OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet won the men’s 5,000 metres in the second fastest time ever with a sizzling final lap, while Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway hurled himself across the finish line to win the men’s 1,500m in Thursday’s Oslo Diamond League meet.
The 30-year-old Gebrhiwet, whose last major global track medal was bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, passed team mate Yomif Kejelcha with 400m remaining to win in 12 minutes 36.73 seconds, clocking a blistering 54.99 seconds on his final lap.
“The time I achieved is very nice,” said Gebrhiwet, who narrowly missed beating Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei’s world record of 12:35.36.
“The conditions, the crowd was great and it was a very fast race, not easy for me but it was going very well,” he added after the race at Bislett Stadium.
Ingebrigtsen, who had been beaten by British arch-rival Josh Kerr in the mile five days earlier in Eugene, lunged at the finish line to hold off hard-charging Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot.
The photo-finish showed the Olympic champion diving to cross the line in 3:29.74, the world’s fastest time this season and three-hundredths of a second quicker than Cheruiyot.
“I really do not think that it was the decision I made to dive into the finish line, because everything just happened so fast,” said Ingebrigtsen, who flashed a No. 1 finger to the camera at the start line.
“I can tell you that I was getting sore in the last 50 metres, I was expecting someone to come from the outside so I was very prepared to give it 100%.”
Ingebrigtsen bounced back to his feet after his spectacular lunge, throwing celebratory mock punches and then challenging the meet mascot — a giant strawberry — to a short sprint race, to the delight of the crowd.
“Every day I feel better and better,” he said. “About defending the titles at the Europeans and Olympics, I think yes,” he said, with the Europeans Championships starting in Rome on June 7 and the Paris Games on July 26.
Brazil’s Alison dos Santos handed Norway’s Olympic and world champion Karsten Warholm a rare defeat in the men’s 400m hurdles. Dos Santos crossed in 46.63, while Warholm went out like a rocket before fading in the final 50m to finish in 46.70.
“I had to keep the mindset that I wanted to win,” Dos Santos said. “It’s going to be amazing in Paris 2024. I’m so excited about the things I can do. Everything before Paris is just a preparation for that. Only thing I can say is just watch.”
Warholm hit the last hurdle quite hard. “So that didn’t help,” he said. “I am happy with the race but of course I always come to win so there is no way around that.”
DISMAL WEATHER
Clouds and rain had rolled in by the time Akani Simbine of South Africa sprinted to victory in the men’s 100m in 9.94 seconds, just off the season’s fastest time of 9.93 set by Americans Christian Miller and Kendal Williams.
“(The rain) probably influenced the race but at the end of the day we all have to run 100, rain or not, and get to the line first,” Simbine said. “I put my marker out to the world today that I am here. Getting the win always helps with confidence as we get closer to Paris.”
Japan’s Abdul Hakim Sani Brown was second in 9.99 while Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon ran 10.01 for third.
Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs was fourth in 10.03, while Britain’s Jeremiah Azu, who cracked the 10-second barrier for the first time in his career five days earlier, suffered an injury when leading mid-race and limped to the finish line.
American Brittany Brown won the women’s 200m, clocking 22.32 out of lane 8, while world champion Shericka Jackson’s early-season struggles continued.
Jamaica’s Jackson, the second fastest woman ever over the distance, finished fifth in 22.97, well off the 21.41 she clocked last season and slightly slower than her season-opener two weeks ago.
Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith won the men’s 400m in 44.07 — second fastest in the world this season — to break his own European record.
“The time didn’t matter in a way as I care about victories rather than times and preparing for the Olympics,” he said.
“At the end of the day times are temporary but medals are forever. I really want to come away from Paris with a medal,” added Hudson-Smith, who ran with his race bib upside down.
“I did not even realise my number was upside down tonight — maybe that will be my lucky charm going forward,” he said.
Georgia Griffith surged into the lead with 100m to go to win the women’s 3,000m, shaving a huge 13 seconds off her previous best time to cross in an Australian record 8:24.20.
“I’m quite new to 3000, I do a lot of 1500s so I usually die in the latter parts but today I kicked really well and finished strong,” Griffith said.
Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna, who broke the 38-year-old men’s discus world record in April, won in Oslo by a margin of more than three metres with a throw of 70.91.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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