Pryce, Bol and Hudson-Smith shine in a return to London | REPORTS

Nickisha Pryce, Femke Bol and Matt Hudson-Smith showed sensational form on a lap of the track at the London Athletics Meeting on Saturday (20), the final Wanda Diamond League Pre-Olympic meeting in Paris 2024.

In front of a crowd of almost 60,000, Pryce and Bol set Diamond League records in the women’s 400m and 400m hurdles respectively, while Hudson-Smith broke her own European record in the men’s 400m.

Pryce, who won the NCAA title last month in a Jamaican record time of 48.89, was making her Diamond League debut but was clearly undaunted by the situation. Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands led until halfway through the race, as she often does. But Pryce accelerated out of the final corner and pulled away from European champion Natalia Kaczmarek, crossing the line in 48.57.

Not only is this mark a Diamond League record (bettering the 48.97 set by Shaunae Miller-Uibo in Monaco exactly six years ago), it also elevates Pryce to seventh on the all-time world list, ahead of Cathy Freeman and Sanya Richards-Ross.

Kaczmarek crossed the line in second place in 48.90, shaving 0.08 off the Polish record she set at the European Championships and marking only the seventh time in history that two women have both broken 49 seconds in the same race.

Klaver (49.58), Amber Anning (49.63) and Laviai Nielsen (49.87) also finished within 50 seconds.

A week after breaking his own European record in the 400m hurdles, Bol returned to the scene of one of his previous European record-breaking performances and posted the second-fastest time of his career.

Rushell Clayton matched Bol for the first half but the world champion pulled away in the final 200 metres to win comfortably in 51.30, an improvement of 0.15 on the Diamond League record she set at this meeting last year. Shamier Little powered through to take second place in 52.78 ahead of Clayton (53.24).

“I love racing in this stadium,” Bol said. “I’m excited for Paris and I’m looking forward to racing in Sydney (McLaughlin-Levrone, world record holder and reigning Olympic champion). I’ll be ready for that.”

Hudson-Smith extended his winning streak in the men’s 400m, turning in a race that strengthens his status as a gold medal contender heading into the Olympics.

The world silver medallist led from the start and opened a significant gap over Americans Vernon Norwood and Jereem Richards to win in 43.74, becoming the first European to run under 44 seconds and moving up to 12th on the world all-time list.

Norwood (44.10), Richards (44.20) and Charlie Dobson (44.23) all posted personal bests. Kirani James, who won Olympic gold on this track 12 years ago, came fifth in a record time of 44.38.

British records for Hodgkinson and the women’s 4x100m team

Moments before Hudson-Smith’s record-breaking run, there were also national records in the women’s 800m, courtesy of Keely Hodgkinson, and the women’s 4x100m.

Olympic and world silver medallist Hodgkinson reached the halfway point in 56.5, almost a second behind the leader and just ahead of compatriot Jemma Reekie. She then accelerated out of the final corner and pulled clear to win by exactly one second in 1:54.61.

The time saw Hodgkinson move up to sixth on the world all-time list, ahead of arch-rival Athing Mu. Reekie was rewarded with a personal best of 1:55.61, while 1500m specialist Georgia Bell smashed her personal best with 1:56.28 in third place. It was only the second race in history in which eight women have broken 1:58.

“I just wanted to go for it and see what was there,” Hodgkinson said. “It was an act of bravery and courage. I didn’t want to waste the opportunity.”

US champion Gabby Thomas came from behind to win the women’s 200m in a record time of 21.82 (-0.9m/s). Dina Asher-Smith led the race down the stretch, but Thomas and world indoor 60m champion Julien Alfred engaged in their own battle in lanes six and seven, pushing each other to take the lead.

Thomas overtook the St Lucian in the closing stages to take the win, while Alfred finished second in a national record of 21.86. Asher-Smith was third in 22.07 ahead of Daryll Neita, both with season-best times.

Earlier in the day, the British duo teamed up with Imani Lansiquot and Amy Hunt in the 4x100m, winning in a world-leading time of 41.55, equalling the national record they set at the Tokyo Olympics.

In other sprint events, world champion Noah Lyles fought to the end of the 100m to win in a record time of 9.81 (-0.3 m/s). Akani Simbine and Letsile Tebogo put up a strong challenge for most of the course, but ultimately had to settle for second place (9.86) and third place (9.88) respectively.

Brazilian 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos was a convincing winner of the men’s 400m hurdles in 47.18. Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke ran a season-best 47.63 to take second, while Qatar’s Ismail Doudai Abakar smashed his personal best by almost a second to finish third in 47.72.

Fabbri and Little defeat the world champions in throwing

World champions Ryan Crouser and Haruka Kitaguchi suffered rare defeats as Leonardo Fabbri won the men’s shot put and Mackenzie Little won the women’s javelin.

Crouser, who has competed sparingly this year due to a nagging elbow injury, took an early lead in the shot put with 22.23m. Halfway through the event, he led the U.S. 1-2-3, led by Payton Otterdahl (22.13m) and Joe Kovacs (22.03m).

However, in the penultimate round, Fabbri found his rhythm and hit the mark with a throw of 22.52m. Crouser responded with 22.37m, but the standings did not change and the Italian took the victory.

Little, who was second in the starting order, threw her spear to a personal best of 66.27m in the first round, moving her up to second on this year’s world list and making her only the fifth Australian woman to throw beyond 66 metres.

It remained the best mark of the day, but Serbia’s Adriana Vilagos came close with her national record from the fifth round of 65.58m. American Maggie Malone-Hardin was third (62.99m) and Kitaguchi fourth (62.69m).

World champion Nina Kennedy overcame a scare midway through the competition to win the women’s pole vault. The Australian needed three attempts to clear 4.65m but then managed to clear 4.85m to secure victory ahead of Canada’s Alysha Newman (4.75m). World indoor champion Molly Caudery came third (4.65m) and Olympic champion Katie Moon eighth (4.50m).

Following the last-minute withdrawal of Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim, world indoor champion Hamish Kerr won the men’s high jump with 2.30m.

Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo returned to winning ways in the women’s long jump, with an opening jump of 6.87m setting the best mark of the day. Agate de Sousa’s final jump of 6.75m allowed her to move into second place.

European 10,000m champion Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu outpaced American Grant Fisher to win the men’s 3000m in a world record time of 7:27.68, the fastest time in the world this year on an outdoor track. Fisher was second in 7:27.99 and Kenyan Edwin Kurgat third (7:28.53).

After a dramatic start in which three athletes crashed, the men’s Emsley Carr mile race was won by Australia’s Ollie Hoare. The Australian held off a strong challenge from world bronze medallist Narve Gilje Nordas and won in 3:49.03, finishing 0.03 ahead of the Norwegian.

Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics