Running News Daily

Noah Lyles has once again rewritten the sprinting history books, delivering a stunning performance in the 150m at the Ostrava Golden Spike meet as he stormed to a new world record of 14.67 seconds.

The American sprint superstar produced a flawless display of speed and power, stopping the clock at 14.67 (0.0) to break the previous world best mark of 14.92 set by Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson.

Lyles’ victory came in a high-quality field that saw South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile push him all the way, finishing second in an impressive 14.78 seconds. Australia’s teenage sensation Gout Gout continued to show why he is regarded as one of the sport’s brightest young talents, completing the podium with a remarkable 14.96.

The 150m race, which combines the explosive acceleration of the 100m with the speed endurance required for the 200m, provided another opportunity for Lyles to showcase his rare sprinting ability.

Known for his dominance over 200m and his Olympic success, Lyles continues to expand his legacy with performances that underline his status as one of the greatest sprinters of his generation.

The record-breaking run in Ostrava adds another historic chapter to Lyles’ career and sends a powerful message ahead of the major international competitions ahead.

Dutch athletics superstar Femke Bol is preparing to launch her outdoor campaign in thrilling fashion after confirming that she will compete in the 800m at the prestigious Golden Spike Ostrava on June 16.

The announcement has immediately generated excitement across the athletics world, with fans eager to see how the reigning global 400m hurdles queen performs over the longer distance outdoors after her sensational indoor breakthrough earlier this year.

Bol, already regarded as one of the most versatile athletes in world athletics, stunned the track community during her indoor 800m debut in Metz back in February. Competing outside her specialist discipline, the Dutch star produced a remarkable 1:59.07 performance, becoming one of the very few elite 400m hurdlers capable of breaking the two-minute barrier in the event.

That performance was not only impressive for a debut — it was historic. Bol shattered the long-standing Dutch indoor 800m record of 2:00.01 previously held by Ester Goossens since 2001, underlining her extraordinary endurance, speed, and tactical maturity.

The decision to open her outdoor season in the two-lap event instead of the 400m hurdles adds another fascinating dimension to her already glittering career. It also signals her continued ambition to expand her range and sharpen her endurance ahead of the major championships later in the season.

Ostrava has long been known for producing fast times and unforgettable performances, and Bol’s presence instantly elevates the anticipation surrounding this year’s meeting. With her confidence soaring and her fitness clearly at an exceptional level, many will now wonder whether the Dutch sensation can push even deeper into world-class territory in the 800m outdoors.

Already a double world champion in the 400m hurdles and one of the most dominant figures in modern athletics, Bol continues to prove that her talent stretches far beyond one event. Her upcoming appearance in Ostrava is no longer just a season opener — it has become one of the most intriguing storylines of the early outdoor campaign.

World Athletics has officially recognized the 300m hurdles as an official event, marking a major shift in the sport’s landscape. While it has long existed as a training and exhibition distance, the 300m hurdles will now count toward world rankings and all official statistical purposes, similar to the 400m hurdles.

In a statement released by World Athletics, the governing body noted:

“It will serve all World Athletics statistical purposes, including world rankings towards which it will score as a similar event to the 400m hurdles. A list of world best performances will be kept, while conditions for setting an inaugural world record will be decided at a later stage, once the popularity of the event has reached a meaningful level.”

Though not yet eligible for world records, the event already boasts elite-level performances. Norway’s Karsten Warholm—the 400m hurdles world record holder—blazed 33.26 in Oslo in 2021, a mark widely recognized as the world best. He followed it up with a 33.28 performance in Bergen last year.

On the women’s side, Dutch superstar Femke Bol holds the top time with her 36.86 run in 2022.

The move to formalize the event brings renewed attention to what has typically been a non-championship distance. A major showcase is already on the calendar: the men’s 300m hurdles will feature at the Oslo Diamond League on June 12, 2025, setting the stage for a high-profile showdown in Warholm’s home country.

With elite athletes already embracing the event and more high-level races on the way, the 300m hurdles may soon become a fan favorite—and a mainstay in international competition.

Photos: Karsten Warholm Sets 300m Hurdles World Record

Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm setting the 300m hurdles world record with a time of 33.26 seconds at the Impossible Games in Oslo.  

Femke Bol Breaks Women’s 300m Hurdles World Record

Dutch athlete Femke Bol breaking the women’s 300m hurdles world record with a time of 36.86 seconds at the Ostrava Golden Spike event.  

Ferdinand Omanyala's Italian track rival hopes to make a grand return this season as he gears up to defend his Olympic title in Paris, France.

Ferdinand Omanyala’s track rival Marcel Jacobs had a poor run last season due to a bout of injuries but the Italian hopes to make a strong comeback this season.

Jacobs, the reigning Olympic champion made a few changes at the end of last season where he parted ways with his coach Paolo Camossi who guided him to the 100m title at the delayed 2020 Olympic Games.

At the time, Jacobs had yet to decide on his new coach but noted that he would be leaving Rome where he had been based. Last season, he competed in four 100m races and failed to clock a sub-10 in all four and also failed to win any of the 100m races.

His final race last season was the Memorial Borisa Hanžekovića in Croatia where he finished third and he hopes to bounce back this season as he gears up to defend his Olympic title.

The Italian has also skipped the indoor tour this season, a move that is unlike him since he is usually a frequent competitor during the indoor races.

As per World Athletics, Jacobs will head straight to the outdoor season where he intends to open his season at the Ostrava Golden Spike for the first time as he works towards the European Championships on home soil.

As per World Athletics, Jacobs will head straight to the outdoor season where he intends to open his season at the Ostrava Golden Spike for the first time as he works towards the European Championships on home soil.

At 35, Jamaica’s two-time Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has done it all. But she still hasn’t finished, and her appearance at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Paris on Saturday (18) will represent another significant step in her campaign to defend her world 100m title in Oregon next month.

Fraser-Pryce established her name early on this season’s world list when she ran in the rarified air of Nairobi and won in 10.67 - only seven-hundredths off the personal best she ran last year to put herself third on the all-time list.

Her Jamaican compatriot and twice successor as Olympic 100m champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah, has since made a good start to her pursuit of a first individual world title with a best of 10.79 on the Eugene track that will stage the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.

But now Fraser-Pryce is back to make another impression in top-level competition at the Meeting de Paris on the ultra-fast blue track at Stade Charlety, which was renovated in 2019.

She will be taking on some talented sprinters including Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji, the surprise – and surprised – winner of the world indoor 60m title in Belgrade earlier this year in a personal best of 6.96. Kambundji, who turns 30 on the day before the race, will be targeting her personal best of 10.94. 

Also in the mix will be Michelle-Lee Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago, who has run 10.94 this season and has a personal best of 10.82, and Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, who missed a 100m medal by one place in Tokyo as she ran 10.91.

Two-time Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who has raced well but not exceptionally at 200m this season, will get down to serious business at her specialist event.

The 28-year-old Bahamian, who lowered her own continental record to 48.36 in Tokyo last summer, is third in this year’s top list with her time of 49.91, but that was set in April and the Olympic champion will want to check in on her current form having run over 200m recently.

She faces a strong Polish trio of Natalia Kaczmarek, who ran a huge personal best of 50.16 in Ostrava and stands sixth in this year’s world list, European champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic and Anna Kielbasinska.

The Bahamas will be providing both Olympic 400m champions in Paris, with Steven Gardiner hoping to further fine-tune his world title defence in Oregon with a rare Diamond League appearance.

The leggy 26-year-old, who is 1.93m tall and has run 43.48, making him the sixth best performer of all time, did not compete in any Diamond League race last year and only raced once in Europe, at Szekesfehervar in Hungary.

His last appearance on the sport’s top circuit was at Monaco in 2019, when he won. Gardiner is already in good shape, having run 44.22 at Baton Rouge in Louisiana on 23 April - the fastest time recorded so far this year.

Meanwhile, European champion Matthew Hudson-Smith, who recently took one hundredth of a second off the British record of 43.36, set by Iwan Thomas in 1997, could be in position to better a record of even longer standing, this time the European one of 44.33 set by East Germany’s Thomas Schoenlebe in 1987. 

Devon Allen of the United States, whose 12.84 clocking in last Saturday’s New York Grand Prix – the third-fastest ever run – earned him a handsome victory ahead of world champion and compatriot Grant Holloway, maintained winning momentum over 110m hurdles in Oslo, although this victory was earned in 13.22 into a headwind of -1.2 m/s.

Allen, who will take up a professional American football career at the end of this season as a wide receiver with National Football League side Philadelphia Eagles, is due to run in Paris against a field that includes home hurdler Wilhem Belocian.

Canada’s Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse has been running 100m recently to sharpen up, but after clocking 10.24 at the Birmingham Diamond League on 21 May he dropped out of the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games on 5 June. On Thursday in Oslo, however, he returned to form in the 100m – in which he won Rio 2016 bronze – as he earned victory in 10.05 from Britain’s Reece Prescod, who clocked 10.06.

On Saturday, like Miller-Uibo, he will get down to business in his main event against a field that includes Prescod, who produced a big personal best over 100m of 9.93 in blustery conditions at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting on 31 May. Meanwhile, Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic will be seeking to build on what has been a good start to the season, in which he has run 20.07.

Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega, who won the Ethiopian World Championships trials race in Hengelo and then finished fourth in the 5000m in Rome, is expected to race over the shorter distance in Paris.

Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnova, the two-time world 400m hurdles champion and Olympic bronze medalist, has confirmed her retirement from competitive athletics.

The 35-year-old, who has announced that she is expecting a baby, is to bid an official farewell to her successful career at the Ostrava Golden Spike – a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting – on 31 May.

“I wanted to say goodbye in front of Czech spectators,” she said. “I have had a great career and from the bottom of my heart I thank everyone who supported me. I'm looking forward to a new role now.”

World U18 gold in 2003 was the first of the global titles claimed by Hejnova, the then 16-year-old clocking 57.54 to win the 400m hurdles in Sherbrooke, Canada.

She broke the Czech U20 record for the first time at the World U20 Championships in Grosseto the following year, her 57.44 securing silver, and lowered it again in 2005, eventually taking it to 55.89 when winning the 2005 European U20 title in Kaunas.

Hejnova then broke the Czech senior record the following year and improved it every season from 2006 to 2011. During that period she claimed 400m hurdles bronze at the 2007 European U23 Championships, made her Olympic debut with a seventh-place finish in Beijing in 2008 and secured silver as part of the Czech 4x400m team at the 2010 World Indoor Championships.

Hejnova became an Olympic medalist two years later, winning bronze at the 2012 Games in London, and that was to prove just the start.

During an unbeaten 2013 season in her specialist event, Hejnova won the first of her two world 400m hurdles titles and she did it with the performance of her life – clocking a still-standing Czech record of 52.83 to get gold in Moscow. She won the overall Diamond League title – a feat she repeated in 2015 – and was named athlete of the year by European Athletics and the Czech Athletics Federation.

She retained her world title in Beijing in 2015 – becoming the only athlete to win back-to-back world gold medals in the women’s 400m hurdles – and also achieved top-five finishes in London in 2017 and Doha in 2019. Hejnova then became a three-time Olympian in 2016, finishing fourth in the 400m hurdles in Rio, and claimed European indoor 400m silver in Belgrade the following year.

Despite injury struggles, she returned to reach the final of the World Championships in 2019 and then ran her last race at the Ostrava Golden Spike in September 2020. There she contested the 300m hurdles, an event in which she set the world best of 38.16 in 2013.

Six races in eight days on the Tokyo track? No problem, says Sifan Hassan, who overcame a Monday morning fall in the 1500m heats to win 5000m gold in the evening.

How about 24,500 meters of Olympic racing in the matter of eight days?

The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan has said she’ll try it, competing in each of the 1500m, 5000m, and 10,000m races at Tokyo 2020, a line-up rarely seen – especially in the hot conditions athletics runners are facing at these Games.

“For me it is crucial to follow my heart,” said Hassan in a press release. “Doing that is far more important than gold medals. That keeps me motivated and it keeps me enjoying this beautiful sport.”

Having already run on Friday (July 30) to qualify for the 5000m final, Hassan fell with a lap to go in Monday morning's 1500m first round, but picked herself up to win the heat!

Just 12 hours later, Hassan produced her famed finishing kick to take her first global title over 5000m and her first Olympic medal.

That may have been the hardest of three with the mile world record holder completing a 1500m-10,000m double at the 2019 World Championships.

See her full schedule below – and find out what other similar feats have been attempted in athletics in Games past, as you get to know the distance running star.

Born in Ethiopia in 1993, Hassan arrived in the Netherlands as a 15-year-old refugee in 2008. She split her time between running and studying to become a nurse.

She became a Dutch citizen in late 2013, which allowed her to represent the Netherlands in competition.

As early as 2011, Hassan began making her mark on the international stage, winning the Eindhoven Half Marathon that year. In 2013, she won the 3000m at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting in June.

At the 2014 European Championships in Zurich, Hassan took gold in the 1500m and a year later, she won bronze in the 1500m at the World Championships in Beijing, joining Dafne Schippers as the only Dutch athletes to win medals at the Worlds.

She had clearly established herself as one to watch ahead of Rio 2016, though injuries hampered her build-up to those Games, where she went out in the heats in the 800m but reached the final of the 1500m, where she finished fifth behind Kenya’s gold medalist Faith Kipyegon.

Has anyone tried such an Olympic programme before? Let’s compare it with two great long-distance feats at Olympic Games.

According to  The Guardian, Paavo Nurmi went for four at Paris 1924: Nurmi won the men's 1500m, 5000m, and 3000m team event – as well as two cross-country events – but “Finnish officials feared for his health and refused to let him race the 10,000m.”

The 1500, 3000 and 5000 happened over a span of just five days.

At Helsinki 1952, Czechoslovakia’s Emil Zatopek won the 5000m, 10,000m, and marathon (42km) – all in Olympic records. Those four races (a semi and a final for the 5000), took place over eight days.

After Rio, Hassan joined Alberto Salazar’s training group in Oregon, keeping her focus largely on the 1500m. She was fifth again (behind Kipyegon) in the 1500m at the 2017 World Championships in London and took bronze in the 5000m with another Kenyan, Hellen Obiri, winning gold.

In 2019, after a quiet season to start, she set a new mile world record at the Monaco Diamond League in 4:12.33.

At the World Championships in Doha, she entered the 10,000m having only ran the race competitively just once before. But Hassan closed down Letesenbet Gidey before sprinting clear on the last lap to take her first global title.

A week later, she showed her versatility by winning the 1500m to complete a unique double at Worlds.

After worlds, it was announced that her coach, Salazar, would be suspended from athletics due to doping allegations. Hassan denied any knowledge of wrongdoing.

She continued to perform at the top level after his suspension: She set the aforementioned mile world record in 2019, then ran the fourth fastest 10,000m ever before setting a new world record at that distance in June of 2021. (That record was broken two days later, by Gidey.)

Hassan will almost certainly fight it out with Gidey for gold in the 10,000, but the Dutch runner’s famed finishing kick gives her a great chance of adding the Olympic title to her world title.

Here’s a breakdown of Hassan’s potential schedule, having already advance through into the final of the 5000m on Monday night (Aug 2).

Fri 30 July 19:00 JST - 5000m semi-finals – Finished 1st, to reach final.

Mon 2 August 09:47 JST - 1500m round 1 - Finished 1st in heat despite falling, to reach semi-finals.

Mon 2 August 21:40 JST - 5000m final

Wed 4 August around 17:00 JST - 1500m semi-finals.

Fri 6 August 21:50 JST - 1500m final (if she qualifies)

Sat 7 August 19:45 JST - 10,000m final.

All eyes were on Joshua Cheptegei ahead of Wednesday’s Ostrava Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic, as the 24-year-old Ugandan was looking to break the 3,000m world record. Cheptegei ended up running to a disappointing finish, falling well short of the record, but the meet was far from uneventful, as several other athletes posted remarkable times. Among these impressive performances were runs from teenaged Brits Max Burgin and Keely Hodgkinson in the men’s and women’s 800m races and an amazing showing from Cheptegei’s compatriot Jacob Kiplimo in the 10,000m. 

Cheptegei falls short 

Cheptegei had an incredible 2020 season that saw him run three world records (5K, 5,000m and 10,000m) in four races. He had already raced twice in 2021 ahead of Wednesday’s meet, and he was itching to add another record to his resume, so he targeted Kenyan Daniel Komen‘s 3,000m mark of 7:20.67, which has been the time to beat for 24 years.

Before the run, Cheptegei’s agent, Jurrie van der Velden, told LetsRun.com that this record could be the toughest one Cheptegei has tried to beat, and after he finished 13 seconds behind Komen’s time on Wednesday, that appears to be true. Cheptegei opened the race on world record pace, and he passed through the first 1,600m in 3:55. He proceeded to slow considerably in the following few laps, though, and crossed the line far off the world record. 

British domination 

Young Brits won both 800m races. Hodgkinson’s win wasn’t too much of a surprise, as she has had a tremendous season so far. The 18-year-old opened her season in Austria in January with a U20 indoor 800m world record of 1:59.03 (which American Athing Mu lowered a month later with a 1:58.40 run in Arkansas), and she followed that up with a win in the women’s 800m at the European Indoor Championships. On Wednesday, she broke two minutes for the first time outdoors, winning the women’s race in Ostrava in 1:58.89, which is a new U20 European record. 

The men’s 800m was the first race of the season for Burgin, but he ran extremely well and took the win in 1:44.14. Like Hodgkinson, Burgin (who turns 19 on Thursday) now owns the U20 European 800m record, and his result in the Czech Republic is a new world-leading time for 2021. Both Hodginson’s and Burgin’s times are under the Olympic 800m standards. 

Kiplimo crushes the 10,000m 

With all of the attention on Cheptegei, Kiplimo managed to fly under the radar until his race. Then, lining up in the men’s 10,000m, the 20-year-old flew away from the rest of the field, and 25 laps later, he stopped the clock in 26:33.93. This is a new world-leading time, it crushed the second-place finisher (who crossed the line in 27:07.49) and it shattered Kiplimo’s previous PB of 27:26.68 by close to a full minute. Before the race, Kiplimo said he was hoping to break 27 minutes, and he accomplished this goal with ease. His result now puts him at seventh-best in history at the distance. 

Canadian sprints 

Canadian sprinters Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown were both in action in Ostrava. De Grasse raced the 100m, and he crossed the line in 10.17 seconds. He finished in third place behind American Fred Kerley (9.96) and Justin Gatlin (10.08). Brown also finished in third place, although he raced the 200m. Brown ran 20.40 seconds, and he finished behind Kenny Bednarek of the U.S. (19.93) and Kerley (20.27). Both De Grasse and Brown are set to race at the Gateshead Diamond League on Sunday in the U.K.

After settling for another world record near-miss in the Brussels Diamond League on Friday, Kenya's Olympic 1,500m champion Faith Kipyegon is set to resume her special rivalry with Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava on Sept. 8.

Having finished just 17 hundredths of a second short at last month's opening Diamond League meeting in Monaco, Kipyegon seemed on track to achieve her ambition with 200 meters remaining, but faltered slightly over the final few meters to cross the line in 2:29.92.

The Kenyan now will return to her 1,500m specialty against Dibaba with hope of continuing her perfect start to Diamond League series at the Ostrava Golden Spike (Czech Republic) on Tuesday.

"I'm happy with the win, the record didn't come out as we had planned but I'm satisfied with my general performance, now I will concentrate on the next competition, the Ostrava meeting," Kipyegon told Xinhua on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Kenya's world marathon record-holder Brigid Kosgei's track debut ended in disappointment after losing the battle to The Dutch world 1,500m and 10,000m champion Sifan Hassan who went to break the World Hour record after she reached 18,930 meters as the hour elapsed, beating the existing mark of 18,517 meters set by Ethiopia's Dire Tune in 2008.

Kosgei was later disqualified for infringement after she was found to have stepped on the rail.

In the men's One Hour event, Britain's and Olympic champion Mo Farah held off the challenge of his training partner, home athlete Bashir Abdi, to set a new mark of 21,330m - eclipsing the 2007 mark of 21,285m set by Haile Gebrselassie. Abdi finished eight meters behind.