Weekend recap: world-leading run from Konstanze Klosterhalfen and many more PBs

Over the weekend, the global running community added more stellar performances to the 2020 results list. The Oregon Track Club Elite (OTC) held their second meet (named the Bigger Friendly) two weeks after their first (the Big Friendly), and several athletes saw PBs, including a 1,000m world-leading time from Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen. In addition to The Bigger Friendly results, there were some record-breaking performances in Europe, plus racing in Quebec at the Soirée Rouge et Or. Here are some of the fastest times and most impressive results from the past weekend of racing. 

It’s all fun and games. #TheBiggerFriendly
–
Big shoutout to @PortlandTrack for putting on a very safe and successful meet last night! You can watch all the races from The Bigger Friendly on the Tracklandia YouTube:https://t.co/6PpEaHTJlm pic.twitter.com/x3Hokkjhaq

— TrackTown USA (@GoTrackTownUSA) July 18, 2020

The Bigger Friendly 

After Donavan Brazier‘s amazing performance in the 1,500m at the Big Friendly meet a couple of weeks ago, the OTC’s second event had a lot to live up to, and it certainly delivered. The meet featured 600m, 1,000m and 3,000m individual races for both the men and women, plus a 2 x 2 x 400m relay to cap off the night. In the men’s 600m race, Botswana’s Olympic 800m silver medallist and OTC athlete Nijel Amos won with a PB of 1:15.86. On the women’s side, NCAA 800m silver-medallist Nia Akins won with her own PB of 1:27.20. 

RELATED: Star-studded field set for Diamond League return

British runner Josh Kerr won the men’s 1,000m in 2:17.60 (another PB), and Klosterhalfen posted the world’s best time of 2020 for the women, winning her debut at the distance in 2:37.05. Finally, in the 3,000m races, Craig Engels and Shannon Rowbury blew away their competitors. Engels ran a PB of 7:53.28 to beat second place by six seconds and Rowbury ran 8:40.26 to win by a whopping 33 seconds. This wasn’t a PB for Rowbury, a three-time Olympian, but as she noted in an Instagram post after the race, it was her fastest time “since becoming a mama.”

For full results from the Bigger Friendly, click here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCzx-vEpvlo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

National records galore in Nijmegen 

A 5K road race called the Seven Hills Testrun was held in the Netherlands on Sunday, and it saw several national records fall. Spain’s Ouassim Oumaiz ran 13:19 to win the race and set a Spanish 5K record. He was also just one second away from matching the European 5K record that was set by France’s Jimmy Gressier earlier in 2020. Mike Foppen of the Netherlands beat the Dutch national record with a time of 13:31, and David Nilsson of Sweden ran 13:41, beating the national record he set earlier in July. The women’s race didn’t see a national record broken, but Dutch runner and 2016 Olympian Maureen Koster won the race in 15:25, which was a 33-second PB. 

RELATED: Quebec to hold first outdoor track meet of 2020

Soirée Rouge et Or 

This past weekend, Canadians finally got to see some track and field action north of the border. The Soirée Rouge et Or was held in Quebec City, and although it had a very limited program of events (it only featured sprints up to 400m), it was exciting to see Canadians racing on home soil once again. The biggest results of the night went to Olivier Desmeules and Morgane Drouin, the winners of the men’s and women’s 400m races. Desmeules, the 2019 Canadian junior 800m champion, won his race in 48.58, just ahead of second place. Drouin won her race pretty handily in 1:00.44, crossing with a healthy two-second lead.