Britain's Amy Hunt finished third in the Diamond League women's 200m final in Brussels, clocking a season's best of 22.16 seconds, as Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred of St Lucia took victory in 21.79 seconds. Kyla White of the United States was second in 22.00 seconds. Hunt, who won four European gold medals last month in Birmingham, was left nearly half a second behind Alfred, but insisted the performance on a cold, damp night was among the best of her career.
Hunt takes positives from season's best run
“I've shown the last few 200s, I'm getting a lot stronger, and I think I was probably one of the closest athletes up to my personal best tonight,” said Hunt. “So on a very freezing cold night in Northern Europe, in September, at 10 pm - I think that's probably one of the best 200s I've ever done.”
Hunt made a fast start and was in touch with Alfred around the bend, but the St Lucian pulled away in the home straight. “That was the closest I've ever been to Julien on the bend, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, if I had completely fresh legs, I could really take you on right now',” said Hunt. “And that's such an exciting thing to me because she's such an incredible athlete. She's so fierce, but also kind. And to know that that was probably the best first half of the race I've ever put together makes it really, really exciting for next season.”
Myers wins 1500m thriller, Ingebrigtsen shows form
The men's 1500m provided the race of the night as Australia's Cameron Myers found a gap on the home straight, swerved between Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Phanuel Koech, and won in 3:30.14. Myers had been disappointed to take Commonwealth Games silver in the mile behind Josh Kerr in Glasgow last month. Ingebrigtsen, who faded in the final 30 metres, finished in 3:30.52, his quickest time since returning from an Achilles injury that kept him out for 11 months.
Memorial meeting honours Ivo Van Damme
The Diamond League final doubled as the 50th memorial meeting for Ivo Van Damme, the Belgian athlete who won silver medals over 800m and 1500m at the 1976 Olympics before dying in a car accident later that year, aged 22. After a tribute to Van Damme, former athletes including nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis were paraded before the crowd and Philippe, King of the Belgians.
Lewis watched the Jamaican world champion Oblique Seville win the men's 100m in 9.90 seconds, recovering from a poor start to beat Commonwealth champion Emmanuel Eseme by three-hundredths of a second. Emmanuel Wanyonyi set a meeting record of 1:41.80 in the men's 800m, winning by nearly a second from Algeria's Djamel Sedjati, with Britain's Ben Pattison fifth in 1:44.29. “Today was all about winning and I knew that I would have to run 1:41 to win and I did,” said Wanyonyi. “The conditions weren't ideal tonight. The wind didn't bother me that much, I was happy it stopped raining.”
Records and Duplantis injury
Busang Collen Kebinatshipi won the men's 400m in 43.40, breaking his own Diamond League record, while Emmanouil Karalis broke Mondo Duplantis's meeting record by clearing 6.12m in the pole vault. Duplantis pulled out beforehand with tightness in his leg and said his chances of competing in the new $10m Ultimate Championships in Budapest next week were in question. “The worst possible thing to do is having to pull out of a competition,” said Duplantis. “My head is everywhere right now. It's super difficult but that's the life of an athlete. I try to stay calm and positive. We will see if I can make it to the Ultimate Championships. I don't have the answer right now.”
The two-day meeting concludes on Saturday, with Audrey Werro's attempt on the women's 800m world record topping the bill. Britain's Georgia Hunter Bell is favourite to win the women's 1500m, with a first prize of $60,000.
