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Warholm, Kiplimo and others dazzle at Rome Diamond League

The second-last event of the 2020 Diamond League saw many record-breaking performances

September 17, 2020
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The penultimate event of the Diamond League season was run in Rome on Thursday, and just like we’ve seen at previous races this summer, national, area and meet records were broken on the track. Norway’s Karsten Warhlom fell short of the 400m hurdles world record, but he continued his dominance in the event with yet another win. His compatriot Jakob Ingebrigtsen squared off against Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo in a thrilling 3,000m race, and Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah ran a world-leading time in the 100m. We have all of those results and more in this Diamond League recap. 

Owning the 400mH 

Warholm has come so close to beating the 400mH world record this season. He started the summer with a record in the 300mH at the Impossible Games in Oslo, and he has since run the second-fastest 400mH time ever at 46.87, just short of Kevin Young‘s 28-year-old record of 46.78. Warholm has run the 400mH five times in 2020, going sub-48 seconds in each race. His five races are the five fastest times of the year in the event, with the next fastest results coming from France’s Ludvy Vaillant and Estonia’s Rasmus Mägi, who ran 48.69 and 48.72 today in Rome. No one else has run under 49 seconds in 2020. Young’s world record might still be intact, but there’s no denying that this is a season to remember for Warholm. 

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Battling out the 3,000m 

The 3,000m was the race with the biggest results of the night. Kiplimo won in 7:26.64, which beat his PB, the meet and Diamond League records and the Ugandan national record, and it was also a world-leading time in the event. Ingebrigtsen came in second in a Norwegian record of 7:27.05, and Australia’s Stewart McSweyn crossed the line third in 7:28.02, which is an Australian and area record. In fourth place, 10 seconds back of the top three men, was Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa, who set the fourth national record of the race with a 7:38.27 run on home turf. 

Battle of the Brits

The women’s 800m race saw a very tight finish, with first and fourth place separated by less than a second. No one ran any PBs or records in this event, but Brits Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie put up a pair of podium performances, along with Norway’s Hedda Hynne, who ran a 1:58.10 national 800m record just two days ago. Reekie won the battle with Muir, crossing the line for the win in 1:59.76, ahead of Hynne, who finished in 2:00.24. Muir came in third in 2:00.49. The win is Reekie’s second Diamond League victory of the year after taking the top spot in the Stockholm 800m in August. 

RELATED: Mo Farah breaks Haile Gebreselassie’s one-hour world record by 45 metres

World-leading 100m

The second-last race of the night was the women’s 100m. Thompson-Herah, the gold medallist from the 100m and 200m at the Rio Olympics, won the race in a world-leading time of 10.85. The previous world lead was 10.86 seconds, which Thompson-Herah’s fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran in August. 

The last Diamond League event of the year is set for Qatar on September 25, and if Thursday’s results are any indication of what’s to come, the finale should be an entertaining one to watch. 

For Ingebrigtsen fans, here’s an in-depth look at Jakob’s career, who has just turned 20.

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