good friend of mine. I went to London in February of 2012 and he took me around the Olympic Stadium.
&ldquo;I wanted to come back for the Games and make him proud.&rdquo;
When it came to the 800m final in London 10 years ago, the great Maasai warrior certainly did that.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage

Ten years on, the men’s 800m final at the London Olympics remains suspended in time as 1:40.91 of sheer athletic perfection and grace

Remembering Rudisha's 'gun to tape' world record run in London

World champion and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin closed her season with effortless brilliance as she clocked the fastest ever 400m hurdles time on European soil at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial in Szekesfehervar on Monday (8).
The World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting saw five more world champions underscore their world-leading status with impressive victories at the Bregyo Atletikai Kozpont Center. And she wasn&rsquo;t the only world champion to deliver in the speed stakes, as Jamaican sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran the second fastest 100m of the year.
On an evening where eight meeting records were broken, the capacity Hungarian crowd was given an appetiser of what&rsquo;s to come at next year&rsquo;s World Championships in Budapest.&nbsp;
There was huge anticipation around McLaughlin&rsquo;s first appearance since her astonishing performance at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 and she didn&rsquo;t disappoint. Running strong from the gun, she held perfect form throughout to clock 51.68, a meeting record by more than a second and the sixth fastest time ever.
&ldquo;I just wanted to go out there and execute and have a clean race,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I had a little bit of a break coming off the worlds. But it felt like a good race and I am really happy with the time. We are excited to be here (in Hungary) and scouting out everything ahead of the worlds next year.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Jamaican duo Janieve Russell and Rushell Clayton were second and third in 54.14 and 54.45. 
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 Three days after running a world-leading 10.66 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Silesia, 10-time world gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce laid down the second fastest time of the year with a searing 10.67. She left a world-class field in her slipstream, headed by teenager Tamari Davis of USA and Switzerland&rsquo;s Mujinga Kambundji in 10.92 and 10.99 respectively.
&ldquo;It was one of those days where I wasn&rsquo;t feeling too well, but I just wanted to execute and have a good run,&rdquo; said Fraser-Pryce after her record fifth sub-10.7 performance of the year. &ldquo;I definitely have more to give. I just need to watch the races and work at it a little more. But it definitely feels good to hit 10.6 consistently throughout the year.&rdquo;
Expectations are always enormous on Mondo Duplantis and the world record-holder wasn&rsquo;t quite able to replicate his top form on this occasion. But he still had enough in hand to win the men&rsquo;s pole vault with a meeting record of 5.80m before three failures at 6.01m. Former world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie was second with 5.70m and French teammate Thibaut Collet third in 5.60m.
The throws threw up some fascinating clashes. In the men&rsquo;s discus, it brought the first match up between newly-crowned world champion Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia and Olympic champion Daniel Stahl of Sweden.&nbsp;
Ceh laid out his stall right from the first round, crashing a throw of 71.23m, his second farthest throw ever. He followed up with another 70-metre plus throw of 70.35m in the second round to underscore his dominance. Stahl&rsquo;s best was 67.01m for third with Lithuania&rsquo;s 2017 world champion Andrius Gudzius second with 67.39m.
The men&rsquo;s hammer cranked into life in the fourth round when five-time world champion Pawel Fajdek unleashed a throw of 79.15m. The response was immediate. Local hero and 2019 world bronze medallist Bence Halasz thrilled the home crowd with 79.44m.&nbsp;
But then Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki of Poland had the final word, landing a competition-winning 79.96m. And that&rsquo;s how the top three remained to the end of the competition.
In the women&rsquo;s event Brooke Andersen was another world champion stamping her authority. With victory already secured, she released her best throw of 74.84m in the final round. US teammat and world bronze medallist Janee&rsquo; Kassanavoid was second with 72.58m and Katrine Koch Jacobsen of Denmark third with 70.13m.
In the men&rsquo;s shot, world silver medallist Joe Kovacs channelled his Hungarian heritage to equal his season&rsquo;s best of 22.89m, smashing the meeting record. Competing in the nation of his grandfather&rsquo;s birth, he was a popular competitor for the home crowd and landed a 22.87m final-round flourish to underline his win.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I actually had 12 family members who came here to watch me today, we are going to go out to dinner tonight,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s probably been 15 years since I have seen them. It was really cool to see them in person again.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It was a really good day; I am ready to throw 23. We still have three Diamond League meets left, so hopefully at one of them, I&rsquo;ll get over that 23 mark. Today I was on.&rdquo;&nbsp;
With an eye on some upcoming competitions with world champion Ryan Crouser, Kovacs said: &ldquo;Right now I think it would be a really good match-up between us. At worlds he was only a few centimetres away. So, I think he and I are going to duke it out for the rest of the season.&rdquo; 
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 In the 200m races, 18-year-old Erriyon Knighton gave another exhibition in raw talent in the men&rsquo;s race, winning in a meeting record of 19.88 from Canada&rsquo;s Aaron Brown and Alexander Ogando of Dominican Republic in 20.24 and 20.38.&nbsp;
World champion Shericka Jackson put in another superb run in the women&rsquo;s 200m, winning in 22.02 from Switzerland&rsquo;s Mujinga Kambundji and USA&rsquo;s Kayla White, who logged 22.45 and 22.46.&nbsp;
Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn showed her class in the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles, powering through to win in a wind-assisted 12.27. Early leader Kendra Harrison was second in 12.49 and her US teammate Nia Ali third in 12.60.&nbsp; 
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 Jamaica&rsquo;s Rasheed Broadbell followed up his Commonwealth Games gold medal winning performance by beating world champion Grant Holloway in the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles.&nbsp;
Holloway had led from the gun, but he faltered at the penultimate hurdle. Broadbell held his composure to win in a photo finish in 13.12. Holloway clocked the same time, with Daniel Roberts a further 0.01 back.
World silver medallist Marvin Bracy-Williams got the better of world bronze medallist Trayvon Bromell in the men&rsquo;s 100m, reversing the result from the Diamond League meeting in Silesia three days prior. Bracey won in 9.97 to Bromell&rsquo;s 10.01. Elijah Hall made it a US 1-2-3, also clocking 10.01.&nbsp;&nbsp;
In the 400m, Vernon Norwood of USA held off world 400m hurdles champion Alison Dos Santos winning in 44.96 to the Brazilian&rsquo;s 45.11. USA&rsquo;s Michael Cherry was third in 45.42.
In the women&rsquo;s 800m, Ethiopian Diribe Welteji followed up her victory over 1500m at the Diamond League in Silesia with another win. With the pack going through the bell at 58.25, she took over with 300m to go and was never threatened. She strode to a meeting record of 1:59.33 ahead of Benin&rsquo;s Noelie Yarigo and USA&rsquo;s Brooke Feldmeier, who clocked 2:01.00 and 2:01.44 respectively.
In the men&rsquo;s two-lap race, Nicholas Kiplangat Kebenei of Kenya kicked past Ireland&rsquo;s John Fitzsimmons and Isaiah Jewett of USA off the final turn to win in 1:45.49. Fitzsimmons and Jewett shared a finish time of 1:45.70 with the Irishman just getting the verdict on the photo finish.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Elsewhere, Italy&rsquo;s Olympic god medallist Gianmarco Tamberi was a crowd-pleasing winner of the men&rsquo;s high jump with 2.24m. Milica Gardasevic of Serbia set a lifetime best of 6.83m to win the women&rsquo;s long jump, while a first-round throw of 61.99m was enough for Yulenmis Aguilar to win the javelin.
Chris Broadbent for World Athletics

World champion was one of eight athletes to set a meeting record at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial

McLaughlin sets European all-comers’ record of 51.68 in Szekesfehervar

Over the past decade, the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco has established a reputation as the best place in the world in which to attempt a middle distance world record.
In that time, four of those records have fallen at Herculis EBS meeting. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Genzebe Dibaba established a world 1500m record of 3:50.07 in 2015 and Kenya&rsquo;s Beatrice Chepkoech sparked a series of world record-breaking performances in the Stade Louis II stadium when she demolished the 3000m steeplechase world record there in 2018.
Olympic gold medallist Sifan Hassan then cracked the mile record in 2019 and fellow Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei improved the 5000m record in 2020.
Last year, world and Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon came closest to extending that streak when she set her personal best time, a Kenyan record of 3:51.07, the fourth fastest time in history, and just one second outside Dibaba&rsquo;s mark.
Kipyegon returns this year, having dominated the World Championships final in Oregon to win her second world title. And with two 3:52 clockings already to her name this year, if she maintains such supreme form, the 1500m record will surely be in danger again this week.
She will have a strong field to help her to a fast time, with another five sub-four-minute runners in attendance, including the Ethiopian pair of Hirut Meshesha (the winner in Rabat and Rome) and Axumawit Embaye.
Kipyegon is one of 12 newly-minted world champions on the starting lists for Monaco, and elsewhere the focus will be more on racing rather than records.
In the women&rsquo;s 100m and the men&rsquo;s 200m and 1000m, world champions will collide.
The Jamaican pair of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson will extend their rivalry in Monaco, fresh from respective victories in the 100m and 200m in Silesia at the weekend, where world champion Fraser-Pryce set a world-leading time of 10.66 to win the short sprint. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/53a439cf-69bf-480a-9003-48c50f5d4785.jpg" alt="Murielle Ahoure beats Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in Monaco" />
Murielle Ahoure beats Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in Monaco (&copy; Philippe Fitte)
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 Jackson is racing in Monaco for the first time and knows that facing Fraser-Pryce in the shorter event will always spur her on.
"I love competing with Shelly. She brings out the best of me, when we are competing in the 100m," the Olympic 100m bronze medallist said at the pre-event press conference. "She always brings her 'A' game. I&rsquo;m looking for super exciting times tomorrow."
World 400m champion Michael Norman will step down in distance to take on two-time world champion Noah Lyles in a stacked 200m field, which includes the top five men from the World Championships final last month and seven sub-20 second sprinters, among them the world silver medallist Kenny Bednarek and the US wunderkind Erriyon Knighton. It&rsquo;s the sort of line-up that might bring out an even faster time than Lyles&rsquo; 19.31 to win the world title &ndash; the fourth-fastest performance in history.
"I talked a little about my plans after World Championships in the press conference in Oregon," said Lyles. "I was telling people how I didn&rsquo;t think that my peak was going to show at Worlds. I&rsquo;ve been saying, give me a month and the world record will be in my sights'.
"Every time I step on the track now is to get closer and closer to the world record."
The last time Lyles and Norman met in the 200m was at the Rome Diamond League in 2019, Norman winning in 19.70 to Lyles' 19.72.
"This rivalry - this is the guy that I don&rsquo;t get to see often, that everybody wants to see me go up against," explained Lyles.&nbsp;
Norman added: "On this pro level, we&rsquo;re relighting this fire, this rivalry. I think it&rsquo;s really exciting and great for the sport.
"I know I&rsquo;m in the best shape of my life in terms of pure strength but I haven&rsquo;t sprinted (the 200m) since April. I&rsquo;m excited to come out here and finally sprint and let loose, because I feel like I have been holding back all year."
World 800m champion Emmanuel Korir and world 1500m champion Jake Wightman will meet in the middle over 1000m to decide some bragging rights, along with new Commonwealth 800m champion Wycliffe Kinyamal and world bronze medallist Marco Arop.
The men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles will feature a clash between the dual world champion Grant Holloway, silver medallist Trey Cunningham, Olympic champion Hansle Parchment, US champion Daniel Roberts, and world U20 record-holder Sasha Zhoya, who is still finding his way in the senior event.
Sitting alongside&nbsp;Parchment in the pre-event press conference, Holloway said: "I grew up watching him, one of my idols. It comes down to: what can I take out of his game, and throw it into my game?
"He has paved the way and it&rsquo;s up to me to repave it and make it even better for the next person that&rsquo;s coming up." 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/09f01701-5616-416c-97b6-9e863c1c3d6c.jpg" alt="110m hurdles winner Grant Holloway at the adidas Boost Boston Games" />
110m hurdles winner Grant Holloway at the adidas Boost Boston Games (&copy; Getty Images)
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 Other world champions on the track in Monaco include two-time Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, in an intriguing match-up with USA&rsquo;s Olympic 200m bronze medallist Gabby Thomas and the new Commonwealth Games champion Sada Williams over one lap.
Olympic bronze medallist Raevyn Rogers heads the women&rsquo;s 800m field, while Olympic champion Peruth Chematai will face a tough test in the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase, with world bronze medallist Mekides Abebe and new Commonwealth Games champion Jackline Chepkoech on the starting line.
In the men&rsquo;s 3000m, world 5000m silver medallist Jacob Krop looks a likely favourite in a big field with a range of contenders including world leader Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu of South Sudan and last year&rsquo;s Diamond League final winner Berihu Aregawi.
The field events will feature world triple jump champion and record-holder Yulimar Rojas, world high jump champion Mutaz Barshim, and world javelin champion Kelsey-Lee Barber. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/90fb28c1-f43d-4551-a214-2490bbbbd9fb.jpg" alt="Mutaz Essa Barshim at the 2016 Diamond League meeting in Lausanne" />
Mutaz Essa Barshim at the 2016 Diamond League meeting in Lausanne (&copy; Gladys von der Laage)
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 Despite the presence of the full medal podium from Oregon in the women&rsquo;s triple jump, Rojas will start as the raging favourite to extend her years-long winning streak, given her dominance of this event.
The men&rsquo;s high jump has yet to catch fire this year but the field assembled in Monaco &ndash; which includes the top six from Oregon &ndash; could finally ignite the event, as Barshim renews his rivalry with fellow Olympic gold medallist Gianmarco Tamberi and fellow world medallists Woo Sanghyeok and Andriy Protsenko.
Tamberi has recently had covid, but will be using the event as part of his preparations for the European Championships in Munich.&nbsp;
"It&rsquo;s very important for me tomorrow to jump and prove to myself that I am ready for Europeans," he said. "To go out there and compete is the only thing I can do, to push myself and get some confidence."
Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou heads the field for the men&rsquo;s long jump in what could be a preview of next week&rsquo;s European Championships, with Sweden&rsquo;s Thobias Montler also in the field, as well as Cuba&rsquo;s Maykel Masso, USA&rsquo;s Steffin McCarter and Marquis Dendy and India&rsquo;s Commonwealth Games silver medallist Murali Sreeshankar. World U20 champion Erwan Konate will take on the big boys after winning his second consecutive global junior title in Cali last week.
In the only throwing event on the programme, Australia&rsquo;s Barber will be primed to put on a show after injury ruled her out of the Monaco meeting last year. She arrives with both the world title and the Commonwealth Games title in the bag, for a rematch with her fellow medallists from Oregon, Kara Winger and Haruka Kitaguchi, a last-round winner in Silesia at the weekend. Barber&rsquo;s compatriot Mackenzie Little is also a threat after throwing a personal best of 64.27m for the silver medal in Birmingham on Sunday.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

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