David Rudisha’s revered 800m world record from the London 2012 Games is safe for another year after a kamikaze attempt on it at the Diamond League final went up in a blaze of lactic acid and burning lungs.
On a cold night in Brussels, the thoughts of many athletes were inevitably on getting through a final night of competition before a well-earned rest at the end of a thrilling but long season. However, the Canadian Marco Arop had other ideas.
This has been a year where 11 of the fastest 20 times over 800m in history have been set, with Arop and the Kenyan Olympic champion, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, both getting within three-tenths of Rudisha’s time of 1min 40.91sec. Arop, who won silver in Paris, was intent on a final crack at the world record as he went through the bell in a tick over 49sec.
The wavelights in the stadium showed he was still on track with less than 200m remaining, as the Algerian Djamel Sedjati loomed on his shoulder. But in the final straight, both men looked like they were wading through treacle as they paid the price for their bravado, allowing Wanyonyi to seize a dramatic late victory.
The 20-year-old Wanyonyi, whose time in Paris of 1:41.19 made him the third fastest man in history, behind only Rudisha and Wilson Kipketer, was understandably delighted.
“The last metres were very hard, they always are,” he said after coming through to win in 1:42.70, with Sedjati second, 0.16 back, and Arop in third. “But I worked hard for it and I’m happy that I made it.”
Earlier, the men’s Olympic 200m champion, Letsile Tebogo, suffered a rare defeat to Kenny Bednarek, who claimed a silver behind him in Paris. The 21-year-old Tebogo has been one of the breakout stars of 2024, but for a change the Botswana sprinter had no answer when Bednarek struck for home off the bend to win in 19.67 with Tebogo second in 19.80.
“I’m feeling great,” said the American. “This season people saw a glimpse of what I can do. Next year I will even be faster and more dangerous.”
The best British performance of the night came from Daryll Neita, who was second in a weakened 200m in 20.45 behind the Olympic bronze medallist Brittany Brown, who won in 22.20.
“I am ready for holidays now,” Neita admitted afterwards. “I did my best. I give this race a 7/10 and a 10/10 for my entire season.”
Elsewhere Faith Kipyegon continued her winning record over 1500m that stretches back to May 2021 with victory in 3:54.75.
Georgia Bell was seventh in 3:58.95, but that was no surprise given that it came less than 24 hours after she finished second to Mary Moraa over 800m.
When the 30-year-old heads back to her day job working in cyber security, she will be able to reflect on her remarkable progress in 2024 during which she has won an Olympic 1500m bronze medal and broken the national record. That is some achievement for someone who, until May, had never run in a Diamond League.
Another Briton, Molly Caudery was fourth in her first pole vault competition since suffering an injury after the Olympics, with a clearance of 4.80m. The Australian Nina Kennedy, who won gold in Paris, took victory in 4.88m.
But perhaps the performance of the night came from the Italian Gianmarco Tamberi in the high jump, who made up for a disappointing Olympics where he was suffering from kidney stones, to win with a 2.34m clearance.
Before the official Diamond League programme, the Brussels crowd also got to watch the world 400m hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone attempt a rare 200m, which she won in 22.40sec – a time with which she would have come second in the official 200m.
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“It was very chilly,” she said. “Of course, I hoped for a faster time but it is what it is. I am happy that I can walk away healthy and look back on a great season. Now I am going to enjoy my off-season and the Belgian waffles.”
You expect she will not be alone.
