Noah Lyles set a new personal best in the 100 metres and Femke Boll broke the series record in the 400 metres hurdles on a historic afternoon at the 10th Wanda Diamond League meet of the season in London on Saturday.
Noah Lyles and Femke Boll enjoyed a record-breaking day at the 10th Wanda Diamond League tournament of the season in London on Saturday, putting together an impressive performance ahead of the Paris Olympics.
In front of a crowd of about 60,000, Dutch star Boll opened the afternoon’s action by setting a new Diamond League record in the women’s 400m hurdles in 51.30 seconds, before Lyles ran a new personal best in the 100m to beat a field of Olympic medal favourites.
A week after breaking his own European record in the 400m hurdles, Boll returned to the stage where he had broken his previous European record and ran the second-fastest time of his career.
Rushelle Clayton was neck and neck with Bol in the first half, but the world champion pulled away in the final 200 meters to win comfortably in 51.30, 0.15 seconds faster than the Diamond League record she set last year at this meet. Shamire Little took second in 52.78, ahead of Clayton (53.24).
“It’s really fun running in this stadium,” Boll said. “I’m looking forward to Paris and then racing in Sydney (against world record holder and defending Olympic champion McLaughlin-Levrone) so I’ll be really prepared.”
Like Boll, Nikisha Price and Matt Hudson-Smith also put in incredible performances around the track at the London Games, with Price also setting a Diamond League record in the 400m breaststroke and Hudson-Smith breaking his own European record in the men’s 400m.
Price, who won the NCAA title last month in a Jamaican record time of 48.89, was making her Diamond League debut and clearly wasn’t intimidated by the opportunity. Lieke Kluber of the Netherlands led, as she often does, until the halfway point, but Price slammed out of the final corner and pulled away from European champion Natalia Kaczmarek to finish in 48.57.
Not only was the time a Diamond League record, it also beat the 48.97 set by Shaunee Miller-Uibo exactly six years ago in Monaco and moved Price into seventh place on the all-time list, ahead of the likes of Cathy Freeman and Saniya Richards-Ross.
Kaczmarek came second in 48.90 seconds, shaving 0.08 seconds off her own Polish record set at the European Championships, becoming just the seventh time in history that two women have broken 49 seconds in the same race.
Claver (49.58), Amber Anning (49.63) and Raviai Nielsen (49.87) also finished under 50 seconds.
Hudson-Smith extended his winning streak in the men’s 400 meters, running to solidify his status as a gold medal contender heading into the Olympics.
The world silver medallist led from the start and beat Americans Vernon Norwood and Jerem Richards to win in 43.74, becoming the first European man to run under 44 seconds and moving up to 12th on the world list.
Norwood (44.10), Richards (44.20) and Charlie Dobson (44.23) were all rewarded with personal bests, while Kirani James, who won Olympic gold on this track 12 years ago, was fifth in a season’s best time of 44.38.
