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Funding agreed for European Athletics Championships​

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has committed a further £600,000 towards the hosting of the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.

Financing for the games came into question, after Birmingham City Council declared effective bankruptcy in September.

At a meeting on Friday, the combined authority agreed the money, thanks to an underspend from the building of the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.

Councillor Bob Sleigh, portfolio lead for finance at the authority, said losing the event would have a "detrimental impact on the city, region and UK as a whole".

Birmingham City Council had originally agreed to underwrite the full cost of staging the championships at the Alexander Stadium as part of a joint bid with UK Athletics and UK Sport.

However commissioners brought in to make £300m of savings at the authority over the next two years have outlined it as a "non-essential", Mr Sleigh told the WMCA board meeting.

This had led to a £2.2m shortfall in funding for the event, which would be the first time it had been held in the UK.

Addressing the meeting, the leader of Birmingham City Council, Councillor John Cotton said it was "disappointing" it was no longer able to resource the shortfall, and appreciated the financial challenges local authorities were under.

"We are all facing real difficulties now, notwithstanding that, we cannot allow an event of this magnitude slip through our fingers," he said.

Without agreeing the new financial plan, he said, there was a real prospect that Birmingham could lose the event.

European Athletics, he said, were due to meet on 16 January to formally consider the new plan.

As well as £600,000 from the WMCA, the meeting heard, UK Athletics had assigned £250,000 towards the event, with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport agreeing to put forward £680,000 conditional on the authority's contribution.

Birmingham City Council will provide £670,000, which has been saved from works on Alexander Stadium.

Two amendments to the report were also agreed, that the involvement of the WMCA be recognised and, from Mayor Andy Street, that the authority itself looks into the possibility of adding £3m from its finances towards grassroots sports initiatives, to cover that lost from the refinancing of the championships.

Mr Street said: “It’s really important that major events like this leave a lasting legacy for residents.

"That’s why I’ve asked my team to ensure they strain every sinew to protect grassroots and community funding.

"My support for the European Athletics Championships still going ahead was contingent on this amendment.”

Source: BBC
 
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Kenya's Agnes Jebet Ngetich smashed the women's 10km world road-race record by almost half a minute in Valencia on Sunday.

The 22-year-old's time of 28min 46sec bettered by 28sec the previous mark set by Ethiopia's Yalemzerf Yehualaw two years ago.

Ngetich is the first woman to break 29 minutes for the distance.

"I am happy that I ran a world record of 28 minutes. I didn't expect this," she said.

The men's race was won by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo in 26:48.
 

Shawn Barber: Former world pole vault champion dies aged 29​

Canada's former world pole vault champion Shawn Barber has died at the age of 29 from medical complications.

His agent Paul Doyle told the Reuters news agency that Barber passed away at home in Texas.

Barber took gold at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, won the Pan American Games the same year and finished 10th in the Rio 2016 Olympics.

His best jump of 6.00 metres was set in January 2016 and remains a Canadian record.

"More than just an incredible athlete, Shawn was such a good-hearted person that always put others ahead of himself," Doyle said on Thursday.

"It's tragic to lose such a good person at such a young age."

Barber, who held dual Canadian-American citizenship, upset a field including reigning champion Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany and France's then world record holder Renaud Lavillenie to win gold in China.

"Our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Shawn Barber, Canadian pole vaulter — 2015 world champion, Rio 2016 Olympian and Canadian record holder," Athletics Canada posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Polish pole vaulter Piotr Lisek, who won silver at the 2017 World Championships in London, added: "One of the best pole vaulters in the world, Shawn Barber, passed away today.

"We had the opportunity to host him on Polish soil many times, and he showed his heart many times with incredible cheerfulness."

Source: BBC
 

Dwain Chambers to race at UK Indoors Championships aged 45​

Former world indoor champion Dwain Chambers is set to race in the 60m at the UK Indoor Championships at the age of 45.

Chambers qualified for February's event by running 6.81 seconds at a meet in Lee Valley earlier this year.

He was banned for doping in 2004 but returned to the sport in 2006 and won the 60m world indoor title in 2010.

The qualifying time for the World Indoor Championships, which take place in Glasgow in March, is 6.58secs.

Chambers, who last ran for Great Britain in 2014, attempted to break into American football twice - during his two-year doping ban and again in 2007 - before an unsuccessful trial spell at rugby league club Castleford Tigers in 2008.

He took gold at the World Indoors in Doha in 2010 and bronze two years later in Istanbul.

He officially retired in July 2017 but also ran in the British Indoors 60m Championships in 2019 only to be disqualified for a false start in semi-finals.

Source: BBC
 
WOW, we rarely see sprinters competing at such a high level at 35 and he is going to do it in 45.
 

Noah Lyles wants 'all the Olympic medals' after 60m personal best in Boston​

Noah Lyles says he wants to win "all the Olympic medals" after setting a personal best in winning the 60m at the Boston Indoor Grand Prix.

The American, 26, triumphed in 6.44 seconds, the fastest time of 2024 and 0.10 seconds off Christian Coleman's indoor world record.

Lyles, the 100m, 200m and 4x100m world champion, is set to race in all three events at this summer's Paris Olympics.

"I don't care who wants it. It's mine," he said.

"I just improved my 60m, the worst part of my race. It's dangerous out here.

"I'm just thinking about in 2022 when I PR'ed [set a personal record] and I ran an American record and last year when I PR'ed at this meet and I became the three-time world champion.

"Now I'm looking another major PR.

"Guess what that means? We're coming after everything - all the Olympic medals."

Lyles won by 0.01 seconds from Jamaica's Ackeem Blake, with American Ronnie Baker third.

The World Indoor Championships take place in Glasgow from 1-3 March and the Olympics begin on 26 July.

Wightman second on return from injury
Britain's Jake Wightman finished second in the 1500m on his return from long-term injury.

The Scot has been sidelined for 13 months because of foot, shin and hamstring problems, which meant he was unable to defend his world title in Budapest last summer.

Wightman set an indoor personal best of three minutes 34.06 seconds, 0.07 seconds behind American Hobbs Kessler and outside the Olympic qualifying time of 3:33.50.

"It felt a bit weird being back but it is good to get started," said Wightman.

"I was hoping to tick few things off today - the win and the standard, and I got neither - so on reflection not the best outcome.

"But you have to start somewhere. I haven't raced in a while so maybe I should just be grateful I'm in one piece."

Source: BBC
 

Amber Anning: Paris 2024 Olympics would be 'icing on cake' for record-breaking Team GB sprinter​

British sprinter Amber Anning says becoming an Olympian would be the "icing on the cake" after breaking a 25-year-old UK indoor record.

By running a 200m time of 22.60 seconds in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last month, Anning eclipsed Katharine Merry's 22.83 mark, set in Birmingham in 1999.

Later the same day, she ran a personal best 50.56secs in her favoured 400m to achieve the Olympic qualification time.

"I was in utter astonishment," the 23-year-old told BBC Radio Sussex.

"I didn't expect to go out and produce those times. I was just shocked because we [Great Britain] have produced so many good athletes over the years.

"I was actually surprised that the record hadn't been broken [earlier]," she added.

Part of the surprise was because Anning didn't know that she had run a British record until she looked at social media afterwards.

Source: BBC
 
Mohamed Katir: World 5,000m silver medallist provisionally suspended

World 5,000m silver medallist Mohamed Katir has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after missing three doping tests.

The 25-year-old Spaniard is the world indoor 3,000m record holder and the European record holder over 5,000m.

Athletes must log their whereabouts to assist unannounced out-of-competition tests, with three missed tests in a 12-month period resulting in a violation.

Katir, who won world 1,500m bronze in 2022, will appeal against the sanction.

In a statement Katir said he has been subjected to a large number of out-of-competition doping tests - both urine and blood samples - over recent months "without the slightest problem".

"I consider that there is no violation arising from three location failures in the last 12 months," Katir said.

"In some of the location failures reported by the AIU, I was available at the place, date and time provided by me.

"It is important to keep in mind that we are not dealing with a case of violating doping rules for the use of prohibited substances or methods, or even for evading out-of-competition doping controls."

In response to the athletes' statement, the Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) reiterated its commitment to "rigorous compliance" with anti-doping frameworks and said it "will remain attentive to the decisions adopted by the competent authorities".

"It is necessary to emphasise that the integrity of the competition and the spirit of sportsmanship constitute the fundamental pillars of a clean and fair sport, and must be defended above any sporting achievement," the RFEA added.

"Consequently, once the official notification regarding the opening of the file was received by the World Athletics Integrity Unit, the athlete's license was immediately suspended."


BBC
 

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce: Jamaica sprint legend to retire after Paris 2024 Olympics​

Three-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce says she "owes" it to her family to retire after the 2024 Games.

The 37-year-old, regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, won the 100m title in 2008 and 2012.

Jamaican Fraser-Pryce also won Tokyo 2020 Olympic relay gold, plus three of her 10 world titles, in a comeback after giving birth to her son in 2017.

"There's not a day I'm getting up to go practise and I'm like, 'I'm over this,'" she told Essence.com, external.

"My son needs me.

"My husband and I have been together since before I won in 2008. He has sacrificed for me.

"We're a partnership, a team. And it's because of that support that I'm able to do the things that I have been doing for all these years. And I think I now owe it to them to do something else."

She added this year's Olympics in Paris were about "showing people that you stop when you decide. I want to finish on my own terms".

In total, Fraser-Pryce has won three Olympic golds, four silvers and a bronze.

She won world bronze behind American Sha'Carri Richardson and team-mate Shericka Jackson at last summer's World Championships and will remain one of the main contenders at Paris 2024 in July and August.

She became the oldest woman to win the 100m world title with her victory in Doha in 2019 and extended that record by winning again aged 35 in Eugene in 2022 - 14 years after her first Olympic gold.

"You can have an impact, and it's important to show people that you can't be selfish," she said.

"It's not enough that we step on a track and we win medals. You have to think about the next generation that's coming after you, and give them the opportunity to also dream - and dream big."

Source: BBC
 
She is 37 and she is still capable of winning Gold medals at the very top level. WOW.
 
Josh Kerr breaks Mo Farah's indoor two-mile record at Millrose Games

Great Britain's Josh Kerr broke Mo Farah's world two-mile indoor record as he won at the Millrose Games in New York.

World 1500m gold medallist Kerr ran eight minutes 0.67 seconds to beat Farah's mark of 8:03.40 from 2015.

"It was always going to be really tough, small margins," Kerr, 26, said.

Kerr's fellow Scot Laura Muir set a new British indoor record as she won the women's two-mile race after Ethiopia's Medina Eisa was disqualified.

Eisa was first home in New York but cut in too early on the opening lap.

Muir, 30, was promoted from second to first after finishing in nine minutes and 4.84 seconds.

The Olympic 1500m silver medallist, who won the Wanamaker Mile at last year's Millrose Games, will look to win the world indoor title in Glasgow next month.

In the men's two-mile race, Kerr charged at the finish to defeat Grant Fisher, who set an American national record of 8:03.62.

Farah set the previous world indoor best at Birmingham nine years ago.

"I had to roll with the punches at the start of my career - pretty good but not world class," said Kerr.

"And then to be world class and now world champion... I'm having fun with it, creating big goals to get myself out the door and prove I'm not all talk."

Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas set a new world record in the women's 60m hurdles.

Charlton clocked 7.67 seconds in the hurdles to shave 0.01 off the previous world record set by Sweden's Susanna Kallur 16 years ago.


BBC
 
The men's marathon world record holder, Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum, 24, has died in a road accident in his home country.

He was killed alongside his coach, Rwanda's Gervais Hakizimana, in a car on a road in western Kenya.

A third person was taken to hospital after the accident at about 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT), police were quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Kiptum made a stunning breakthrough in 2023 as a rival to his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge - whose record he later beat.


BBC
 
Cricket Warrior said:
The men's marathon world record holder, Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum, 24, has died in a road accident in his home country.

He was killed alongside his coach, Rwanda's Gervais Hakizimana, in a car on a road in western Kenya.

A third person was taken to hospital after the accident at about 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT), police were quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Kiptum made a stunning breakthrough in 2023 as a rival to his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge - whose record he later beat.


BBC
Click to expand...

Devastated by the death of his only son, Kiptum's father, Samson Cheruiyot, has appealed to the government to conduct an investigation, saying unknown people had been looking for his son days before the fatal collision.

"There are people who came home a while back who were looking for Kiptum but they refused to identify themselves," he told Kenyan news outlet Citizen TV.

"I asked them to provide identification, but they opted to leave. It was a group of four people."

Mr Cheruiyot said he had last spoken to his son on Saturday, when he says the athlete reassured him he was going to win more medals - and that he would become the first person to run an official marathon in less than two hours.

"He told me someone will come and help us build a house. He said that his body is now fit, and he can now run for 1:59," Mr Cheruiyot said.

"Kiptum was my only child. He has left me, his mom, and his kids. I have no other child. His mom was sick for a while. Right now, I'm deeply saddened."

It comes as Kenyan police said the runner died as a result of a traffic accident.

The force said the front part of the Toyota Premio car involved in the crash was intact and that the airbags did not deploy.

"The sensor of the airbag normally is at the front, and if there was no impact on the front part of the vehicle, the airbags will not move," Abdullahi Dahir, Keiyo South police commander, said.

"The impact (on Kiptum's car) was on the roof... on the top of the car... so that's why we could not see the airbags out."

Source: SKY
 
Mohamed Katir: World 5,000m silver medallist given two-year ban for anti-doping rule violation

Spain's world 5,000m silver medallist Mohamed Katir has been banned for two years by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after admitting to an anti-doping rule violation.

Katir, 25, was provisionally suspended last week after missing three doping tests in 12 months.

The AIU requires athletes to log their whereabouts to assist unannounced out-of-competition tests.

His ban will run until 6 February 2026, ruling him out of the Paris Olympics.

He will also miss the World Championships in Tokyo in 2025, having won bronze in the 1500m in 2022 and silver in the 5,000m in 2023.

Katir initially said he would appeal against his provisional suspension, but this week admitted the offences for failing to provide his whereabouts on 28 February, 3 April and 10 October 2023.

His results since 10 October have been disqualified.


www.bbc.com

Mohamed Katir: World 5,000m silver medallist given two-year ban for anti-doping rule violation

Spain's world 5,000m silver medallist Mohamed Katir is banned for two years by the Athletics Integrity Unit after admitting to an anti-doping rule violation.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Cricket Warrior said:
Mohamed Katir: World 5,000m silver medallist given two-year ban for anti-doping rule violation

Spain's world 5,000m silver medallist Mohamed Katir has been banned for two years by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after admitting to an anti-doping rule violation.

Katir, 25, was provisionally suspended last week after missing three doping tests in 12 months.

The AIU requires athletes to log their whereabouts to assist unannounced out-of-competition tests.

His ban will run until 6 February 2026, ruling him out of the Paris Olympics.

He will also miss the World Championships in Tokyo in 2025, having won bronze in the 1500m in 2022 and silver in the 5,000m in 2023.

Katir initially said he would appeal against his provisional suspension, but this week admitted the offences for failing to provide his whereabouts on 28 February, 3 April and 10 October 2023.

His results since 10 October have been disqualified.


www.bbc.com

Mohamed Katir: World 5,000m silver medallist given two-year ban for anti-doping rule violation

Spain's world 5,000m silver medallist Mohamed Katir is banned for two years by the Athletics Integrity Unit after admitting to an anti-doping rule violation.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
Click to expand...
Missing three doping tests means there was something wrong; that's why he was hesitant to go for the test.
 
Grant Holloway broke his own world record in the 60m hurdles at the US Indoor Championships in New Mexico. The Olympic 110m hurdles silver medallist ran 7.27 seconds in the heats to shave two hundredths off the record.

BBC
 
Two-time world champion Femke Bol lowered her own world record in the indoor 400 metres at the Dutch national championships in Apeldoorn on Sunday.

The 23-year-old, who raced to gold in the 400m hurdles and 4x400 relay at the world championships last year in Budapest, clocked a time of 49.24 seconds, shaving two-hundredths of a second off her previous record set on the same track a year earlier.

Bol also dipped under the 50-second barrier indoors for the sixth time in her career.


Reuters
 

World Athletics Indoor Championships: Josh Kerr and Laura Muir named in Great Britain squad​

Josh Kerr and Laura Muir have been named in the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

Kerr, 26, and Muir, 30, will run in the 3,000m at the championships, which take place from 1 to 3 March.

Fellow Scot Jemma Reekie, 25, will race in the 800m having set a championship record at the UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham on Sunday.

New British champion Molly Caudery will compete in the pole vault.

The 23-year-old jumped a personal best, championship record and world lead of 4.85m in Birmingham on Saturday, a height that would have been good enough to secure silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.

"This is a really exciting squad," said Olympic head coach Paula Dunn.

"I am looking forward to seeing how the team perform on the world stage. We had a thrilling National Championships where athletes secured their places for the team in Scotland, and it was fantastic to see a number of athletes stepping up when it counted."

Double world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson will not be competing at the championships in Glasgow, instead focusing her preparations on this summer's Olympics in Paris.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for the World Athletics Indoor Championships​

Women

Georgia Bell (1500m), Isabelle Boffey (800m), Molly Caudery (pole vault), Morgan Lake (high jump), Laura Muir (3,000m), Laviai Nielsen (400m), Jemma Reekie (800m), Cindy Sember (60m hurdles), Revee Walcott-Nolan (1500m)

4x400m: Hannah Brier, Hannah Kelly, Jessie Knight, Laviai Nielsen, Lina Nielsen and Ama Pipi

Men

Jeremiah Azu (60m), Callum Elson, (1500m), Adam Fogg (1500m), Josh Kerr (3,000m), David King (60m hurdles), Tade Ojora (60m hurdles)

Source: BBC
 

World Athletics could trial new long jump take-off​

World Athletics is planning to introduce a new trial for measuring long jump take-offs.

A "take-off zone" could be used instead of the traditional wooden board, where a no-jump is called if the athlete's foot crosses the line.

The jump will be measured from where the athlete's front foot takes off to where they land in the pit.

"It will mean that every jump counts," World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon told the Anything But Footy podcast., external

"It adds to the jeopardy and the drama of the competition."

The aim of the long jump adaptation would be to reduce the amount of no-jumps, with Ridgeon saying a third of all jumps at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest did not count as athletes overstepped in pursuit of the perfect take-off.

"That doesn't work, that is a waste of time," he added. "So we are testing at the moment a take-off zone, rather than a board.

"But at the same time we are trying to work out ways of getting instant results so that you don't have to wait 20 or 30 seconds before the result pops up, and how we speed up the whole thing."

The long jump trial was one example used by Ridgeon to demonstrate World Athletics' aims of improving the sport, making processes quicker and more exciting, particularly for field events.

"You cannot make change in a sport that was basically invented 150 years ago without some controversy," he said.

"If you have dedicated your life to hitting that take-off board perfectly and then suddenly we replace it with a take-off zone, I totally get that there might be initial resistance.

"We will spend this year testing it in real life circumstances with very good athletes. If it doesn't pass testing, we will never introduce it. We are not going to introduce things on a whim."

Four-time Olympic long jump champion Carl Lewis criticised the proposed change, writing on social media: "You're supposed to wait until 1 April for April Fools jokes.

"I guess it supports what I've been saying, that the long is the most difficult event in track and field. That would just eliminate the most difficult skill from the event."

Ridgeon also explained plans for an annual global event in the athletics calendar for years where there is not a World Championships or Olympic Games, and to add consistency to the sport's structure.

The Olympic Games are taking place in Paris in 2024, followed by the World Championships in Tokyo in 2025.

Ridgeon added: "It's like tennis or golf having a year without all their majors - it would never happen, so why would we have a year where we don't have a global championship bringing a billion eyeballs to our sport?"

A World Athletics spokesperson told BBC Sport: "We are running tests with take-off zones in multiple locations and across several training groups. The testing will continue throughout the outdoor season."

Source: BBC
 
Britain's Jazmin Sawyers says a plan by World Athletics to introduce a trial for measuring long jump take-offs is "not what the event needs".

A take-off zone could be trialled in place of the event's traditional wooden board, where a no-jump is called if the athlete's foot crosses the line.


bbc
 
Kelvin Kiptum: Lord Coe says Kenyan 'would have broken' two-hour marathon mark

Kelvin Kiptum would have become the first person to run a competitive marathon in under two hours, World Athletics president Lord Sebastian Coe has said.

Kiptum was looking to better his record time of two hours and 35 seconds at April's Rotterdam Marathon.

Lord Coe believes breaking the two-hour barrier in an official race will be akin to Roger Bannister's four-minute mile in 1954 and the first successful climb of Mount Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

Kiptum set his world record in Chicago last October, bettering compatriot Eliud Kipchoge's previous benchmark by 34 seconds.

Kipchoge had become the first athlete to run the marathon distance in under two hours in October 2019, clocking one hour 59 minutes and 40 seconds in Vienna.

However, it is not recognised as the official marathon world record because it was not in open competition and he used a team of rotating pacemakers, among other aids not usually available to runners.



BBC
 
Christopher Morales Williams 400m indoor world record cannot be ratified

Christopher Morales Williams' 400m indoor world record cannot be ratified because of "an issue with the starting blocks".

The 19-year-old Canadian ran 44.49 seconds at the SEC Indoor Championships in Arkansas on Saturday.

Reports, external said the blocks did not comply with World Athletics regulations.

The US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association said, external Morales Williams' time will remain "an all-time world best".

American Kerron Clement set the indoor indoor world record of 44.57 at the same track in Fayetteville in 2005.


BBC
 
Great Britain's Jemma Reekie continued her bid to win a first global medal by qualifying fastest for the women's 800m final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

Scot Reekie, 25, judged her effort to perfection to win her semi-final in one minute 58.28 seconds and build further confidence before Sunday's medal race.

BBC
 
Great Britain's Jemma Reekie claimed her first major medal by winning 800m silver in front of her home crowd at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

The Scot, 25, clocked two minutes 2.72 seconds to cross the line behind Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma.

It came after GB's women's 4x400m relay quartet, which included twin sisters Laviai and Lina Nielsen, won bronze.

Ama Pipi and Jessie Knight brought GB home in a national record 3:26.36.

The Netherlands' Femke Bol sealed her second gold of the championships as she held off the United States, after defending champions Jamaica saw their challenge ended prematurely when Charokee Young dropped the baton in a coming together with Pipi.


BBC
 

Molly Caudery: Pole vaulter targets Olympics after World Indoor gold​

Molly Caudery says her World Indoor Championship gold medal will set her up well for this summer's Olympic Games.

The 23-year-old from Cornwall took pole vault gold in Glasgow, beating reigning Olympic and world champion Katie Moon and two other Olympic medallists.

It was her first major title and capped an impressive upturn in form in the past year that also saw her finish fifth at the World Championships.

"It almost sets me up better," she told BBC South West about her indoor title.

"Some people maybe wouldn't like that and all the pressures that come with it, but I do thrive under pressure.

"I've always said that I enjoy being an underdog, but coming into this championship I was in the spotlight a little bit more and I still managed to perform.

"So I think it's not a bad thing for me, and if I can just stay consistent, keep building in my training and take what I've done indoors into outdoors then I could be in really good shape for the Olympics."

www.bbc.com

Molly Caudery: Pole vaulter targets Olympics after World Indoor gold

Molly Caudery says she will "thrive under pressure" at the Olympic Games after her World Indoor Championship gold medal.
www.bbc.com
 
World record holder Tigst Assefa heads a high-class field in the women's elite race at the London Marathon.

The Ethiopian's stunning two hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds at the 2023 Berlin Marathon took more than two minutes off the previous record of 2:14.04 set by Kenya's Brigid Kosgei.

With Kosgei and fellow Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich also running, three of the four fastest women in history will compete in London.

The race takes place on 21 April.



BBC
 

Great Britain in the running to host 2029 World Athletics Championships​

Great Britain is in the running to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships, according to UK Athletics chief executive Jack Buckner.

The last time the event was staged in the UK was in London in 2017, while Glasgow hosted the World Indoor Championships at the weekend.

Now Buckner has told BBC Sport that UK Sport and UK Athletics are conducting a feasibility study into launching a bid to stage the 2029 event.

“We’d love to have another crack at 2029 and a World Championships,” said Buckner.

“We just do a great job. Everyone talks about the atmosphere at every event we’ve done.

“We first of all have to do a feasibility study and look at what the various options are.”

Buckner indicated that London would be the favoured venue for the event, in light of the successful staging of both the 2017 event and the 2012 Olympics.

“We can’t definitely say it’ll be London, but it would be in our mind given the success of it before,” Buckner added.

“I think London (2017) was transformational and it built off 2012 (the Olympic Games). It was transformational in all sorts of ways.”

www.independent.co.uk

Great Britain in the running to host 2029 World Athletics Championships

The last time the event was staged in the UK was in London in 2017.
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
 

World Triathlon Championship Series opener cancelled due to 'severe' weather warnings in Abu Dhabi​

The World Triathlon Championship Series opener in Abu Dhabi has been cancelled because of "severe adverse weather" forecast.

The series, which had been due to start on 8 March, is unable to go ahead with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms expected in the United Arab Emirates.

Team GB's Beth Potter and Alex Yee were among the athletes due to compete.

"The safety of our athletes is of paramount importance," a statement from World Triathlon read.

"We do not, at any stage, wish to put our athletes in danger and the forecast adverse weather would have jeopardised the safety of the event.

"This decision has not been taken lightly."

The announcement came hours before the start of the elite women's race, which included world champion Potter.

World Triathlon and the Abu Dhabi Sports Council explored hosting Friday's events in a closed venue.

However, the Crisis and Disaster Management Authority of Abu Dhabi stated all outdoor activities should be cancelled from Friday until Sunday, and that the region should prepare for the adverse weather.

The event in Abu Dhabi was set to be the first WTCS of 2024 and was part of the qualification process for the Olympics in Paris later this year.

It means the qualification process, which has a cut-off date of 27 May, will be condensed to two races in Yokohama, Japan and Cagliari, Italy in May.

Source: BBC
 

Commonwealth Games: Malaysia says it has been offered £100m to help stage 2026 event​

Malaysia says it has been offered £100m to help the country host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The Games is currently without a host after the Australian state of Victoria cancelled its plans last July because of soaring costs.

Malaysia's Olympic Council says it received a formal invitation from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to replace Victoria as hosts last month.

The CGF says it is in "advanced discussions" with potential hosts.

A statement on the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) website said the £100m would support "the local delivery and legacy planning" of the 2026 Games.

Malaysia has hosted the Games once before, in the country's capital Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

President of Commonwealth Games Association of Malaysia Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the chance to host in 2026 was a "once in a lifetime opportunity to build on the success of 1998" and put the country "back on to the world sporting map".

A CGF spokesman told BBC Sport that £100m of "financial and strategic support" has been made available for potential hosts as part of Victoria's withdrawal settlement.

A statement read: "The CGF is in advanced, confidential discussions with potential hosts to secure a solution for the 2026 Games that inspires athletes and helps transform the Games to a truly sustainable model.

"Malaysia has a fantastic track record of delivering sporting events and the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur were hugely successful. We are encouraged by their early concepts of building on this legacy through use of many of the same world-class facilities.

"We welcome innovative proposals and are in positive discussions with potential hosts. We are committed to providing an update on the expedited process, and giving greater clarity to our stakeholders and athletes, as soon as possible."

The Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport event which takes place every four years. It has only ever been cancelled twice, in 1942 and 1946, because of World War Two.

To be eligible to participate, competitors must be from one of the Commonwealth's more than 70 nations or territories - many of which were once part of the British Empire.

The CGF had been struggling to find a host for the 2026 Games before Victoria volunteered in April 2022.

Organisers had originally estimated the event - hosted across cities including Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat - would cost A$2.6bn (£1.34bn).

But the expected cost for the 12-day tournament rose to more than A$6 billion (£3.08bn), prompting the state to cancel its plans.

The South African city of Durban was originally set to stage the 2022 games, but were stripped of hosting rights in 2017 after running into money troubles and missing key deadlines. Birmingham agreed to host nine months later.

Last week the Commonwealth Games was missing from a list of 70 major events that UK Sport said it wanted Britain to host in the next 15 years.

Deputy CEO Simon Morton said: "The challenge for us thinking about the Commonwealth Games in the future is simply a value for money one, rather than does it have benefit?

"We've got an open dialogue with the Commonwealth Games Federation, but until there is a little bit more clarity on what a sustainable Commonwealth Games model looks like in the future, it doesn't appear on our list."

Source: BBC
 

Olympic Games 2024: Nicole Yeargin focused on Paris despite tough time​

Nicole Yeargin admits a disappointing indoor season left her considering her future in athletics - but says she is now fully focused on the "dogfight" of securing a place in Team GB's squad for this summer's Olympics in Paris.

The 26-year-old Scottish athlete has won World, European and Commonwealth Games bronze medals in the 4x400m relay.

But she endured a frustrating start to the year, with a disappointing showing at the British Indoor Championships followed by missing out on the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

"When I came off the indoor season I was a little bit like 'what is going on, shall we hang these [spikes] up? I don't know if I have got it in me'," she told BBC Sport Scotland.

"But then I talked with my coach and realised what went wrong and if we can change it, I have full confidence I can make it back.

"One day you can be on top and one you can be on the bottom, athletics is very unforgiving.

"It sucks to know what I wanted to run and to know what I opened up with last year - 51.0 seconds. That was my goal this indoor season and it did not happen.

"I was a bit confused and it does kind of hit you in the heart - this is what you do, this is your career.

"So it was upsetting to run a slow time over and over again, when I know I could do better. I think that would go through anyone's head.

"I don't want to waste anyone's time, so if it was my time to go it was my time to go. But I came back to practice the next Monday and I was ready to train. I am still here."

Yeargin, who only took up athletics eight years ago, made her Olympic debut at the last Games in Tokyo and competed in the women's 400m as well as the women's 4x400m and mixed 4x400m relays.

Born and based in the United States, Yeargin - who qualifies to race for Scotland and Great Britain through her Scottish mum - believes she is now a more mature athlete.

"I feel like I am definitely an adult now," she added. "I was fresh out of college and think I got hit down by life a couple of times.

"But I am still determined. This is my job now, we didn't just make the team for fun. This is a job - we are here to get paid and put our names in some [history] books.

"People have been waiting for me to take that next step and really dive into my talent. There is just more pressure now. I am not the youngster, I know everybody now - I know what time everybody is running.

"Obviously the 400m girls are my friends so I have just got to find that 'yes you are my friend but I am still going to beat you today' mentality."

The two-time British 400m silver medallist, who changed her coach towards the end of last year, believes the sprinting landscape in Team GB circles has altered since the Tokyo Games, but remains confident she can secure her seat on the flight to Paris.

That depth was shown when Lina Nielsen, Laviai Nielsen, Ama Pipi and Jessie Knight set a new British record time as they claimed bronze in the 4x400m relay final at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow earlier this month.

"We have got so much stronger in the last three years," Yeargin said.

"You have got Amber Anning running fast, you have got the collegiates, you have got the professionals - a lot of them running fast - so it is going to be a dogfight this year.

"I make my own schedule, that is the maturity of knowing what I can and can't do and when I should do something and I when I shouldn't.

"Last time in Tokyo it was all planned out for you, this year I plan out my schedule - when I want to race, what I want to do, how I can improve. That is helpful."

Source: BBC
 
hassan918 said:

Commonwealth Games: Malaysia says it has been offered £100m to help stage 2026 event​

Malaysia says it has been offered £100m to help the country host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The Games is currently without a host after the Australian state of Victoria cancelled its plans last July because of soaring costs.

Malaysia's Olympic Council says it received a formal invitation from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to replace Victoria as hosts last month.

The CGF says it is in "advanced discussions" with potential hosts.

A statement on the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) website said the £100m would support "the local delivery and legacy planning" of the 2026 Games.

Malaysia has hosted the Games once before, in the country's capital Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

President of Commonwealth Games Association of Malaysia Mohamad Norza Zakaria said the chance to host in 2026 was a "once in a lifetime opportunity to build on the success of 1998" and put the country "back on to the world sporting map".

A CGF spokesman told BBC Sport that £100m of "financial and strategic support" has been made available for potential hosts as part of Victoria's withdrawal settlement.

A statement read: "The CGF is in advanced, confidential discussions with potential hosts to secure a solution for the 2026 Games that inspires athletes and helps transform the Games to a truly sustainable model.

"Malaysia has a fantastic track record of delivering sporting events and the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur were hugely successful. We are encouraged by their early concepts of building on this legacy through use of many of the same world-class facilities.

"We welcome innovative proposals and are in positive discussions with potential hosts. We are committed to providing an update on the expedited process, and giving greater clarity to our stakeholders and athletes, as soon as possible."

The Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport event which takes place every four years. It has only ever been cancelled twice, in 1942 and 1946, because of World War Two.

To be eligible to participate, competitors must be from one of the Commonwealth's more than 70 nations or territories - many of which were once part of the British Empire.

The CGF had been struggling to find a host for the 2026 Games before Victoria volunteered in April 2022.

Organisers had originally estimated the event - hosted across cities including Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat - would cost A$2.6bn (£1.34bn).

But the expected cost for the 12-day tournament rose to more than A$6 billion (£3.08bn), prompting the state to cancel its plans.

The South African city of Durban was originally set to stage the 2022 games, but were stripped of hosting rights in 2017 after running into money troubles and missing key deadlines. Birmingham agreed to host nine months later.

Last week the Commonwealth Games was missing from a list of 70 major events that UK Sport said it wanted Britain to host in the next 15 years.

Deputy CEO Simon Morton said: "The challenge for us thinking about the Commonwealth Games in the future is simply a value for money one, rather than does it have benefit?

"We've got an open dialogue with the Commonwealth Games Federation, but until there is a little bit more clarity on what a sustainable Commonwealth Games model looks like in the future, it doesn't appear on our list."

Source: BBC
Click to expand...

Commonwealth Games 2026: Malaysia rejects offer to host due to costs​


Malaysia has rejected an offer to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, the country's sports ministry has said.

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) offered Malaysia £100m as supporting funds after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew as host.

But Malaysia's sports ministry said the offer "will not cover the overall cost of hosting a large-scale sports event".

"Additionally, the economic impact could not be identified in this short timeframe," it added.

Victoria's withdrawal as host last July, because of soaring costs, has raised questions over the future of the Games.

Birmingham, which had been due to host in 2026, stepped in to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games when the South African city of Durban was stripped of hosting rights after running into money troubles and missing key deadlines.

President of Commonwealth Games Association of Malaysia Mohamad Norza Zakaria had said the chance to host in 2026 was a "once in a lifetime opportunity to build on the success of 1998" - the only previous occasion the country has hosted the Games.

But Malaysia's sports minister Hannah Yeoh said on Thursday it may be best for the country not to host if public funds are needed to stage the event.

The government of Alberta, Canada has pulled its support for a bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games due to rising costs.

Alberta's withdrawal means there are also currently no other firm bids to host the 2030 Games.

www.bbc.com

Commonwealth Games 2026: Malaysia rejects offer to host due to costs

Malaysia rejects an offer to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to costs, the country's sports ministry says.
www.bbc.com
 

World Triathlon Cup: Great Britain's Sian Rainsley wins in Hong Kong​


Great Britain's Sian Rainsley claimed her first World Triathlon Cup win with victory in Hong Kong.

The 26-year-old held off American Olympic bronze medallist Katie Zaferes to triumph by nine seconds.

Rainsley finished the sprint distance race - a 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run - in 59 minutes 44 seconds.

GB team-mates Olivia Mathias and Vicky Holland were seventh and 11th respectively, while Max Stapley was sixth in the men's race.

"I didn't race much last year - I was quite injured - so just being back on the start line was exciting," Rainsley told World Triathlon.

"I felt a bit more relaxed because I thought 'let's just blow off the cobwebs'.

"I've been training a lot with my partner Tom, who just podiumed at a 70.3 in Australia this morning, so it's a good day for our household."

Alberto Gonzalez Garcia won the men's race in 53:17, five seconds ahead of fellow Spaniard Antonio Serrat Seoane.

Stapley finished in 53mins 55secs, 31 seconds behind third-placed Kenji Nener of Japan.

American Kirsten Kasper was third in the women's race, while Britain's Sophie Alden, who finished second at the opening race of the year in New Zealand in February, was 19th.

The next round takes place in Lievin, France, on 31 March, when a World Cup will be contested over the indoor triathlon format for the first time.

www.bbc.com

World Triathlon Cup: Great Britain's Sian Rainsley wins in Hong Kong

Sian Rainsley holds off Olympic bronze medallist Katie Zaferes to win the World Triathlon Cup sprint distance race in Hong Kong.
www.bbc.com
 

Jasmin Paris first woman to complete gruelling Barkley Marathons race​

A British runner has made history by becoming the first woman to finish one of the world's hardest ultramarathons.

Jasmin Paris from Midlothian completed the Barkley Marathons in Tennessee with just one minute 39 seconds to spare of the 60-hour cut off.

She told the BBC she was "overjoyed" and had a "strong feeling" during training that she could complete it.

She was so exhausted she slumped to the ground after finishing the race which is inspired by a famous prison escape.

The course, at Frozen Head State Park, changes every year but covers 100 miles involving 60,000ft of climb and descent - about twice the height of the Mount Everest.

Only 20 people have ever made it to the end of the race within the allotted 60 hours since it was extended to 100 miles in 1989.

The 40-year-old vet had to navigate through extreme and often pathless terrain, continuing to run through the night.

Pictures at the race finish line on Friday show her legs scratched from pushing through sharp bushes and scrub in dense forest on steep slopes.

Having lost her voice from heavy breathing during the race, Jasmin was unable to speak but told BBC Breakfast by text message she was "overjoyed" to have completed it.

She said: "It still hasn't really sunk in that I've finally done it.

"This year I had a strong feeling in the months of training and run up to the race that I could do it.

"Those final moments have redefined for me what I am capable of."

www.bbc.com

Jasmin Paris first woman to complete gruelling Barkley Marathons race

Jasmin Paris from Midlothian made history by finishing the gruelling 100-mile Barkley Marathons.
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Boat Race 2024: Cambridge beat Oxford to retain men's title​


Cambridge won the men's Boat Race to complete the double over university rivals Oxford following victory in the women's race.

Cambridge were more than 10 seconds ahead but slowed towards the conclusion with Matt Edge on the verge of collapse.

But Edge and his team held on for a comfortable victory.

It continues Cambridge's dominance in the annual event, winning five of the past six men's races.

BBC Sport
 

World Athletics Cross Country Championships 2024: Great Britain win mixed relay bronze in Belgrade​

Bethan Morley put in a storming last leg to earn bronze for Great Britain in the mixed relay at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

The British quartet were down in eighth at the halfway point with Kenya and Ethiopia well in front.

But Adam Fogg made up ground on the third leg, moving GB up to fourth.

Morley overhauled then third-placed American Katie Izzo on the final leg, giving GB a finish time of 23 minutes.

The British team were eight seconds clear of fourth-placed Morocco.

It is Great Britain's first medal at the Championships since the junior women won bronze in Bydgoszcz in 2013

Kenya took victory in 22:15, 28secs ahead of Ethiopia whose final runner Birri Abera lost her shoe on the final changeover.

"We thought it might be possible to win a medal today," said Fogg. "But we knew we were going to have to have a really good day and thankfully we pulled it together and got it done.

"I think that is more than we could have asked for."

Morley added: "The American girl was in my sights early on, but I had to remain calm and not go off too quickly.

"Coming down the final ramp into the home straight I was just thinking: 'Oh my god, I am going to be a world medallist, you've got to keep it going!'

"We thought on a very good day we could get a medal, and look, we had a very good day."

Source: BBC
 

Jockey Stefano Cherchi, 23, dies from injuries after fall from horse​


Stefano Cherchi, a 23-year-old jockey who rode more than 100 winners in the UK, has died as a result of injuries sustained in a fall from his horse.

The Italian was riding in Australia on 20 March when his mount, Hasime, fell in the Affinity Electrical Technologies Plate at Canberra.

He received medical treatment at the track before being transferred to hospital where he was found to have sustained a head injury and internal bleeding.

The New South Wales Jockeys Association posted on X: "With deep sadness, the Cherchi family have announced their beloved son Stefano passed away peacefully today.

"The family are very grateful for the love, prayers & messages sent by the racing community across the world."

The majority of Cherchi's success in Britain came on horses trained by fellow Italian Marco Botti, who provided his most recent mount in Britain at Chelmsford in November.

The Sardinian-born Cherchi partnered 38 winners for Botti while in the UK, and the Newmarket handler said the jockey had been "like a son" to him.

He said: "It's just devastating news for all of us. We knew it was a bad fall and we knew things didn't look great, but you live in hope and hope for a miracle.

"Hopefully he's going to a better place and we will never forget him - he will always be with us.

"His charm and his way of behaving with people, he was such a nice guy. For me, he was a little bit like a son to be honest."

Cherchi made his British debut in 2018 and rode his first winner the following April - the Botti-trained Withoutdestination at Wolverhampton.

He also teamed up with a wide variety of trainers, including Godolphin handler Saeed bin Suroor and Newmarket trainer Amy Murphy.

Cherchi struck gold four times for David Loughnane, who said on X: "He was an absolute gentleman and a pleasure to have known and worked with. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

In a statement, the British Horseracing Authority said it was "heartbroken" at the news and the "entire racing industry will be in mourning after the loss of such a talented young man".

The Professional Jockeys Association said Cherchi was "immensely popular" and a "gifted rider" and its thoughts are with "his partner Brittany, his family, friends and colleagues".

news.sky.com

Jockey Stefano Cherchi, 23, dies from injuries after fall from horse

Tributes have been paid to the Italian jockey, who has been called a "nice guy", a "gifted rider" and an "absolute gentleman", and who had enjoyed recent success in Britain.
news.sky.com news.sky.com
 

Hardest Geezer: British man Russ Cook completes run across Africa​

Almost one year after he started, traversing deserts, mountains and rainforest across 16 countries, Russ Cook - more widely known as the Hardest Geezer - has completed his challenge to run the entire length of Africa.

The task of covering the distance, equating to more than 385 marathons, was initially planned to end by Christmas.

Instead the 16,300km journey - more than 10,000 miles - has taken 352 days and forced the red-headed 27-year-old from Worthing to overcome numerous dramatic twists, life-threatening situations and unforgiving conditions on his route north from South Africa to Tunisia's Mediterranean coast.

Cook and his team were robbed at gunpoint, faced frustrating border delays and received police escorts along the way. He has struggled on through illness, injury and unforgiving terrain.

But, on Sunday, joined for his final marathon by people he has inspired and celebrated on social media where his achievement has been documented, Cook and his team's epic adventure came to an end.

He claims to be the first person to have ever run the full length of the continent and has so far raised more than £650,000 for his chosen charities in completing the remarkable endurance feat - well over halfway to the £1m target he set.

www.bbc.com

Hardest Geezer: British man Russ Cook completes run across Africa

Almost one year after starting, Russ Cook - more widely known as the Hardest Geezer - completes his challenge to run the length of Africa.
www.bbc.com
 

Eliud Kipchoge 'expects' to win third Olympic Games marathon​


Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge is confident he can win a historic third successive Olympic marathon gold medal in Paris this year.

The 39-year-old, who was victorious in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, finished 10th in this year's Tokyo Marathon in March.

Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila (1964) and East Germany's Waldemar Cierpinski (1980) are the only other men to defend an Olympic marathon title.

"My huge expectation actually is to win the Olympics for the third time," said Kipchoge.

Last week Kipchoge was named alongside two-time Boston Marathon champion Benson Kipruto, Timothy Kiplagat, Vincent Kipkemoi Ngetich and newcomer Alexander Mutiso on Kenya's marathon shortlist for the Paris Games, which begin on 26 July and end on 11 August.

Kipruto won this year's Tokyo Marathon in a time of two hours, two minutes and 16 seconds, with Kiplagat and Ngetich completing the podium.

Kipchoge finished over four and a half minutes adrift of Kipruto in Japan, but that result has not made him concerned about his chances in Paris on 10 August.

"I think I just got tired," he explained.

"I don't know what happened but it's life, it's sport. It's the beauty of sport."

Kipchoge will turn 40 in November and he would not be drawn when asked if he could race at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

"In Kenya we say you don't chase two rabbits at a time, you will miss all of them. You chase one," he said.

"So the rabbit of the Olympic Games is what I'm chasing now. After that I go back to the drawing board, see what's in my bucket list and start again to chase the next."

In the meantime, as questions persist over when he plans to retire, he has reiterated his commitment to inspire people of all levels to be active.

"If you can convince me that the moment I will be crossing the finishing line the whole world has become a running world then I will retire," he added.

Kipchoge was in the French capital on Thursday as part of Kenya's kit launch for the Games, and he will also receive a financial reward should he defend his marathon title.

In a first for the Olympics, World Athletics president Lord Coe has announced that all athletics gold medallists in Paris will earn $50,000 (£40,100) in prize money.

Kipchoge believes the development will boost the sport in the long term.

"I don't run because of money but I run because I want to perform," Kipchoge said.

"It was a great idea for Seb Coe and World Athletics. For the young generations I think it's a good idea to develop - it makes sport more interesting."

www.bbc.com

Eliud Kipchoge 'expects' to win third Olympic Games marathon

Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge has "huge expectation" to win a historic third successive Olympic marathon gold medal in Paris this year.
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I Am Maximus stormed clear to win the Grand National at Aintree for jockey Paul Townend and trainer Willie Mullins.

The 7-1 joint favourite surged ahead in the closing stages as Delta Work finished second, Minella Indo third and Galvin fourth.

BBC Sport
 
Beijing half marathon: Organisers investigating controversial finish

Organisers of the Beijing half marathon are investigating allegations that three African athletes deliberately allowed China's star runner He Jie to win Sunday's race.

Footage appeared, external to show Kenya's Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat and Ethiopia's Dejene Hailu pointing to the line and slowing down before waving past He, 25.

The result was criticised by some Chinese social media users.

Mnangat has told BBC Sport Africa that the trio ran as pacemakers.

The Kenyan said four runners had been contracted to help He break the Chinese half-marathon record of one hour two minutes 33 seconds, and that one of them did not finish the race.

He missed out on the record with a time of 1:03:44, one second ahead of the trio, who tied for second place.

"I was not there to compete," said Mnangat. "It was not a competitive race for me."

A spokesperson at the Beijing Sports Bureau told AFP they were investigating the incident, adding: "We will announce the results to the public once they are available."

Xstep, a Chinese sports brand who sponsored the event and have a contract with He, told Chinese state-owned The Paper:, external "The situation is still being confirmed and verified by multiple parties. Further information will be communicated as soon as possible."

Mnangat added: "I don't know why they put my name on my bib/chest number instead of labelling it as a pacemaker.

"My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately, he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record."

None of the other runners have commented on the incident yet.

China's He won marathon gold at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou and is his country's record holder for the full marathon.

A statement from World Athletics to BBC Sport said: "We are aware of the footage circulating online from the Beijing half marathon this weekend and understand an investigation is currently being conducted by the relevant local authorities.

"The integrity of our sport is the highest priority at World Athletics, while this investigation is ongoing we are unable to provide further comment."

Users of Chinese social media site Weibo have posted about the race, with a comment saying "this is no doubt the most embarrassing title of He Jie's career" receiving more than 1,000 likes.

Another post added: "With such a major organiser and such a well-known event, this really pushes sportsmanship to the ground in shame."



BBC
 

Sisay Lemma wins Boston Marathon men's race in runaway​

BOSTON -- Sisay Lemma scorched the first half of the Boston Marathon course Monday, setting a record pace to build a lead of more than half a mile.

Then the weather heated up, and the 34-year-old Ethiopian slowed down.

After running alone for most of the morning, Lemma held on down Boylston Street to finish in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 17 seconds -- the 10th-fastest time in the race's 128-year history.

"I decided that I wanted to start fast early," said Lemma, who dropped to the pavement and rolled onto his back, smiling, after crossing the finish line. "I kept the pace and I won."

Lemma, the 2021 London champion, arrived in Boston with the fastest time in the field -- just the fourth person ever to break 2:02:00 when he won in Valencia last year. And he showed it on the course Monday, separating himself from the pack in Ashland and opening a lead of more than half a mile.

Lemma ran the first half in 1:00:19 -- 99 seconds faster than Geoffrey Mutai's course record pace in 2011, when he finished in 2:03:02 -- the fastest marathon in history to that point. Fellow Ethiopian Mohamed Esa closed the gap through the last few miles, finishing second by 41 seconds; two-time defending champion Evans Chebet was third.

www.espn.com

Lemma coasts to Boston Marathon men's victory

Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia set a blistering pace and held on to win the Boston Marathon on Monday, finishing in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 17 seconds -- the 10th-fastest time in the race's 128-year history.
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Mykolas Alekna's 74.35m throw breaks men's discus record for first time in 38 years​

Mykolas Alekna produced a throw of 74.35m in the discus to break the longest-standing men's world record.

The Lithuanian's fifth effort at a throws meet in Ramona, Oklahoma was initially measured at 74.41m but later revised down by six cm.

The new record broke that set by German Jurgen Schult, who threw 74.08m in 1986.

World Athletics said, external the new mark by Alekna, 21, was subject to the usual ratification process.

Alekna won silver and bronze at the 2022 and 2023 world championships respectively.

His record throw dropped his father Virgilijus, who was was Olympic champion in both 2000 and 2004, down to third on the all-time list with his 73.88m in 2000.

Source: BBC
 
Britain's Eden Rainbow-Cooper claimed the biggest win of her career as she won the women's wheelchair race at the Boston Marathon.

The Commonwealth Games marathon silver medallist triumphed in a time of one hour 35 minutes 11 seconds.

She is the first British woman to win the wheelchair race and the first Briton to win any of Boston's elite races since Geoff Smith in 1985.

"I really can't believe this,"said the 22-year-old.

"I was was just focusing on my own race. I had absolutely nothing left at the end, but the crowd carried me through."

Rainbow-Cooper won the women's wheelchair race at the Great North Run in September 2022 and has been improving over the marathon distance, coming second in Berlin last September and in Tokyo in March.

She is set to continue her preparations for this summer's Paralympics in Paris by competing at the London Marathon this Sunday.


BBC
 

Ben Pattison: Britain's world 800m medallist eyes Paris 2024 Olympic title bid​

"I reckon there were a few people looking around thinking 'who is this guy?'," Ben Pattison says.

"I feel like I did surprise quite a few people. Some of them had probably never even heard of me. Now I know they definitely have."

It took less than 105 seconds for Pattison, Great Britain's last-minute 800m qualifier, to propel himself from relative unknown to Olympic medal threat.

At least in the eyes of his competitors, anyway.

Achieving World Championship bronze in August was a moment of wide-mouthed disbelief long in the making for the then 21-year-old, whose setbacks include a potentially life-threatening heart condition.

Nicknamed 'Fireball' by team-mate Matthew Hudson-Smith, Paris 2024 has been the target since the red-headed Pattison defied the odds to go agonisingly close to Olympic qualification for Tokyo as a teenager.

A hard-earned, guilt-free off-season in the United States aside, he could not have hoped to set himself up any better for an attempt at becoming Britain's first Olympic men's 800m medallist since Sebastian Coe 40 years ago.

"I still don't think the fact I'm a world medallist has fully sunk in and I don't think it will until I look back on my career," Pattison, 22, tells BBC Sport.

"It has given me a lot more confidence in training, and in life really. I can push myself a lot harder now knowing I am one of the best in the world.

"I want to push on by matching or even topping that at the Olympics. There will be a target on my back, because people actually know who I am, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. I feel like I can beat anyone on my day."

The journey to becoming the first British man to win a world 800m medal since Peter Elliott in Rome, 36 years earlier, has been far from smooth for the Loughborough business analytics graduate.

Pattison feared none of this would be possible when he was told to stop running at the age of 18 after being diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, the condition which caused his heart to beat up to 250 beats per minute in training.

Source: BBC
 
2024 Olympic Games: Federations critical of World Athletics prize money

A group of international sports federations say World Athletics' decision to award prize money at the Paris Olympics "undermines the values of Olympism and the uniqueness of the Games".

Last week World Athletics announced it will become the first federation to offer prize money at an Olympics this summer.

Gold medallists in athletics events will earn $50,000 (£39,400).

In a statement, the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), said it was "neither informed nor consulted", despite World Athletics being one of its members.

It said that the federations it represents have "expressed several concerns".

"One cannot and should not put a price on an Olympic gold medal," it said.

"Not all sports could or should replicate this move, even if they wanted to. Paying prize money in a multi-sport environment goes against the principle of solidarity, reinforces a different set of values across the sports and opens up many questions."

It added that "there has been consensus that Olympic revenues should, at least for the more commercially successful and financially independent international federations, be invested as a priority into development and integrity matters… it appears that World Athletics' latest initiative opens rather than solves a number of complex issues.

"ASOIF will raise these concerns with World Athletics and will continue to promote dialogue amongst its members and the IOC."

Given the Olympics' origins as an amateur sports event, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not award prize money but distributes funding through international federations, and national Olympic committees.

World Athletics' move, which will be extended to silver and bronze medallists for the 2028 Games, was widely praised by former athletes when it was announced by its president Lord Coe.

In response to ASOIF's statement, World Athletics said: "Awarding this prize money to gold medallists in Paris 2024, and then extending it to all medallists in LA 2028, is about underscoring our unwavering commitment to empowering the athletes and recognising the critical role they play in the success of an Olympic Games.

"It is impossible to put a marketable value on winning an Olympic medal. But we think it is important to make sure some of the revenues generated by our athletes at the Olympic Games are directly returned to those who make the Games the global spectacle that it is.

"This is the continuation of a journey World Athletics started back in 2015, which sees all the money received every four years from the IOC's revenue share allocation (approximately $40m) go directly back into our sport."

It added "80% of all World Athletics' income goes directly back into the sport".

Earlier this week, David Lappartient, the head of cycling's governing body the UCI, said World Athletics' decision went against the Olympic spirit.

Andy Anson, the head of the British Olympic Association (BOA), was also critical, saying he did not think it was "particularly appropriate or helpful", and risked creating a two-tier Olympics.

Some national Olympic committees offer financial rewards to their medallists, though the BOA does not.


BBC
 
Sweden's Armand Duplantis broke his own men's pole vault world record in the opening Diamond League meeting of the season in Xiamen, China.

Duplantis, 24, cleared 6.24m, one centimetre above the mark he set in last September's Diamond League final.

It was the eighth time the reigning Olympic and world champion has broken the outdoor world record.

Source: BBC
 

London Marathon 2024 results: Peres Jepchirchir breaks women's only world record​

Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya stormed to victory in a women's only world-record time of two hours 16 minutes and 16 seconds in the London Marathon.

World record holder Tigst Assefa and Megertu Alemu, both of Ethiopia, and Kenya's Joyciline Jepkosgei also beat the previous women's only record of 2:17:01, set by Mary Keitany in 2017.

Kenya's Alexander Mutiso Munyao held off distance-running great Kenenisa Bekele to win the men's race in 2:04:01.

The British duo of Emile Cairess and Mahamed Mahamed finished third and fourth.

Cairess' time of 2:06:46 makes him the second-fastest British man of all-time over the distance and the first to finish on the podium since Sir Mo Farah in 2018.

Both Cairess and Mahamed are now set to go to this summer's Olympics after finishing well under the qualifying time of 2:08:10.

It was double success for Switzerland in the wheelchair races as Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner sealed comfortable victories.

Hug, who has now won four successive London Marathons, finished 31 seconds ahead of USA's Daniel Romanchuk, with Great Britain's David Weir third.

Debrunner led for a time and finished more than six minutes clear of compatriot Manuela Schar to win her second London Marathon.

www.bbc.com

London Marathon 2024 results: Peres Jepchirchir breaks women's only world record

Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir storms to victory in a women's only world-record time of two hours 16 minutes and 16 seconds at the London Marathon.
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British long jumper Jazmin Sawyers will miss this summer's Paris Olympics because of a ruptured Achilles.

The 29-year-old confirmed on Instagram on Thursday she had undergone a successful operation on her take-off leg.

Sawyers won her first major long jump title at the European Indoor Championships in 2023.

"It's bad, but I am looking ahead to rehab, recovery and the future," Sawyers said.

"Obviously I'm devastated. I really thought this was going to be my year."

The Olympics will take place from 26 July to 11 August.

Sawyers was not considered as a Team GB medal hope for Paris 2024, having failed to qualify for the long jump final at last summer's World Athletics Championships.

She competed at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, finishing eighth on both occasions.

A Commonwealth Games silver medallist in 2014, Sawyers also won silver at the 2016 European Championships, while she claimed bronze in the same event six years later.


BBC
 
Britain's Daryll Neita beat world 100m champion Sha'Carri Richardson as she took victory in the women's 200m at the Suzhou Diamond League.

Neita, 27, clocked 22.62 seconds in her season-opening outdoor individual race to cross the line clear of Anavia Battle, who finished in 22.99.

Source: BBC
 
Kenyans Kiplimo and Jepkemei clinch Belfast wins

Kenya's Beatrice Jepkemei clinched victory in a women's race record time at the Belfast City Marathon as her compatriot Mathew Kiplimo won the men's event.

Jepkemei's winning time of two hours 35 minutes and three seconds cut one minute and 47 seconds off the previous women's Belfast mark.

The Kenyan, 26, withstood a late challenge from Morocco's Lalla Aziza Alaoui Selsouli to win by 17 seconds.

Kiplimo, running his debut marathon, took men's victory in 2:14.44 as he passed long-time leader Bahrain's Aweke Ayalew - in the final mile.

Ayalew was eight seconds behind the winner with Kenya's Moses Kilmulwo completing the men's podium positions in 2:15.10.

Last year's winner Ethiopian Shewaye Woldemeskel was third in the women's event in 2:39.58, which left her 23 seconds ahead of North Belfast's 2022 winner Glady Ganiel who took fourth.

The previous women's race record of 2:36.59 was set by Ukrainian Nataliya Lehonkova in 2012.



www.bbc.com

Belfast City Marathon: Kenyans Jepkemei & Kiplimo earn triumphs

Kenya's Beatrice Jepkemei clinches victory in a women's record time at the Belfast Marathon as compatriot Mathew Kiplimo wins the men's event.
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USA dominate World Athletic Relays​

The United States dominated the World Athletics Relays by winning four of the five golds on offer in the Bahamas on Sunday.

Noah Lyles got the men's team over the line in the 4x100m as they won in 37.40 seconds ahead of Canada (37.89s).

Defending champions Italy, led by reigning Olympic 100m gold medallist Marcell Jacobs, were initially credited with bronze but were later disqualified, giving third to France.

American Gabby Thomas claimed two golds, first as part of the women's 4x100m relay team and then in the women's 4x400m relay.

"It's been a great preparation," said Thomas. "At the end of the day I knew the girls would have it regardless because they have a great 4x400m relay squad.

"It's a testament to how we came to World Relays, we came prepared with the mentality to get the job done and we were committed to that."

Britain's team of Alyson Bell, Amy Hunt, Bianca Williams and Aleeya Sibbons won bronze in the women's 4x100m, with France taking silver.

Meanwhile, the US team of Matthew Boling, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Willington Wright and Kendall Ellis set a championship record when winning the mixed 4x400m relay in three minutes 10.73 seconds.

Netherlands won silver with Ireland taking the bronze.

Botswana became the first African nation to win a men’s sprint event at the World Relays with victory in the men’s 4x400m.

The hosts had earlier secured their place in the Olympics by winning their mixed 4x400m relay heat.

Source: BBC
 
Britain's Daryll Neita beat American Tamari Davis by just one-hundredth of a second to claim victory in the women's 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Doha on Friday.

The 27-year-old won with a time of 10.98 seconds in Qatar, while American Celera Barnes finished behind compatriot Davis in third.

Source: BBC
 
English 17-year-old Phoebe Gill runs an astonishing 800 metres time of one minute 57.86 seconds at the Belfast Irish Milers Meet to break the European Under-18 record of 1:59.65 set by East Germany’s Marion Geissler-Hübner in 1979.


BBC
 
Britain's Dina Asher-Smith won the 200m at the Jamaica Athletics Invitational in Kingston. Asher-Smith, 28, clocked 22.51, pipping Ivory Coast’s Jessika Gbai in second and Jamaica’s Lanae-Tava Thomas in third.

BBC
 
Megan Keith and Patrick Dever will be among the British athletes hoping to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics at the Night of the 10,000m PBs.

Keith, 22, already has the qualifying time and will need to finish as one of the top two British athletes to confirm her place at the Games.

Dever, 27, fell just eight seconds short of achieving the men's qualifying time of 27 minutes in April.

Live coverage of the Night of the 10,000m PBs is available on BBC iPlayer, Red Button and the BBC Sport website and app from 20:20 BST on Saturday.

On Sunday, the Diamond League season continues in Marrakesh, Morocco, with the action live on BBC Three and the BBC Sport website and app from 19:00.


BBC
 

Arnold wins sixth Para Athletics World javelin title​


Britain’s Hollie Arnold won her sixth consecutive Para Athletics World Championships javelin title on the opening day of action in Kobe, Japan.

The 29-year-old, who took gold at last year’s Worlds in Paris, led the F46 final from her 39.44m effort in the opening round and went on to extend that in the fourth round with a throw of 40.89.

Serbia’s Saska Sokolov took silver with 38.55 while Noelle Roorda of the Netherlands was third with a best of 38.41.


BBC
 
Britain’s Jonathan Broom-Edwards made it three high jump titles in a row at the Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe.

Broom-Edwards, the 2019 world gold medallist and Paralympic champion, shared gold at last year’s Worlds in Paris with Poland's Maciej Lepiato.

In Japan the 35-year-old's first-time clearance at 2.04m was enough for gold.

Silver went to USA’s former American football player Derek Loccident, who lost the lower part of his leg in a train accident in 2019 and who cleared 2.04 at the third time of asking for a new personal best.

Lepiato, who failed three times at 2.04, took bronze and, when Broom-Edwards and Loccident could not clear 2.07, the title went to Broom-Edwards on countback.

Source: BBC
 
Britain’s Sabrina Fortune twice extended the world record on her way to defending her shot put title at the World Para Athletics Championships in Japan.

Fortune, who competes in the F20 category for athletes with intellectual impairments, threw 14.56m in the second round in Kobe, improving the 14.39 mark set by Ecuador’s Poleth Mendes on her way to winning Paralympic gold in Tokyo in 2021.

The 26-year-old Welsh woman had taken the lead in the first round with 14.18 and with the gold medal secured, she improved again to 14.73 with the final throw of the competition.


BBC
 
Cricket Warrior said:
Megan Keith and Patrick Dever will be among the British athletes hoping to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics at the Night of the 10,000m PBs.

Keith, 22, already has the qualifying time and will need to finish as one of the top two British athletes to confirm her place at the Games.

Dever, 27, fell just eight seconds short of achieving the men's qualifying time of 27 minutes in April.

Live coverage of the Night of the 10,000m PBs is available on BBC iPlayer, Red Button and the BBC Sport website and app from 20:20 BST on Saturday.

On Sunday, the Diamond League season continues in Marrakesh, Morocco, with the action live on BBC Three and the BBC Sport website and app from 19:00.


BBC
Click to expand...
Britain's Megan Keith won a dramatic sprint finish at the Night of the 10,000m PBs in London to book her place at the Paris Olympics.

The 22-year-old Scot finished in a time of 31 minutes 3.01 seconds at the Olympic trial event after surging ahead of the United States' Fiona O'Keeffe in the home straight.

O'Keeffe's American compatriot Amanda Vestri took third place.

BBC
 
Cockroft wins seventh 100m gold in row at Worlds

Hannah Cockroft has won 100m gold at the World Para Athletics Championships for the seventh time in a row.

The British wheelchair racer, who competes in the T34 category, won in 16.89 seconds, with her team-mate Fabienne Andre finishing in fourth place in 19.42 in Kobe, Japan.

It is 31-year-old Cockroft's 15th World Championship gold overall.

Later this week, she will attempt to win 800m gold for the fifth Worlds in a row.

"Number seven – that sounds amazing," said Cockroft. "Every title at this point is a relief. I watch my team-mates and see the excitement and the happiness, and I want to respond like that but when I cross that line it is a sigh of relief because I am the one with the target on my back.

“The 100m is the hard one, so I am delighted to win the title, and I am looking forward to the 800m and relay now."

Meanwhile, fellow Briton Mel Woods was fourth in the women’s T54 1500m final.

The World Para Athletics Championships are taking place in the build-up to the Paralympics in Paris, which will begin with the opening ceremony on 28 August.


BBC
 
From Olympic underdog to golden expectations

Nobody was more stunned than the British teenager on the Tokyo track.

Keely Hodgkinson stood with her eyes and mouth wide open in astonishment, hands fixed either side of a head dizzied by two laps that had changed everything.

An Olympic underdog three years ago, she has become one of the gold medal favourites at Paris 2024.

"It's quite a privileged position to be in," Hodgkinson tells BBC Sport.

"It's exciting but a little bit daunting, and a very different position to what I was in last time."

At the last Olympics, Hodgkinson was 19. Tokyo 2020 was an opportunity which may not have happened had the Games not been postponed by 12 months by the Covid-19 pandemic.

She would seize it in extraordinary fashion, breaking Kelly Holmes' 26-year British record to clinch 800m silver on her debut at a major outdoor championships.

A whirlwind three years have followed for the reigning European champion, whose initial look of disappointment at winning her second successive world silver in Budapest last summer spoke volumes of the ambition she holds for Paris and beyond.


www.bbc.com

Keely Hodgkinson's rise from Olympic underdog to golden ambitions at Paris 2024

Keely Hodgkinson stood in total disbelief after winning Olympic silver three years ago - but at Paris 2024 the British 800m star only has gold on her mind.
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Olympic champion swimmer Wilkie dies aged 70

British Olympic swimming champion David Wilkie has died at the age of 70.

The Scot won 200m breaststroke gold in Montreal in 1976, as well as two Olympic silver medals and three world titles.

His family released a statement saying: "It is with great sadness that the family of David Wilkie MBE announce that he died peacefully surrounded by his family this morning, following his brave battle with cancer."

Born in Sri Lanka to Scottish parents, Wilkie won his first major medal with a bronze at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

He collected Olympic silver in Munich in 1972 and won World Championship gold the following year.

Wilkie added three more Commonwealth medals for Scotland, including two golds, in 1974.

In 1975, he completed a 100m and 200m breaststroke double at world level and was voted British Sports Personality of the Year.

Wilkie's crowning moment came with an extraordinary performance in Montreal, with his Olympic triumph taking more than three seconds off the world record time.

He also came second in the 100m event in Canada.

Unbeaten over 200m for four years and the first British man to win Olympic gold in the pool in 68 years, he chose to retire one month after the Games at the age of 22.



BBC
 
Cockroft claims 16th Para Athletics world title

British wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft secured her 16th Para Athletics world title with a dominant win in the T34 800m final in Kobe, Japan.

The 31-year-old seven-time Paralympic champion, who won the 100m on Tuesday, set a new championship record of one minute 52.79 seconds.

Later Cockroft added a silver in the Universal 4x100m relay alongside Zac Shaw, Kevin Santos and Ali Smith behind China to give GB their 10th medal of the championships, which end on Saturday.

"To do what I did in the 800m, and then come back and get a silver in the relay is what I hoped for, but I don’t know if I believed I could do it," said Cockroft.

"Two races within 50 minutes of each other was a big ask. I was testing it here to see if I could actually handle it.

"But it is the perfect ending to the night, and it has given me a massive confidence booster ahead of the rest of the year and the Paralympic Games."

It is the fifth World Championships in a row that Cockroft has claimed the two-lap title and after she started quickest in Japan, she was never challenged.

She finished over 12 seconds ahead of 16-year-old Chinese athlete Lan Hanyu with her GB team-mate Fabienne Andre edged out for bronze late on by China’s Liu Panpan.

"I got a good start and relaxed which I didn't feel like I did so well in the heats," added the Yorkshire woman.

"I’m not upset with the time and a championship record at this time of the year. There is a lot of work to do, so I can only get faster.

"Sixteen world titles is like one world title for every year I have been racing so I am very happy."


BBC
 

Davies wins sixth consecutive world shot put title​

Britain's Aled Davies won his sixth consecutive F63 shot put title on the final day of the World Para Athletics Championships in Japan.

Team-mate Nathan Maguire claimed bronze in the men's T54 800m as the Great Britain and Northern Ireland squad ended with 12 medals in total.

It was a 10th world title of Davies' career and his throw of 15.60m was almost a metre further than Iran's Faisal Sorour who finished second.

"It is crazy to think I have 10 world titles, and six consecutive shot put titles. No one has ever done that in the field," said Welshman Davies, who turned 33 during the championships.

"The main one this year is the Paralympic Games, so this sets me up quite nicely.”

Maguire, 26, improved on fifth and sixth-placed finishes in the 1500m and 400m by claiming his first world medal after a sprint finish in the 800m.

He was just 0.03 seconds ahead of Kuwait's Faisal Alrajehi, with China's Dai Yunqiang and Hu Yang claiming gold and silver.

"It was just a case of holding on for dear life until the end of the race," said the Kirby-based athlete.

“I have been to every single major championship since 2016 and this is the first time I have got on the World Championship podium.

"To do it now gives me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the year, knowing I can race these guys and beat them.”

Britain's tally of seven gold medals, two silvers and three bronzes in Kobe helped them finish fourth in the medal table, with the Paralympic Games in Paris due to begin on 28 August.

Source: BBC
 
Kerr breaks Cram's 39-year-old British mile record

Josh Kerr broke Steve Cram's 39-year-old British mile record as he beat Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the Diamond League meet in Oregon.

The two rivals were racing against each other for the first time since Kerr shocked the Olympic champion by winning the 1500m at the World Championships last year.

The Scot led going into the final lap of the mile and held off Ingebrigtsen as he powered to victory with a time of three minutes 45.34 seconds, with fellow Britons Neil Gourley and Jake Wightman fourth and fifth respectively.

Cram, who set his record in 1985 and was commentating for BBC Sport at the event in Eugene, said: "Josh Kerr is getting better and better and better, that was phenomenal, and you know this is a man full of confidence heading to the Olympic Games."

Britain's Keely Hodgkinson also looked in commanding form in the women's 800m.

She kept her composure as Mary Moraa started quickly before the 22-year-old reeled in the Kenyan and surged to victory on the final straight, winning in 1:55.78.

Moraa was second in 1:56.71, while Briton Jemma Reekie claimed third in 1:57.45.

In the women's 100m, American Sha'Carri Richardson won in 10.83 seconds, with British pair Dina Asher-Smith (10.98) and Daryll Neita (11.00) in third and fourth respectively.

Great Britain's Laura Muir was fourth in the women's 1500m in 3:56.35, which was won by Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia in 3:53.75.

There was a world record in the women's 10,000m as Kenya's Beatrice Chebet won in 28:54.14.

Her time was seven seconds faster than Letesenbet Gidey’s previous record of 29:01.03 set in 2021.

"The last lap just motivated me, especially when Gudaf [Tsegay] dropped. Then I realised, 'Oh, I am the best, so I can go,'" said Chebet.

American Christian Coleman won the men's 100m in 9.95, with Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya in second on 9.98 and Brandon Hicklin third in 10.08.


BBC
 

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet sets world record in 10,000 meters​


Beatrice Chebet of Kenya set a world record in the 10,000 meters at the Prefontaine Classic meet on Saturday, finishing in 28 minutes, 54.14 seconds.

Chebet bested the previous record of 29.01.03 set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey at FBK Stadium in the Netherlands on June 8, 2021.

Chebet finished ahead of Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, who finished in 29:05.92 in cloudy and cool temperatures at Eugene’s Hayward Field.

Chebet started to pull away with three laps to go, then poured herself into the final lap.

“My body was responding good and I felt strong,” she said. “I felt like I was very comfortable.”

It was her first 10,000 race since 2020 in Nairobi.

Chebet, 24, won the silver medal at the 5,000 meters at the world championships at Hayward Field in 2022. She won the bronze in the event at the worlds last year in Budapest.

The finish qualified her for her first Olympics this summer in Paris. She said Saturday she hopes to double in the 5,000 and 10,000.

“But my target is to run 5,000 first, then 10,000 comes second,” she said. “Because this is my first 10,000 outside the country to run, and I’m so happy to run 28, a world record.”

The Prefontaine Classic is the lone American stop on the international Diamond League series.

www.africanews.com

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet sets world record in 10,000 meters | Africanews

Chebet bested the previous record of 29.01.03 set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey at FBK Stadium in the Netherlands on June 8, 2021.
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Rio 2016 Olympic champion Braz given 16-month doping ban

Brazilian pole vaulter Thaigo Braz has been banned for 16 months by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for committing a doping offence.

Braz, the 2016 Rio Olympics champion, is deemed to have breached World Athletics Anti-Doping rules relating to the presence of the prohibited substance, ostarine.

Ostarine has similar effects to testosterone and is not approved for human consumption in any country.

Braz, who was provisionally suspended last July, said he unknowingly consumed the substance through sports supplements given to him by his nutritionist and will lodge an appeal against the ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The 30-year-old won bronze at Tokyo 2020 but will now miss the Paris Olympics this summer.

The AIU had originally sought a four-year sanction for Braz, adding he was “reckless” and acted with “indirect intent”.

But the disciplinary tribunal ruled that although Braz knew about the the risk of contamination in using the supplements, he was not at "significant fault or negligence” because he relied on advice from his medical team.

The AIU may still appeal the length of the ban.

“Athletes from Brazil, including Mr Braz, have been specifically educated about the dangers surrounding the use of supplements from compound pharmacies in Brazil," said AIU Head Brett Clothier.

“In the light of these very clear warnings, it is disappointing to be dealing with such a case.”


BBC
 

Johnson-Thompson & Hodgkinson in GB team for Euros​

World heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Olympic 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson have been named in the British team for next month's European Athletics Championships in Rome.

World 400m silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith and world 100m bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes are also included in the 72-strong team.

Rising star Molly Caudery, crowned world indoor champion in March, is joined in the women's pole vault by Olympic bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw.

The European Championships take place over six days from 7-12 June, beginning eight weeks before the start of the athletics at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Head coach Paula Dunn said: "For some athletes, winning a medal in Rome will be the perfect preparation for the Olympics, for others, competing here will provide a benchmark as to where they are knowing that their peak performance needs to come at the start of August."

Former world 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith, who is entered in the women's 100m, fellow sprinter Daryll Neita and world indoor 800m silver medallist Jemma Reekie all feature in a strong British team.

At the previous European Championships in 2022, Great Britain won 20 medals - including six golds.

Hughes, the reigning 200m champion, has chosen to compete over 100m in Rome, having won silver in that event behind Italy's Marcell Jacobs two years ago.

Hodgkinson (women's 800m) and Hudson-Smith (men's 400m) will seek to defend their European titles, as will the men's 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.

However, reigning women's 1500m champion Laura Muir, and men's 1500m world champion Josh Kerr, are among those who will not compete.

Source: BBC
 
GB's Caudery wins Continental Tour pole vault title

Britain's Molly Caudery won the pole vault title at the World Athletics Continental Tour event in the Czech Republic with a world-leading mark this year.

Caudery, 24, cleared 4.84m, the highest women’s outdoor vault in the world so far in 2024, at the Ostrava Golden Spike.

The world indoor champion had two unsuccessful attempts at setting a new national record of 4.92m.

The 2016 Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi finished 20cm down on Caudery in second place.

Sweden's Armand Duplantis won the men's event, clearing 6.00m

The Olympic and world champion then narrowly failed in an attempt to break the outdoor world record for the ninth time, with the bar at 6.25m.

Britain's Lina Nielsen finished second behind the Netherlands' Cathelijn Peeters in the women's 400m hurdles.

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake finished third in the men's 200m, which was won by Canada's Andre de Grasse, who also claimed the 100m title.


BBC
 
Hudson-Smith breaks European record in Oslo

Great Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith beat his own 400m European record with a convincing victory in his season opener at the Diamond League in Oslo.

The 29-year-old ran 44.07 at the Bislett Games, beating his 44.26 from last year's World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

"Preparation has been going well," he told BBC Sport. "I knew anything was possible. The time was a bonus.

"I don't really care about times, I care about victory and preparing for the Olympics. Times are temporary, medals are forever. I'm healthy. Last year I had tendonitis in my Achilles. The goal is the Olympics.

"It was bittersweet last year, so close to the gold. If I can stay healthy anything is possible."

Former British athlete Tim Hutchings said on BBC Three: "At 200 he was running away, at 300 he was miles ahead. That forward-learning barrel-chested style was absolutely superb.

"He's knocking on the door of sub-44 seconds. No European has been there before. Hudson-Smith will surely get there in the coming weeks. That was quite fabulous."

Reigning Diamond League champion Kirani James was second with a season-best time of 44.58.

Ethiopia's Hagos Gebrhiwet ran the second fastest 5,000m in history, in a time of 12:36.73, to beat compatriot Yomif Kejelcha following a remarkable 54-second last lap.


BBC
 
Hudson-Smith and Hughes pull out of Europeans

European 400m record holder Matthew Hudson-Smith and sprinters Zharnel Hughes, Imani-Lara Lansiquot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake have withdrawn from the British team for the European Athletics Championships.

Hudson-Smith improved his own mark in his season opener in Oslo last week but the 29-year-old has opted to skip the Europeans and instead focus on training before the Olympics in Paris.

World bronze medallist Hughes was seen limping after his 100m race in Jamaica on Saturday, although no details of any injury have been confirmed by British Athletics.

Lansiquot's absence and Daryll Neita's decision to focus on the 200m and the 4x100m relay means Amy Hunt will now contest the women's 100m as well as the relay while Aleeya Sibbons will join the relay squad.

The championships in Rome start on Friday, 7 June and take place over six days.

The British team also features world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Olympic 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson.

However, 1500m world champion Josh Kerr and reigning 1500m European champion Laura Muir are among those who had already announced they would not compete.


BBC
 

Record prize fund for World Athletics' new finale​

World Athletics has announced a new global championship to start in 2026 which will feature the biggest prize fund in the sport’s history.

The World Athletics Ultimate Championship will see world champions, Olympic champions, Diamond League winners and the year’s leading athletes go up against each other while representing their national teams.

The event will have a $10m (£7.87m) kitty with gold medallists receiving $150,000 (£118,000).

Competition will take place over three evening sessions and will include sprints, middle and long-distance races, relays, jumps and throws.

World Athletics says it will be "the ultimate season finale" and will be a "thrilling and fast-moving new format for athletics".

Budapest, which staged last year’s World Championship, will host the inaugural event from 11-13 September 2026 - and it will be held every two years after that with host cities to be decided.

"With only the best of the best on show and cutting straight to semi-finals and finals, we will create an immediate pressure to perform for athletes," said World Athletics president Lord Coe.

"The World Athletics Ultimate Championship will be high on action and excitement for fans, setting a new standard for track and field events.

"Featuring athletics’ biggest stars, it will be a must-watch global sports event and means track and field will host a major global championship in every single year, ensuring for the first time that athletics will enjoy a moment of maximum audience reach on an annual basis."

Source: BBC
 
World record holder Kipruto banned for six years

Kenya's 10km road race world record holder Rhonex Kipruto has been banned for six years because of irregularities found in his Athlete Biological Passport.

The 24-year-old will be stripped of his record, which he set in Valencia in 2020, and the 10,000m bronze medal he won at the 2019 World Championships.

He will be banned until May 2029 after being provisionally suspended on 11 May 2023 for violating anti-doping rules.

An ABP is an electronic record which tracks an athlete's biomarkers over their career. If these markers change dramatically it alerts officials that the athlete might be doping.

"The Tribunal rejected Kipruto's defence, concluding the 'cause for the abnormalities in the ABP is more likely to be due to blood manipulation' such as through the use of recombinant human erythropoietin (rEPO)," said the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which has enforced the ban.

"There was 'no other plausible explanation' for the abnormal values."

The disciplinary panel said it was "comfortably satisfied" the athlete had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV).

Kipruto can appeal against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.


BBC
 
Ireland win first European gold since 1998

Ireland secured a first European Athletics Championships gold medal since 1998 as their 4x400m mixed relay team clinched a sensational victory in Rome.

The Irish quartet of Chris O'Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley finished 0.77 seconds ahead of Italy with the fancied Netherlands team led by Femke Bol having to settle for bronze.

Bol was left with too much to do in the final leg as the Dutch finished 0.81 seconds behind an Irish quartet that took 1.61 seconds off the national record set when they finished third behind the USA and the Netherlands at last month's World Relays in the Bahamas.

Mawdsley's split time of 49.40 seconds was 0.13 seconds quicker than Adeleke's with O'Donnell clocking 46.09 and 400m hurdler Barr producing a superb leg of 44.90.

After O'Donnell's steady opening leg, Olympic Games medal hopeful Adeleke got the Irish into serious contention as she outpaced Bol's highly-rated team-mate Lieke Klaver.

Barr ran brilliantly to keep alive Ireland's gold medal hopes as anchor leg runner Mawdsley took the baton in second place behind Belgium.

The Tipperary woman moved into the lead with just over 100 metres left before powering clear to cross the line in three minutes 9.92 seconds.

Legendary distance runner Sonia O'Sullivan was the only Irish athlete to have previously lifted European gold after achieving the 5,000m and 10,000m double in 1998 having won the 3,000m title four years earlier.


BBC
 

British sprinter Louie Hinchliffe has become the first European to win the men's 100m at the NCAA Championships.​

The 21-year-old, from Sheffield, ran 9.95 seconds in Eugene, Oregon, to claim the US collegiate title.

He is now the sixth quickest British sprinter and his time was the ninth fastest in the world this year and the best by a European.

Hinchliffe races for the University of Houston, where nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis is head coach.

Source: BBC
 
GB's Asher-Smith claims European 100m gold in Rome

Dina Asher-Smith claimed 100m gold at the European Athletics Championships as British team-mates Georgia Bell and Lizzie Bird also achieved medals in Rome.

Asher-Smith took victory in 10.99 seconds, crossing the line ahead of Poland's Ewa Swoboda (11.03secs) and Italy's Zaynab Dosso to celebrate her first major international medal since winning European 200m silver in 2022.

Bell clinched women's 1500m silver in four minutes 05.33 seconds to achieve her first major international medal behind Ireland's Ciara Mageean.

Meanwhile, Bird replicated her European 3,000m steeplechase bronze medal-winning performance of two years ago in a time of 9:18.39 amid thunder and lightning in the Italian capital.

Great Britain climbed to third in the medal table after winning two golds on Sunday.

Asher-Smith's triumph followed team gold in the women's half marathon - led by bronze medallist Calli Hauger-Thackery - during the morning session on day three.

Mageean finished the strongest at the end of a tactical 1500m final to cross the line in 4:04.66 seconds for Ireland's second gold of the championships.

Britain's Jemma Reekie had appeared in control of proceedings but faded to finish fifth in 4:06.17, while team-mate Katie Snowden was ninth (4:06.83).

Bird, 29, was temporarily lifted to the silver medal position after winner Alice Finot of France (9:16.22) was disqualified for an infringement on the inside of the track.

But following an appeal, Finot was reinstated and Gesa Felicitas Krause of Germany (9:18.06) had to settle for silver.


BBC
 

Dobson claims 400m silver as Caudery wins pole vault bronze​

Charlie Dobson took 400m silver to gain his first major individual medal at the European Athletics Championships, as team-mate Molly Caudery won pole vault bronze in Rome.

Dobson, 24, clocked a blistering 44.38 seconds to set a personal best in the final.

But that was not enough to deny Belgium's Alexander Doom, who triumphed in a championship record 44.15secs.

Gold medal favourite Caudery, crowned world indoor champion in March, could not improve on a second-time clearance at 4.73m, as Switzerland's Angelica Moser took a surprise victory as the only athlete over 4.78m.

Those medals took Great Britain's tally to nine following golds for Dina Asher-Smith and the women's half marathon team on Sunday.

Elsewhere during Monday's evening session, Laviai Nielsen ran a personal best 50.71secs to finish sixth in the women's 400m final, in which Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke (49.07secs) took silver behind Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek (48.98secs).

Mark Pearce placed 13th with a time of eight minutes 26.92 seconds in the men's 3,000m steeplechase final, won by Frenchman Alexis Miellet (8:14.01).

Daryll Neita cruised to victory in her women's 200m semi-final, confirming her place in Tuesday night's medal race in a time of 22.51secs.

www.bbc.com

European Athletics Championships 2024: Britons Charlie Dobson and Molly Caudery win medals

Charlie Dobson takes men's 400m silver and Molly Caudery wins women's pole vault bronze at the European Athletics Championships in Rome.
www.bbc.com
 

Adeleke clinches 400m silver for Ireland in Rome​

Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke clinched the silver medal in the women's 400 metres at the European Championships in Rome after being pipped for gold by Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek.

Adeleke, 21, clocked a new Irish record of 49.07 seconds, which cut 0.13 seconds off her previous personal best, but was edged out by the Pole who won in a European lead time of 48.98 seconds.

Kaczmarek, 26, took silver at last year's World Championships when the Irishwoman was fourth but Adeleke still went into the Rome final as a marginal favourite.

The duo were well clear of field as they reached the home straight but Kaczmarek produced the stronger finish to edge the victory.

Dubliner Adeleke was hoping to win her country's third gold in Rome after being part of Ireland's victorious 4x400m mixed relay team on Friday.

Ciara Mageean landed Ireland's second Rome gold when she clinched the women's 1500m title on Sunday night.

Dutch woman Lieke Klaver clocked 50.08 seconds to win the bronze with Adeleke's Irish team-mate Sharlene Mawdsley, who was also part of the mixed relay squad, finishing a somewhat disappointing eighth in 51.59 seconds.

Source: BBC
 
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