Aussie tastes victory, but headlines snatched by stunning world records
World champion high jumper Nicola Olyslagers returned to her winning ways in Zurich on Friday (AEST) as young guns Torrie Lewis and Cameron Myers scored podium finishes of their own.
The stars of the Diamond League show were Brazil’s Alison dos Santos, who broke the world record in the men’s 400m hurdles, and the United States’ Masai Russell, who sent the women’s 100m hurdles world record tumbling.
Nicola Olyslagers celebrates her win. Sona Maleterova/Getty Images
Days after falling short of the podium in a surprising result at the Silesia Diamond League, Australia’s Olyslagers cleared 2.02m in Switzerland to score a clinical win.
The two-time Olympic silver medallist was too strong for Ukraine’s Iryna Herashchenko (2.00m) and Montenegro’s Marija Vuković (1.98m).
“A lot of the things I’ve learnt over the years is [regardless of whether] the bar falls on or off, me as a person is so valuable,” Olyslagers said.
“If I get a miss beside my name or a first place, or have these beautiful flowers [awarded to Diamond League winners], and I can still go to bed if I win or I lose.
“I think that’s the biggest strength that any athlete can have.”
Running in the women’s 200m, which wasn’t listed as an official Diamond League event, Lewis finished second in 22.66 seconds, behind Switzerland’s Fabienne Hoenke, who won in 22.53.
And in the men’s 3000m, Myers finished third in 7:27.97, falling short of his national record by just four tenths of a second.
The 20-year-old phenom surged into the lead on the back straight of the final lap, before being overtaken by American duo Parker Wolfe and Graham Blanks on the home stretch.
Wolfe won in 7:27.43, ahead of his countryman in 7:27.92.
The crowd in Zurich was stunned when dos Santos stopped the clock at 45.80 seconds to shatter the men’s 400m hurdles world record.
The previous owner of the world record, Norwegian superstar Karsten Warholm, saw his mark get snatched from only a few metres away. He finished second in 46.69.
Dos Santos’ 45.80 bettered the 45.94 set by Warholm in his gold medal-winning run at the Tokyo Olympics five years ago.
And just over half an hour after dos Santos’ record-breaking run, Russell clocked 12.09 seconds to take down the women’s 100m hurdles world record.
Again, the athlete whose world record was stolen was right there, with Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan finishing second in 12.23.
Russell’s 12.09 knocked off the 12.12 set by Amusan at the 2022 world athletics championships in Oregon.
The Diamond League circuit now heads to Brussels, where a two-day final will wrap up the season next weekend.
