Record-breaking Warholm back to his best
Norwegian brings the curtain down on 60th anniversary Bislett Games in style with 300m world best, as Duplantis and Alfred also stand out in Oslo
The home crowd got the parting gift they were looking for when Karsten Warholm brought the house down in record-breaking style to cap off an eventful 60th anniversary edition of the Bislett Games in Oslo on Thursday night (June 12).
The star names were out in force off the track, with Usain Bolt making his first appearance at a track meeting since his retirement in 2017 to take the acclaim of the sell-out crowd. He was introduced by World Athletics president Seb Coe – himself no stranger to running rapid times in this famous Olympic arena.
There are few noises quite like a Norwegian athlete being roared on to excellence on this stage, though, and Warholm raised the decibel levels, as well as laying down a marker, by surging into the lead in the closing stages to break his own 300m hurdles world best as he ran 32.67 to see off his big rivals Rai Benjamin (33.22) and Alison dos Santos (33.38).
The three will face off again, this time over the more conventional discipline of the 400m hurdles, at the Stockholm Diamond League on Sunday (June 15). Having been beaten to Olympic gold by Benjamin in Paris during what was an injury-affected season, and with bronze medallist dos Santos also a sizeable threat, it was important for Warholm to demonstrate that he is coming back to full power.
In fact, he said: “It was very tough competition and I knew I had to bring my A game, but with the time I ran today it’s the best Karsten Warholm ever, maybe. I am just so happy that I could perform at my best in front of the support; it means a lot to me.”
Another man accustomed to being the centre of attention is Mondo Duplantis. The two-time Olympic champion, as he so often does, rose to the occasion with a meeting record clearance of 6.15m, going over that height at the second time of asking to spark a big reaction from the crowd. The spotlight will shine even more strongly on the American-born Swede when the Diamond League train moves on to Stockholm.
Greek record-holder Emmanouil Karalis got closest with his 5.82m, Australian Kurtis Marschall clearing 5.73m for third.
Another hotly anticipated event on the programme was the women’s 100m, with the first appearance this season of Olympic champion Julien Alfred over the distance.
The Saint Lucian, who celebrated her birthday earlier in the week, slowed in the latter part of the race but still clocked 10.89 (1.1), and was then the centre of an infield presentation made to her by Bolt, whom she has regularly cited as an inspiration.
Behind Alfred came Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith with 11.00, while British record-holder Dina Asher-Smith completed the top three with a season’s best 11.08. Compatriot Daryll Neita was seventh with 11.20.
In the women’s 400m USA’s Isabella Whittaker came out on top with 49.58, while Henriette Jaeger broke the Norwegian record with 49.62 and Britain’s world indoor champion Amber Anning finished third with 50.24.
Honours in the men’s 200m went to Cuban Reynier Mena, who won in 20.20 (1.5) from Swiss Timother Mumenthaler’s PB of 20.27 and the 20.33 clocked by former Olympic 200m champion Andre de Grasse.
In a fearsome women’s 3000m steeplechase, the 20-year-old Faith Cherotich produced a world-leading run of 9:02.60 to see off Olympic champion Winfred Yavi (9:02.76). In seventh, Elise Thorner moved to second on the British all-time list with her PB of 9:15.06.
Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, beaten by Tshepiso Masalela of Botswana and Max Burgin of Britain at the Rabat Diamond League, bounced back to winning form as he recorded a season’s best of 1:42.78 to come out on top. Injury meant there was to be no rematch with Burgin, as Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui (1:42.90) took second and Djamel Sedjati of Algeria (1:43.06) followed on.
The Oslo Dream Mile has a list of illustrious past winners and Isaac Nader of Portugal joined them thanks to his national record-breaking run of 3:48.25. Australian youngster Cameron Myers was a close second in 3:48.87, just ahead of Stefan Nillesen’s PB, the Dutchman clocking 3:49.02. Britain’s Elliot Giles was sixth in a PB of 3:49.16.
Dalilah Muhammad might be in the final season of her illustrious career, but a season’s best of 53.34 took the former 400m hurdles world record-holder to victory from Emma Sapletalova (54.44) and Gianna Woodruff (54.55). Fresh from joining the 7000 points club in Gotzis, heptahlete Anna Hall was in action but a dramatic tumble saw her jog over the line, albeit with no lasting damage done.
In the field, Olympic and world javelin champion Haruka Kitaguchi was in winning form with a season’s best throw of 64.63m that moved her into the lead in round five. She overtook Adriana Vilagos’ 63.78m, while Jo-Ane du Plessis of South Africa was third with 62.77m.
World indoor champion Leyanis Perez Hernandez won the women’s triple jump with her third-round 14.72m from Shanieka Ricketts’ best of 14.57m and, in the men’s event, Jamaican Scott Jordan’s PB of 17.34m saw off Pedro Pichardo’s 17.06m.
