A year after getting dropped in the 39th kilometer of the race, Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya won the women’s title in the New York City Marathon on Sunday.

The 35-year-old Chepkirui had been left behind by compatriots Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi with a little less than three kilometers to go last year, but she was the one who broke away from defending champion Obiri with just over a minute remaining in Sunday’s contest.

As a result, she won her third title in her last four marathons while posting her second victory in the last three years in the New York City race.

Her winning time of 2:24:36 left her six seconds ahead of fast-closing Jess McClain of the U.S., whose 2:24:42 effort put her a second in front of Olympic bronze medalist Obiri.

Kenyans Edna Kiplagat and Mercy Chelangat finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in 2:25:42 and 2:25:46, and they were followed by Americans Carrie Ellwood, Weini Kelati, and Paige Wood in times of 2:26:28, 2:26:51, and 2:27:29.

“New York will always have a special place in my heart!” Chepkirui wrote in an Instagram post. She then continued that “Winning here in 2024 was unforgettable, but coming back two years later and doing it all over again is something I’ll cherish forever.”

While Obiri had smashed a 22-year-old course record with her 2:19:51 effort last year, no one was in a hurry during the first five kilometers on Sunday. And though much of the opening 5,000 meters on the New York City course is run on an uphill grade, the 18:23 split was still on the sluggish side.

After Kenyan Viola Cheptoo led the field through 10 kilometers in 35:45, Chepkirui was in front when she passed 15 kilometers in 52:58 and 20 kilometers in 1:10:01.

McClain was at the front of an 11-runner lead pack when she came through the halfway point in 1:13:52 before Chepkirui passed 25 kilometers in 1:27:27 and 30 kilometers in 1:44:02.

In addition to Chepkirui, the lead pack of eight runners also consisted of Kelati, Obiri, 46-year-old Kiplagat, McClain, Cheptoo, Ellwood and Chelangat.

Cheptoo had fallen off the back and Ellwood was just hanging on when Obiri led a group of seven through 35 kilometers in 2:01:15.

But as Ellwood began to fall back further, marathon debutante Kelati dropped behind after she threw up some of the liquids she had been consuming during the course of the race. While she did her best to recover, her hopes for a top five finish were soon gone and she would eventually finish seventh.

Chepkirui appeared to up the tempo following an aid station around the 2:04:00 mark and Obiri was the only one who was able to hang with her for the next seven minutes.

The battle for first place looked to be down to those two at that point, but it soon became apparent that McClain was not going to be put away easily. For she had narrowed a seven-second deficit to Chepkirui and Obiri at the 24-mile mark to four seconds when the two Kenyans passed 40 kilometers (24.9 miles) in 2:17:39.

The gap was down to three seconds with a mile left in the race. But McClain never got closer than that to Chepkirui, who had opened up the smallest of leads over Obiri at the 2:23:20 mark.

Obiri glanced behind herself not long after that and the race for first place was over by the 2:24:00 mark as Chepkirui was on her way to a final mile in 4:58 for a winning time of 2:24:36 that was nearly identical to her 2:24:35 clocking from 2024.

McClain, who had finished seventh in the half marathon in the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sept. 20, appeared to be headed to a third-place finish with 300 meters left in the race. But her pace continued to quicken from there on and she overtook a faltering Obiri in the last 15 or so meters of the contest.

“Honestly, the last two miles through the park, I was just really focused on the tangents and my form, and I was taking the shortest line possible,” McClain said in an interview on the ESPN2 broadcast after becoming the first U.S. woman since 2018 to have placed among three top three finishers in the New York City Marathon. “And I kind of noticed that Hellen, like one and two, not taking the tangents, and I think honestly, like every small percentage of anything helped in the last few miles … and I just went straight to the arms the last 200.”

Sunday’s race was the last of seven World Marathon Majors on the schedule this year.

The previous six had been held in Tokyo, Boston, London, Sydney, Berlin, and Chicago.

The last major marathon of the year will be contested on the flat and hyper-fast course in Valencia, Spain, on Dec. 6.

Andreas Almgren of Sweden continued his development into one of the top all-around distance runners in the world on Sunday when he won the men’s race of the New York City Marathon.

Running in his first-ever marathon, the 31-year-old Swede ran 2:06:01 in finishing 13 seconds ahead of runner-up Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy, who clocked 2:06:14, and 25 seconds in front of third-place Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho, who timed a personal best of 2:06:26.

Defending champion Benson Kipruto of Kenya finished fourth in 2:06:27 and Haftu Strintzos of Australia placed fifth in 2:06:34.

Zouhair Talbi of the U.S., Ahmed Muhumed of the U.S., and Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya rounded out the top eight finishers with times of 2:06:43, 2:07:08, and 2:07:09.

Almgren’s time was the fourth-fastest winning mark in event’s history and it made him the first Swede to have won the men’s or women’s title in New York City. His performance also followed a win — in a European record time — in the half marathon in the World Athletics Road Running Championships in September and a victory in the 10,000 in the European Athletics Championships in August.

In addition to those victories, he had set a European record of 12:44.27 in the 5,000 in winning the Balhaus-Galan Diamond League meet in Stockholm in June of last year before winning the bronze medal in the 10,000 in the world championships in Tokyo in September.

“I’ve probably never felt so emotional after a race ever,” Almgren said in an interview with Lewis Johnson on the ESPN2 broadcast. “When Benson started picking up the pace with 5k left, I just felt like I’ve got the legs today, so just responding to everything. Then we came up on 59th Street, and I started getting a little gap. I just felt like, ‘can I just make the move now?’

“I saw that I got a pretty big gap, and I was just like, ‘Okay Andreas, enjoy this view … now because this is not (something) a lot of people get to experience.’”

With much of the early part of the race including some uphill grades, Stephen Jones of the U.S. led a huge pack through five kilometers in 15:30 and compatriot Talbi was in front when he passed 10 kilometers in 30:52.

Connor Mantz, who had lowered the U.S. record to 2:04:43 in Chicago last year, led the way through 15 kilometers in 45:51 and fellow American Ryan Ford was at the front of a large lead group when he passed 20 kilometers in 1:00:51.

Talbi, a native of Morocco who had become eligible to represent the U.S. earlier this year, had a three-second lead over second-place Almgren when he passed the halfway mark in 1:04:01. But there were 15 runners within two seconds of him when he went through 25 kilometers in 1:15:41.

Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya, the New York City champion in 2017 and ’19, led the field through 30 kilometers in 1:30:26, but the lead pack still consisted of second-place Almgren and 15 other runners at that point in the contest.

The front group had been reduced to 15 when Mantz passed 35 kilometers in 1:45:33, but things began to break up after that as the pace quickened.

Kipruto, the Olympic bronze medalist in Paris, led for a little while, but Almgren was just in front of Kipruto and Crippa when he passed 40 kilometers in 2:00:00 and Talbi was six seconds behind Almgren while running in fourth place.

The race for first was down to Crippa and Almgren 200 meters later, and Almgren was a second ahead of the Italian when he was credited with a split of 2:01:40 with a mile (1,609 meters) left in the race.

They were running stride for stride with one another at the 2:03:00 mark. However, Almgren, a bronze medalist in the 800 in the 2014 world U20 championships, upped the tempo shortly after that and his lead had grown to 20 meters at the 2:03:40 mark and the race for first place was basically over 20 seconds later.

With the victory firmly in hand, Almgren motioned to the crowd with roughly 100 meters remaining in the race while on the way to a 4:21 split for the final mile that included both an uphill and downhill grade.

To top off his victory, one of the people holding the tape when he crossed the finish line was American Bill Rogers, who won four consecutive New York City Marathon titles from 1976-79.

“I mean, you can’t ask for a better debut. I don’t know what to say,” Almgren said. “I’m just about to start crying … It’s better than anything I could have ever imagined. This marathon thing, it’s quite fun.”

Sunday’s race was the last of seven World Marathon Majors on the schedule this year.

The previous six had been held in Tokyo, Boston, London, Sydney, Berlin, and Chicago.

The last major marathon of the year will be contested on the flat and hyper-fast course in Valencia, Spain, on Dec. 6.

Valencia, Spain, added to its reputation as a haven for fast times in the half marathon when Shelia Chepkurui of Kenya and Rodrigue Kwizera of Spain won the women’s and men’s titles, respectively, in the Medio Marathon Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich event on Sunday.

The 29-year-old Chepkurui placed first in an historically deep women’s race when her time of 1:03:51 was the fastest in the world this year and gave her a one-second margin of victory over compatriot Diana Wanza, who ran 1:03:52.

The 27-year-old Kwizera ran 58:03 in the men’s race, which was three seconds faster than the European record of 58:06 that had been set by Andreas Almgren of Sweden when he won the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sept. 20. But his time was not eligible for a continental record because his transfer from Burundi to Spain has not yet been formulized.

The women’s race was the first ever in which six runners ran under an hour and five minutes as Daisilah Jerono of Kenya finished third in 1:04:11, and she was followed by Ethiopian Mizan Alem in fourth in 1:04:53, compatriot Senayet Getachew in fifth in 1:04:57, and Kenyan Caroline Gitonga in sixth in 1:04:59.

The women’s race also saw a record 11 runners break 1:06:00 and an unprecedented 15 run faster than 1:07:00.

Overall, the first 12 finishers set personal bests, with Chepkurui, Wanza, and Jerono moving into a tie for fifth, seventh, and 10th, respectively, on the all-time performer list.

Eight of the top nine women’s times in history have now been run in Valencia, topped by the world record of 1:02:52 set by Ethiopian Letesendet Gidey in 2021.

According to splits posted on the event website, the leading women went through the opening five kilometers in 15:19 and the first 10k in 30:27.

Chepkurui, Wanza, and Jerono were 24 seconds clear of their closest pursuers when they passed 15 kilometers in 45:31 following a five-kilometer split of 15:04, but Jerono had been dropped by the time Chepkurui and Wanza came through the 20-kilometer mark in 1:00:30 after covering the previous 5,000 meters in 14:59.

According to a World Athletics post, Chepkurui opened a small gap at one point after that, but Wanza made sure she was never able to relax completely as the silver medalist in the 10,000 meters in the Commonwealth Games in August smashed her previous best by more than three and a half minutes with her 1:03:52 clocking.

Chepkurui also took a big chunk of time off her personal best as her winning effort of 1:03:51 crushed her previous best of 1:06:01 that she had run in finishing second in a half marathon in Riga, Latvia, in mid-May.

She had also run 1:06:08 in winning a half marathon in Poznan, Poland, in mid-April and 1:06:13 in placing fifth in a half marathon in Buenos Aires in late August.

Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia, who had set a then-10k world record of 29:14 in 2022, was a notable finisher in 16th place as her 1:07:21 clocking came in her first race since she had given birth earlier this year.

Kwizera, a native of Burundi who had gained his Spanish citizenship earlier this year, was the favorite in the men’s race and he led a front group of seven men when he passed 15 kilometers in 41:32 after having come through five kilometers in 13:43 and 10k in 27:40.

The race for first place was down to Kwizera, training partner and fellow Burundian native Thierry Ndikumwenayo, and Kenyan Victor Kipruto when they passed 20 kilometers in 55:12 following a split of 13:40 for the previous 5,000 meters.

Kwizera soon surged into the lead and Ndikumwenayo, who placed eighth for Spain in the world cross country championships in Tallahassee, Spain, in January, finished second in 58:09, followed by Kipruto in 58:12.

The next three finishers were Tadese Worku of Ethiopia in 58:32, Owen Korir of Kenya in 58:42, and Jemal Mekonen of Ethiopia in 59:01.

The first five finishers set personal bests, with Kwizera, Ndikumwenayo, and Kipruto moving to eighth, 13th, and 16th, respectively, on the all-time performer list.

A post that was written in Spanish on Kwizera’s Instagram account translated to the following in English: I’m very happy to have been able to run on the streets of Valencia and for my new personal brand 🧡 see you next year, thank you all, my family, my teams.

Instagram

Setting the record straight: Yaseen Abdalla set an official Sudanese record of 59:12 while finishing eighth in the men’s race of the half marathon in Valencia, Spain, on Sunday, but the runner who was born and raised in the U.S. has stated in multiple social media posts that he is now the fastest American ever.

While his 59:12 clocking is faster than the official U.S. record of 59:15 set by Conner Mantz last year, USA Track & Field will not consider that mark as a national record because the 25-year-old Abdalla has represented Sudan internationally since 2022.

World Athletics, the governing body for track and field worldwide, also lists Abdalla as representing Sudan on its various statistical lists.

Given all the aforementioned information, Abdalla did run extremely well in his debut at the half marathon distance in Valencia, as his 59:12 effort came in his first race since January, when his indoor season had consisted of two indoor meets.

The well-traveled Abdalla competed for the universities of Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas during his collegiate career, and he finished fourth in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2024 as a senior at Arkansas before running Sudanese records of 7:34.17 in the 3,000 and 13:09.99 in the 5,000 during the 2024-25 indoor season.

He also holds the Sudanese record in the marathon at 2:11:41, which he ran in his debut race at that distance while finishing 33rd in the Olympic Games in Paris.

In his only other marathon, he ran 2:13:32 while finishing 21st in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last year.

Big drop: Jirata Dinki of Ethiopia lowered his personal best by nearly three minutes in winning the men’s race of the Frankfurt Marathon in Frankfurt, Germany, on Sunday.

Running in cool and wet conditions, Dinki clocked 2:05:25 in the race in which Amanal Petros of Germany placed second in 2:05:46.

Bernard Biwott of Kenya finished third in 2:06:23, with Haimro Alame of Israel fourth in 2:06:57 and Richard Ringer of Germany fifth in 2:07:07.

Dinki, who was born in 2002, was part of a large lead pack that followed pacesetters through the opening 10 kilometers in 29:55, 20 kilometers in 59:45, the halfway mark in 1:03:02, and 30 kilometers in 1:29:51.

However, Biwott and Petros had separated from the lead group by the 1:34:00 mark.

Those two were still together when they passed 35 kilometers in 1:44:19 after running the previous five kilometers in 14:28, the quickest 5k split of the race.

Petros, the silver medalist in last year’s world championships, soon broke away from 2024 Frankfurt champion Biwott and he led second-place Dinki by roughly five seconds at the 1:54:00 mark. But the Ethiopian gradually began to reduce his deficit and he moved past the German three minutes later before increasing his advantage during the remainder of the contest.

Dinki’s time bettered his previous best of 2:08:18 that he had run while finishing ninth in the Rotterdam Marathon in the Netherlands in April and that performance had come 15 months after he had placed 11th in 2:11:08 in his debut marathon in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

“The weather was not ideal, so I started off more cautiously,” Dinki said in a post on the race website. “But I was sure I would run a good race. This is a huge victory for me.”

Petros, who won the European title in August after lowering the German record to 2:04:03 while finishing second in the Valencia Marathon in Spain last December, said he had not been particularly concerned with Dinki earlier in the race.

“I had not reckoned with him,” he said. “I gave it a go, but in that weather it was clear that a (German) record was not going to happen. Then I suppose I attacked a bit too early – I will learn from that. Of course I would have liked to win, but that is how it goes in the marathon.”

Favorite wins: Zeineba Yimer of Ethiopia posted her second victory in 10 career marathons when she ran 2:19:45 in the Frankfurt Marathon on Sunday.

It was the sixth time that Yimer has under 2:20:00 and it came in a race in which Blanka Dörfel of Germany finished second in 2:20:46 in her marathon debut while becoming the eighth fastest European performer in history.

Beriha Gebreslasie of Ethiopia finished third in 2:22:46 and she was followed by compatriots Aselef Kassie in fourth in 2:25:31 and Siranesh Dagne in fifth in 2:26:05.

The 28-year-old Yimer and Dagne, who were accompanied by male pacesetters, led the women’s field though 10 kilometers in 32:54, 20 kilometers in 1:05:42, the halfway mark in 1:09:19, and 30 kilometers in 1:38:56. But Yimer broke away from Dagne shortly after that and she had taken a 35-second lead over her countrywoman when she passed 31 kilometers.

Although Yimer’s 5,000-meter split from 35 to 40 kilometers was 17:00, her slowest of the race, she was never in danger of being caught as Dörfel eventually finished 61 seconds behind her in second place.

“I was hoping I would win,” Yimer said in the post on the race website. “The weather was not on our side. The rain slowed me down, but I am very happy with my performance.”

The 24-year-old Dörfel, who had set personal bests of 15:11.89 in the 5,000, 31:53.60 in the 10,000, and 1:08:06 in the half marathon earlier this year, was ecstatic with her performance.

“I am really happy. It is brilliant to have achieved a time of 2:20,” she said. “The wet course was a challenge – I ended up with my feet in water plenty of times. I felt great right up to the half marathon mark, after that it got a little bit tougher. The last five kilometres were really hard for me.

“I ran without a watch as I do in training, going purely by how I feel, not by the time. It was always a bit of a mystery to me what time I could achieve. It wasn’t until I was in the Festhalle that I saw the 2:20 and realised just how fast I was. I thought the crowd was brilliant. So many people were shouting ‘Blanka, run!’ It was a brilliant day.”

Dual world records: Masatora Kawano of Japan and Rebecca Henderson of Australia, two competitors with vastly different levels of accomplishments in major international championships, each set a world record at the marathon distance in the 63rd All Japan Race Walking Takahata in Takahata, Japan, on Sunday.

Kawano, who won a silver medal in the men’s 35-kilometer walk in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and a bronze medal in the 2023 global title meet in Budapest, Hungary, timed 2:55:14 to better the previous best of 2:56:49 that had been recorded by Massimo Stano of Italy in the European championships in August.

Henderson, whose highest-ever finish in the world championships is a ninth-place effort in the 35-kilometer walk in last year’s meet in Tokyo, was clocked in 3:14:52 to better the world record of 3:15:11 that had been set by Sofia Fiorini of Italy in the European championships.

The half marathon and marathon replaced the 20- and 35-kilometer events as the official race walk distances on January 1 of this year, with a mark of 2:56:30 or faster set as the performance standard required for the inaugural men’s world marathon race walk record.

Kawano achieved it in his marathon debut, competing in the same city where he set his former world record in the 35k event in 2024.

The conditions were not ideal for the competitors as it was pouring rain during much of the race, but the top three finishers in the men’s event, who were all from Japan, bettered Stano’s 2:56:49 clocking from the European championships.

In addition to Kawano’s 2:55:14 clocking, Kazaya Iwai finished second in 2:55:55 and Kazuki Takahashi was third in 2:56:45.

Japan’s Hayato Katsuki and Satoshi Maruo placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in times of 2:56:59 and 2:57:07.

Kawano was part of a lead pack of six through 35 kilometers, but he broke open the race at the 36-kilometer mark. Iwai separated from the rest of the pack in pursuit of Kawano, but he ultimately finished 41 seconds back of his compatriot.

In contrast to the men’s race, the women’s marathon was not close as Henderson’s 3:14:52 clocking left her way ahead of Ayane Yanai of Japan, who placed second in 3:29:10 in a contest in which compatriot Masumi Fuchise finished third in 3:38:42.

The 25-year-old Henderson had a lead of more than six minutes when she came through 20.195 kilometers in 1:33:39 and her gap was more than eight minutes when she passed 25 kilometers.

In the half marathon events, Taisei Yoshizuko of Japan won the men’s race in 1:22:04 and Elizabeth McMillan of Australia placed first in the women’s in 1:31:31.

Four for six: Junior Mario Montoya of Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California, posted his fourth victory in six races this season when he clocked 13:43.5 to win the Boys Division 1&2 Team Sweepstakes race of the Mt. San Antonio College Cross Country Invitational in Walnut last Saturday.

The race was run on Mt. SAC’s three-mile rain course because a storm that included heavy rain, hail, and thunder and lightning had forced the halt of the final race on Friday while it was already in progress.

The regular Mt. SAC course is run over relatively flat terrain for the first mile, but the second mile includes a series of steep switchbacks and the third includes a fairly steep hill of roughly 200 meters. And with most of the course being dirt, going up and down those hills on muddy and slippery terrain can be very hazardous.

Montoya had a solid margin of victory on Saturday as senior Jaxon Northcutt of Mt. Carmel in San Diego placed second in 13:53.4.

The next finishers were junior William Thompson of La Serna in Whittier in 13:57.5, senior Johan Anderson of San Clemente in 14:15.3, and senior Joaquim Sandoval of Warren in Downey in 14:16.1.

“I’m still glad that things are paying off now,” Montoya said in a post on dyestat.com. “All the hard work, like it’s finally starting to show. I’m just super stoked that I’m going on now and just doing better things than I was at the beginning of the season.”

Montoya, who had finished fifth in the Division 1 race of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Cross Country Championships last year, placed 20th in the Doug Speck Sweeps race of the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Irvine on Sept. 19. But he has won four of five races since then and his only non-winning effort came when he finished fifth in the Race of Champions in the Great American XC Festival in Cary, North Carolina, on Oct. 3.

Montoya was part of a five-runner lead pack when he went through the first mile in 4:34.2 at Mt. SAC, but he led a three-runner group when he passed two miles in 9:15.3.

Defending champion Johanes van Meerten of Flagstaff High in Arizona had led the field through the first mile in 4:33.8, but the senior dropped out just before the two-mile mark with an apparent hamstring issue.

With the runner-up in last year’s Nike Cross Nationals out of the race, Montoya took charge of things in the final mile.

“There are no breaks, there are no resets,” Montoya said about the flat and fast rain course at Mt. SAC. “When you’re running on hills, every time you go up a hill, it’s usually followed by a downhill. And that’s your reset … Those guys that are up front, they were really hot, plugging that lead tightly, connected at the hip, and they were feeling it. I kind of stayed back a little bit and kind of preserved myself … that gave me a bit more of it towards the end.”

When it came to the team title race, Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta edged Beckman of Irvine, 149-158, after making up 28 points on Beckman during the final mile.

Crescenta Valley was led by junior Enzo Dik, who finished 10th in 14:28.9. The team’s Nos. 2 and 3 runners were sophomore Owen Burton, who placed 20th in 14:44.8, and senior Kanoa Moreno, who was 29th in 14:53.1.

Top girls at Mt. SAC: Senior Isabella Ruiz of Ontario High School in California turned in the top individual performance on the girls’ side of the meet in the Mt. SAC Invitational last Saturday and the squad from Northgate in Walnut Creek had the top performance by a team.

Ruiz won the Division 1&2 Individual Sweepstakes race in 16:22.6 while finishing 15 seconds ahead of senior Riley Biddle of Rancho Bernardo in San Diego, who timed 16:37.6. Senior Fernanda Cortes of Golden Valley High in Merced placed third in 16:45.8.

Ruiz, who has won five of seven races this season, had a small lead over a three-runner chase pack when she went through the mile in 5:22.2. But she was nearly 12 seconds in front of second-place Amberly McDowell of Millikan in Long Beach when she passed two miles in 10:58.3 and she ended up with a 15-second margin of victory over Biddle.

Northgate won the Division 1&2 Team Sweepstakes race with a 107-point total that left the Broncos with a 30-point margin of victory over runner-up Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach, which had 137. Great Oak of Temecula finished third with 143 points and Beckman of Irvine was fourth with 146.

While sophomore Sabina Cruz of Westlake High in Westlake Village won the race in 16:35.1 and junior Olivia Corrigan of Saugus placed second in 16:39.9, senior Olivia Joseph paced Northgate when she finished third in 16:43.1.

The Broncos’ Nos. 2 and 3 runners were sophomore Matilda Rees, who finished second in 17:21.7, and junior Camila Terrazas, who placed 18th in 17:34.7.

Impressive stat: The organizers of the Mt. SAC Invitational have long touted the meet as the biggest cross country competition in the world. And last Saturday, senior Mia Rodriguez of Chaffey High School in Ontario, California, became the millionth finisher in the history of the event when she placed 62nd in the Girls Division 1&2 Varsity Blue contest.

Rodriguez, who timed 20:40.3 over the three-mile course, was awarded a large cowbell, a pair of running shoes, a patch for her letterman’s jacket, and a framed proclamation in honor of her being the millionth finisher in the meet that annually stages races at the community college, high school, middle school, and elementary school level.

“I’m really excited,” Rodriguez said in a trackside interview when she was asked what was going through her mind when she became the millionth finisher in the meet’s history. “I’m excited and I did it with my team.”

Based on the official results from this year’s meet, there have now been 1,003,995 finishers in the 78-year history of the Mt. SAC Invitational. That’s an average of roughly 12,872 finishers per year.

Well done!!

On the suspension front: Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, the 2021 Olympic and 2025 World Athletics champion in the women’s marathon, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for testing positive for the banned substance known as EPO.

The AIU made the announcement last Friday, stating that “an out-of-competition sample, collected in Kenya prior to her recent Sydney Marathon victory, returned an adverse analytical finding for EPO.”

Jepchichir, who is the ninth fastest women’s marathon runner in history with a personal best of 2:14:43, won the Sydney Marathon in Australia on Aug. 30 with a time of 2:18:31.

EPO, which is short for erythropoietin, is a banned substance because it artificially increases red blood cell production and boosts a person’s endurance.

The provisional suspension of the 33-year-old Jepchirchir is the latest in a long line of doping cases involving Kenyan distance runners.

In a case involving the biggest-name performer, Ruth Chepngetich was banned for three years in 2025 after she admitted to a charge regarding a positive test for a banned diuretic.

The 32-year-old Chepngetich had stunned the marathoning world when she lowered the women’s world record from 2:11:53 to 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024. And despite her current suspension, that time is still on the books as the world record because she tested positive for the previously mentioned banned diuretic in March of 2025, which was roughly five months after her performance in Chicago.

Looking ahead: Of the more than two dozen collegiate conferences from across the U.S. that will be staging their respective cross country championships today and tomorrow, the Big 12 Conference meet is expected to be the one laden with the most talent.

The meet, which be held at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma, will include top-ranked BYU and No. 3 West Virginia in the six-kilometer women’s race, which starts at 11 a.m. EDT, and No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Colorado in the eight-kilometer men’s race, which will begin at noon.

The women’s race will also include No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 10 Colorado, No. 16 Utah, and No. 18 Iowa State.

In addition to defending NCAA champion Oklahoma State and Colorado, the men’s race will also include No. 5 BYU and No. 20 Iowa State.

The meet will be streamed on ESPN+, starting at 10:50 a.m. EDT.

Looking ahead II: Kenyans Benson Kipruto and Hellen Obiri, two of the most consistent elite marathon runners in the world, will attempt to defend their individual men’s and women’s titles in the 50th edition of the New York City Marathon on Sunday.

The elite women’s race will begin at 8:35 a.m. EDT, with the elite men’s race scheduled to start at 9:05.

The race will be televised on ESPN2 from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Kipruto, the ninth fastest marathon runner in history with a personal best of 2:02:16, is one of four entrants in the field who have run under 2:04:00 and one of eight who have bettered 2:05:00.

The three other men to have run under 2:04 are Deresa Geleta of Ethiopia, who has run 2:02:38, CyBrian Kotut of Kenya, who has clocked 2:03:22, and Zouhair Talbi of the U.S., who has timed 2:03:45.

Talbi’s 2:03:45 clocking comes with an asterisk attached to it as he ran it while finishing fifth in the Boston Marathon in April, and the Boston race is conducted on a point-to-point course that drops roughly 140 meters in elevation from start to finish. It is also run on a lay-out in which winds can aid runners’ performance because they can blow from behind them for significant stretches of the race.

The 35-year-old Kipruto, who has placed first, second, or third in 10 of his last 11 marathons, could also receive strong challenges from 2024 champion Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, 2017 and ’19 champion Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya, U.S. record-holder Conner Mantz, and Kengo Suzuki of Japan.

Nageeye is the Dutch record-holder at 2:04:20, while Kamworor has run 2:04:23, Mantz has clocked 2:04:43, and Suzuki has timed 2:04:56.

Andreas Almgren of Sweden is another runner to keep an eye on as he will be making his marathon debut after setting a European record of 58:06 in winning the half marathon in World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sept. 20. He also won the 10,000 in the European Athletics Championships in August in Birmingham, England, and he holds the European record in the 5,000 at 12:44.27.

Obiri, a two-time world champion in the 5,000 meters and the silver medalist in the 10,000 in the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon, finished sixth in her marathon debut in New York City in 2022, but she has placed first, second, or third in her eight marathons since then.

She won New York City titles in 2023 and last year, when she lowered the course record to 2:19:51, and she also won consecutive Boston Marathon titles in 2023 and ’24. In addition, the Olympic bronze medalist lowered her personal best to 2:15:53 when she finished second in the London Marathon in April.

With Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands not running due to an injury that interrupted her training, the 36-year-old Obiri is definitely favored to win her third NYC title on Sunday.

The next five fastest entrants in the field are Kenyans Sheila Chepkirui, Viola Cheptoo, Edna Kiplagat, Mercy Chelangat, and American Jessica McClain.

Chepkirui has a personal best of 2:17:29 and finished third in New York last year after defeating Obiri for the title in 2024. She has also won the last two titles in the Nagoya Women’s Marathon in Japan.

Cheptoo has a best of 2:19:05, while Kiplagat has run 2:19:50, Chelangat has clocked 2:20:30, and McClain timed 2:20:49 while finishing fifth in the Boston Marathon in April.

In a battle of two cross country powerhouses who were not at full strength, BYU defeated North Carolina State, 84-88, for the women’s team title in the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, last Friday.

BYU, which entered the meet as the No. 2-ranked team in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national poll, was without top runner Jane Hedengren, who had placed second in last year’s collegiate championships. And top-ranked NC State was missing senior Grace Hartman and sophomore Sadie Englehardt, the Nos. 2 and 5 performers on last year’s Wolfpack squad that had won its fourth NCAA title in the last five years.

But BYU’s superior depth propelled the Cougars to victory as all seven of their runners placed higher than NC State’s No. 4 finisher.

Notre Dame, the No. 7-ranked team in the USTFCCCA poll, finished third with 213 points and the Fighting Irish were followed by No. 23 Clemson with 229, No. 19 North Carolina with 249, and No. 30 Duke with 260.

There were 43 teams in the race that was contested on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course that will host the NCAA championships on Nov. 21.

While NC State grad student Hannah Gapes set a course record of 18:57.6 over the 6,000-meter layout and junior teammate Bethany Michalak finished eighth, BYU put together a race in which the gap between its’ first and seventh runners was just over 27 seconds.

In contrast, NC State had a gap of a little more than 70 seconds between its No. 1 and 5 scoring runners.

Senior Taylor Rohatinsky finished ninth in 19:33.1 for BYU while running in her first race of the season and junior teammate Taylor Lovell, the reigning NCAA champion in the 3,000 steeplechase, was 14th in 19:42.7.

BYU senior Lexi Goff finished 18th in 19:50.6 and the Cougars’ final two scoring runners were junior Karrie Baloga in 20th in 19:53.7 and senior Jenna Hutchins in 23rd in 19:57.3.

BYU also received 24th- and 27th-place efforts from sophomore Zariel Macchia and junior Nelah Roberts, who ran 19:58.0 and 20:00.3, respectively.

Junior Angelina Napoleon finished 13th in 19:41.0 for NC State, but there was a decent size gap to the Wolfpack’s No. 4 and 5 runners as sophomore Emily Wisniewski placed 32nd in 20:06.1 and senior Brooke Rauder was 34th in 20:08.0.

“I was really proud of that team effort and how gutsy [Rohatinsky] was up front,” BYU coach Diljeet Taylor said in a trackandfieldnews.com post.

Speaking further, Taylor said that things “didn’t go exactly like maybe we thought they would. We still haven’t translated practice to the race, as far as just the way we pack up … some people got out really well, some people didn’t … [but] what I love to see is the heart and the mindset of my women.”

What’s ahead?: While there is a good chance that BYU’s Jane Hedengren will be back in the lineup when the Cougars compete in the Big 12 Conference championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Oct. 31, the future is a little less clear for the North Carolina State duo of senior Grace Hartman and sophomore Sadie Engelhardt.

Hartman, who placed sixth in the NCAA championships last year, and Englehardt, who was 51st, have yet to race this season as they work their way back from injuries. And a letsrun.com post from last Friday stated that NC State coach Laurie Henes said neither of them will race in the Atlantic Coast Conference championships in Blacksburg, Virginia, on Oct. 30.

Hartman has not finished a race since she placed 32nd for the U.S. in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida, in January and Englehardt’s last race was in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on July 3, when she finished 12th in the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:08.10.

Two for two: Hannah Gapes of North Carolina State set her second course record in her second race of the season in her runaway victory in the Pre-Nationals Invitational.

Gapes, a grad student from New Zealand, timed 18:57.6 over the 6,000-meter layout at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course to smash the previous course record of 19:14.0 set by freshman Brighter Jepchumba of Eastern Kentucky in the John McNichols Invitational on Sept. 19.

Freshman Faith Chelangat of Auburn finished second behind Gapes with a time of 19:15.5 and sophomore Ann Lemirisho of Kentucky placed third in 19:16.8.

Clemson junior Silvia Jelelgo and Arizona freshman Mercy Chepkemoi rounded out the top five finishers with times of 19:18.5 and 19:19.1, respectively.

“I love the hills. I love the switchbacks, but it’s taxing to say the least,” Gapes said in a postrace interview that was part of the livestream of the meet on runnerspace.com. “You think you got it, and then the last homestretch, and all of a sudden the 400 meters feels like a mile. But yeah, it was really fun to run. It’s a pretty entertaining course. So yeah, it was exciting.”

Gapes, whose previous course record had come in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Indiana, two weeks earlier, went to the front very early in the Pre-Nationals race and she led the field through the opening two kilometers in 6:19.2.

However, she had a 10-meter lead a minute later and her advantage was roughly five seconds over an eight-runner chase pack when she went through 2.5 kilometers.

She had nearly doubled her lead at the 10:30 mark and her advantage was almost 13 seconds when she passed four kilometers in 12:33.2.

The chase pack was down to five runners by the 14:15 mark, but no one in that group ever set out in pursuit of Gapes, who had finished ninth for New Zealand in the 5,000-meter race of the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sept. 19.

“I think I came into this course a little bit naïve, a little bit blind,” Gapes said when she was asked about breaking into the clear early in the race. “I mean, we did the whole course run through yesterday, but to see it on a map and to race it are two different things. So that’s why we came out here, to familiarize ourselves with the course … Coming away with a win is exciting and not sure what our team came, but yeah, lots to learn from this race always.”

Impressive bunching: Syracuse was the top-ranked men’s team entering the Pre-Nationals Invitational and the No. 8 Orange defeated No. 14 Villanova, 115-127, for the title after placing three runners among the top 18 finishers and four among the first 22.

Notre Dame, the No. 15-ranked team in the USTFCCCA poll, finished third with 148 points, followed by Wichita State with 212, No. 29 North Carolina with 243, and No. 26 Arizona with 244. There were 44 teams in the race.

Syracuse, which had finished fourth in the NCAA championships last year when the gap between its No. 1 and 5 runner was 26.7 seconds over a 10,000-meter course, had a gap of 26.5 seconds over the 8,000-meter layout in Terre Haute.

The Orange’s top two finishers were juniors Connor Ackley and Benne Anderson, who placed 15th and 16th in 23:30.6 and 23:32.3, respectively.

Sophomore Ben Gabelman finished 18th in 23:34.3 for Syracuse and the Orange’s No. 4 and 5 runners were senior Louis Small, who was 22nd in 23:40.0, and sophomore Connell Alford, who placed 44th in 23:57.1.

Notre Dame had a 101-145 lead over second-place Syracuse after the first three kilometers of the race. But the Orange held a commanding 101-174 advantage over second-place Villanova at five kilometers and hung on for a 115-127 win over the Wildcats, who were paced by junior Bailey Habler, who finished sixth in 23:23.4.

Decisive move: Silas Kiptanui of Tulane posted his second victory in three races this season in the Pre-Nationals Invitational after making a big move with roughly 700 meters left in the men’s contest.

Kiptanui, a sophomore from Kenya, was running in second place behind junior teammate Bernard Cheruiyot when he bolted into the lead at the 21:20 mark of the eight-kilometer race while on his way to a winning time of 23:17.4

Junior Elkana Kipruto of Wichita State finished second in 23:18.8 and he was followed by senior teammate Nicholas Kipchirchir, who placed third in 23:19.8.

Daelen Ackley of Notre Dame was fourth in 23:20.5 and fellow senior Edmund Bird of Kentucky placed fifth in 23:21.0.

Kiptanui, who had run 8:18.20 in finishing second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the NCAA track and field championships in June, had been in 22nd place and eighth, respectively, when Ackley led the field through three kilometers in 8:46.9 and 5k in 14:49.6. But he was near the front of a lead pack of about a dozen runners with roughly 1,200 meters left in the race and he was running right behind teammate Cheruiyot 21 minutes into the contest before taking the lead 20 seconds later.

He looked smooth while making his move and he had a four-second lead over his closest pursuers at the 22-minute mark.

Smiling frequently, he eventually lost some of his lead in the final 300 meters of the race, but he appeared to be running well within himself when he crossed the finish line with a 1.4-second margin of victory.

His win followed a seventh-place finish in the Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago on Sept. 25 and that performance came three weeks after he had won his season-opening race in the Battle for New Orleans/American Conference Preview meet.

“We’ve been working for the finish with my coach,” Kiptanui said in a postrace interview that was part of the livestream of the meet on runnerspace.com. “We’ve been trying to work on the finishing part, and that’s … what we did last week and the weeks before. It worked out today.”

Runaway win: Likina Amebaw of Ethiopia won her third race in a row when she won her third overall title in Cross Internacional Zornotza in Amorebieta, Spain, on Sunday.

The meet was the second of 13 gold-level races on the World Athletics Cross Country Tour for the 2026-27 season.

The 28-year-old Amebaw, who had previously won the 5,000 in the inaugural Ultimate Championship meet in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 13 and in the second world road running championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, six days later, timed 28:41 over the 8.7-kilometer course in Amorebieta while finishing 31 seconds in front of runner-up Francine Niyomukunzi of Burundi in 29:12.

Kenyans Mirriam Cherop and Dorcus Chepkwmoi finished third and fourth, respectively, in 29:17 and 29:58.

Rahel Daniel of Eritrea, the fifth-place finisher in the 10,000 in the 2022 world championships, was the leader after covering the first of four 2.1-kilometer loops during the race, but Niyomukunzi soon moved to the front of the pack early in the second loop. However, Amebaw upped the tempo at the 12:30 mark and the race for first place was essentially over a few hundred meters later.

Amebaw had a lead of 24 seconds over the chase pack of Chepkwemoi, Cherop and Niyomukunzi and her advantage was 36 seconds after three loops. Although her lead decreased some during the remainder of the race, she still finished 31 seconds ahead of runner-up Niyomukunzi, who broke away from Cherop during the final 400 meters of the contest.

The win was the second in a row for Amebaw in Amorebieta and she was also victorious in 2023.

“I’m so happy as it was my first competition as a world champion and I managed to triumph for the third time,” Amebaw said in a World Athletics post. “I love the Amorebieta cross country, I know the circuit and how to move strategically. Today I decided to stay in the group for almost the first half before setting my own rhythm. I now look forward to the next cross-country competitions.”

Runaway win II: Egide Ntakarutimana of Burundi won the men’s title in the Cross Internacional Zornotza in Amorebieta, Spain, on Sunday after opening up a big lead on his closest competitors in the first 500 meters of the 8.7-kilometer race.

According to a World Athletics post, Ntakarutimana ran the opening 500 in 1:17 and the first kilometer in 2:37 while on his way to a winning time of 25:18.

Compatriot Elie Sindayikengdera finished second in 25:48 and he was followed by Peter Rono of Kenya in 25:53 and Sergio Paniagua of Spain in 25:53.

Ntakarutimana, who lowered his Burundian record to 12:46.73 in the 5,000 when he finished second in the Diamond League Final in Brussels in early September, had a 22-second lead after he had completed the first of four big loops in 5:44 in Amorebieta and no ever drew close to him during the second lap, which took him 5:56, or the third, which he covered in 5:59.

The 28-year-old runner was 23 seconds ahead of second-place Rono with a lap to go and he finished 30 seconds ahead of runner-up Sindayikengdera after covering his final loop in 5:54.

“I decided to begin fast because I felt a lot of energy today,” Ntakarutimana said in the World Athletics post. “I realised none of my rivals ran close to me but I kept my rhythm as the fans cheered on me throughout. I hope to come back next year.”

Big drop for Diriba: Buze Diriba of Ethiopia lowered her personal best by more than three minutes when she set a course record of 2:16:12 in winning the women’s race of the Amsterdam Marathon in the Netherlands on Sunday.

Diriba’s time was also the fastest ever women’s clocking in the Netherlands, bettering the previous mark of 2:16:52 set by Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw in Amsterdam in 2024.

The top six finishers in the race were all Ethiopians as Aynalem Desta and Meseret Belete finished second and third, respectively, in personal bests of 2:17:06 and 2:18:06.

Tiringo Mulu placed fourth in in a personal best of 2:20:36, followed by Mestawut Fikir in 2:21:32 and Girmawit Gebrzihair in a personal best of 2:22:28.

The 32-year-old Diriba was part of a four-runner lead pack with Desta, Belete, and Fikir when she went through 30 kilometers in 1:07:23 after having previously clocked 32:38 at 10k and 1:05:00 at 20k.

Fikir began drop back not long after that and Belete was five seconds back of Diriba and four behind Desta when the former passed 35 kilometers in 1:53:30.

Diriba then broke the race open during the ensuing 5,000 meters as her 15:46 clocking for that segment of the race followed a 16:07 split from 30 to 35 kilos.

She was 29 seconds ahead of Desta after 40 kilometers and she finished 54 seconds in front of her when her 2:16:12 clocking smashed her previous personal best of 2:19:34 that she had set in winning the Frankfurt Marathon in Germany last October.

Diriba’s time moved her to 16th on the all-time performer list and came in a race in which she ran the first half in 1:08:34 and the second in 1:07:38.

Long time coming: Lemi Berhanu of Ethiopia lowered his longstanding personal best by a minute when he won the men’s race of the Amsterdam Marathon in the Netherlands on Sunday.

The 32-year-old Berhanu broke away from Nicholas Kipkorir of Kenya in the final two kilometers of the race as Kipkorir finished second in 2:03:39, followed by compatriot Patrick Mosin in 2:03:58.

The next five finishers were all Kenyans in the race in which the top eight runners set personal bests and broke 2:05:00. It was only the third race in history in which eight men had bettered 2:05:00.

Kalipus Lomwai finished fourth in 2:04:09, and he was followed by Sila Kiptoo in fifth in 2:04:13 and Justus Kangogo in sixth in 2:04:24.

Berhanu posted splits of 15:04 for the first five kilometers and 29:42 for 10k before he came though 15k in 44:28 and 20k in 59:10. He was then four seconds back of the pacesetters when he passed the halfway mark in 1:02:27.

He was two seconds behind leader Kangogo when he came through 30 kilometers in 1:28:50 and Kangogo led a five-runner lead group that also included Mosin, Kipkorir, Jonathan Korir of Kenya, and Berhanu when he passed 35 kilometers in 1:43:23.

Kangogo had run the previous five kilometers in 14:35 at that point in the race, but Berhanu and Kipkorir picked up the pace substantially during the next 5,000 meters and they were 11 seconds clear of third-place Mosin when they passed 40 kilometers in 1:57:25.

Kipkorir, who ran a personal best of 12:46.33 in the 5,000 in 2023, might have been many people’s pick to win the race at that point based on his 5k chops. However, it was Berhanu who prevailed as he ran the final 2.195 kilometers of the race in 6:08, which is 13:58 pace for 5k.

Berhanu had run his previous best of 2:04:33 when he placed second in the Dubai Marathon in the United Arab Emirates in January of 2016.

No Hassan in NYC: Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands announced last week that she has withdrawn from the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1 due to an illness that disrupted her training and left her fitness level at less than she wanted it to be.

Hassan, who won the Olympic marathon title in 2024 after having already won bronze medals in the 5,000 and 10,000, had previously withdrawn from the London Marathon in April due to Achilles issues.

The 33-year-old Hassan had finished sixth in 2:24:43 in last year’s New York City Marathon after running a winning 2:18:22 in the Sydney Marathon in Australia in August and finishing third in 2:19:00 in the London Marathon.

With Hassan out of the race, defending NYC champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya is the clear favorite as she lowered her personal best to 2:15:53 while finishing second in London earlier this year.

The other top entrants in the women’s race are Kenyans Sheila Chepkirui and Viola Cheptoo, and Ethiopian Gotytom Gebreslase.

Chepkirui has a best of 2:17:29 and placed third in New York last year and Cheptoo has run 2:19:05. Gebreslase set her best of 2:18:11 in winning the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Schedule set: The 2027 Diamond League schedule is set to begin in Doha, Qatar, on May 7 of next year and conclude with the Diamond League Final in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich from Aug. 25-26.

The season will consist of 15 meets to be held on four continents and the lone Diamond League competition in the U.S. will be the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on July 3.

The Diamond League Final in Zurich will conclude 15 days before the start of the World Athletics Championships in Beijing, which are scheduled to be a 10-day competition.

Pregnancy news: Athing Mu-Nikolayev of the U.S., the 2021 Olympic and 2022 world champion in the women’s 800 meters, announced last week that is pregnant.

Mu-Nikolayev also won a bronze medal in the 2023 world championships before lowering her own U.S. record to 1:54.97 in winning the Diamond League Final in Eugene, Oregon, three weeks later. However, she has struggled since then.

She finished ninth, and last, in the final of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene after she was inadvertently tripped up during the first 200 meters of the race and she was eliminated in a semifinal of the 2025 USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships when she ran a season best of 1:59.79 while finishing fourth.

That was the last time the 24-year-old Mu-Nikolayev has raced.

Looking ahead: The high school portion of the 78th Mt. San Antonio College Cross Country Invitational will be held in Walnut, California on Friday and Saturday.

There will 41 high school races on Friday, with the first race scheduled to start at 1 p.m. EDT and the last slated to begin at 8:51.

Saturday’s schedule will include 46 races, with the first race slated to start at 10:10 a.m. EDT and the last scheduled to go off at 8:10 p.m.

The Division 3, 4, and 5 team and individual sweepstakes races will be the last four races on Friday, starting with the girls’ team sweepstakes at 7:42 p.m.

The four Division 1 and 2 sweepstakes races on Saturday will start with the boys’ individual sweepstakes at 11:53 a.m. EDT.

The Mt. SAC Invitational, which also includes competition at the community college, middle school, and elementary school levels, bills itself as the largest cross country meet in the world. And with that in mind, meet organizers expect the one millionth finisher in the history of the meet to cross the finish line at some point on Saturday.

For those who are wondering, that’s an average of roughly 12,821 finishers per year.

The meet will be livestreamed by runnerspace.com, with coverage starting at 12:45 p.m. EDT on Friday and at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday.

A RunnerSpace+ account will be required to access the broadcast, as well as on demand videos.

Amos Kipruto of Kenya set his second personal best of the year while winning his first men’s title in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

Running on the flat and fast Windy City course for the third consecutive year, the 34-year-old competitor clocked 2:01:09 after finishing third in the 2024 race and second last October.

Kipruto’s time cut 30 seconds off his previous best of 2:01:39 that he had run in April while finishing fourth in the historically deep race in London when the three fastest times in history had been recorded by winner Sabastian Sawe of Kenya, who ran 1:59:30, second-place Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia, who timed 1:59:41, and third-place Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who clocked 2:00:28.

Tadese Bikila of Ethiopia finished second on Sunday in a personal best of 2:02:56 in the race in which compatriot Milkesa Mengesha placed third in 2:03:46 and defending champion Kiplimo was fourth in 2:04:18.

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Boki Diriba of Ethiopia finished fifth in a personal best of 2:05:01, and Daniel Mateiko of Kenya placed sixth in the same time, while Americans Clayton Young and Charles Hicks were seventh and eighth, respectively, in personal bests of 2:05:23 and 2:05:35.

Kipruto’s time was tied for the fifth fastest in history and moved him into a tie for fifth on the all-time performer list.

Bikila, winner of the last two marathons in Tokyo, moved to 16th on the all-time performer list with his effort, and Young and Hicks became the second and third fastest Americans ever.

“It was really good for me because I say, ‘let me run because I’ve been here for three years now,’” Kipruto said in a postrace interview on the NBC affiliate in Chicago. “I came here in 2024, I became position three, 2025, I became position two, and now, 2026, it was either win or die for me, because I was here to fight for the contest.”

In case you missed them, the following links will take you to detailed reports on the men’s and women’s races of the Chicago Marathon.

Kiplimo, the pre-race favorite in Chicago, was one of six runners who were in the lead pack that followed three pacesetters through the opening five kilometers in 14:18 or 14:19.

The same group still ran together when Kiplimo came through 10 kilometers in 28:37 and 15 kilometers in 42:55.

The six-runner pack of Mateiko, Mengesha, Kipruto, Kiplimo, Bikila, and Diriba, were each credited with splits of 57:13 at 20 kilometers before they all passed the halfway mark in 1:00:21.

The lead group was down to Kiplimo, Mateiko, Kipruto, and Bikila when Kiplimo led them through 25 kilometers in 1:11:19 after having run the previous five kilometers in 14:06, the fastest 5,000-meter segment of the race.

Kiplimo, who had run 2:02:23 in finishing 91 seconds ahead of Kipruto in last year’s race, continued to push the pace and he briefly led second-place Kipruto by roughly 10 meters at the 1:17:00 mark. But the Kenyan was running right behind the Ugandan two minutes later and the two of them were 16 seconds ahead of Mateiko and Bikila when they were through 30 kilometers in 1:25:28 after having run the previous 5,000 meters in 14:09.

The projected finishing time was 2:00:13 at that point in the race, but the pace began to slow during the next five kilometers.

Kipruto was a second ahead of Kiplimo when he passed 21 miles — roughly 33.8 kilometers — in 1:36:34, but his lead had grown to 12 seconds when he came though 35 kilometers in 1:39:58 and it was up to 17 seconds when he was credited with a split of 1:41:07 at 22 miles.

Kipruto’s lead was 47 seconds over Kiplimo when he came through 23 miles in 1:45:47 after running the two previous two one-mile segments of the contest in 4:33 and 4:40, respectively.

With Kiplimo having hit the wall, in marathon speak, Kipruto had a lead of a minute and 48 seconds over second place Bikila when he passed 40 kilometers in 1:54:31.

The gap between him and Bikila basically remained the same during the final 2.195 kilometers of the contest, during which Mengesha made up more than a minute on Kiplimo.

“I think the preparation for me … was perfect for me,” Kipruto said when he was asked about the key to his victory, which was his fifth in 22 career marathons. “I improved a lot in training for the previous London Marathon, but I say, ‘let me go (to) Chicago and let’s see what will be.’ You know, everything is all about a mindset. Yeah, I know it was a tough field, but I set my mind and I say, ‘let’s go.’”

Strong outing by U.S. contingent: Conner Mantz had bettered a 23-year-old American record when he finished fourth in 2:04:43 in last year’s Chicago Marathon and Clayton Young, his training partner, and Charles Hicks ran the No. 2 and 3 times in U.S. history on Sunday when they finished seventh in 2:05:23 and eighth in 2:05:35, respectively.

In addition, Americans Vincent Mauri, Galen Rupp, and CJ Albertson placed 10th, 11th, and 13th, respectively, while running 2:06:45, 2:06:55, and a personal best of 2:07:19.

The time by the 40-year-old Rupp crushed the previous U.S. Masters record of 2:10:02 set by Elkanah Kibet in 2024.

Mauri, who does the majority of his training on a treadmill, had shocked the marathoning world when he ran 2:05:54 while winning the Toledo Marathon in Ohio in April in his debut at the distance. And he was on pace to run 2:04:07 when he came through 30 kilometers in 1:28:15 while in seventh place on Sunday. But he stopped briefly on at least two occasions during the remainder of the race while dealing with what appeared to be muscle cramps and his split from 30 to 35 kilometers was 15:27 and he ran the ensuring 5,000 meters in 16:08.

In contrast, he had averaged 14:42.5 for each of the first six five-kilometer segments of the race.

Turning back the clock: Galen Rupp of the U.S., the silver medalist in the 10,000 meters in the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the bronze medalist in the marathon in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, ran his fastest marathon in five years on Sunday when he set an American Masters record of 2:06:55 while finishing in 11th place in Chicago.

The time by the 40-year-old Rupp was his fastest since he ran 2:06:35 in finishing second in Chicago in 2021 and it was not that far off his personal best of 2:06:07 that he had run in winning the Prague Marathon in Czechia in 2018.

He ran the first four 10-kilometer segments of the race in 29:43, 30:08, 30:01, and 30:26, before covering the last 2.195 kilometers in 6:37, which would have been 30:13 pace for 10k.

His performance followed a 22nd-place finish in the Boston Marathon in April when he had run 2:08:15.

“I came in having a better block (of training) than in the spring and I thought I had a good chance of running under 2:07 so I was happy to get that done,” Rupp said in a post-race interview on the NBC affiliate in Chicago. “Things are going in the right direction so I’m optimistic.”

Speaking further, he said Sunday’s race was “a good step. We’re getting faster in every one, way faster than I was in the spring, so just keep that going and keep chipping away.”

Rough finish in debut: Adriaan Wildschutt, the South African record-holder in the 5,000 meters at 12:55.02, in the 10,000 at 26:50.64, and in the half marathon at 59:13, finished 25th in 2:11:23 in the Chicago Marathon after struggling mightily during the last seven-plus kilometers of his debut at the distance.

The 28-year-old Wildschutt, who had finished ninth in the 10,000 in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and 10th in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last year, strung together five-kilometer splits of 14:53, 14:47, 14:47, 14:50, 14:48, and 14:49 for his first 30 kilometers in Chicago. But he ran the ensuing 5k in 15:08 before the following 5,000-meter segment took him an excruciating 18:17.

He was in 19th place at 40 kilometers after having been in 10th when he passed the halfway mark in 1:02:32, and he lost another six places when he ran the final 2.195 kilometers in 8:04. His split for the last mile was 6:47.

In a post on his Instagram account (@adriaanwildschutt), he began with the following text: I will always bet on myself!! ❤️

Yesterday, I fell short of my goal of breaking the South African marathon record (2:05:36) in my debut, and that stings. I was still on pace at 35km, but from there, I really started to struggle and went backwards. The heat and humidity made for tough conditions, and in hindsight, perhaps I could have been more conservative early on. But that’s part of the learning process, and I’ll take a lot from this experience.

Successful defense: Hawi Feysa of Ethiopia won her second consecutive title in the Chicago Marathon after stepping on the accelerator with a little more than three and a half minutes left in the contest in which her winning time of 2:13:33 was the fifth fastest women’s performance in history.

Feysa and two-time defending Boston Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi of Kenya had an 11 second-lead over third-place Brigid Kosgei of Kenya when they came through the 30-kilometer mark in 1:34:16 and they ran together for the next 35-plus minutes before the Ethiopian surged into the lead at the 2 hour and 10-minute mark.

Lodeki finished second in a personal best of 2:14:07 and she was followed by two-time Chicago winner Kosgei in 2:14:55 as their times were the fastest ever for their respective places.

The next three finishers all recorded personal bests as Mary Ngugi-Cooper of Kenya ran 2:17:23, followed by compatriot Joan Kilimo in 2:18:39 and Isobel Batt-Doyle of Australia in 2:20:38.

Emma Grace Hurley of the U.S. finished seventh in 2:20:47 in her marathon debut and Degitu Azimeraw of Ethiopia placed eighth in 2:20:59.

The 27-year-old Feysa’s winning time cut a minute and 24 seconds off her personal best of 2:14:57 that she had set in last year’s race and she moved to fourth on the all-time performer list with her effort.

Lokedi moved to eighth on the all-time performer list while posting the ninth fastest time ever and Batt-Doyle set an Oceania record with her performance.

Speaking through an interpreter in a post-race interview on the NBC affiliate in Chicago, Feysa said she was very happy to have won for the second consecutive time.

“I just really want to thank God,” she said. “I am so happy. I’m elated to have won the second time.”

With six entrants in the women’s race having run under 2:18 and another five having bettered 2:20, the early pace was quick as Feysa led a seven-runner lead pack through five kilometers in 15:36.

She and Kosgei had broken clear of the other top runners when they passed 10 kilometers in 31:04 and 31:05, respectively. But a three-runner chase pack of Lokedi, Kilimo, and Loice Chemnung were only 12-13 seconds behind when Feysa came through 15 kilometers in 46:41.

Feysa was still in the lead when she passed 20 kilometers in 1:02:31, but Kosgei, Lokedi, and Chemnung were not far behind her at 1:02:32, 1:02:33, and 1:02:34, respectively. And Lokedi was a second in front of the other three when she came through the halfway mark in 1:06:06.

Although the hot pace began to cool ever so slightly after that, the finish time was projected to be 2:12:23 when Feysa and Lokedi were just ahead of Kosgei and Chemnung when they passed 25 kilometers in 1:18:26.

The next five kilometers of the race were crucial as Feysa and Lokedi covered that stretch in 15:50 and they led third-place Kosgei by 11 seconds and fourth-place Chemnung by 41 seconds when they passed 30 kilometers in 1:34:16.

Feysa and Lokedi then kept a close eye on one another until the 2:10 mark when Feysa spurted into the lead while in the midst of a 4:59 split for the final mile (1,609 meters).

The victory was the third in her last five marathons for Feysa, who said afterward that she was quite confident of winning with roughly seven kilometers left in the contest.

“It certainly became quite a battle, especially after the pacemaker dropped out around 33k,” she said. “But around 35k, that’s when I became pretty sure I had this in the bag.”

Banner year continues: Emma Grace Hurley made the fastest-ever debut in a marathon by an American woman when she finished seventh in 2:20:47 in Chicago.

Her performance, which moved her to sixth on the all-time U.S. performer list, came three weeks after she had finished fifth in the half marathon in the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a time of 1:06:23 that puts her in the No. 3 position on the all-time national performer list.

The 29-year-old runner has also set personal bests of 15:01 for 5k, 50:42 for 10 miles, and 1:22:52 for 25k this year, with the 1:22:52 clocking giving her the USA Track & Field title in May.

Although she crossed the finish line in seventh place in Chicago, she was in 13th when she came through 10 kilometers in 32:58 and she was in 11th when she passed 20 kilometers in 1:06:12.

She was in 10th place when she passed the halfway mark in 1:09:50 and though her pace slowed some during the second half of the race, she had moved up to ninth when she came through 40 kilometers in 2:13:24 and she passed Kenyans Loice Chemnung and Magdalyne Masai, and Ethiopian Degitu Azimeraw during the final 2.195 kilometers of the race while being overtaken by Isobel Batt-Doyle of Australia, who finished sixth in an Oceania record of 2:20:38.

Batt-Doyle ran the second half of her race faster than the first as she came though the halfway mark in 1:10:29 before clocking 1:10:09 during the second half.

Chemnung had a rough finish to her race as she went from fourth place at 35 kilometers to sixth at 40 kilometers to 10th at the finish with a time of 2:21:18 that included a final mile of 6:35.

In a postrace interview on the NBC affiliate in Chicago, Hurley said that the race “felt really great until it didn’t. I had an amazing race. There was so much support out there. But like anyone else in the marathon, around 22 miles I started feeling like I was ready to be done. But I was having so much fun.”

Quick couple: Akira and Yuka Akasaki of Japan placed ninth and 11th, respectively, in the men’s and women’s races of the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

The 28-year-old Akira ran 2:05:47 in the men’s race to better his previous personal best of 2:06:15 and move to sixth on the all-time Japanese performer list.

The 28-year-old Yuka, who had finished sixth in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, timed 2:23:18 in the women’s race in Chicago. It was the second fastest time of her career behind the 2:21:33 effort she had run in finishing third in the Osaka Women’s Marathon in Osaka, Japan, last year.

Backing up its top ranking: The men’s cross country team from the University of New Mexico backed up its No. 1 ranking in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll last Friday when the Lobos won their second consecutive title in the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Verona, Wisconsin.

Paced by the runner-up finish of freshman Pasanjo Kitonga, New Mexico had five of the top 22 finishers while totaling 59 points to the 93 of second-place and No. 6 Colorado.

BYU, the No. 7 team in the USTFCCCA rankings, placed third with 146 points, followed by No. 16 Arkansas with 208, No. 10 Florida with 221, and No. 8 Wake Forest with 222. There were 35 teams in the race.

Freshman Meshack Kipruto of Colorado won the individual title with a time of 22:30.1 over the 8,000-meter layout at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in a race in which the first 16 finishers bettered the course and meet record of 22:58.0 set by Habtom Samuel of New Mexico last year.

Kitonga finished second in 22:30.8 in the race in which Louisville sophomore Elsingi Kipruto, who is unrelated to Meshack Kipruto, placed third in 22:31.1, Wake Forest senior Rocky Hansen was fourth in 22:31.4, and BYU sophomore Trayvon Kitchen was fifth in 22:37.3.

In addition to Kitonga, New Mexico’s second and third finishers were senior Evans Kiplangat, who placed seventh in 22:40.7, and junior Collins Kiprotich, who was eighth in 22:43.3.

New Mexico’s fourth and fifth runners were junior Vincent Chirchir in 20th place in 23:03.2 and senior Joshua Abraham in 22nd in 23:08.0.

Colorado got off to a very good start as a team and was leading New Mexico, 63-110, after the first two kilometers of the race. But New Mexico had a 75-96 advantage over the Buffaloes after four kilometers and their advantage had grown to 58-96 at six kilometers.

Taking center stage: Meshack Kipruto of Colorado introduced himself to the collegiate cross country world in a big way in the Nuttycombe Invitational when he won the championship race after outkicking three better-known runners for the victory.

Kipruto, a 19-year-old freshman from Kenya, was one of four runners who were bunched tightly together when they turned into the final 300-meter home straightaway that finishes on an uphill grade, but he moved into the lead with about 25 seconds left in the race and no one was able to catch him as his 22:30.1 clocking over the 8,000-meter layout smashed the previous course and meet record of 22:58.0 set by Habtom Samuel of New Mexico last year.

The next three runners behind him were New Mexico freshman Pasanjo Kitonga in 22:30.8, Louisville sophomore Elsingi Kipruto in 22:31.1, and Wake Forst senior Rocky Hansen in 22:31.4.

While Meshack Kipruto entered the second race of his collegiate career with solid, but not eye-opening track bests of 8:10.0 in the 3,000 and 14:11.28 in the 5,000, Kitonga had run 28:27 for 10 kilometers on the road in August and he also won the prestigious Cowboy Jamboree cross country meet on Sept. 26 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Elsingi Kipruto, who is not related to Meshack, placed second in the 10,000 and third in the 5,000 in the NCAA track and field championships last June, and Hansen was the runner-up in the 5,000 in that meet after also finishing second to the previously mentioned Samuel in the collegiate cross country finals last November.

“We knew he was good, but we didn’t know what level he was at yet,” Colorado coach Sean Carlson said about Kipruto in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “He certainly had handled everything we’ve done training-wise, pretty comfortably. I don’t think he’s been in any position yet when he’s been up against the wall or struggling … But to win that race as a freshman, with very little racing experience, that’s just really unique. To be able to race, not just to that fitness level, but also there are some tactics and savvy that comes with racing at that level that he just inherently has naturally.”

Meshack Kipruto showed a fair amount of patience during the race as he was never more than seven tenths of a second behind the leader when he came through two kilometers in 14th place, four kilometers in 10th, and six kilometers in fourth.

After being part of a nine-runner lead pack at 6,000 meters, the race for first place was down to Kitonga, Hansen, and the two Kiprutos with roughly 800 meters to go.

Elsingi Kipruto briefly surged into the lead early in the final straightaway, but Meshack Kipruto responded fairly quickly and he was never seriously challenged after he had taken the lead, although Kitonga did move past Elsingi Kipruto.

“For him to hang with some of the best guys in the NCAA, stay composed, and then kick like that was impressive,” Carlson said. “There was certainly a little bit of a surprise there because we really didn’t back off for this meet. I think that’s the biggest surprise, that he’s running this well this early in the season, without having backed off anything. That makes us really excited for the coming month and a half.”

While Carlson was very pleased with Kipruto’s performance on the individual level in the Nuttycombe meet, he was also excited about Colorado’s second-place finish behind top-ranked New Mexico in the team standings as seniors Dominic Serem and Dean Casey did not compete for the Buffaloes.

Serem had finished fourth in the Nuttycombe Invitational last year and Casey placed 30th in the NCAA cross country championships in 2024, and Casey expects them to be in the lineup when Colorado competes in the Big 12 Conference championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Oct. 31.

That race is expected to be a very high-quality affair as it will include host and No. 2-ranked Oklahoma State, No. 3 Colorado, No. 5 BYU, and No. 20 Iowa State.

Oklahoma State is the defending NCAA champion and has won two of the past three national championships.

Win leads to big jump: The women’s team from West Virginia moved up six spots in this week’s national rankings after winning the Nuttycombe Invitational with a 66-111 victory over runner-up Florida last Friday.

West Virginia and Florida had been the No. 9- and 13-ranked teams in the USTFCCCA national poll entering the meet, but they are now in the No. 3 and 4 spots after finishing 1-2 in a team competition in which then-No. 3 Northern Arizona placed third with 130 points, followed by No. 4 New Mexico in fourth place with 157, No. 16 Colorado in fifth with 166, and No. 20 Toledo in sixth with 214.

West Virginia was led by the 5-6 finishes of juniors Joy Naukot and Mercy Kinyanjui, who ran 19:22.6 and 19:23.3, respectively, over the 6,000-meter layout at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.

The top four finishers in the race were junior Judy Chepkoech of Florida in 19:19.5, followed by sophomore Betty Kipkore of Iowa State in 19:19.6, junior Mercy Kirarei of New Mexico in 19:21.8, and freshman Purity Chepkirui of Toledo in 19:22.3.

In addition to the fifth- and sixth-place efforts from Naukot and Kinyanjui, West Virginia’s Nos. 3-5 runners were freshmen Sheila Chepkirui in 11th place in 19:26.3, sophomore Naomi Kemboi in 19th in 19:40.5, and junior Alexis Lamb in 25th in 19:47.0 in the race in which the difference between the Cyclones’ No. 1 and 5 scorers was an impressive 27.5 seconds.

Naukot and Lamb had been the Nos. 2 and 6 runners on a West Virginia team that had placed second to BYU in the 2024 NCAA championships. And senior teammate Emily Bryce, who was the Mountaineers’ No. 6 runner last Friday when she finished 44th in 20:13.4, had been the squad’s No. 4 runner in the NCAA title meet two years ago.

“I think we knew we had a shot to win this race today,” West Virginia coach Sean Cleary said in a runnerspace.com post. “Of course, so did four or five other teams, at least. I feel good about it being us.”

West Virginia got off to a strong start in the Nuttycombe meet as it had a 118-154 lead over second-place Washington State after the first two kilometers of the race and it was leading second-place Florida by a 69-128 margin at the 4k mark.

Running through the finish line: Junior Judy Chepkoech of Florida won the women’s individual title in the Nuttycombe Invitational when she overtook sophomore Betty Kipkore of Iowa State in the final stride of the race.

Chepkoech clocked 19:19.5 to Kipkore’s 19:19.6 after the latter had raised her arms about five meters before the finish line, apparently thinking she had the victory in hand. But Chepkoech ran all the way through the line and her time of 19:19.5 was the second-fastest time ever recorded over the 6,000-meter layout at the Thomas Zimmer Championship course.

Kipkore, who had placed fourth in both the 10,000 and the 5,000 in the NCAA championships in June, timed 19:19.6 in finishing in second place and she was followed by junior Mercy Kirarei of New Mexico in 19:21.8 and freshman Purity Chepkirui of Toledo in 19:22.3.

The course record of 19:17.2 had been set by Florida’s Parker Valby in the 2023 Nuttycombe meet.

Chepkoech, who had finished 16th in the NCAA championships last November, was always near the front of the race in the Nuttycombe meet as she was in sixth place as part of a huge lead group after two kilometers and she was in second place when she came through four kilometers in 13.13.7, the same split as leader — and Kenyan compatriot — Kirarei of New Mexico.

The gap between Kirarei and 24th-place Millie Bii of Washington State was only 1.9 seconds at that point in the race, but the lead pack was down to 11-12 runners with a kilometer remaining. However, 10 women were still in the hunt for the win with roughly 400 meters left.

Kirarei had taken a three- to four-meter lead with about 300 meters to go, but Kipkore soon charged into the lead and she appeared to have the victory in hand with roughly 100 meters remaining. However, Chepkoech was in second place at that point and she was soon making up ground on Kipkore, who made the mistake of stepping off the accelerator in the last 10 meters of the contest.

“So excited to have won today,” Chepkoech said in a postrace interview on the livestream broadcast on runnerspace.com. “Since we started, we were in a large group, and I didn’t know if I’m going to win. But I just say, ‘let me focus towards the end, and maybe the kick will determine the winner.’”

Birnbaum wins season opener: Simeon Birnbaum of Oregon opened his senior collegiate cross country season with a large margin of victory in the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Springfield, Oregon, last Friday.

Birnbaum, who had lowered the collegiate record in the 1,500 meters to 3:31.69 in April before winning the event in the NCAA championships in June, clocked 23:05.5 over the 8,000-meter course at the Pine Ridge Golf Club while finishing 27 seconds ahead of teammate and fellow senior Connor Burns, who ran 23:32.7.

Paced by the 1-2 finish of Birnbaum and Burns, Oregon totaled a winning 28 points in the race in which Weber State finished second with 42 and Chico State placed third with 78.

Senior Mario Gianni placed third in 23:46.6 for Chico State.

Oregon, which had entered the meet as the No. 6-ranked team in the USTFCCCA national poll, had five of the top 13 finishers as seniors Connor McCormick and Aiden Smith placed eighth and 10th, respectively, in times of 24:05.4 and 24:15.4, and freshman Jayden Warner was 13th in 24:18.5.

Birnbaum was part of a four-runner lead pack when he passed two kilometers in 5:47.2, but the front group was down to Burns and him when the former led through four kilometers in 11:33.3.

Burns led for much of the next two kilometers, but when Birnbaum upped the tempo just before six kilometers, the race for first place was over and he extended a one-second lead at six kilometers to an 11-second advantage after seven kilometers and a 27-second winning margin at the finish.

In a postrace interview posted on runnerspace.com, Birnbaum said he had no real expectations entering the race.

“The real only goal was to get in a really hard effort to prepare for the postseason,” he said. “And I definitely accomplished that.”

Cherotich wins season opener: Diana Cherotich of Oregon opened up her sophomore collegiate cross country campaign by winning her second consecutive title in the Bill Dellinger Invitational.

Cherotich, the defending Big Ten Conference champion, clocked 19:31.4 over the 6,000-meter course while finishing 11 seconds in front of runner-up and senior teammate Juliet Cherubet, who timed 19:42.3.

Senior Madelyn Eybergen of Victoria, British Columbia, was third in 20:00.1.

Oregon was a runaway winner in the team competition as the No. 7 Ducks totaled 25 points to the 95 of Victoria and the 115 of Chico State.

Cherotich was just behind Constanze Paoli of Idaho when the Vandal senior led a large lead pack through two kilometers in 6:53.6, and she, Cherubet, and Eybergen were each credited with splits of 13:30.8 when they passed four kilometers.

Cheritoch took charge of the race in the ensuing kilometer as she was nearly five seconds ahead of second-place Cherubet after 5,000 meters, with Eybergen another six seconds behind.

Huge personal best: Senior Derek Luna of Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, California, slashed nearly 30 seconds off his previous best on the Woodward Park course in Fresno when he timed 14:30.0 in winning the boys championship race of the Clovis Invitational last Saturday.

Luna had lowered his best over the 5,000-meter layout to 14:59.6 when he finished eighth in the Division 2 race of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championships last year, but he annihilated that mark with his 14:30.0 clocking that moved him to seventh on the all-time course performer list.

Elias Thronson of Davis, California, finished second in 14:35.2 to move into a three-way tie for 11th on the all-time course performer list and he was followed by fellow junior Garrett Faught of Crater in Central Point, Oregon, who placed third in 14:39.7.

Luna was one of three boys from the Southern Section of California who placed among the top six finishers as junior William Thompson of La Serna in Whittier was fifth in 14:46.2 and senior Aidan Antonio of Woodbridge in Irvine was sixth in 14:51.2.

Mountain View (California) won the team title with 107 points, followed by second-place Woodbridge with 140 and third-place Granada of Livermore, California, with 145.

Luna entered the Clovis Invitational with three wins and a second-place finish in his first four races of the season, but Rio Mesa coach Garrett Reynolds said he and Luna both figured that if he broke 14:55, it would be great day.

“I was just watching his race and I didn’t really didn’t have an eye on my watch,” Reynolds said by telephone on Thursday. “I was just coaching around the course, but when I heard (public address announcer) Tim O’Rourke’s voice over the intercom and he said that Derek had crossed the finish line in 14:30, that was pretty unbelievable.”

Luna, who is in his third season of cross country after running track for the first time when he was a freshman at Rio Mesa, was in sixth place, three seconds behind first-place Antonio when the Woodbridge runner came through the mile in 4:36.4. But Luna was in first place, just ahead of Faught and Thronson, when he passed 2.1 miles in 9:58.1.

Reynolds said that there was still a lead group of runners when he saw Luna with about a kilometer left in the race, but that he had begun to separate himself from the others with about 400 meters to go.

“Derek’s much more of a strength runner, so when he took that lead with 400 meters to go, I was thinking, ‘wow, that was a great move,’” Reynolds said. “But I was also thinking, ‘let’s hold on, let’s hold on, let’s hold on, let’s hold on.’ And you know, he did that, which was pretty cool.”

Huge personal best II: Sophomore Addyson Johns of Santiago High School in Corona, California, cut a large chunk of time off her previous best when she won the girls championship race of the Clovis Invitational in Fresno.

Johns timed 16:50.8 over the 5,000-meter layout at Woodward Park to blast her previous best of 17:43.5 that she had run in finishing 10th in the Division 1 race of the CIF State Championships last year.

Senior Isabella Ruiz of Ontario, California, finished second in 16:55.9 and she was followed by junior Adley Damon of Crater in Central Point, Oregon, who placed third in 17:00.1, and by sophomore Alyssa Gutierrez of St. Francis in Sacramento, who was fourth in 17:01.0.

Crater, which entered the meet as the No. 2-ranked squad in the nation by dyestat.com, won the team title with a 55-65 victory over No. 12 Buchanan of Clovis, California. St. Francis of Sacramento, the No. 10-ranked team in the nation, placed third with 126 points.

The cumulative time of Crater’s top five runners was 87:28, which bettered the previous course record of 87:49 that had been set by Southern Section team Trabuco Hills of Mission Viejo in 2024.

In addition, Buchanan’s team time of 88:23 was the third fastest ever on the Woodward Park course.

Johns was a second ahead of second-place Gutierrez when she came through the first mile in 5:13.0 on Saturday before Ruiz had a small lead over second-place Johns when she passed 2.1 miles in 11:25.2. However, Johns re-took the lead for good during the final mile when she ran that section of the course in 5:25.3 to the 5:30.7 split for Ruiz.

The win was the first of the season for Johns, who had previously finished third in both the Elite Showdown race of the PR City Invitational in Norco on Aug. 28 and in the Bob Day Sweeps race of the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in Irvine on Sept. 19.

Looking ahead: North Carolina State University and BYU, the Nos. 1- and 2-ranked women’s teams in the nation in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, will meet in the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, today.

The women’s blue race, which will also include No. 7-ranked Notre Dame, No. 19 North Carolina, and No. 23 Clemson, is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. EDT and the men’s blue event will begin at 10:40.

The meet will be streamed on runnerspace.com, with the broadcast beginning at 9:40 a.m. A subscription to runnerspace.com will be required to gain access to the livestream.

North Carolina State has won four of the last five NCAA women’s team titles, with BYU having been victorious in the 2020 and 2024 championships.

Sophomore Jane Hedengren of BYU finished second in the NCAA championships last year, but she has reportedly been ill recently and it is not known if she will race today.

Senior Hannah Gapes will lead NC State, which is expected to compete without senior Grace Hartman and sophomore Sadie Engelhardt, who were the Wolfpack’s Nos. 2 and 5 runners in the NCAA championships last year.

Syracuse is the top team in the men’s meet, based on its No. 8 national ranking. Villanova and Notre Dame are the Nos. 2 and 3 entrants with rankings of 14 and 15, respectively.

Today’s meet will be held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, which will also host the NCAA championships on Nov. 21.

Hawi Feysa of Ethiopia won her second consecutive women’s title in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday after stepping on the accelerator with a little more than three and a half minutes left in the contest.

Although Feysa waited until late in the proceedings to make her move, it was so decisive that the race for first place was basically over 20 seconds later and she went on to cross the finish line in a personal best of 2:13:33.

Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, the winner of the Boston Marathon the last two years, finished second in a personal best of 2:14:07 and she was followed by compatriot Brigid Kosgei in 2:14:55.

The times by Lokedi and Kosgei were the fastest ever for their respective places.

The next three finishers in the race recorded personal bests as Mary Ngugi-Cooper of Kenya ran 2:17:23, followed by compatriot Joan Kilimo in 2:18:39 and Isobel Batt-Doyle of Australia in 2:20:38.

Emma Grace Hurley of the U.S. finished seventh in 2:20:47 in her marathon debut and Degitu Azimeraw of Ethiopia placed eighth in 2:20:59.

The 27-year-old Feysa cut a minute and 24 seconds off her personal best of 2:14:57 that she had set in last year’s race and she moved to fourth on the all-time performer list while running the fifth fastest time ever.

Lokedi moved to eighth on the all-time performer list while posting the ninth fastest time ever and Batt-Doyle set an Oceania record with her performance.

Speaking through an interpreter in a post-race interview on the NBC affiliate in Chicago, Feysa said she was very happy to have won again in the Windy City.

“I just really want to thank God,” she said. “I am so happy. I’m elated to have won the second time.”

With six entrants in the women’s race having run under 2:18 and another five having bettered 2:20, the early pace was expected to be fast.

Therefore, it was not surprising when Feysa led a seven-runner lead pack through five kilometers in 15:36.

She and Kosgei had broken clear of the other top runners when they passed 10 kilometers in 31:04 and 31:05, respectively. But a three-runner chase pack of Lokedi, Kilimo, and Loice Chemnung of Kenya were only 12-13 seconds behind when Feysa came through 15 kilometers in 46:41.

Feysa was still in the lead when she passed 20 kilometers in 1:02:31, but Kosgei, Lokedi, and Chemnung were not far behind her at 1:02:32, 1:02:33, and 1:02:34, respectively. And Lokedi was a second in front of the other three when she came through the halfway mark in 1:06:06.

Although the hot pace began to cool ever so slightly after that, the finish time was projected to be 2:12:23 when Feysa and Lokedi were just ahead of Kosgei and Chemnung when they passed 25 kilometers in 1:18:26.

The next five kilometers of the race were crucial as Feysa and Lokedi covered that stretch in 15:50 and they led third-place Kosgei by 11 seconds and fourth-place Chemnung by 41 seconds when they passed 30 kilometers in 1:34:16.

Little distance separated Feysa and Lokedi during the ensuing 36 or so minutes as they were even or within a second of one another when they covered miles 21-25 in 5:13, 5:17, 5:18, 5:15, and 5:11.

After Lokedi and Feysa both came through 40 kilometers in 2:06:43, the former was credited with being in front by a second when she passed 25 miles in 2:07:27.

The two of them were running stride for stride at the 2:10:00 mark, but that was when Feysa, who ran a personal best of 14:33.06 in the 5,000 meters in 2022, hit the gas and the battle for first place was essentially over within 100 meters.

After having run 16:20 during the 5,000-meter stretch from 35 to 40 kilometers, Feysa ran her final 2.195 kilometers of the race at a pace that was equivalent to 15:34 for 5k. She also ran her final mile in 4:59, in contrast to Lokedi’s 5:34.

The win was the third in her last five marathons for Feysa, who said afterward that she was quite confident of winning with roughly seven kilometers left in the contest.

“It certainly became quite a battle, especially after the pacemaker dropped out around 33k,” she said. “But around 35k, that’s when I became pretty sure I had this in the bag.”

The Chicago Marathon was the sixth of seven World Marathon Major events to be held this year.

The final one will be the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1.

The following link will take you to the final times and splits for the top 30 finishers in the women’s and men’s races on Sunday.

The third time was the charm for Amos Kipruto of Kenya in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.

Racing on the flat and fast course for the third consecutive year, the 34-year-old competitor won his first title with a personal best of 2:01:09 after finishing third in 2024 and second last October.

Tadese Bikila of Ethiopia finished second in a personal best of 2:02:56 in the race in which compatriot Milkesa Mengesha placed third in 2:03:46 and defending champion Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda was fourth in 2:04:18.

Boki Diriba of Ethiopia finished fifth in a personal best of 2:05:01, and Daniel Mateiko of Kenya placed sixth in an identical time, while Americans Clayton Young and Charles Hicks were seventh and eighth, respectively, in personal bests of 2:05:23 and 2:05:35.

Kipruto’s time was tied for the fifth fastest in history and moved him into a tie for fifth on the all-time performer list with compatriot Eliud Kipchoge, who had set a then-world record with his 2:01:09 clocking in the 2022 Berlin Marathon. Kipruto’s time also bettered his previous best of 2:01:39 that he had run in finishing fourth in the historically deep London Marathon in April.

Bikila, winner of the last two marathons in Tokyo, moved to 16th on the all-time performer list with his effort, and Young and Hicks became the second and third fastest Americans ever.

“It was really good for me because I say, ‘let me run because I’ve been here for three years now,’” Kipruto said in a postrace interview on the NBC affiliate in Chicago. “I came here in 2024, I became position three, 2025, I became position two, and now, 2026, it was either win or die for me, because I was here to fight for the contest.”

Kiplimo, who had finished third in London in 2:00:28 in a race in which Sabastian Sawe of Kenya and Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia ran the two fastest times ever at 1:59:30 and 1:59:41, respectively, was the pre-race favorite in Chicago. And he was one of six runners who were in the lead pack that followed three pacesetters through the opening five kilometers in either 14:18 or 14:19.

The same group still ran together when Kiplimo led at 10 kilometers in 28:37 and 15 kilometers in 42.55.

The six-runner pack of Mateiko, Mengesha, Kipruto, Kiplimo, Bikila, and Diriba, were each credited with splits of 57:13 at 20 kilometers before they all passed the halfway mark in 1:00:21.

The lead group was down to Kiplimo, Mateiko, Kipruto, and Bikila after Kiplimo led them through 25 kilometers in 1:11:19 following a 5k split of 14:06, the fastest 5,000-meter segment of the race.

Kiplimo, who had run 2:02:23 in finishing 91 seconds ahead of Kipruto in last year’s race, continued to push the pace and he led second-place Kipruto by roughly 10 meters at the 1:17:00 mark.

But the Kenyan was running right behind the Uganda two minutes later and the two of them were 16 seconds ahead of Mateiko and Bikila when they went through 30 kilometers in 1:25:28 after running the previous 5,000 meters in 14:09.

The projected finishing time was 2:00:13 at that point, but the pace began to slow during the next five kilometers.

Kipruto was a second ahead of Kiplimo when he passed 21 miles — roughly 33.8 kilometers — in 1:36:34, but his lead had grown to 12 seconds when he came though 35 kilometers in 1:39:58, and it was up to 17 seconds when was credited with a split of 1:41:07 at 22 miles.

Kipruto’s lead had expanded to 47 seconds over Kiplimo when he came through 23 miles in 1:45:47 after having run the two previous one-mile segments in 4:33 and 4:40, respectively.

Kiplimo had hit the wall, in marathon speak, by then and Kipruto had a lead of a minute and 48 seconds over second place Bikila when he passed 40 kilometers in 1:54:31.

The gap between him and Bikila basically remained the same during the final 2.195 kilometers of the contest, during which Mengesha made up a minute and four seconds on Kiplimo.

“I think the preparation for me … was perfect for me,” Kipruto said when he was asked about the key to his victory, which was his fifth in 22 career marathons. “I improved a lot in training for the previous London Marathon, but I say, ‘let me go (to) Chicago and let’s see what will be.

“You know, everything is all about a mindset. Yeah, I know it was a tough field, but I set my mind and I say, ‘let’s go.’”

The Chicago Marathon was the sixth of seven World Marathon Major events to be held this year.

The final one will be the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1.

The following link will take you to the results and splits for the top 30 finishers in the men’s and women’s races on Sunday.

The women’s cross country team from North Carolina State University has yet to lay all of its cards on the table this season, but the Wolfpack nonetheless turned in its second runaway victory of the campaign in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Indiana, last Friday.

Led by the course record-setting effort of senior Hannah Gapes, NC State had five of the top 13 finishers while defeating host Notre Dame, 39-84, for the team title in a race in which South Carolina finished third with 102 points, followed by Clemson with 143 and Indiana with 159.

Notre Dame and South Carolina had been the Nos. 7- and 12-ranked teams in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) women’s poll entering the meet. But they were no match for a top-ranked NC State squad that competed without the services of senior Grace Hartman and sophomore Sadie Engelhardt, who were the number 2 and 5 runners on a Wolfpack team that won the NCAA title last November.

NC State, led by first-place Bethany Michalak, had posted a 21-40 victory over runner-up South Carolina on the first day of the Adidas XC Challenge in Cary, North Carolina, on Sept. 18, but the Wolfpack’s performance was more impressive in the Piane meet as Gapes ran her first collegiate race of the season after placing ninth in the 5-kilometer event in the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sept. 19.

Gapes had moved to second on the all-time New Zealand list with her 15:06 clocking in the Danish capital and she smashed the course record last Friday when she timed 15:22.6 over the 5,000-meter layout at the Burke Golf & Cross Country Course.

Gapes’ time bettered the course best of 15:50.0 set by Katelyn Touhy of NC State in 2022 and it came in a race in which freshmen Katy Zang of Indiana and Nancy Cherop of Clemson finished second and third, respectively, in times of 15:35.4 and 15:47.8.

“I just went into the race with an open mind,” Gapes said by phone on Thursday. “I really didn’t have any expectations. It was just a good opportunity for some of my teammates to build some confidence running over the 5k [against] a little bit of a deeper field, to get the team’s confidence up.

“I just started to wind it up a little bit at about 3k. Just put a little pressure on. It was a good race, but I’m super excited for running the 6k next week over the hills. It’s going to be a really good opportunity.”

The Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, next Friday is the meet Gapes alluded to, as it will be held on the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course that will also be the site of the NCAA championships on Nov. 21.

Zang, who has now placed first, second, and second in her three collegiate races, was the one pushing the pace during the first half of the Piane Invitational as she led the field through the opening kilometer in 3:03.4 and the first mile in 4:57.0.

Gapes was part of a tightly bunched lead pack of six women when she went through the mile in 4:57.2, but she was in the lead when she passed the three-kilometer mark in 9:21.6 on the relatively flat course. Cherop and Zang were within a second of Gapes at that point in the contest, but the 22-year-old New Zealander began to pull away soon thereafter as she covered the final two kilometers of the race in 6:01.0 while Zang had a split of 6:13.0 over that stretch and Cherop ran 6:25.6.

Clemson had three of the top six finishers as junior Silvia Jelelgo placed fourth in 15:51.6 and senior Judy Kosgei was sixth in 15:56.0, but the Tigers could not match NC State’s depth as the Wolfpack’s Nos. 2-5 runners finished seventh, eighth, 10th, and 13th.

Michalak placed seventh in 15:57.8 for NC State and teammates Angelina Napoleon, Brooke Rauber, and Emily Wisniewski posted times of 16:01.9, 16:06.6, and 16:16.9, respectively, while finishing in eighth, 10th, and 13th place.

Notre Dame was paced by Mary Bonner Dalton and Amaya Aramini, who finished 11th and 12th, respectively, in times of 16:09.9 and 16:11.0.

Gapes had capped a breakthrough cross country season last year in the NCAA championships when a 5-6 finish by her and Hartman led NC State to its fourth team title in five years, and her roll has continued in 2026.

First, she placed 19th in the senior women’s race of the world cross country championships in Tallahassee, Florida, in January. Then she went on to lower her personal bests to 15:25.93 in the 5,000 and 4:07.44 in the 1,500 during the outdoor track and field season.

Her track best in the 5,000 came when she finished 11th in the NCAA championships in Eugene, Oregon, on June 13 and her top mark in the 1,500 occurred eight days later when she placed fourth in her heat of the Portland Track Festival.

“Just kind of building the blocks, brick by brick, has led to some really good outcomes that I’ve been proud of,” Gapes said when ask about her performances during the last year or so. “But it’s a testament to a lot of the hard work that I’ve accumulated and compounded for sure.”

She later added that running well for New Zealand in both the world cross country and road running championships served to bolster her confidence and let her know that she belongs in those high-caliber events.

“On race day, I looked around me and I just had this feeling that everybody is really human,” she said about her experience in Copenhagen. “Everybody has a tough night, the night before going to sleep, everyone gets nervous. Everybody has a nervous breakfast. It’s like we all have high level goals, and that’s what makes these events super meaningful because these are the moments that every athlete wants to experience.”

Fighting Irish win big: Notre Dame, paced by the 1-2 finish of senior Daelen Ackley and sophomore Cameron Todd, easily won the men’s team title in the Joe Piane Invitational when the Fighting Irish totaled 22 points to the 87 of second-place Bradley.

North Carolina State finished third with 110 points, followed by Grand Valley State with 153 and Illinois State with 180.

Ackley ran 22:54.7 over the 8,000-meter course and Todd timed 22:58.6 in a race in which senior Jayde Rosslee of Bradley finished third in 23:01.2.

Notre Dame’s Nos. 3-5 scoring runners were Drew Griffth in fifth in 23:17.2, fellow junior Kevin Sanchez in sixth in 23:17.4, and sophomore Max Douglass in 11th in 23:28.3.

Ackley led much of the race for Notre Dame, the No. 15-ranked team in the USTFCCCA national poll. He was in first place when he came through the opening kilometer in 2:50.2, the mile in 4:36.5, and three kilometers in 8:45.7. He was then a tenth of a second behind first-place Rosslee when the latter went through six kilometers in 17:17.3.

Combe paces Arkansas to victory: Freshman Braelyn Combe won the first race of her collegiate career with a dramatic come-from-behind victory while leading the host Razorbacks to the team title in the Women Harter’s Habanero race of the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last Saturday.

Combe clocked 15:59.0 over the 5,000-meter Agri Park course to finish a tenth of a second in front of sophomore Dorcas Jepkosgei of Texas Arlington in a race in which junior Kathryn Koonts of Tulsa placed third in 16:03.7.

Arkansas had three runners among the top 11 finishers while winning the team title with a 69-83 victory over second-place Mississippi State. Tulsa finished third with 89 points.

Combe, who passed Jepkosgei just before crossing the finish line, was in ninth place in 5:16.6 when Baylor junior Ruth Kimeli led the field through the opening mile in 5:03.5, and she was in seventh in 11:41.1 when Jepkosgei and Kimeli were running 1-2 when they passed 3.5 kilometers in 11:29.9.

But Combe, a two-time California state champion in the 1,600 meters for Santiago High School in Corona, kept moving up during the remainder of the race and she edged past Jepkosgei when the Kenyan, thinking she had the race won, raised her arms with about five meters left in the contest.

“She made a big move down the hill,” Arkansas coach Marc Burns said about Combe in an arkansasonline.com post. “When you make that turn it’s about 500m from the finish. I was about 450m out, and I start yelling, ‘You can win, go win.’ She turned on the jets and made up a lot of ground.

“It’s racing 101: You don’t quit until you get to the line. The arms went up on the other girl, and Braelyn went right underneath them and got the win. That was a masterclass on how to finish a race.”

Combe, who had opened her collegiate career with a 27th-place finish in the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Missouri, on Sept. 25, said afterward that “I don’t how much I like cross country, but I’m liking it more every day.”

After Combe, Arkansas’ Nos. 2 and 3 runners were senior Paityn Noe in seventh place in 16:17.8 and junior Jayden Hill in 11th in 16:43.1.

The Razorbacks’ final two scoring runners were freshmen Emma Chepngetich and Marissa Ferebee, who placed 23rd and 27th, respectively, in times of 17:05.5 and 17:12.9.

Longhorns prevail: Texas had three of the top seven finishers while winning the Men McDonnell Memorial team title in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival.

The Longhorns totaled 64 points while finishing well clear of second-place North Texas with 103 and third-place UTEP with 137.

Texas was led by senior Hudson Bennett, who placed third in 24:09.8 over the 8,000-meter course, and the Longhorns’ number 2 and 3 runners were sophomore Joaquin De La Cruz, who finished sixth in 24:15.7, and freshman Kai McCullough, who was seventh in 24:20.4.

Texas’ fourth and fifth scorers were senior Zain Hamdani, who placed 18th in 24:41.6, and freshman Colby Huntress, who finished 33rd in 25:12.9.

The race for the individual title was extremely close as Pau Valderrama of Missouri Western placed first in 24:02.8 and fellow senior Nathan Kapel of UTEP finished second in 24:02.9.

Hanging on for the win: The girls’ team from JSerra High School in San Juan Capistrano, California, won the race of champions in the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, North Carolina, last Saturday after taking a huge lead in the first mile of the 5,000-meter race before defeating runner-up William Penn Charter School of Philadelphia, 164-183.

Marvin Ridge of Waxhaw, North Carolina, finished third with 199 points, followed by Cardinal Gibbons of Raleigh, North Carolina, with 242, and James Robinson Jr. Secondary School of Fairfax, Virginia, with 259.

JSerra, which had won its fifth consecutive Division IV title in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championships last year, was the No. 4-ranked team in the DyeStat national rankings entering the race. And the Lions had a 85-185 lead over second-place Blacksburg High in Blacksburg, Virginia, after the first mile of the contest that was held at WakeMed Soccer Park.

However, the team’s score had risen to 132 points after two miles when William Penn had moved into second place with 193. JSerra’s lead was reduced further during the remainder of the race, but the Lions’ managed to finish 19 points ahead of William Penn.

Senior Reese Holley paced JSerra with a ninth-place finish in 17:27.5 and sophomore teammate Maya Pawlowicz placed 17th in 17:46.2.

JSerra’s Nos. 3-5 runners were senior Hutton Nelligan in 40th place in 18:17.8, junior Kaia Streadbeck in 66th in 18:55.1, and sophomore Brooklynn Tennant in 73rd in 19:06.5.

Pawlowicz, Tennant, and Holley had been JSerra’s top three runners in the CIF championships last year when they finished seventh, 10th, and 14th, respectively.

Battling through a rough finish: Junior Mario Montoya of Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California, finished fifth in the boys race of champions in the Great American Cross Country Festival, despite falling to the ground with less than 50 meters left in the contest.

Montoya, who led Redondo Union to its first team title in the Division I race of the CIF State Championships last year, was part of the lead pack last Saturday when he came through the first mile in 4:36.5 and two miles in 9:38.9 while in fourth place. And he was in third when he passed the 2.65-mile mark with a little less than 800 meters left in the contest.

But he was at the back of a four-runner chase group as he crested an uphill grade near the end of the race and he stumbled and fell to the ground before he got up and then fell across the finish line.

Senior Marcelo Mantecon of Belen Jesuit Prep in Miami won his third consecutive Great American title with a time of 14:35.9 over the 5,000-meter course and he was followed by junior Ruel Newberry of Denton Guyer High in Denton, Texas, in 14:38.9, senior Brooks Barbee of Christ School in Arden, North Carolina, in 14:40.8, senior Ryan Sykes of Horace Greeley in Chappaqua, New York, in 14:41.3, and Montoya in 14:49.8.

Montoya had been just behind Sykes before he took his first fall.

Mantecon, who had finished fourth in the Nike Cross Nationals last December, had been locked in a tight race with the other top five finishers at the 2.65-mile mark, but he ran the remainder of the contest 2.6 seconds faster than second-place Newberry.

Redondo Union coach Bob Leetch confirmed in a text on Tuesday that Montoya had simply run out of gas at the end of the race and with “better course knowledge he feels he would have performed better at the end.”

He also added that Montoya, who ran 8:51.63 for 3,200 meters during track season, was running in his third race in eight days on Saturday.

He had previously finished first in the difficult course race of the Three Course Challenge meet in Warrenton, Oregon, on Sept. 26 before winning the first Bay League meet of the season in Palos Verdes on Sept. 30.

Kenyan sweep in Cardiff: Joyciline Jepkosgei and Gideon Kiprotich of Kenya won the women’s and men’s titles, respectively, in the Cardiff Half Marathon in Cardiff, Wales, on Sunday.

Jepkosgei timed 1:05:40 to better the previous course record of 1:05:52 set by Edith Chelimo of Kenya in 2017 and finish 14 seconds ahead of runner-up Wede Kefale of Ethiopia, who ran a personal best of 1:05:54.

Kiprotich ran 59:34 in the men’s race to finish well clear of defending champion Yismaw Dillu of Ethiopia, who placed second in 1:00:18.

The 32-year-old Jepkosgei, who had run 2:15:55 in finishing third in the London Marathon in April, and Kefale ran together through five kilometers in 15:20, 10 kilometers in 30:57, and 15 kilometers in 46:19 on Sunday. But the Kenyan who has a personal best of 2:14:00 in the marathon broke away from Kefale with about three miles (4.9 kilometers) to go.

She had a 15-second lead over Kefale when she came through 20 kilometers and her margin of victory was 14 seconds in a race in which Tigist Tesema of Ethiopia finished third in 1:07:23, followed by Winnie Kimutai of Kenya in fourth in 1:07:50 and Emebet Kebede of Ethiopia in fifth in 1:09:45.

“I’m so grateful and happy to win this race,” Jepkosgei said in quotes on the event website. “It was a tough course but I kept fighting so I’m happy to get the victory here. I enjoyed it out there but there were some hills, especially near the end, which made it tough, but coming down the last straight and getting the win was special.

“The crowds were some of the most excited I have seen and they were across the whole course, which gave me another level of motivation. I will enjoy this win now and recover.”

In the men’s race, Kiprotich and Dillu went through the first five kilometers in 14:07 and the opening 10 kilometers in 28:00. But Kiprotich began to open up a lead on Dillu shortly before the 15-kilometer mark and he ended up with a 44-second margin of victory.

“It feels great to win this race, there were some hard moments, but I am very happy to win,” Kiprotich said. “I felt good so I got quicker in the second half of the race and I am happy I could keep the pace to win. I enjoyed the crowds too, it was a good day.”

Victory caps superb season: Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage of Sri Lanka capped off a breakout season in the men’s javelin when he won the event in the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 28 (Monday).

The 23-year-old thrower had a best of 88.55 meters (290-6) while winning a competition in which Yashvir Singh of India finished second with a personal best of 85.72 (281-2) and compatriot Rohit Yadav placed third at 84.35 (276-9).

Reigning Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan finished fourth at 80.29 (263-5).

After opening the competition with a throw of 73.53 (241-3), Pathirage improved to 83.34 (273-5) in the second round and fouled in the third. He improved further when he threw 88.33 (289-9) in the fourth round and 88.55 (290-6) in the sixth after fouling in the fifth.

The win was the ninth in a row for Pathirage and his 13th in 14 meets during a season in which he topped his pre-year national record of 86.50 (283-9) in 11 competitions.

He had three meets in which he exceeded 90 meters (295-3) and his best of 92.62 (303-10) moved him to eighth on the all-time performer list with the model of javelin that has been in use since April of 1986.

Three for three: Winfred Yavi of Bahrain, the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, completed a gold medal triple when she won the 5,000 meters in 15:10.18 in the Asian Games on Sept. 28 (Monday).

Yavi’s time came in a race in which Nozomi Tanaka of Japan finished second in 15:11.65 and Parul Chaudhary of India placed third in 15:14.61.

Prior to her victory in the 5,000, the 26-year-old Yavi had won the 10,000 in 32:39.18 on Sept 24 and the steeplechase in 9:04.36 three days later.

Yavi, who is the second fastest women’s steeplechase runner in history with a best of 8:44.39, had lowered her personal best in the 5,000 to 14:30.06 when she finished eighth in Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meet in Rome in June. The 10,000 in Nagoya was her first 10-kilometer race on the track.

On a roll: Zhang Jiale of China posted her fourth consecutive victory in the women’s hammer throw when she won that event with a mark of 78.27 (256-9) in the Asian Games on Sept. 29 (Tuesday).

Competing on the final day of the athletics competition, world championship bronze medalist Zhang finished nearly three meters ahead of compatriot Zhao Jie, who placed second at 74.83 (245-6).

The 19-year-old Zhang threw 74.11 (243-1) on her first throw of the competition in Nagoya before improving to 74.55 (244-7) and 75.19 (246-8) in the next two rounds. She then recorded her top mark of 78.27 (256-9) on her fourth attempt before fouling in the fifth and sixth rounds.

Zhang’s win in the Asian Games followed three previous victories in which her top marks had been 77.94 (255-6) in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on July 4, 78.64 (258-0) in the Chinese Championships in Quzhou on Aug. 16, and 79.62 (261-2) in the National Hammer Throw Championships in Huai’an on Sept. 12.

The 79.62 (261-2) effort was an Asian record and moved her to fifth on the all-time performer list.

Pair of wins cap season: Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway concluded his outdoor season with a pair of victories in the inaugural Runfest Norway festival in his hometown of Sandnes last Friday and Saturday.

The 26-year-old Ingebrigtsen clocked 3:40.7 in the street 1,500 meters on Friday before timing 13:26 in the 5-kilometer road race on Saturday.

Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen of Norway finished second in both races in times of 3:43.3 and 13:28, respectively.

Biniyam Melak of Ethiopia won the 10-kilometer event in 27:29.

Ingebrigtsen, who had created the festival with his older brothers, Henrik and Filip, had previously run 12:59 while placing second in the 5k in the second World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sept. 19.

That performance had followed a short track season during which he won the 5,000 in the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, on Aug. 10 and in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 11.

In between those two races, he had placed fourth, fifth, and fourth, respectively, in the 1,500 in a trio of Diamond League meets.

Achilles issues had limited Ingebrigtsen to a total of three races — counting qualifying heats — last year and his victory in the European championships in August was his first race of this season after he had undergone Achilles surgery early in the year. He had season bests of 12:59.24 in the 5,000 and 3:30.52 in the 1,500.

Time for a break: Swedish Athletics announced last Friday that Mondo Duplantis will skip the 2027 indoor season in order to focus on recovery and preparation for the outdoor campaign.

The 26-year-old Swede has been victorious in 108 of 113 meets during the past seven years and set 15 worlds records during that time, but he dealt with some injury issues during the recently concluded outdoor season when he was beaten twice after winning 40 consecutive meets from late in the 2023 season until the BAUHAUS-Galan meet in Stockholm on June 7.

Duplantis finished second in that meet when he cleared 5.80 (19-¼) to the 5.90 (19-4¼) of first-place Kurtis Marschall of Australia and he also finished second in the Novuna London Athletics Meet on July 18 when he withdrew from the competition after having cleared 5.95 (19-6¼).

In addition to those losses, he did not jump in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Sept. 4 due to injury concerns. But the two-time defending Olympic champion did conclude the season with a victory in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 11.

Prior to his injury issues this year, Duplantis had raised the world record to 6.31 (20-8½) when he cleared that height in his own Mondo Classic in Uppsala, Sweden, on March 12. And the vaulter who has won seven world titles at the indoor and outdoor level ended his competitive year by putting together an unprecedented streak in which his five winning heights were 6.15 (20-2), 6.21 (20-6½), 6.20 (20-4), 6.25 (20-6), and 6.20 (20-4).

He has now cleared 6.20 (20-4) or higher in a record 17 meets during his career.

Manolo Karalis of Greece is the No. 2 performer in history with a best of 6.20 (20-4), a height he has cleared once.

Big plans ahead: Collen Kebinatshipi of Botswana had a sensational 2026 season in which he moved to fifth on the all-time performer list in the men’s 400 meters with a national record time of 43.39 seconds, won seven of eight finals, and ran 44.00 or faster an unprecedented seven times. But he said in a feature on the World Athletics site last Saturday that this year “was just the start of the era of Collen. That my plan is just to dominate for the longest period possible.”

While the 22-year-old Motswana’s personal best in the 400 is not that far off the world record of 43.03 set by Wayde van Niekirk of South Africa in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, he does not seem to be in a rush to try to break that mark, stating that “the world record talk will be on the table maybe in LA” when speaking of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

He then said that he figured he had “10, 11 years left in this track life” and if he were to break 43 seconds in the 400 during the next five years, it would give him an opportunity to focus on another event.

With a personal best of 9.89 in the 100, Kebinatshipi would seem to possess the combined speed and strength to excel in the 200, but he also figures he could thrive in the 800.

When talking about running under 43 seconds in the 400, he said that “Once I accomplish it, in less than five years, I’m going to move to the 200 and after achieving what I want, I can skip again, go to the 800.”

For those who might be wondering, Michael Johnson of the U.S. is the only man in history to win the 200 and 400 in the same world championships — in Göteborg, Sweden, in 1995 — and in the same Olympic Games — in Atlanta in 1996.

And Alberto Juantorena of Cuba is the only man to have won the 400 and 800 in the same Olympics, as he placed first in those events in Montreal in 1976.

Looking ahead: The first major collegiate cross country meet of the season will take place today when the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational is held in Verona, Wisconsin.

The women’s championship race, which will be six kilometers in length, is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. EDT, followed by the men’s championship race, which will be eight kilometers, at 12:10 p.m.

The meet, which will be held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, will be streamed via runnerspace.com, starting at 11:10 a.m. A subscription is required to gain access to the livestream.

The women’s race will include 16 of the top 25 teams in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national poll, led by No. 3 Northern Arizona, No. 4 New Mexico, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 8 Oklahoma State, and No. 9 West Virginia.

Although individual entries from each team are never really final until the race starts, some of the top individual runners in the women’s race could be sophomores Mercyline Kirwa and Betty Kipkore of Iowa State, and juniors Pamela Kosgei and Marion Jepngetich of New Mexico, Joy Naukot of West Virginia, and Judy Chepkoech of Florida.

Kirwa won the 10,000 and placed second in the 5,000 in the NCAA Track & Field Championships in June and Kipkore finished fourth in both of those races.

Kosgei placed second in the 10,000 and fifth in the 5,000, a race that was won by Jepngetich after initial winner Doris Lemngole of Alabama was disqualified for taking two or more steps on or over the inside railing during the course of the race.

Naukot finished 12th in the NCAA Cross Country Championships last year and Chepkoech placed third in the 5,000 in the track championships.

Like the women’s race, the men’s contest will also include 16 of the 25 teams in the USTFCCCA poll.

Defending champion New Mexico, the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, heads a contingent of six top 10 squads that also includes No. 2 Iowa State, No. 6 Colorado, No. 7 BYU, No. 8 Wake Forest, and No. 10 Florida.

Senior Rocky Hansen of Wake Forest, sophomore Solomon Kipchoge of Washington State, junior Collins Kiprotich of New Mexico, and sophomores Kelvin Cheruiyot of Florida and Elsingi Kipruto of Louisville could be some of the top individual entrants in the men’s race.

Hansen was the runner-up in last year’s cross country title meet and he also placed second in the 5,000 in the NCAA championships on the track.

Kipchoge and Kiprotich placed third and eighth, respectively, in the cross country finals, and Cheruiyot was 14th. Kipruto was 39th in the cross country championships last year, but he finished second in the 10,000 and third in the 5,000 in the track and field finals.

Freshman Pasanjo Kitonga of New Mexico could also be in the mix for the individual title as well as he defeated Oklahoma State senior Denis Kipngetich for the victory in the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Sept. 26.

Kipngetich had placed sixth in the NCAA championships last year while helping Oklahoma State to its second team title in three years.

Looking ahead II: Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda and Hawi Feysa of Ethiopia will be looking to successfully defend their men’s and women’s titles, respectively, when they toe the starting line for the Chicago Marathon at 8:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday.

Kiplimo, who won his third consecutive title in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida, in January before finishing third in 2:00:28 in the historically fast London Marathon in April, is the leading entrant in a men’s field that is scheduled to include six runners who have run under 2:04:00.

Feysa lowered her personal best to 2:14:57 in winning the women’s race in Chicago last year and she finished third in the Tokyo Marathon in March after also placing third in last year’s race in the Japanese capital.

Televised coverage of the race will start at 8 a.m. and it will be shown on NBC5 in Chicago, as well as on NBC Sports NOW and the NBC Chicago channels via Peacock.

Kenyan Amos Kipruto finished second in Chicago last year and he has a personal best of 2:01:39, which makes him the sixth fastest performer in history. He ran that time in the London Marathon when he finished fourth in a race in which Kenyan Sabastian Sawe, Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, and the 25-year-old Kiplimo posted the three quickest times ever in an official marathon race with efforts of 1:59:30, 1:59:41, and 2:00:28, respectively.

Two of the other top challengers for the men’s title in Chicago could be Ethiopian Milkesa Mengesha, who ran his personal best of 2:03:17 in winning the 2024 Berlin Marathon, and compatriot Tadese Takele Bikila, who clocked a personal best of 2:03:23 in winning his second consecutive title in Tokyo last year.

Charles Hicks, Clayton Young, and Vincent Mauri look to be the top three entrants from the U.S.

Hicks ran 2:09:59 while finishing sixth in his marathon debut in New York City last November before clocking 2:04:35 while placing seventh in the Boston Marathon in April. While the point-to-point Boston course contains plenty of hills, times run on the layout are not eligible for record purposes because it drops roughly 140 meters in elevation from the start to the finish and there can be days when tail winds blow behind the runners for much of the race and aid performances.

Young finished 11th in Boston in 2:05:41 this year and he also placed ninth in both the 2024 Olympic Games and the 2025 world championships.

Mauri, who had personal bests of 3:41.22 in the 1,500 and 13:34.03 in the 5,000 during a collegiate career in which he ran for Arizona State and Notre Dame, stunned the marathon world in April when he ran 2:05:54 in his debut race at the distance in Toledo, Ohio. That time made him the No. 4 performer in U.S. history.

The 27-year-old Feysa finished more than two minutes in front of runner-up and compatriot Megertu Alemu in the women’s race of the Chicago Marathon last year, but Brigid Kosgei of Kenya could be regarded as the favorite on Sunday because she ran 2:14:29 in winning the Tokyo Marathon in March.

That time was the ninth fastest ever by a woman and the second fastest of her career behind her 2:14:04 clocking in Chicago in 2019 that was a world record back then.

The women’s race will include six entrants who had run under 2:18 on an eligible course and 11 who have broken 2:20:00.

Sharon Lokedi of Kenya has a personal best of 2:20:07 on an eligible course, but she has won the Boston Marathon the last two years and she lowered the course record to 2:17:22 last year. This will be the first marathon of her career on a flat course as she ran seven of her previous eight races in either the New York City or Boston marathons, and the other took place in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, in which she finished fourth while racing over a very challenging layout.

Ethiopians Sutume Kebede and Alemu, and Kenyan Brillian Kipkoech are the Nos. 3-5 entrants in the women’s field with personal bests of 2:15:55, 2:16:34, and 2:17:06, respectively.

Americans Susanna Sullivan, Natosha Rogers, and Dakotah Popehn have each set their personal bests in Chicago.

Sullivan ran 2:21:56 while finishing seventh in the 2024 race and she placed fourth in the World championships in Tokyo last year.

Rogers and Popehn ran 2:23:28 and 2:24:20, respectively, while finishing sixth and seventh last year.

Emma Grace Hurley of the U.S. will be making her marathon debut in Chicago after finishing fifth in a personal best of 1:06:23 in the half marathon in the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sept. 20.

As someone who spent nearly 19 years working as a sportswriter with the Los Angeles Times from 1985-2004, I was very aware that if I wanted to do my job as a journalist to the best of my ability, I needed to maintain a high level of objectivity about the events that I was covering or the athletes or coaches I was writing about.

That rooting for a particular athlete or team could adversely affect my ability to objectively report on what was transpiring at the specific sporting event I was covering or that I was previewing.

But I admit that I was pulling for Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia as I watched the final six and a half minutes of her race in the Berlin Marathon on Sunday while streaming the worldwide feed of the event.

The 29-year-old runner was on her way to winning the Berlin Marathon for the third time in her career with a course record time of 2:11:04 that would make her the third fastest woman to have ever run the marathon. And she would finish roughly a mile ahead of her compatriots Bedatu Hirpa and Dera Dida, who finished second and third, respectively, in personal bests of 2:16:53 and 2:16:55.

However, I felt for Assefa because she had been on pace for much of the race to better the world record of 2:09:56 that Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya had set in the 2024 Chicago Marathon before pain in her right Achilles tendon caused her to slow dramatically after she passed the 40-kilometer mark in 2:03.00. And based on post-race comments from her representative, Gianni Demadonna, the tendon had ruptured before she finished.

Assefa was not being shown on the worldwide feed when she came through 40 kilometers as the first few men were crossing the finish line in a race that was won by Ethiopian Guye Adola in 2:02:50. But it was obvious that something had gone terribly wrong when Assefa re-appeared on the screen around the 2:04:30 mark as the smooth, fluid stride that she had exhibited only minutes earlier was gone.

In its’ place was a slowing, short and choppy gait that was turning into a limp of sorts with each passing minute. Assefa’s facial expression, which had been one of relaxation during so much of the race, had become very tense and she grimaced from time to time due to what one would assume was an intense amount of pain.

She was struggling enough at certain points that I wondered if she was going to be able to finish the race without walking. But she carried on and it wasn’t until she had crossed the finish line that she dropped to her knees.

Two people, one of whom was retired Ethiopian distance great Haile Gebrselassie, were quickly by her side as she sat on the curb, and based on the way Assefa was reacting, it appeared that the pain she was dealing with was emanating from the area of her right arch or lower right leg.

I have to admit that I had figured she had been dealing with muscle cramps because she had missed picking up a water bottle at an aid station just before the 25-kilometer mark. But it turned out that she had sustained the ruptured right Achilles tendon at some point late in the race and she was flown to Munich on Sunday before undergoing surgery to repair it in the German city of Murnau on Monday.

A story from The Independent that was posted on msn.com quoted Demadonna as stating that she “was no longer able to run, because when she was going to put her foot on the ground she had no power.

“She completely destroyed the tendon at the end, because running without a tendon – I mean the last 500 meters maybe she ran without the tendon, only with the heel, so that was a disaster because maybe (if) she had stopped, (it) was not so bad, but she ran 2km with the problem.”

Demadonna added that Assefa had begun to experience pain 31 kilometers into the race, but it was only in the last two kilometers that it became severe.

It was a dramatic turn of events for Assefa, who has now won five of her last eight marathons and finished third in the other three.

The two-time defending champion in the London Marathon had stated before the race in Berlin that her No. 1 goal was to better her personal best of 2:11:53 that had been a world record when she ran it in the German capital in 2023. But she and her coach both said she was in terrific shape and she was capable of bettering the world record that Chepngetich had set in Chicago.

Chepngetich set that mark before she was suspended for three years for anti-doping violations after she had tested positive for a banned diuretic that was evident in a urine sample collected from her in March of last year.

While Chepngetich had come through the first 10 kilometers in Chicago in 30:14, the opening 20 kilometers in 1:00:51, and the halfway point in 1:04:16, Assefa’s splits were a little more subdued — but still incredibly quick — on Sunday as she was credited with times of 30:48, 1:01:34, and 1:04:57, respectively.

But while Chepngetich ran the second half of her world record race nearly a minute and a half slower than her first, Assefa appeared to be headed to a slightly faster closing half in Berlin after she passed 30 kilometers in 1:32:15 and 40 kilometers in 2:03:00.

Her 40-kilometer split came after she had run the previous four five-kilometer segments of the race in 15:26, 15:15, 15:17, and 15:28, respectively. But that last five-kilometer split had been the second slowest of the contest and it might have been an indication that something was starting to go amiss in Assefa’s world record effort.

Assefa slowed so much during the final 2.195 kilometers of the race that she ran that section of the contest in 8:04, which would translate to a pace of 18:23 for five kilometers.

Long time coming: Guye Adola of Ethiopia bettered his personal best that had stood for nine years when he won the men’s race of the Berlin Marathon in 2:02:50.

That time gave the 35-year-old Adola a comfortable margin of victory, moved him to 13th on the all-time performer list, and topped his previous best of 2:03:46 that he had set while finishing second in Berlin in 2017 in his debut marathon. It also gave him his third win in the 10 marathons that he has started and it was his second victory in Berlin as he had run 2:05:45 in winning the race in 2021.

Gemechu Dida of Ethiopia finished second on Sunday in a personal best of 2:03:19 and Gabriel Geay of Tanzania placed third in 2:03:59 in the race in which Ethiopian Gentaneh Molla was fourth in 2:04:55 and compatriot Selemon Barega was fifth in a personal best of 2:04:58.

Ethiopians comprised seven of the top eight finishers.

“He is very happy and he already knew that he would be doing this and the whole team would be doing well and he is extremely happy,” Andola said through an interpreter when he was asked about his performance in an interview that was part of the worldwide feed of the race.

He then added that “I was very well prepared and I knew I was going to win, even though it is clear that a marathon is not always clear what is happening. But I was very sure, it went according to plan, everything was fine.”

The men’s field in Berlin had lost some of its luster in August when defending champion Sabastian Sawe of Kenya had pulled out of the race due to an injury after he had become the first man in history to run the first official sub-two-hour marathon in April with his 1:59:30 clocking in London. But with Sawe out, there was no definitive favorite in the race.

However, Adola was regarded as a potential winner as he had run 2:03:54 in winning the Rotterdam Marathon in April and he had finished fourth or higher in seven of the nine marathons he had started before Sunday.

He was part of a 10-runner lead pack that followed three pace setters through five kilometers in 14:29, 10 kilometers in 28:58, 20 kilometers in 57:49, and the halfway mark in 1:01:01.

Barega, the 2021 Olympic 10,000-meter champion, and Erick Sang of Kenya were at the front of a lead group of eight when they timed 1:12:22 at 25 kilometers and Adola, Dida, and Barega were each credited with a split of 1:26:57 at 30 kilometers while running three to four seconds ahead of a four-runner chase led by Ethiopians Asefa Boki and Andamiak Belihu.

The leading trio ran together for the next 11 or so minutes, but Adola had a clear lead at the hour and 39-minute mark of the race and he was nine seconds ahead of Dida and 13 up on Barega when he came through 35 kilometers in 1:41:18.

Adola had run the previous five kilometers in 14:21, the fastest split of the race, to gain his lead. But his pace had begun to lag during the 38th kilometer as Dida appeared to be making up some ground on him for a little while.

However, Adola had an 18-second lead over Dida when he passed the 40-kilometer mark in 1:56:25 and he added 11 seconds to his advantage during the final 2.195 kilometers of the race that he ran at a pace that would have projected to 14:42 for five kilometers.

“Berlin is a very special city for me because I have been competing here for the fourth time,” Adola said. “I really prefer running in Berlin and I love the city.”

Rough patch: Selemon Barega of Ethiopia appeared be headed to a sizeable lowering of his personal best of 2:05:00 in the marathon when he came through the 35-kilometer mark in 1:41:31 in the Berlin Marathon.

Although he was in third place, 13 seconds back of leader and compatriot Guye Adola, at that point in the race, the 2021 Olympic champion in the 10,000 meters had covered his previous 5,000 meters in 14:34 and he was projected to finish in 2:02:23. But he had a really rough go during the ensuing five kilometers as that stretch of road took him 16:05 to cover and he then ran the final 2.195 kilometers of the contest in 7:22, which was equivalent to 16:47 pace for 5k.

Nonetheless, the 26-year-old Barega has run progressively faster in each of his three marathons as he clocked 2:05:15 in winning his debut marathon in Seville, Spain, last year and he timed 2:05:00 in placing seventh in the Tokyo Marathon in March of this year.

That’s a wrap: Alison dos Santos of Brazil capped the best season of his career when he won the men’s 400 meters in 44.61 seconds in the South American Games in Santa Fe, Argentina, last Wednesday.

Dos Santos, who had lowered the world record in the 400 intermediate hurdles to 45.80 seconds in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on Aug. 27, finished well ahead of his closest competitor in Santa Fe as Javier Gómez of Venezuela placed second in 45.48.

With the victory, the 26-year-old dos Santos finished the season with a combined 11 wins in 13 finals in four different events.

He finished second in his lone race at 200 meters in April and had two victories and a second-place finish in his three outings in the 400.

He won his one race in the 300 intermediate hurdles in May and he was undefeated in eight finals in the 400 intermediate hurdles, with his top four times of 45.80. 45.98, 46.43, and 46.48 being the first, third, ninth, and 12th-fastest times ever run.

With his performances this year, dos Santos now has personal bests of 20.39 seconds in the 200, 44.38 in the 400, and 33.01 in the 300 intermediate hurdles. The 33.01 clocking puts him second on the all-time list in the 300 intermediate hurdles, an event in which Karsten Warholm of Norway has run 32.67.

Big rebound: Yan Ziyi of China bounced back from her first loss of the season in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 12 by winning the women’s javelin with a throw of 70.46 meters (231 feet 2 inches) in the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, on Sunday.

The 18-year-old Yan unleashed that throw on her first attempt at Municipal Mizuho Stadium before she passed on her final five attempts. Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan, the 2023 world and 2024 Olympic champion, finished second in Nagoya with a top effort of 62.70 (205-8).

Kitaguchi had raised her national record to 68.92 (226-1) in winning the Ultimate Championship title in a competition in which Yan had finished second at 68.05 (223-3) after an apparent foot injury had caused her to withdraw after her second throw.

That is the only loss of the year for Yan, who has won six of seven competitions and opened her season with a throw of 71.74 (235-4) in a Diamond League meet in Xiamen, China, on May 23.

That throw was the second longest ever with the redesigned women’s javelin that has been in use since 1999. The world record of 72.28 (237-1) was set by Barbora Špotáková of Czechia in 2008.

Špotáková won Olympic titles in 2008 and ’12, and was a world champion in 2007, ’11, and ’17.

Big rebound II: Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain ran a meet record — and season best — of 49.20 seconds in the women’s 400 meters in the Asian Games on Saturday after finishing a disappointing eighth in in 50.22 in the Ultimate Championship.

The 28-year-old Naser’s 49.20 clocking gave her a huge margin of victory as Zahra Zarei of Iran finished second in 52.38.

Naser, the 2019 world champion, and the Olympic silver medalist in Paris, had finished seventh in 51.56 in the Diamond League opener in Shaoxing, China, in mid-May, but she did not race again until she finished third in 49.57 in the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzów, Poland, on Aug. 23.

She ran 49.27 while finishing second in the Grand Prix Brescia meet in Brescia, Italy, a week later, but she placed eighth in 50.22 in the Ultimate Championship final after clocking 49.67 in a semifinal.

National record sprint double: Puripol Boonsan of Thailand set a pair of national — and meet — records when he won the men’s 100 meters in 9.90 seconds and the 200 in 19.88 in the Asian Games last week.

The 20-year-old Boonsan had substantial margins of victories in both races as Ali Al Balushi of Oman placed second in the 100 in 10.04 on Friday and Huang Youwen of China was the runner-up in the 200 in 20.45 on Sunday.

Boonsan had run 9.95 in a qualifying heat of the 100 on Thursday before tying his then-national record of 9.91 in a semifinal on Friday.

His 9.90 clocking in the final moved him to second on the all-time Asian performer list and his 19.88 time in the 200 tied the Asian record that was first set by Xie Zhenye of China in 2019.

Boonsan, who had been eliminated in the semifinals of the 100 in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2025 and in the world championships in Tokyo last year, had competed sparingly this season prior to the Asian Games as he had only run in two 100-meter races, one 200, and one 60.

His best times in those events were 9.99, 20.03, and 6.59, respectively.

Kickoff for the 2026-27 season: The World Athletics Cross Country Tour began last Saturday when the Lidingöloppet in Lidingö, Sweden, was the first gold level event of the season that will include 13 competitions and conclude in mid-February of next year.

The Lidingöloppet, which had been a silver level affair in recent years, consisted of men’s and women’s races at 15 and 30 kilometers.

The two 15-kilometer races were won by Burundians Egide Ntakarutimana and Francine Niyomukunzi, and Swedes Ebba Tulu Chala and Evelina Henriksson had large margins of victory in their respective 30-kilometer categories.

Ntakarutimana led a 1-2-3 Burundian sweep in the men’s 15k race when his course record of 44:36 left him well in front of runner-up Tharcisse Nizigiyimana at 45:27. Elie Sindayikengdera finished third in 46:48.

Racing in wet conditions, Ntakarutimana and Nizigiyimana broke clear of the pack early, with the former running 12 seconds in front of the latter after 5.5 kilometers and he had nearly tripled his advantage to 33 seconds at 11.5 kilometers before winning by 51 seconds.

Ntakarutimana’s victory came three weeks after he had set a national record of 12:46.73 in the 5,000 in finishing second in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Sept. 5, 15 days after he placed eighth at the same distance in the Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, and a week after he had finished ninth in the 5k race of the world road running championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“The race was good,” he said in a World Athletics post. “The course was hard, it’s up and down, but I tried to push the flat and I was keeping energy for the finish. I am happy for the course record.”

Niyomukunzi, who had finished 18th in the women’s 5k in Copehagen had a huge margin of victory on Saturday as her course record of 51:25 left her four-plus minutes in front of second-place Johanna Bäcklund of Sweden at 55:27, Swedish compatriot Smilla Szalkai was third in 56:40.

Like Ntakarutimana and Niyomukunzi in the 15 kilometer races, Chala went to front early in the men’s 30k contest and he was 46 seconds ahead of defending champion William Nyarondia Morwabe of Kenya at the midway point before he finished in 1:38:50, a little more than two minutes ahead of runner-up David Nilsson of Sweden in 1:40:55. Nyarondia Morwabe placed third in 1:41:06.

“It was a bit windy, cold and slippery, and I had to run alone, but my body felt good,” Chala said after winning his second title in the last three years. “I’m in good shape and felt like I had it the whole way.”

Henriksson’s margin of victory was even larger than Chala’s as her 1:53:28 clocking left her nearly three minutes in front of Sylvia Mboga Medugu of Kenya in 1:56:26. Hanna Lindholm of Sweden finished third in 1:56:53.

Henriksson’s victory came after consecutive third-place finishes in Lidingö and she told event organizers that the “race went better than I had imagined. Previously it felt very heavy in the first mile, so I expected that, but it felt very easy the whole way. Everything flowed.”

No. 1 defeats No. 2: In a match-up between the top two ranked men’s cross country teams in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll, No. 2 New Mexico defeated No. 1 Oklahoma State, 28-44, in the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Oklahoma, last Saturday.

New Mexico, led by freshman Pasanjo Kitonga, had four of the top six finishers and five of the top 14 in the race in which Adams State placed third with 112 points.

Kitonga, a 27-year-old Kenyan who has run 28:27 for 10 kilometers on the road, ran 23:24.4 for the 8,000-meter course at the Greiner Family Cross Country Course on Saturday in a race in which senior Denis Kipngetich of Oklahoma State finished second in 23:25.4, junior Collins Kiprotich of New Mexico placed third in 23:36.0, and senior Brian Musau of OSU was fourth in 23:43.0.

Kipngetich and Musau had finished sixth and fourth, respectively, in last year’s NCAA championships when Oklahoma State won its second title in three years with a 57-82 victory over New Mexico.

Junior Habtom Samuel had won his first individual cross country title for New Mexico in that race, but he has turned professional since winning the 5,000 and 10,000 in the NCAA track and field championships in June.

BYU women roll: The BYU women’s team, paced by the third-place finish of sophomore Jane Hedengren, won the Cowboy Jamboree when the No. 3-ranked Cougars totaled 32 points to the 64 of No. 15 Oklahoma State and the 70 of No. 2 New Mexico.

New Mexico ran without its top two runners in juniors Pamela Kosgei and Marion Jepngetich.

Host Oklahoma State received a 1-2 finish from senior Billah Jepkirui and sophomore Maureen Cherotich when that duo clocked 19:24.4 and 19:28.6, respectively, over the 6,000-meter course.

Hedengren finished third in 19:32.5 in the race in which BYU, the runner-up in last year’s NCAA championships, had five of the top nine finishers and eight of the top 12.

Junior Taylor Lovell, who had won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the NCAA track and field championships in June, was BYU’s No. 5 runner when she finished ninth in 20:15.9.

Hedengren had placed second to Alabama junior Doris Lemongole in the NCAA cross country championships last year and won the 3,000 and 5,000 in the indoor track and field championships in March. But she had finished third in the 10,000 and ninth in the 5,000 in the outdoor meet after having become ill during the previous week.

Hedengren, who has recorded the fastest times in collegiate history in the women’s 5,000 at 14:44.79 and in the 10,000 at 30:46.80, said in June that she had tested negative for Covid, the flu, and strep throat. But her illness was severe enough that she spent several days in bed dealing with the effects of it.

BYU men victorious: The BYU men’s team, paced by the third-place performance of sophomore Tayvon Kitchen, won the Indiana State John McNichols Invitational team title in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Saturday when the No. 7-ranked Cougars totaled 71 points to the 119 of runner-up and No. 10 Florida.

Washington, the No. 13-ranked team in the USTFCCCA poll, finished third with 190 points, followed by No. 14 Stanford with 205, No. 16 Washington State with 212, No. 18 Michigan State with 212, and No. 12 Northern Arizona with 232.

Washington State, which was paced by the 4-5 finish of juniors Evans Kirui and Solomon Kipchoge, edged Michigan State for fifth place on the tiebreaker.

Kelvin Cheruiyot of Florida defeated fellow sophomore Elsingi Kipruto of Louisville for the individual title when he ran 23:20.7 to Kipruto’s 23:22.0 over the 8,000-meter layout at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.

The facility will host the NCAA championships on Nov. 21 when the distance for the men’s race will be 10 kilometers instead of eight.

In addition to Kitchen, who ran 23:23.1 while placing third on Saturday, BYU’s Nos. 2-5 scoring runners placed 14th, 16th, 18th, and 20th. The time gap between Kitchen and No. 5 runner Isaac Hedengren was a little more than 43 seconds.

NAU’s depth prevails: Northern Arizona’s women’s team, led by the seventh-place effort of senior Ava Mitchell, won the McNichols Invitational team title when the No. 6-ranked Lumberjacks totaled 61 points to the 107 of No. 15 Utah.

Washington State, the No. 18-ranked team in the national poll, finished third with 121 points, followed by No. 21 Toledo with 124, No. 14 Florida with 156, and No. 23 Washington with 176.

Senior Brighter Jepchumba of Eastern Kentucky won the individual title when she ran 19:14.0 over the 6,000-meter course and freshman Katy Zang of Indiana finished second in 19:15.7.

Junior Judy Chepkoech of Florida placed third in 19:30.8 in the race in which Mitchell ran 20:00.2 while finishing seventh for Northern Arizona.

The Lumberjacks’ Nos. 2-5 runners placed ninth, 12th, 14th, and 19th, and they also had the 20th-place finisher.

Provisional suspension for Samba-Mayela: Cyréna Samba-Mayela of France, the silver medalist in the women’s 100-meter hurdles in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, has been provisionally suspended from competition by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for a potential Whereabouts Failures violation.

The AIU made the announcement last Friday and her representative was quoted as telling Agence France-Presse that he could confirm that she “has never returned a positive result on any anti-doping test. The procedure mentioned is ongoing before the AIU and concerns exclusively administrative whereabouts requirements, and not the use of any substance.”

Elite track and field athletes such as the 25-year-old Samba-Mayela are required to keep anti-doping officials informed about their whereabouts each day, as well as a one-hour time period each day when they can be located for an unannounced doping test.

If an athlete is unavailable for an unannounced doping test three times during a 12-month period, they can be suspended from competition for two years.

While Samba-Mayela delighted the home crowd with her silver medal performance in Paris, she only competed in two meets last year and she did not run in the European Athletics Championships in August due to an injury. She had lowered her French record to 12.31 seconds in winning the 100 hurdles in the European championships in Rome in 2024.

There’s a long-time adage in the world of distance running that says a runner is tiring and worried about being caught when they look behind themselves during a race. But Guye Adola of Ethiopia turned that saying on its head during the thirty-fourth kilometer of the Berlin Marathon on Sunday when he looked back while he and compatriots Selemon Barega and Gemechu Dida were clear of the field.

According to the adage, Andola should have been on the verge of falling behind Barega and Dida when that occurred. But instead of wilting, the 35-year-old runner broke away from his two younger countrymen three minutes later while on his way to a winning — and personal best — time of 2:02:50.

Dida finished second in a personal best of 2:03:19 and Gabriel Geay of Tanzania placed third in 2:03:59.

The next five finishers were all Ethiopians as Gentaneh Molla placed fourth in 2:04:55, followed by Barega in a personal best of 2:04:58, Asefa Boki in a personal best of 2:05:32, Andamiak Belihu in 2:05:55, and Shura Kitata in 2:06:04.

The time by Adola bettered his previous best of 2:03:46 that he had run while finishing second in his marathon debut in Berlin in 2017 and it moved him to 13th on the all-time performer list. It also gave him three victories in his 10 career marathons and came five years after he had won the 2021 Berlin Marathon.

“He is very happy and he already knew that he would be doing this and the whole team would be doing well and he is extremely happy,” Andola said through an interpreter when he was asked about his performance in an interview that was part of the worldwide feed of the race streamed on flotrack.org.

He then added that “I was very well prepared and I knew I was going to win, even though it is clear that a marathon is not always clear what is happening. But I was very sure, it went according to plan, everything was fine.”

The men’s field in Berlin had lost some of its luster last month when defending champion Sabastian Sawe of Kenya had pulled out of the race due to an injury after he had become the first man in history to run under two hours in an official race with his 1:59:30 clocking in London in April. But with Sawe out, the battle for first place became more intriguing as there was no definitive favorite in the race.

Adola was regarded as a potential winner, however, as he had run 2:03:54 in winning the Rotterdam Marathon in April and he had finished fourth or higher in seven of the nine marathons he had started before Sunday.

He was part of a 10-runner lead pack that followed three pacesetters through five kilometers in 14:29, 10 kilometers in 28:58, 20 kilometers in 57:49, and the halfway mark in 1:01:01.

Barega, the 2021 Olympic 10,000-meter champion, and Erick Sang of Kenya were at the front of a lead group of eight when they timed 1:12:22 at 25 kilometers and Adola, Dida, and Barega were each credited with a split of 1:26:57 at 30 kilometers while running three to four seconds ahead of a four-runner chase led by Boki and Belihu.

That was roughly a dozen minutes before Adola made his big break and he was nine seconds ahead of Dida and 13 up on Barega when he came through 35 kilometers in 1:41:18.

Adola had run the previous five kilometers in 14:21, the fastest split of the race, to gain his lead, but his pace began to lag during the 38th kilometer. Dida appeared to be making up some ground on Adola for a little while, but the latter was in control of the race when he came through 40 kilometers in 1:56:24 while running 18 seconds ahead of Dida, who was 38 second up on third-place Geay.

After covering the eighth five-kilometer segment of the race in 15:06, his slowest of the contest, Adola added 11 seconds to his margin of victory over Dida when he covered the final 2.195 kilometers in 6:27, which would have been 14:42 pace for 5,000 meters.

His victory followed a fourth-place finish in last year’s race.

“Berlin is a very special city for me because I have been competing here for the fourth time,” he said. “I really prefer running in Berlin and I love the city.”

The Berlin Marathon was the fifth of seven World Marathon Major events scheduled for this year.

The next one is the Chicago Marathon, which will be held on Oct. 11.

Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia extended two impressive streaks in winning the women’s title in the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, but she saw her bid for a second world record in the race evaporate in the last two kilometers of the 42.195-kilometer contest.

The 29-year-old Assefa posted her third victory in the Berlin Marathon without a loss when she crossed the finish line in 2:11:04 to mark the third time that she has set a personal best in the race. However, her winning time, which is the third fastest women’s effort in history, came after she had been on pace to break the world record of 2:09:56 at the 20-, 30-, and 40-kilometer marks.

Assefa’s final time was projected to be 2:09:45 when she came through 40 kilometers in 2:03:00 after running the previous five kilometers in 15:17. But she had slowed considerably by the time she re-appeared on the worldwide livestream feed at the 2:04:30 mark.

She appeared to be battling cramps in her right leg at that point and there was a noticeable limp in her stride by the 2:06:00 mark and her stride had become even more labored in the final 600 meters of the race.

She then dropped to her knees shortly after crossing the finish line and based on how she was attended to after that, it appeared that the issues she was experiencing had originated in either the area of her right arch or in her lower right leg.

Despite her late-race struggles, Assefa’s time broke the course record — and her previous personal best — of 2:11:53 that had been the world record when she ran it in 2023, and it left her with a margin of victory of nearly six minutes as compatriot Bedatu Hirpa placed second in a personal best of 2:16:53, which left her two seconds in front of fellow Ethiopian Dera Dida, who also set a personal best of 2:16:55.

The next three finishers also recorded personal bests as Ethiopians Bekelech Gudeta and Alemitu Tariku placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in 2:18:58 and 2:19:01, and Kenyan Pascaline Jelagat was sixth in 2:20:23.

Ethiopian Misgane Alemayehu finished seventh in 2:20:27 and Kenyan Ludwina Chepngetich placed eighth in 2:21:25 in her marathon debut. Defending champion Rosemary Wanjiru of Kenya finished 13th in 2:24:04 after being in second place, nearly three minutes behind Assefa, at the halfway point.

The victory was Assefa’s third in her last four marathons and her fifth in her last eight during a stretch in which she has also finished second three times.

Assefa had stated in a press conference that her No. 1 goal in Berlin was to better her personal best and course record of 2:11:53 that she had set in 2023. But she and her coach both admitted she was in the best shape of her life and capable of bettering the world record of 2:09:56 that had been set by Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich in the 2024 Chicago Marathon.

Chepngetich set that mark before she was suspended for three years for anti-doping violations after she had tested positive for a banned diuretic, referred to as HCTZ, that was evident in a urine sample collected from her in March of last year.

While Chepngetich had gone out incredibly fast in Chicago when she came through the first 10 kilometers in 30:14, the opening 20 kilometers in 1:00:51, and the halfway point in 1:04:16, Assefa’s splits were a little more subdued — but still incredibly quick — on Sunday when she produced times of 30:48, 1:01:34, and 1:04:57, respectively.

But while Chepngetich ran the second half of her race in Chicago nearly a minute and a half slower than her first, Assefa appeared to be headed to a slightly faster closing half in Berlin after she passed 30 kilometers in 1:32:15 and 40 kilometers in 2:03:00.

Her 40-kilometer split came after she had run the previous four five-kilometer segments of the race in 15:26, 15:15, 15:17, and 15:28, respectively. But that last five-kilometer split had been the second slowest of the race and it might have been an indication that the wheels were starting to come off of Assefa’s world record effort.

Assefa’s slowing was so great in the last 2.195 kilometers of the race that she ran that section of the contest in 8:04, which would translate to a pace of 18:23 for five kilometers.

Although Assefa, the women’s winner in the London Marathon the past two years, had her own pacesetter running just ahead of her until the last couple of minutes of the race on Sunday, she was also surrounded by several other men during the course of the contest. And there was at least one point in the race, just before she passed 25 kilometers, that she had been unsuccessful in picking up her bottle at an aid station.

It’s unknown if the liquid she was unable to take in at that point in the race later contributed to the leg issues she experienced.

The Berlin Marathon was the fifth of seven World Marathon Major events scheduled for this year.

The next one, the Chicago Marathon, will be held on Oct. 11.

Note: Pure Vida Sports Africa reported later in the day on Sunday that Assefa had sustained an injury to her right Achilles tendon late in the Berlin Marathon and would undergo surgery in Munich on Monday. The post on purevidasportsafrica.co.ke quoted her manager, Gianni Demadonna, as stating that “The right tendon is broken … she will undergo surgery tomorrow (Monday) in Munich with full assistance from Adidas and with Dr. Johannes Gabel, one of the best surgeons in Germany.”

Dawit Seare of Eritrea entered last weekend’s World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, as a relatively unknown competitor on the global distance scene.

He left it as a young man who had taken down one of the biggest names in the athletics world after he had outkicked Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway to win the men’s 5-kilometer race on Saturday.

Seare’s winning time of 12:56 left him three seconds ahead of Ingebrigtsen in a race in which his Eritrean compatriot Saymon Amanuel finished third in 13:00 and Ky Robinson of Australia and Keneth Kiprop of Uganda placed fourth and fifth, respectively, with identical times of 13:04.

The 21-year-old Seare moved into a tie for seventh on the all-time performer list with his 12:56 clocking, while Ingebrigtsen is now 12th and 19-year-old Amanuel is in a six-way tie for 13th.

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Robinson and Kiprop both recorded personal bests with their efforts, with Robinson also setting an Oceania record.

“I am African champion in five kilometres, which was part of my preparation,” Seare said in an olympics.com post. “So this is the result of my effort. I know Jakob is a very strong athlete. Especially in the last kilometre it was difficult to compete with him, but at the end I won, and I am very pleased about that.”

Although Seare had won the 5,000 in 13:16.92 in the African Athletics Championships in Accra, Ghana, in May following an eighth-place finish in the 10,000 in 28:57.83 four days earlier, his performances since then had been good, but not earth shattering. He finished third in 28:06 in a 10-kilometer road race in Boston in June and seventh in 28:21 in the Peachtree race in Atlanta on July 4.

He had placed fourth in the 5k in the inaugural world road running championships in Riga, Latvia, in 2023 when he was 18, but his time of 13:21 had left him 22 seconds behind winner Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia.

In case you missed them, you can click on the following links for detailed reports about the first and second day of the World Athletics Road Running Championships.

The bottom line was that much of the pre-race talk about the men’s 5k in Copenhagen had been focused on a clash between Ingebrigtsen, a four-time global champion in the 5,000 on the track, and Jimmy Gressier of France.

Gressier had won the 10,000 and placed third in the 5,000 in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last year and he had also come within two seconds of the world record in the road 5k when he ran 12:51 in a race in Lille, France, in April.

Gressier, with the help of teammate Flavien Szot, appeared intent on keeping the pace honest during the early going on Saturday.

Szot, who had finished fifth in the mile earlier in the day, led the field through the first kilometer in about 2:38 and the two-kilometer mark in approximately 5:18 before he began to slow down and eventually placed 48th in 14:47.

Gressier ran in the lead for the next two and a half minutes or so, but Amanuel was at the front of an 11-runner lead pack nine minutes into the race.

Ingebrigtsen and Gressier were part of that group, but while the former looked comfortable, the latter appeared to be struggling and he eventually finished 14th in 13:17.

Mezgebu Sime of Ethiopia, who had run 12:50.17 while finishing seventh in the 5,000 in the Bislett Games in Oslo in June, upped the tempo at the 10:30 mark and the lead pack quickly began to string out. However, Seare had taken the lead about a minute later and Ingebrigtsen soon moved into second place behind the Eritrean.

Ingebrigtsen had won the 5,000 in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, eight days earlier after zooming away from his closest pursuers in the final 100 meters of the race. And when he overtook Seare at about the 12:20 mark I figured the race for first place was over. But he never opened up a gap on Seare and the Eritrean was soon pulling even with the Norwegian and then moving past him with less than 100 meters left in the race.

He dropped Ingebrigtsen quickly enough that he began celebrating his impending victory well before he crossed the finish line.

Ingebrigtsen was visibly spent as he finished and he laid on the ground on his back for some time before Robinson helped him to his feet.

Ingebrigtsen, who was celebrating his 26th birthday on Saturday, was very candid about how he felt at the end of the race in an Instagram post that read as follows: Those last 50 metres felt like a lifetime😵‍💫 Not quite the fairytale end to the season but happy to come away with some more silverware for the collection🥈

One last race on the beautiful streets of Sandnes in a couple of weeks at @runfest.norway and then the winter build begins 💪🏼

Big contrast: While the race for first place in the men’s 5-kilometer event in the world road running championships came down to the final 100 meters of the contest, Likina Amebaw of Ethiopia had a comfortable margin of victory in the women’s event when she timed 14:41 to the 14:48 of second-place Caroline Gitonga of Kenya.

Rose Davies of Australia, who won the 5,000 and 10,000 in the Commonwealth Games in late July, finished third in an Oceania record of 14:50 and she was followed by Tayla Kavanagh of South Africa in a personal best of 14:51 and Aleshign Baweke of Ethiopia in 14:53.

The 28-year-old Amebaw had run a yearly world-leading time of 14:18.41 for 5,000 meters on the track in the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meet in early June and she was coming off a win in the Ultimate Championship the previous Sunday in which she had blown open the race during the fourth kilometer.

She led for the first two kilometers in Copenhagen, but Gitonga was running ahead of her and Baweke eight minutes into the race. However, Baweke had begun to fall off the pace a minute and a half later.

Amebaw and Gitonga continued to run together for the next minute and a half, but Amebaw started to break away from the Kenyan by the 11:30 mark and her lead expanded during the remainder of the race.

Gitonga and Baweke were still running in second and third place at the 13-minute mark, but Davies was quickly making up ground on Baweke and she eventually passed her, as did Kavanagh.

“I’m coming straight from Budapest, but the shift from track to road was not really difficult as I have been training both at the same time,” Amebaw said in a World Athletics post. “The track was a bit difficult for me so running the 5km today was better and I felt good – I had prepared for road racing.

“I knew I had to push from the very start and it worked as planned. There was a little bit of wind, but it was okay and I managed to find some good spots on the course.”

Big collegiate season ahead?: After finishing 11th in the women’s 5,000 meters for North Carolina State University in the NCAA track and field championships in June, Hannah Gapes placed ninth for her native New Zealand in the 5-kilometer race of the world road running championships last Saturday.

Gapes’ 15:06 clocking was significantly faster than her track best of 15:25.93 that she had set in the NCAA meet and it should bode well for her upcoming cross country campaign when she will be part of an NC State team that will be attempting to win its fifth national title in the last six seasons.

Gapes was NC State’s top finisher in last year’s NCAA cross country championships when her fifth-place effort led the Wolfpack to a 114-130 victory over defending champion BYU.

Another standout performance: Agnes Ngetich of Kenya turned in her fourth outstanding performance of the year when she won the women’s half marathon in 1:05:15 on the second day of the world road running championships on Sunday.

The 25-year-old runner broke away from her closest competitors after three kilometers while on her way to a time that was the fastest ever in a women’s only race and left her 50 seconds clear of compatriot Veronica Loleo, who finished second in 1:06:05. Florence Niyonkuru of Rwanda placed third in a national record of 1:06:08 and she was followed by Daisilah Jerono of Kenya in 1:06:13 and by Emma Grace Hurley of the U.S. in a personal best of 1:06:23.

“My coach believed in me and told me that I could do it, that I could win the gold medal,” Ngetich said in a World Athletics post. “So, I am very happy and very grateful to now hold the world half marathon record, too.”

Speaking further, she said that “After one kilometre, I was like, ‘let me try to push the pace’, because I saw an opportunity to get the world record. When I reached 15 kilometres, I was so happy, because I got the feeling of ‘let me do this’, and there were only six kilometres left. Crossing the finish line with a world record by just one second was unbelievable.”

Ngetich’s 1:05:15 clocking trimmed a second off the previous world record for a women’s only race that had been set by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir in the world half marathon championships in Gdynia, Poland, in 2020.

While Jepchirchir’s effort had come in a hard-fought victory in which she finished two seconds in front of second-place Melat Kejeta of Germany and three seconds up on third-place Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia, Ngetich had a three-second lead after the first 10 minutes of Sunday’s race and she was up by 10 seconds over a 12-runner chase pack when she came through the opening five kilometers in 15:12.

Although her pace for the remainder of the race slowed some, Ngetich had a lead of 26 seconds when she came through 10 kilometers in 30:39 and it had grown to 53 seconds when she passed the 15-kilometer mark in 46:17. Her advantage had been reduced a touch to 51 seconds when she came through 20 kilometers in 1:01:56, but she still had a look of determination and excitement on her face at that point as she sensed she had a chance at Jepchirchir’s record.

Ngetich’s win came in what was expected to be her final race of the year and it followed three particularly impressive performances earlier in the year.

Her first outstanding effort had come in January when she had a 42-second margin of victory in the women’s 10-kilometer race of the world cross country championships in Tallahassee, Florida, and she had followed that with a 28:58 effort in a 10-kilometer road race in Lille, France, in April, and an 8:08.95 clocking for 3,000 meters in a Diamond League meet in Fontvieille, Monaco, in July.

The 28:58 effort was the No. 3 performance in history, as was her 8:08.95 clocking in the 3,000.

The versatile Ngetich has also run the third-fastest time ever in the women’s 5,000 on the track with an effort of 14:01.29. But she has never won a gold medal, or a medal of any kind for that matter, in a global track and field championship meet.

“I am now going to discuss with my coach what is ahead of me,” she said on Sunday. “But I know I am coming back to track races in 2027, because there is a World Championships. It is my dream to win a gold medal on the track. It is the only one I am missing.”

Expanding his horizons: Andreas Almgren of Sweden continued his transition from the track to the roads when he won the men’s half marathon in Copenhagen on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Almgren, who had won his first European title in the 10,000 meters in August, did not take the lead until there were less than 200 meters remaining in the race. But his powerful finish left him with a 58:06 clocking that left him with a five-second margin of victory over Nicholas Kipkorir of Kenya, who finished second in 58:11.

Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda placed third in a personal best of 58:26 and he was followed by Tadese Worku of Ethiopia in a personal best of 58:35 and Gideon Rono of Kenya in 58:57.

Almgren’s time smashed his previous European record of 58:41 that he had set last year and it also moved to ninth on the all-time performer list.

“This gold medal means so much to me,” Almgren said in a World Athletics post. “I felt extremely strong in the last few kilometres. I did not only have one or two gears left, I had three or four – I felt like my opponents could try whatever they wanted but I was not going to let this gold medal go.”

Almgren, who lowered the European record in the 5,000 to 12:44.27 last year, looked very relaxed and under control throughout the race on Sunday.

He was one second off the lead when Rono led a large lead pack through the first five kilometers in 13:57 and he was two seconds back when Kipkorir brought an 11-runner lead pack through 10 kilometers in 27:53.

He was then in second place when he, Kipkorir, four-time global 10,000 champion Cheptegei, and Worku all passed the 15-kilometer mark in 41:47.

That front four was still together at the 46-minute mark, but Worku had begun to fall back a minute later.

Almgren, Kipkorir, and Cheptegei were all credited with splits of 55:20 at 20 kilometers, but Cheptegei began to fall back shortly after that and the race for first place was between Kipkorir and Almgren when the clock hit 57:00.

Kipkorir had a slight lead over Almgren at the 57:30 mark, but the Swede attacked 10 seconds later and the Kenyan had no response to the uptick in tempo. Looking fresh and full of run, Almgren finished five seconds in front of Kipkorir and he let out a celebratory yell shortly after he had crossed the finish line.

With the world title in the half marathon in hand, Almgren turned his focus to making his marathon debut in New York City on Nov. 2. That will come a little more than a dozen years after he won a bronze medal in the 800 in the World Athletics U20 Championships in 2014.

“It was not that hard for me to do the transition from being a track runner to becoming a road runner,” he said. “It still feels kind of surreal, that I have gone from 400m to half marathons. Ten years ago, we joked that maybe one day I would run a 5km race. Now I am world champion in the half marathon and I am going to have my marathon debut in New York in about a month. This gold medal is a very good sign for me, that I am doing something right.”

Making progress: It was nice to see Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda run a personal best of 58:26 in finishing third in the men’s half marathon in Copenhagen as his transition from the track to the roads has not gone as smoothly as some might have expected.

The 30-year-old Cheptegei was known for his devastating kick during a track career in which he won four global titles in the 10,000 and another in the 5,000, and he set the current world records of 12:35.36 in the 5,000 and 26:11.00 in the 10,000 in 2020. But he has yet to develop into a super-elite marathon runner as he currently has a personal best of 2:04:52 in the event and he finished 12th in the London Marathon in April when Sabastian Sawe of Kenya became the first man in history to break two hours in an official race when he ran 1:59:30.

He said in his post-race comments on Sunday that he was pleased with his performance, despite dealing with a foot issue.

“During the race, I struggled a bit with my left foot, which I hurt 10 days ago, but I had good treatment and I only felt a little bit of pain during the race. This race was part of my preparations towards the marathon in a few weeks’ time.”

Great time for win: After finishing eighth, tenth, seventh, fourth, eighth, and ninth in six Diamond League races at either 1,500 meters or the mile this year, Robert Farken of Germany won the men’s mile in Copenhagen after overtaking pre-race favorite Yared Nuguse of the U.S. in the final 100 meters of the race.

Farken clocked a yearly world-leading time of 3:51.80 in the race in which Olympic 1,500 bronze medalist Nuguse ran 3:52.33 and Ruben Querinjean of Luxembourg, who is best known for his exploits in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, placed third in a national record of 3:52.77. The next three finishers were Anass Essayi of Morocco in a personal best of 3:53.28, the previously mentioned Szot of France in a national record of 3:53.44, and Olli Hoare of Australia in an Oceania record of 3:53.65.

Farken, who turned 29 on Sunday, had twice lowered his national record in the mile on the track in July with times 3:47.76 and 3:46.82. But he was not on a hot streak entering the road running championships as he had finished ninth in the 1,500 in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Sept. 4 before placing 11th in the Ultimate Championship nine days later.

Nuguse had finished fifth in the Ultimate Championship, two hundredths of a second behind compatriot Hobbs Kessler in third, and he had said in a press conference last Friday that he was in the best shape of his life and ready to “hammer out a really good race.”

He then took the lead early in the contest on Saturday and stayed there for most of the race.

His closest pursuers were Essayi, Querinjean, and Farken when he made the second of two right-hand turns on the U-shaped course with about 600 meters to go, and he was still in the lead at the three-minute mark. But he and Farken had begun to separate a little from their closest pursuers about 20 seconds later and Farken eventually moved past a grimacing Nuguse in the latter stages of the race.

“I had a pretty good idea what was going to happen,” Farken said in a World Athletics post. “I’ve been training with Yared and we’ve shared the same Airbnb for the past four days. His racing hadn’t quite gone to plan recently, so I knew he had that fire in him and would want to take it out hard.

“I knew I needed to stay close to him and find some shelter from the wind a few places back. I’ve raced a road mile before and it felt so much longer than I expected, so today I took it bit by bit. I kept telling myself to wait, wait, wait. Then in the end I just put everything into it and ran.

“It’s very overwhelming to come away with a world gold medal, and it’s very special to do it with Yared. It shows how good the work Dathan (Ritzenhein) and Kelsey (Quinn) are doing with us in Boulder (Colorado), and it gets me really fired up for the future.”

Great time for a win II: Like Robert Farken of Germany in the men’s mile, Agathe Guillemot of France had not won any major races at 1,500 meters during the outdoor season when she toed the starting line in Copenhagen. But also like Farken, she overtook the pre-race favorite in the latter stages of the women’ mile to finish first in a yearly world-leading time of 4:22.74.

Favored Freweyni Hailu of Ethiopia finished second in 4:24.35 and Mirriam Cherup of Kenya placed third in 4:25.71.

The next three finishers were Annemarie Nissen of Denmark in a personal best of 4:26.78, Naomi Korir of Kenya in a personal best of 4:29.15, and Adelle Tracey of Jamaica in 4:29.30.

Hailu, who had finished second to compatriot Diribe Welteji in the mile in the inaugural road running championships in 2023, quickly went to the lead on Saturday, just as Nuguse had done in the men’s race.

And like Nuguse, she led for most of the way.

The 27-year-old Guillemot, who had finished eighth in the 1,500 in the Ultimate Championship, was never far off of the lead. But like Farken, she was fine with letting other runners shield her from the wind.

She drew close to Hailu at the 3:50 mark of the race and she had taken the lead about 10 seconds later and never relinquished it. She opened her arms wide as she approached the finish line and she fell to her knees soon after finishing and let out a celebratory yell.

“I felt great during the race,” Guillemot said in a World Athletics post. “In the first part I didn’t want to make any extra effort, so I just followed the others. After the turn, I kept pushing and pushing, and I believed in it.

“It’s nice to finish with a medal – and even nicer to finish with gold. It has been a very long season, with a lot of races and some difficult moments. It wasn’t a perfect season, but it had a perfect ending.”

Medal totals: There was quite a difference when it came to the medal breakdown between this year’s world road running championships and the inaugural meet in Riga, Latvia, in 2023.

While runners from 12 countries won the 18 medals available in this year event, a total of four countries had accounted for the 18 medals in 2023.

A huge difference was evident on the women’s side of the ledger as competitors from Kenya, Ethiopia, France, Australia, and Rwanda combined to win the nine available medals in the mile, 5 kilometers, and half marathon.

In 2023, Kenyan competitors had won six of the nine available medals in the women’s meet and Ethiopian runners had accounted for the other three.

Ten for ten: Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic capped an unbeaten 2026 campaign in the women’s 400 meters with a record-tying performance of sorts in the Athlos London 2026 meet at StoneX Stadium in Hendon, England, last Friday.

The 2023 world and 2024 Olympic champion came from behind to edge Henriette Jæger of Norway in a race in which her meet record of 48.73 seconds gave her 15 sub-49 efforts during her career, which tied the record first set by Marita Koch of East Germany, who set the world record of 47.60 in 1985.

Paulino’s effort also gave her an unprecedented eight sub-49 clockings this year during a season in which she won all 10 of the finals in which she ran.

Jæger appeared to have shocked herself when she broke 49 seconds for the first time in her career with a 48.78 effort in a race in which Nickisha Pryce of Jamaica finished third in 49.39 and Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands placed fourth in 49.66.

Jæger’s time bettered her previous Norwegian record of 49.04 that she had run in winning her first title in the European championships in mid-August while moving her to 13th on the all-time performer list and making her the sixth fastest European in history.

In addition, her time was the fastest by a European performer since Marie-José Pérec of France had run 48.25 in winning the 1996 Olympic title in Atlanta.

The 29-year-old Paulino and the 23-year-old Jæger are both known for their strong finishes over the last 150 meters of the 400, but Jæger got out better than usual during the first half of Friday’s race as she was in first place ahead of second-place Pryce and third-place Klaver at the 200 mark.

Paulino was in sixth place at that point, but she had moved into third behind Jæger and Price with 100 meters left in the race. She was close enough to Jæger that it seem likely that she would win the race going away. But the Norwegian gave up ground stubbornly and she was still in the lead halfway down the straightaway.

Paulino was driving hard with her arms at that juncture of the contest, but it took everything she had to edge past Jæger in the last 10-12 meters of the race.

Paulino’s time was her third fastest of the season and the seventh fastest of her illustrious career in which she has finished second, second, first, first, second, and first, respectively, in the last six global title races.

It was also her third consecutive victory in the annual Athlos event, which was designed to be a meet that gave some of the top female track and field athletes in the world a chance to showcase their skills in a festive, party-like atmosphere in which the six entrants in each event received prize money based on their performances.

Paulino had won $60,000 for her win in the inaugural Athlos NYC meet in New York City in 2024 and she received the same amount last year in the meet that was again held at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island. But her winning share was $65,000 on Friday in the meet in which the second- through sixth-place finishers in each of the seven events were awarded the amounts of $35,000, $20,000, $15,000, $10,000, and $6,000, respectively.

The London meet was initially expected to be the first of two ATHLOS events to be held this year, but the second competition at Icahn Stadium on Oct. 2 had been canceled last month when meet co-founder Alexis Ohanian had announced in a social media post that he received a lot of feedback from athletes stating that they were unsure if they would be able to produce high-quality performances at such a late date in the year.

Closing strong: Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. concluded an up, down, and up season with a meet record of 10.80 seconds in the 100 meters in the Athlos meet.

The 2023 world champion finished way ahead of runner-up Zoe Hobbs of New Zealand, who ran 11.19 in a race in which Anavia Battle of the U.S. placed third in 11.25.

Richardson, 26, had run 10.76 while finishing third to training partner Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (10.62) and Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia (10.74) in the Ultimate Championship the previous Saturday after getting off to a bad start. But she was in a much better position after the first 30 meters of the meet last Friday and that enabled her superior top-end speed to propel her to a runaway victory.

After finishing fourth in a pair of 200-meter races in Diamond League races in May, Richardson had clocked 10.99, 10.77, 10.79, and 10.77, respectively, in the 100 in winning three finals and placing second in another in her next four meets. But she was a distant third in three Diamond League meets in Europe — when she clocked 10.96. 10.97, and 11.07 — before she turned things around with her 10.76 clocking in the Ultimate Championship and her 10.80 effort in the Athlos meet.

“I feel really good,” Richardson said in a trackside interview after her race. “I wish it was the beginning of my season instead of the end.”

Winning in style: Of the 42 women who competed in the seven events in the Athlos meet on Friday, no one looked as stylish as Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain.

The Olympic champion won the 800 in a meet record of 1:56.40 while wearing shades and a black body suit with a hood that was reminiscent of what Cathy Freeman of Australia had worn while winning the 400 in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Behind Hodgkinson, Valentina Rosamilia of Switzerland finished second in 1:58.75, followed by Rénelle Lamote of France in third in 2:00.15.

Raevyn Rogers of the U.S., who is best known for coming from behind in the homestretch of her races, was running shoulder to shoulder with Hodgkinson after the first 200 meters of the race and she was actually in first place when she went through the opening lap in 57.53 seconds. But the 24-year-old Hodgkinson was in the lead heading down the backstretch for the second time and she was roughly three to four meters ahead of Rogers when as she headed into the final turn.

Her lead only got bigger after that in the race in which 2021 Olympic bronze medalist Rogers finished sixth in 2:01.12.

“I know, it’s pretty sick,” Hodgkinson said about her outfit. “It’s a project I’ve been working on with Nike for a long time. I thought what a place to bring it out, an all-women’s event. It went down a treat.”

A profitable triple: Like Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic in the 400 meters, Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland completed a triple of sorts when she won the mile in the Athlos meet after having been victorious in the 1,500 in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Sept. 5 and the Ultimate Championship in Budapest a week later.

Those three victories were worth a combined $275,000 in prize money.

The 25-year-old Kazimierska has developed a potent kick this year, which has been her first as a full-time professional, and it propelled her to victory last Friday in a race in which she ran 4:19.43, runner-up Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain timed 4:19.54, and third-place Dorcus Ewoi of Kenya clocked 4:19.84.

Jessica Hull of Australia, the Olympic silver medalist in the 1,500, led a tightly bunched field through the first 440 yards in 64.32 seconds and past the half-mile in 2:09.47.

Olympic bronze medalist Hunter Bell then moved into first place heading down the backstretch for the penultimate time and she was still in the lead at the beginning of the bell lap. But her split of 3:19.51 at 1,320 yards made it clear that the last quarter-mile was going to be quick one.

The race for first place was down to Hunter Bell, Kazimierska, and Ewoi heading into the final turn, but Kazimierska looked to be in a bit of trouble as Hunter Bell and Ewoi entered the homestretch in first and second place. However, Hunter Bell was so focused on holding off Ewoi in the home straightaway that she left the inside of lane one open and Kazimierska began to make up ground on both of them with about 50 meters left in the race. She then overtook first-place Hunter Bell with about 10 meters to go.

Kazimierska ran her final 440 in 59.63 seconds to cap a season in which she had run a yearly world-leading time of 3:54.05 to lower her previous Polish record of 3:55.59.

“I think being patient and staying on the rail the last 200 meters,” she said in a trackside interview when she was asked about the key to her victory.

Back on top of the podium: Sander Skotheim of Norway came from behind to edge Hakim McMorris of the U.S. for the decathlon title in the Décastar combined event competition in Talence, France, last weekend.

Skotheim totaled a season best of 8,630 points to finish 31 points ahead of McMorris and his personal best of 8,599 points in the meet that was held on Friday and Saturday.

Makenson Gletty of France won a close battle for third place when he totaled 8,381 points in the event in which Harrison Williams of the U.S. was fourth with 8,380, and the Dutch duo of Jeff Tesselaar and Sven Roosen finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with 8,355 and 8,353.

Damian Warner of Canada, the 2021 Olympic champion, placed eighth with 8,239 points and 2024 Olympic champion Markus Rooth of Norway was ninth with 8,209 while competing in his first decathlon since he won his gold medal in Paris.

The 24-year-old Skotheim had totaled a Norwegian record of 8,909 points in winning the Hypomeeting in Gotzis, Austria, last year, but he had dropped out of the world championships last year after being disqualified in the 110-meter high hurdles.

He had then undergone surgery after rupturing a foot ligament in January, pulled out of the Stadtwerke Ratingen Mehrhampf-Meeting in Ratingen, Germany, in June, after the first four events, and finished third with a score of 8,433 points in the European championships in Birmingham, England, in the second week in August.

McMorris was in the lead after totaling 4,471 points on the first day in Talence and he was followed by Gletty in second place with 4,427 and Skotheim in third with 4,414.

After producing marks of 10.69 seconds in the 100 meters, 7.89 meters (25 feet 10¾ inches) in the long jump, 13.98 (45-10½) in the shot put, 2.00 (6-6¾) in the high jump, and 47.78 in the 400 on the first day, Skotheim began the second day by picking up 14 points on McMorris when he ran 14.13 to the American’s 14.24 in the 110-meter high hurdles.

However, McMorris extended his lead over Skotheim to 99 points after throwing the discus 46.55 (152-8) to the 43.83 (143-9) of Skotheim.

The Norwegian then pulled within five points of McMorris when he cleared 5.31 (17-5) in the pole vault to McMorris’ 5.01 (16-5 ¼) and he moved 39 points ahead of him when he threw the javelin 60.45 (198-4) to McMorris’ 57.55 (188-9).

McMorris ran 4:26.08 to Skotheim’s 4:27.27 in the 1,500 meters, but that only reduced his deficit by eight points at the end of the competition in which he improved upon his previous best of 8,420 that he had compiled in winning the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California, in April.

Skotheim posted the following on his Instagram account (@sanderskotheim) in regards to his victory: Decastar 2026
Decathlon season finished in the best way with 8630p and a win😁🥇 This season has been a long journey back from my surgery in January, but happy to be back, and to see the progress that has been made every single month since January
Thank you to everybody for your support
Now one more competition in Ulsteinvik and then season will be finished🔥

Back on top of the podium II: Nafi Thiam of Belgium won her first heptathlon since winning an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic title in Paris in 2024 when she totaled 6,482 points in the Décastar competition.

Thiam, who has also won two world championships, finished a little more than 100 points ahead of runner-up Anna-Elisabeth Ehlers of Germany, who had a personal best of 6,374. Olympic bronze medalist Noor Vidts of Belgium finished third with 6,329 points, and she was followed by Vanessa Grimm of Germany with 6,256, Beatričė Juškevičiūtė of Lithuania with 6,223, and Mareike Rösing of Germany with a personal best of 6,167.

The 32-year-old Thiam, who had dropped out of the world championships last year after the long jump, the fifth event, had been in second place after the first day in Talence as she totaled 3,816 points to the 3,830 of Vidts.

After running the 100-meter hurdles in 13.73 seconds to start the first day, she had cleared 1.85 (6-¾) in the high jump, put the shot 15.10 (49-6½), and run the 200 in 24.96.

She had started the second day with a sub-par mark of 6.05 (19-10¼) in the long jump but moved into the lead for good in the javelin when she threw the implement 51.51 (169-0). That effort was worth 889 points and she entered the 800 with a lead of 134 points over second-place Ehlers and an advantage of 167 points over third-place Vidts.

Although Ehlers and Vidts finished ahead of Thiam in the 800 with times of 2:11.82 and 2:12.69, respectively, Thiam lost only 26 points to Ehlers and 14 points to Vidts when she ran 2:13.66.

It was Thiam’s second victory in the Décastar competition and her first since 2019, when she had totaled 6,819 points while coming within 12 points of the meet record of 6,831 set by Denise Lewis of Great Britain in 2000.

An Instagram post from Thiam (@thiam_nafi) read as follows: feeling like a heptathlete again 🥰

It’s been a long fight to get back to the starting line of a heptathlon, but oh, how sweet it feels to be back. Never thought one day I’d get emotional about running an 800m 🥹😂

grateful to end this season on a positive note, and for the people who helped me keep going through the many struggles of the past two years. time for a little rest now and then we’ll be back at work to build on this 🧱 🔨

Et enfin, merci @decastar_officiel pour la bienveillance, les good vibes et 2 jours de fun 🫶🏽

Big throws: In a pair of results that I was unaware of until earlier this week, Zhang Jiale of China and Kristjan Čeh of Slovenia produced some noteworthy efforts in the women’s hammer and the men’s discus, respectively, while winning those events in separate meets on Sept. 12, which was the second day of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

With the women’s hammer and the men’s discus not included in the events being contested in Budapest, Zhang raised her own Chinese record to 79.62 (261-3) in a meet in Huaian, China, and Čeh came within five centimeters of his Slovenian record when he threw 72.56 (238-1) in the Vilnius Mayor Cup competition in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The 19-year-old Zhang’s 79.62 (261-3) effort topped her previous national record of 78.64 (258-0) that she had set in winning the national championships in mid-August and moved her to fifth on the all-time performer list.

The 27-year-old Čeh’s mark gave him a sizeable margin of victory over Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania, who placed second at 69.30 (227-4), and he also had throws of 70.19 (230-3) and 70.04 (229-9) while posting his 17th victory in 24 meets this season.

While Čeh had raised his national record to 72.61 (238-2) in April, that mark had come in a competition in Ramona, Oklahoma, where typically strong winds help to lengthen the distances of throws that are made there.

Record numbers: Kristjan Čeh of Slovenia has thrown 70 meters (229 feet 8 inches) or farther in an unprecedented 10 meets this season to top the previous high of 7 set by Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania last year.

In addition, Čeh has now thrown 70.00 (229-8) or farther in a record 27 meets during his career.

The next three throwers on that list are Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania at 20 meets, and Mykolas Alekna and Daniel Ståhl of Sweden, each with 19.

Virgilijus Alekna is the father of Mykolas Alekna and a two-time Olympic and world champion.

Sites named: World Athletics announced last week that Nairobi, Kenya, and Munich, Germany, respectively, will host the 2029 and 2031 outdoor global track and field championships.

It will mark the first time that either city has hosted the world championships at the senior level, and the meet in Nairobi will mark the first time that the global senior championships will be held in Africa.

Rome and London were the two other cities that had applied to host the championships in either 2029 or 2031.

“We were fortunate to have four outstanding bids for 2029 and 2031, and this was not an easy decision for the Council,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in a press release. “The quality, ambition and commitment demonstrated by all four candidates underlines the strength and global appeal of the World Athletics Championships.

“With this Council decision today, we continue to fulfil our mission of growing
athletics worldwide with the hosting of our World Athletics Championships in
Asia, Africa and Europe over its next three editions.

“Nairobi and Munich ultimately presented two compelling propositions. They offer very different but equally exciting opportunities for our sport, and I am delighted that we can now begin working with both cities to stage two world-class championships.”

Staging the championships in Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium could lead to some interesting results as that venue sits at an elevation of 5,289 feet, or approximately 1,612 meters.

That elevation will aid performances in the sprints, hurdles, jumps, and relays, and hinder efforts at distances of 1,500 meters and longer.

The last time a senior global title meet was held at a high-elevation site occurred in 1968 when the Olympic Games were held in Mexico City, where the elevation of 7,526 feet (2,294 meters) contributed to a competition in which world records were set in the men’s 100, 200, and 400 meters, as well as in the 400 intermediate hurdles, 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays, long jump, and triple jump.

In the women’s meet, world records were set in the 100, 200, 4 x 100 relay, long jump, and shot put.

The world record was also tied in the men’s 800.

The 1968 Games are also known as the Olympiad in which runners from Kenya really made their presence known on the world stage as competitors from Kenya won seven of a possible 18 medals in men’s races ranging from the 800 meters up to the marathon.

Prior to that, Kenyan athletes had won one medal in track and field in the previous three Olympics in which the country had participated.

Munich has previously hosted the 1972 Olympics and the European Athletics Championships in 2002 and 2022. And Munich’s Olympiapark will once again serve as the site for the 2031 meet.

Although the dates have yet to be set for the championships in 2029 and ’31, they are expected to occur in September and act as the final major competition on the World Athletics calendar for those years.

Next year’s world championships are scheduled to be held in Beijing from Sept. 10-19.

Looking ahead: Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia, who ran the fastest time ever in a women’s only marathon in London in April, is reportedly going to be shooting to break the world record of 2:09:56 when she competes in the Berlin Marathon on Sunday.

Assefa, who has been the most consistent women’s marathon runner in the world for the past five years, ran 2:15:41 in London earlier this year, but she now wants to take a crack at the world record of 2:09:56 that was set by Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich in Chicago in 2024 in a race in which men and women ran together.

Chepngetich’s time broke the world record of 2:11:53 that had been set by Assefa in Berlin in 2023.

Assefa, who has four victories and three runner-up finishes in her last seven marathons, could receive her biggest challenge from defending champion Rosemary Wanjiru of Kenya, who has a personal best of 2:16:14.

After Wanjiru, the next three fastest entrants in the field are Ethiopians Bedatu Hirpa, Dera Dida, and Zeineba Yimer, who have personal bests of 2:18:27, 2:18:32, and 2:18:47.

Alisa Vainio of Finland could be a runner worth keeping an eye on as the Finn has won three of the four marathons she has run this year and she clocked a personal best of 2:20:39 in winning the Seville Marathon in Spain in February.

The men’s race in Berlin lost some of its luster last month when defending champion and world record-holder Sabastian Sawe of Kenya pulled out of the event due to an injury.

After running 2:02:16 in Berlin last year, Sawe had become the first man in history to break two hours in an official marathon in London when he ran 1:59:30 in a contest in which second-place Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia (1:59:41) and third-place Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda (2:00:28) also bettered the previous world record of 2:00:35 set by the late Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya in the 2023 Chicago Marathon.

With Sawe out of the men’s race, there is no heavy favorite.

Ethiopians Getoneh Molla, Guye Adola, and Shura Kitata have personal bests of 2:03:34, 2:03:46, and 2:03:59, respectively, and compatriot Selemon Barega, the 2021 Olympic champion in the 10,000 meters, ran 2:05:15 in winning the first marathon of his career in Seville last year before clocking 2:05:00 while finishing seventh in Tokyo in March.

Erick Sang is the fastest Kenyan entrant with a best of 2:04:30.

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia and Gabriel Geay of Tanzania have the two fastest personal bests in the field with times of 2:01:41 and 2:03:00, respectively. But the 44-year-old Bekele’s best came in the 2019 Berlin Marathon when he missed the then-world record by two seconds and Geay ran his best time in finishing second in the Valencia Marathon in Valencia, Spain, in 2022.

The elite men’s and women’s races are scheduled to start at 2:45 a.m. EDT in the U.S., with the livestream beginning at 2:30 on flotrack.org. A paid subscription is required to gain access to that worldwide feed.

Note: Kenenisa Bekele was a late withdrawal from the race and will not be running on Sunday.

Agnes Ngetich of Kenya and Andreas Almgren of Sweden entered their respective half marathon races in the second Word Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sunday as favorites.

They concluded them as definitive champions, but ones who took different paths to attaining their victories.

Ngetich broke clear of her closest competitors just after three kilometers while on her way to a time of 1:05:15 that was the fastest ever in a women’s only race and left her 50 seconds clear of compatriot Veronica Loleo, who finished second in 1:06:05. Florence Niyonkuru of Rwanda placed third in a national record of 1:06:08.

Almgren did not take the lead in the men’s half marathon until there were less than 200 meters remaining, but his powerful finish left him with a 58:06 clocking that smashed his European record of 58:41 and left him with a five-second margin of victory over Nicholas Kipkorir of Kenya, who finished second in 58:11. Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda finished third in a personal best of 58:26.

“My coach believed in me and told me that I could do it, that I could win the gold medal,” Ngetich said in a World Athletics post. “So, I am very happy and very grateful to now hold the world half marathon record, too.”

Speaking further, she said that “After one kilometre, I was like, ‘let me try to push the pace’, because I saw an opportunity to get the world record. When I reached 15 kilometres, I was so happy, because I got the feeling of ‘let me do this’, and there were only six kilometres left. Crossing the finish line with a world record by just one second was unbelievable.”

Ngetich’s 1:05:15 clocking trimmed a second off the previous world record for a women’s only race that had been set by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir in the world half marathon championships in Gdynia, Poland, in 2020.

While Jepchirchir’s effort had come in a hard-fought victory in which she finished two seconds in front of second-place Melat Kejeta of Germany and three seconds up on third-place Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia, Ngetich had a three-second lead after the first 10 minutes of the race and she was up by 10 seconds over a 12-runner chase pack when she came through the opening five kilometers in 15:12.

Although her pace for the remainder of the race slowed some, Ngetich had a lead of 26 seconds when she came through 10 kilometers in 30:39 and it had grown to 53 seconds when she passed the 15-kilometer mark in 46:17.

Although her lead shrank a touch to 51 seconds when she came through 20 kilometers in 1:01:56, she had a look of determination and excitement on her face at that point as she sensed she had a chance at Jepchirchir’s record.

After the first three finishers, Daisilah Jerono of Kenya placed fourth in 1:06:13 and she was followed by the U.S. trio of Emma Hurley in a personal best of 1:06:23, Weini Kelati in 1:06:35, and Jessica McClain in a personal best of 1:06:53. Ftaw Zeray was the top Ethiopian finisher in eighth place with a time of 1:07:07.

Thanks to the performances of Hurley, Kelati, and McClain, the U.S. had a combined team time of 3:19:51, which left it second in the standings to Kenya and its time of 3:17:33.

Ngetich’s win came in what was expected to be her final race of the year and it was her fourth particularly impressive performance in the past nine months.

Her first outstanding effort had come in January when she had a 42-second margin of victory in the women’s 10-kilometer race of the world cross country championships in Tallahassee, Florida.

Her second came in early April when she ran 28:58 in a 10-kilometer road race in Lille, France, and her third occurred in July when she ran 8:08.95 for 3,000 meters in a Diamond League meet in Fontvieille, Monaco.

The 28:58 effort was the No. 3 performance in history in an event in which she set the world record of 28:46 in 2024. Her 8:08.95 clocking in the 3,000 is also the third fastest ever in that race.

The versatile Ngetich has also run the third-fastest time ever in the women’s 5,000 on the track with an effort of 14:01.29, but she has never won a gold medal, or a medal of any kind, in a global track and field championship meet.

“I am now going to discuss with my coach what is ahead of me,” she said on Sunday. “But I know I am coming back to track races in 2027, because there is a World Championships. It is my dream to win a gold medal on the track. It is the only one I am missing.”

The 31-year-old Almgren, who was the bronze medalist in the 800 meters in the world U20 championships in 2014, won his first global medal at the senior level in September of last year when he placed third in the 10,000 in the world championships in Tokyo.

That was followed by his first European title — in the 10,000 — in August and then his first world title on Sunday when he tapped into some of that 800 speed during the last 30 seconds of the half marathon.

“This gold medal means so much to me,” Almgren said in a World Athletics post. “I felt extremely strong in the last few kilometres. I did not only have one or two gears left, I had three or four – I felt like my opponents could try whatever they wanted but I was not going to let this gold medal go.”

Almgren, who lowered the European record in the 5,000 to 12:44.27 last year, looked very relaxed and under control throughout the race on Sunday when his winning time of 58:06 moved him to ninth on the all-time performer list.

He was one second off the lead when Gideon Rono of Kenya led a large lead pack through the first five kilometers in 13:57 and he was two seconds back when Kipkorir brought an 11-runner lead group through 10 kilometers in 27:53.

He was then in second place when he, Kipkorir, four-time global 10,000 champion Cheptegei, and Tadese Worku of Ethiopia all passed the 15-kilometer mark in 41:47.

That front group of four was still together at the 46-minute mark, but Worku had begun to fall back a minute later.

Cheptegei, who set world records of 12:35.36 in the 5,000 and 26:11.00 in the 10,000 in 2020, looked like he might be in trouble a minute later. But he recovered and was credited with the same time as Kipkorir and Almgren as the three of then passed 20 kilometers in 55:20 after running the previous five kilometers in 13:33, the fastest 5k segment of the race.

However, Cheptegei began to fall back shortly after that and the race for first place was between Kipkorir and Almgren when the clock hit 57:00.

Kipkorir had a slight lead over Almgren at the 57:30 mark, but the Swede stepped on the gas roughly 10 seconds later and the Kenyan had no response to the uptick in tempo. Looking fresh and full of run, Almgren finished five seconds in front of Kipkorir and he let out a celebratory yell shortly after he crossed the finish line.

After the first three men, Worku finished fourth in a personal best of 58:35. He was followed by Rono in 58:57, Hani Idriss Hersi of Burundi in a national record of 59:09, Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy in 59:18, and Alex Matata of Kenya in 59:22.

Daniel Ebenyo of Kenya placed ninth in 59:42 after having finished second in the half marathon in the inaugural global road running championships in Riga, Latvia, in 2023.

Conner Mantz of the U.S., the North, Central American and Caribbean record-holder at 59:17, finished 12th in 1:00.08 on Sunday.

With the world title in the half marathon now in hand, Almgren will turn his focus to making his marathon debut in New York City on Nov. 2.

“It was not that hard for me to do the transition from being a track runner to becoming a road runner,” he said. “It still feels kind of surreal, that I have gone from 400m to half marathons. Ten years ago, we joked that maybe one day I would run a 5km race. Now I am world champion in the half marathon and I am going to have my marathon debut in New York in about a month. This gold medal is a very good sign for me, that I am doing something right.”

You can click here for complete results of the two-day meet.

Dawit Seare of Eritrea pulled off a big surprise when he defeated Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway for the men’s 5-kilometer title in the second World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, earlier today.

The 21-year-old Seare was credited with a time of 12:56 in a race in which Ingebrigtsen finished second in 12:59. Saymon Amanuel, a 19-year-old compatriot of Seare, placed third in 13:00 and he was followed by Ky Robinson of Australia and Kenneth Kiprop of Uganda, who each ran 13:04, and Addisu Yihune of Ethiopia, who timed 13:07.

Jimmy Gressier of France finished 14th in 13:17 after having come within two seconds of the world record when he set a European record of 12:51 in a race in Lille, France, in April.

Much of the pre-race talk had centered around the possibility of Ingebrigtsen, a four-time global champion in the 5,000 meters on the track, and Gressier, the reigning world champion in the 10,000, duking it out for the victory. But the chances of that happening dropped sharply when Gressier went from leading the race at the 7:30 mark to being in about fifth place a minute later.

Gressier had followed compatriot Flavien Szot through the first kilometer in about 2:38 and the second kilometer in approximately 5:18 before Szot, who had finished fifth in the mile earlier in the day, began to slow down and eventually finished 48th in 14:47.

Gressier then ran in the lead for the next two and a half minutes or so, but Amanuel was at the front of an 11-runner lead pack nine minutes into the race.

Ingebrigtsen and Gressier were part of that lead group, but while the former looked comfortable, the latter was visibly struggling.

Mezgebu Sime of Ethiopia, who had run 12:50.17 while finishing seventh in the 5,000 in the Bislett Games in Oslo in June, upped the tempo at the 10:30 mark and the lead pack quickly began to string out. However, Seare had moved to the front about 45 seconds later and Ingebrigtsen soon moved into second place behind the Eritrean, who had won the 5,000 in the African Athletics Championships in Accra, Ghana, in May.

Ingebrigtsen, who had won the 5,000 in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, on Sept. 11 after zooming away from his closest pursuers in the final 100 meters of the race, overtook Seare at about the 12:20 mark. But he was unable to open up a gap on him and Seare was soon pulling even with the Norwegian and then moving past him at the 12:45 mark.

His surge was decisive enough that he began celebrating his impending victory well before he crossed the finish line with a three-second margin of victory and a time that bettered his previous 5k road best of 13:21 from when he finished fourth in the inaugural road running championships in Riga, Latvia, in 2023.

Ingebrigtsen, who was celebrating his 26th birthday, was visibly spent after he finished and he laid on his back on the ground for some time before Robinson helped him to his feet.

While Seare moved into a tie for seventh on the all-time performer list with his 12:56 clocking, Ingebrigtsen moved to 12th and Amanuel is now in a six-way tie for 13th^.

In addition, Robinson’s 13:04 clocking was an Oceania record and Kiprop’s 13:04 effort was a personal best.

In the three other races that were held on Saturday, Likina Amebaw of Ethiopia won the women’s 5-kilometer event and Robert Farken of Germany and Agathe Guillemot of France were victorious in the men’s and women’s mile, respectively.

Amebaw entered the race as the favorite and she had a comfortable margin of victory as she timed 14:41 to the 14:48 of second-place Caroline Gitonga of Kenya.

Rose Davies of Australia, who won the 5,000 and 10,000 in the Commonwealth Games in late July, finished third in an Oceania record of 14:50 and she was followed by Tayla Kavanagh of South Africa in a personal best of 14:51, Aleshign Baweke of Ethiopia in 14:53, and Marta García of Spain in a personal best of 14:59.

The 28-year-old Amebaw had run a yearly world-leading time of 14:18.41 for 5,000 meters on the track in the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meet in early June and she was coming off a win in the Ultimate Championship last Sunday in which she had blown open the race during the fourth kilometer.

She was in the lead for the first two kilometers in Copenhagen, but Gitonga was running ahead of her and Baweke eight minutes into the race. However, Baweke had begun to fall off the pace a minute and a half later.

Amebaw and Gitonga continued to run together for the next minute and a half, but Amebaw had begun to break away from the Kenyan by the 11:30 mark and her lead expanded during the remainder of the race.

Gitonga and Baweke were still running in second and third place at the 13-minute mark, but Davies was quickly making up ground on Baweke and she eventually passed her, as did Kavanagh.

“I’m coming straight from Budapest, but the shift from track to road was not really difficult as I have been training both at the same time,” Amebaw said in a World Athletics post. “The track was a bit difficult for me so running the 5km today was better and I felt good – I had prepared for road racing.

“I knew I had to push from the very start and it worked as planned. There was a little bit of wind, but it was okay and I managed to find some good spots on the course.”

Farken posted the biggest victory of his career when he won the mile in a yearly world-leading time of 3:51.80 after overtaking pre-race favorite Yared Nuguse of the U.S. in the final 100 meters of the race.

Nuguse, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 1,500 meters, finished second in 3:52.33 and Ruben Querinjean of Luxembourg, best known for his exploits in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, placed third in a national record of 3:52.77.

The next three finishers were Anass Essayi of Morocco in a personal best of 3:53.28, the previously mentioned Szot of France in a national record of 3:53.44, and Olli Hoare of Australia in an Oceania record of 3:53.65.

The 28-year-old Farken had twice lowered his national record in the mile on the track in July with times 3:47.76 and 3:46.82. But he was not on a hot streak entering the road running championships as he had finished ninth in the 1,500 in the Diamond League Final on Brussels on Sept. 4 before placing 11th in the Ultimate Championship last Sunday.

Nuguse had finished fifth in the Ultimate Championship, two hundredths of a second behind compatriot Hobbs Kessler in third, and had said in a press conference on Friday that he was in the best shape of his life and ready to “hammer out a really good race.”

He wasted little time going to the front as he had a clear lead after 30 seconds.

He stayed in front for most of the race, but his early lead got smaller as the contest progressed.

His closest pursuers were Essayi, Querinjean, and Farken when he made the second of two right-hand turns on the U-shaped course with about a 600-meter straightaway to go, and he was still in the lead at the three-minute mark. But he and Farken had begun to separate a little from their closest pursuers about 20 seconds later and Farken eventually moved past a grimacing Nuguse in the latter stages of the race.

“I had a pretty good idea what was going to happen,” Farken said in a World Athletics post. “I’ve been training with Yared and we’ve shared the same Airbnb for the past four days. His racing hadn’t quite gone to plan recently, so I knew he had that fire in him and would want to take it out hard.

“I knew I needed to stay close to him and find some shelter from the wind a few places back. I’ve raced a road mile before and it felt so much longer than I expected, so today I took it bit by bit. I kept telling myself to wait, wait, wait. Then in the end I just put everything into it and ran.

“It’s very overwhelming to come away with a world gold medal, and it’s very special to do it with Yared. It shows how good the work Dathan (Ritzenhein) and Kelsey (Quinn) are doing with us in Boulder (Colorado), and it gets me really fired up for the future.”

Like Farken in the men’s mile, Guillemot did not come to Copenhagen on a hot streak. But also like Farken, she overtook the favorite in the latter stages of the women’s mile to finish first in a yearly world-leading time of 4:22.74.

Freweyni Hailu of Ethiopia finished second in 4:24.35 and Mirriam Cherup of Kenya placed third in 4:25.71.

The next three finishers were Annemarie Nissen of Denmark in a personal best of 4:26.78, Naomi Korir of Kenya in a personal best of 4:29.15, and Adelle Tracey of Jamaica in 4:29.30.

Hailu, who had finished second to compatriot Diribe Welteji in the mile in the inaugural road running championships in Riga, Latvia, in 2023, quickly went to the front on Saturday, just as Nuguse had done in the men’s race.

And like Nuguse she led for most of the way.

Guillemot, who had finished eighth in the 1,500 in the Ultimate Championship, was never far off of the lead. But like Farken, she was fine with letting other runners shield her from the wind.

She drew close to Hailu at the 3:50 mark of the race and she had taken the lead about 10 seconds later and never relinquished it. She opened her arms wide as she approached the finish line and she fell to her knees soon after finishing and let out a celebratory yell.

“I felt great during the race,” the 27-year-old Guillemot said in a World Athletics post. “In the first part I didn’t want to make any extra effort, so I just followed the others. After the turn, I kept pushing and pushing, and I believed in it.

“It’s nice to finish with a medal – and even nicer to finish with gold. It has been a very long season, with a lot of races and some difficult moments. It wasn’t a perfect season, but it had a perfect ending.”

The final two events of the road running championships will be held on Sunday, with the women’s half marathon starting at 3:10 a.m. EDT and the men’s half marathon beginning at 3:45.

You can click the following links for the results from today and for the start lists for Sunday.

Note: This post was updated on September 21, 2026.

Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, one of the most consistent elite track and field athletes in the world for the past six seasons, capped an unbeaten 2026 campaign in the women’s 400 meters with a record-tying performance of sorts in the Athlos London 2026 meet at StoneX Stadium in Hendon on Friday.

The 2023 world and 2024 Olympic champion came from behind to edge Henriette Jæger of Norway in a race in which her meet record of 48.73 seconds gave her 15 sub-49 efforts during her career, which tied the number first set by Marita Koch of East Germany, who retired after the 1986 season.

Paulino’s 48.73 clocking also gave her an unprecedented eight sub-49 clockings this year during a season in which she won all 10 of the finals in which she ran.

Jæger appeared to have shocked herself when she broke 49 seconds for the first time in her career with a 48.78 effort in a race in which Nickisha Pryce of Jamaica finished third in 49.39 and Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands placed fourth in 49.66.

Jæger’s time bettered her previous Norwegian record of 49.04 that she had run in winning her first title in the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, in mid-August while moving her to 13th on the all-time performer list and making her the sixth fastest European in history.

The 29-year-old Paulino and the 23-year-old Jæger are both known for their strong finishes over the last 150 meters of the 400, but Jæger got out better than usual during the first half of Friday’s race as she was in first place ahead of second-place Pryce and third-place Klaver after she passed the opening 200 meters in 23.69 seconds.

Paulino was in sixth place at that point, but she had moved into third behind Jæger and Pryce with 100 meters left in the race. She was close enough to Jæger that it seemed likely that she would win the race going away. But the Norwegian gave up ground grudgingly and she was still in the lead halfway down the straightaway.

Paulino was driving hard with her arms at that juncture of the contest, but it took everything she had to edge past Jæger in the last 15 or so meters of the race.

Paulino’s time was her third fastest of the season and the seventh fastest of her career, during which she has finished second, second, first, first, second, and first, respectively, in the last six global title races.

It was also her third consecutive victory in the annual Athlos event, which was founded as a meet to give many of the top female track and field athletes in the world a chance to showcase their skills in a festive, party-like atmosphere in which the six entrants in each event receive prize money based on their performances.

Paulino had won $60,000 for her win in the inaugural Athlos NYC meet in New York City in 2024 and she received the same amount last year in the meet that was again held at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island. But her winning share was $65,000 on Friday in the meet in which the second- through sixth-place finishers in each of the seven events were awarded amounts of $35,000, $20,000, $15,000, $10,000, and $6,000, respectively.

The meet was initially expected to be the first of two Athlos events this year, but the second competition at Icahn Stadium on Oct. 2 had been canceled last month when meet co-founder Alexis Ohanian announced in a social media post that he had received a lot of feedback from athletes stating that they were unsure if they would be able to produce high-quality performances at such a late date in the year.

Paulino was one of three athletes who set meet records in their respective events on a cool evening on Friday.

The other two were Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. in the 100 meters and Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain in the 800.

Richardson, the 2023 world champion, timed 10.80 in the 100 while finishing way ahead of runner-up Zoe Hobbs of New Zealand, who ran 11.19. Anavia Battle of the U.S. placed third in 11.25 and Imani Lansiquot of Great Britain was fourth in 11.35.

Richardson had run 10.76 while finishing third to training partner Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (10.62) and Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia (10.74) in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, last Saturday after getting off to a bad start. But her getaway was better on Friday, and as a result, she had pulled even with Hobbs midway through the race before her superior top-end speed propelled her to a runaway victory.

Olympic champion Hodgkinson won the 800 in 1:56.40 while wearing shades and a black body suit with a hood that was reminiscent of what Cathy Freeman of Australia had worn while winning the 400 in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Behind Hodgkinson, Valentina Rosamilia of Switzerland finished second in 1:58.75, followed by Rénelle Lamote of France in 2:00.15 and Juliette Whittaker of the U.S. in 2:00.46.

Raevyn Rogers of the U.S., who is best known for coming from behind in the homestretch of her races, was running shoulder to shoulder with Hodgkinson after the first 200 meters of the race and she was actually in first place when she went through the opening lap in 57.53 seconds. But Hodgkinson was in the lead heading down the backstretch for the second time and she was roughly three to four meters ahead of Rogers when as she headed into the final turn.

Her lead continued to grow during the remainder of the race in which 2021 Olympic bronze medalist Rogers finished sixth in 2:01.12.

“I know, it’s pretty sick,” she said about her outfit. “It’s a project I’ve been working on with Nike for a long time. I thought ​what a place to bring it out, an all-women's event. It went down a treat.”

The winners of the other four events on Friday were Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland in the mile, and Americans Gabby Thomas, Alaysha Johnson, and Alyssa Jones in the 200, 100 hurdles, and long jump, respectively.

Like Paulino in the 400, Kazimierska completed a triple of sorts when she won the mile on Friday after having been victorious in the 1,500 in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Sept. 5 and in the Ultimate Championship in Budapest last Saturday.

Kazimierska has developed a potent kick this year, which has been her first as a full-time professional runner, and it propelled her to victory in a race in which she ran 4:19.43 to the 4:19.54 of runner-up Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain. Dorcus Ewoi of Kenya finished third in 4:19.84 and Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. placed fourth in 4:22.72.

Jessica Hull of Australia, the Olympic silver medalist in the 1,500, led a tightly bunched field through the first 440 yards in 64.32 seconds and past the half-mile mark in 2:09.47.

Olympic bronze medalist Hunter Bell then moved into first place heading down the backstretch for the penultimate time and she was still in the lead at the beginning of the bell lap. But her split of 3:19.51 at 1,320 yards made it clear that the last lap was going to be a quick one.

The race for first place was down to Hunter Bell, Kazimierska, and Ewoi heading into the final turn, but Kazimierska looked to be in a bit of trouble as Hunter Bell and Ewoi entered the homestretch in first and second place.

But while Hunter Bell was focused on holding off Ewoi in the home straightaway, Kazimierska began to make up ground on both of them with about 50 meters left in the race and she overtook first-place Hunter Bell with about 10 meters to go while passing her on the inside of lane one.

She ran her last lap in 59.63 seconds to cap a season in which she set two Polish records in the 1,500, with her second lowering coming in the Diamond League Final when she ran a yearly world-leading time of 3:54.05.

“I think being patient and staying on the rail the last 200 meters,” she said in a trackside interview when she was asked about the key to her victory.

Olympic champion Thomas won the 200 in 22.13 in a race in which Kayla White of the U.S. finished second in 22.40 and compatriot Battle placed third in 22.43 to match her previous finish in the 100. Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland was fourth in 22.64.

Thomas and White were expected to battle for the win after they had finished second and third, respectively, behind Jefferson-Wooden in the Ultimate Championship. But Thomas had a clear lead over second-place Adeleke and third-place White after she covered the first 100 meters of the race in 11.26.

White eventually moved into second place, but she was unable to make up much ground on Thomas, who was .18 seconds ahead of her after the opening 100 and .17 seconds in front of her when she crossed the finish line.

Tobi Amusan of Nigeria had become the favorite in the 100 hurdles when Olympic champion and unbeaten Masai Russell of the U.S. withdrew from the meet earlier in the week, but Johnson defeated Amusan when she clocked 12.50 seconds to the 12.51 of the 2022 world champion and former world record-holder in the event.

Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas finished third in 12.63, the same time that was given to two-time world champion Danielle Williams of Jamaica.

Charlton, the three-time defending world champion in the 60 hurdles indoors, got off to one of her typically great starts and had a clear lead over Amusan and Johnson after the seventh of 10 hurdles. But that duo was closing in on her by the eighth barrier and they had moved past her at the ninth.

Amusan and Johnson were basically inseparable over the final hurdle, but Johnson out leaned Amusan at the finish line.

Johnson, who had finished seventh in the Olympic Games in Paris, completed a very busy year with her victory as she ran in 18 finals in the 100 hurdles during the outdoor season after competing in nine finals in the 60 hurdles indoors.

The win on Friday was her fourth during an outdoor season in which she had 13 top three finishes and a best of 12.38.

Jones came from behind to win the long jump with a leap of 6.66 meters (21 feet 10¼ inches) in a competition in which Hilary Kpatcha of France finished second at 6.64 (21-9½) and Diamond League Final winner Monae’ Nichols of the U.S. placed third at 6.58 (21-7¼). World indoor champion Agate de Sousa of Portugal was fourth at 6.47 (21-2¾).

The long jump had a unique format in that each of the six entrants were allotted two jumps before there was a break, during which the 100 was run.

All six jumpers were then given a third — and final — attempt, even if they had fouled in the first and second rounds.

That worked out well for Jones as she went from having no mark after her first two attempts to winning the competition — and the $65,000 that went with the victory — when she spanned 6.66 (21-10¼) on her third jump.

Jones’ win capped a breakout year for her as she won her first title in the NCAA championships in June as a senior at Stanford University before posting her first win in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in July. She also improved her personal best from 6.90 (22-7¾) at the start of the year to 7.09 (23-3¼) while winning eight of the 11 outdoor meets in which she competed.

You can click here for results of the meet.

Agnes Ngetich of Kenya, one of the most versatile distance runners in the world, will be shooting for her fourth standout performance of the year when she runs in the women’s half marathon in the second World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, this weekend.

The meet will consist of elite races in the men’s and women’s mile and in the men’s and women’s five kilometers on Saturday, followed by the men’s and women’s half marathon events on Sunday.

There will also be races over each distance for what are characterized as B and C level runners, as well as mass participation events.

The elite women’s mile will start at 4:10 a.m. EDT on Saturday in the U.S., followed by the men’s race at 4:30.

The elite women’s 5k will begin at 8:10 a.m., with the men’s race starting at 8:40.

The elite women’s half marathon will begin at 3:10 a.m. EDT on Sunday, with the men’s race starting at 3:45.

The meet will be shown in the U.S. on Peacock.

The second edition of the road running championships comes three years after the inaugural event was held in Riga, Latvia, on Oct. 1 of 2023.

San Diego had originally been scheduled to host the second meet in September of last year, but it was ultimately canceled due to financial issues.

World Athletics then talked about finding an alternative site for the 2025 championships but ultimately decided not to hold the event last year and focused its attention on this year’s event which had previously been scheduled for Copenhagen.

The 25-year-old Ngetich has spread her talents across an assortment of distances this year as she has won five of the six races in which she has run, with her most notable performances coming in the World cross country championships in Tallahassee, Florida, in January, in the Urban Trail de Lille10k in Lille, France, in April, and in the 3,000 meters in the Herculis EBS Diamond League meet in Fontvieille, Monaco, in July.

She won the 10-kilometer race of the cross country championships in Tallahassee by a whopping 42 seconds and her winning time of 28:58 in Lille was the third fastest ever run over the 10-kilometer distance on the roads.

Her performance in Fontvieille was shocking to many as her 8:08.95 clocking blasted her previous best of 8:23.14 and was the third fastest in history behind the 8:06.11 world record set by Junxia Wang of China in 1993 and the 8:07.04 effort of Kenyan compatriot Faith Kipyegon last year.

Ngetich’s only loss of this year came in March when she set a hard pace early in the United Airlines NYC Half in New York City before fading badly to a 13th-place finish that left her roughly three and a half minutes behind the 1:06:33 time of winner Hellen Obiri of Kenya.

Speaking at a press conference in Copenhagen on Friday, Ngetich said that it “would be the dream, to win here. We have a big line-up and, of course, everyone wants the title, but it would be my dream to win here. If I have a medal, it will be a nice way to close the season.”

Ngetich, who sits in the No. 2 spot on the all-time world list in the half marathon with a best of 1:03:04 from 2024, could receive her biggest challenges from Tsigie Gebreselama and Ftaw Zeray of Ethiopia and from Kenyan compatriot Lilian Rengeruk.

Gebreselama has a best of 1:04:21 in the half marathon and she ran 1:04:48 in a winning effort in Lisbon, Portugal, in March.

Zeray lowered her personal best to 1:05:12 in a victory in Paris in March and she finished sixth in the half marathon in Riga in 2023.

Rengeruk is the fourth fastest woman in history in the half marathon with a best of 1:03:32 from 2024 and she also finished fifth in the 10,000 in the Olympic Games in Paris that year. In addition, she won her debut marathon in Daegu, South Korea, in February with a time of 2:19:35.

The following summaries will give you an overview of the other five races being contested in Copenhagen.

Men’s Half Marathon: Daniel Ebenyo and Nicholas Kipkorir of Kenya both had top three finishes in Riga as Ebenyo placed second in the half marathon and Kipkorir was third in the 5k. But Andreas Almgren of Sweden might be the entrant who has generated the most interest in this race as he was the bronze medalist in the 10,000 in last year’s world championships in Tokyo and he holds the European record in the 5,000 on the track with a best of 12:44.27.

He also ran 26:45 in a pair of 10k road races earlier this year and set a meet record of 27:23.44 in the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, in August when he covered the fourth through the eighth kilometer of that race in 13:13.91.

“I focused so much on the European Championships this year, so I wanted to do something completely different to feel very motivated again,” Almgren said on Friday. “This is the first stop of a very exciting autumn, so I’m really excited to go out there and road race again.”

Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda and Conner Mantz of the U.S. are two other notable entrants in the half marathon.

Cheptegei is a four-time global champion in the 10,000 on the track and the world record-holder in that race at 26:11.00 and in the 5,000 at 12:35.36. However, he has not yet been as dominant on the roads as he has a current best of 2:04:52 in the marathon and he finished 12th in 2:06:39 in the London Marathon in April.

Mantz is the North and Central American and Caribbean record-holder in the half marathon at 59:15 and in the marathon at 2:04:43.

Women’s Mile: Freweyni Hailu of Ethiopia finished second in the mile in Riga and she has accomplished plenty since then as she won world indoor titles in the 1,500 meters in 2024 and in the 3,000 in 2025 and set personal bests of 3:54.16 in the 1,500 in 2024 and 8:19.98 in the 3,000 in 2025.

Her recent exploits include a win in the 5,000 in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Sept. 4, as well as fourth-place finishes in the 1,500 and the 5,000 in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, last weekend.

Addy Wiley of the U.S., Sarah Billings of Australia, and Agathe Guillemot of France are three of the other top entrants.

Wiley is coming off a fourth-place finish in the 800 meters in the Ultimate Championship last Saturday and she placed second to Nikki Hiltz in the 1,500 in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in July. She also won the women’s race of USATF 1 Mile Road Championships in April after winning the bronze medal in the 800 in the world indoor championships in March.

Billings was the bronze medalist in the 800 in the Commonwealth Games in July and she lowered her personal best in the 1,500 to 3:56.73 when she finished seventh in the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in August.

Guillemot finished fourth in the 1,500 in the world indoor championships and set a national record of 3:56.24 in that event while placing sixth in the Skolimowska Memorial. She also led much of the 1,500 in the Ultimate Championship last Saturday before finishing eighth.

“I can’t wait to compete tomorrow,” Guillemot said during the press conference. “Finishing the season with this kind of event makes me really happy because I have this amazing opportunity to share my final race with 60,000 people. I’m hoping to leave with a medal.”

Men’s Mile: Yared Nuguse of the U.S., the Olympic bronze medalist in the 1,500 and the U.S. record-holder in the mile, will try to follow in the footsteps of compatriot Hobbs Kessler in Copenhagen, as Kessler won the mile in the inaugural road running championships in Riga.

Nuguse set a national record of 3:43.97 in the mile while finishing second to Jakob Ingebritsen of Norway (3:43.73) in the Prefontaine Classic in 2023 and he ran his season best of 3:45.69 in July while finishing second in the race in the Novuna London Athletics Meet in which Josh Kerr of Great Britain broke the 27-year-old world record with a time of 3:42.66. In addition, Nuguse finished fifth in the 1,500 in the Ultimate Championship on Sunday.

“I’m in the fitness of my life right now,” Nuguse said on Friday. “Based on how I’ve been doing, I know I’m very ready to just hammer out a really good race.”

Speaking further, he said that no matter his finish on Saturday, his passion for racing remains strong.

“Running is going to bring me joy regardless of the result. Especially here in Copenhagen, on the road, this being my last race of the season, I’m just really excited to see what I can do.”

Jake Heyward of Great Britain, Robert Farken of Germany, and Vince Ciattei of the U.S. are some of the other top entrants in the race.

Hayward set a personal best of 3:46.73 in finishing third behind Kerr and Nuguse in London and he is coming off a second-place finish in the 5th Avenue Mile in New York City on Sunday in which he ran 3:45.8 to the 3:45.0 of winner Marco Langdon of the U.S.

Farken set a German record of 3:46.82 in the mile while placing fourth in London and he also finished 11th in the 1,500 in the Ultimate Championship.

Ciattei has lowered his personal bests to 3:30.90 in the 1,500 and to 3:48.34 in the mile this year.

Women’s 5 Kilometers: Likina Amebaw of Ethiopia is looking to win her first global road running title six days after she won the 5,000 in 14:30.36 in the Ultimate Championship on Sunday.

Amebaw, who posted a yearly-world leading time of 14:18.41 in the 5,000 in the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meet in June, sped away from the field in the final two kilometers of the Ultimate Championship while covering the last 3,000 meters of the race in 8:28.00.

Aleshign Baweke of Ethiopia could be Amebaw’s biggest challenger as she finished fifth in 14:32.95 in the Ultimate Championship after she had run a personal best of 14:18.54 while placing second to Amebaw in the Golden Gala meet.

After Amebaw and Baweke, Kenyans Caroline Nyaga and Caroline Gitonga are two of the leading entrants.

Nyaga ran 14:19 on the roads last year whole moving into a tie for fourth on the all-time performer list and Gitonga is in the midst of a career-best year as she has run personal bests of 14:25 for 5 kilometers, 29:34 for 10 kilometers, and 1:06:16 for the half marathon in 2026.

Men’s 5 Kilometers: In its preview about this race, World Athletics wrote that Jimmy Gressier of France, the defending world champion in the 10,000, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, a four-time global champion in the 5,000, are set to clash over the 5-kilometer distance in Copenhagen.

However, a latter section of that preview made that match-up sound less certain when the text stated that “Should Ingebrigtsen line up in Copenhagen, it would be his third consecutive weekend of major competition – just eight days after his impressive Ultimate title win.”

What is certain about Ingebrigtsen is the following: He is a master of the 5,000 on the track as he won that event in the 2022 and ’23 world championships, in the Olympic Games in Paris, and in the Ultimate Championship last Friday.

He placed a disappointing 10th in the 5,000 in last year’s world championships, but that finish came in his only meet of a season after he had dealt with injuries for much of the year.

He has only run in five meets this season after undergoing Achilles surgery early in the year, but he has won both of the 5,000-meter races that he has run. The latest victory came in the Ultimate Championship when he clocked 12:59.24 after kicking away from a field that included defending world champion Cole Hocker of the U.S., who finished second in 13:00.05, and fellow American Parker Wolfe, who placed third in 13:00.13.

Gressier made a huge breakthrough in the world championships last year when he won the 10,000 and placed third in the 5,000, and he timed 12:51 for five kilometers on the road in Lille in April to set a European record and come within two seconds of the world record of 12:49 set by Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia in 2021. But he did not a comparable track season as he placed fourth in the 5,000 and third in the 10,000 in the European championships.

The men’s 5k appears to have the deepest field of the six elite races in Copenhagen as it will also include Addisu Yihune of Ethiopia, Maxime Chaumeton of South Africa, Narve Gilje Nordås of Norway, Egide Ntakarutimana of Burundi, and Ky Robinson of Australia.

Yihune ran 12:54 while finishing second to Gressier in Lille and he clocked what was then a yearly world-leading time of 12:47.62 in the 5,000 in the Bislett Games in Oslo in June.

Chaumeton and Nordås timed 13:06 and 13:10, respectively, while finishing fifth and seventh in Lille.

Ntakarutimana set a Burundian record of 12:46.73 when he finished second in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Sept. 5 and Robinson lowered his own Oceania record to 12:50.82 while finishing eighth in the Bislett Games.

One year after becoming the first woman since 2013 to win gold medals in the 100, 200, and 4 x 100 relay in the World Athletics Championships in the same year, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the U.S. rolled to victories in the 100 and 200 in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, last weekend.

Statistically speaking, those two wins made her the first woman ever to have won the 100 and the 200 in consecutive global championship meets since the first world championships were held in Helsinki in 1983. Prior to then, the Olympic Games, which are obviously held once every four years, was the only global title meet for the sport of track and field, or athletics as it is called in much of the world.

While some track and field purists might argue that the Ultimate Championship is not an official global title meet such as the Olympics or the World Athletics Championships, it appeared to me that the vast majority of athletes who took part in the three-day competition at the National Athletics Centre would beg to differ.

It seems obvious from their pre- and post-competition comments that they viewed the affair as a global championship event and a prize money structure in which each of the 26 individual champions were awarded an unprecedented $150,000 for their victories no doubt contributed to that outlook.

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The 25-year-old Jefferson-Wooden had not competed much this season in comparison to a year ago as she entered the Ultimate Championship with three victories in four 100-meter finals and with one win in a pair of races at twice the distance.

However, she looked razor sharp in winning the 100 in 10.62 seconds last Saturday and the 200 in 21.47 on Sunday.

Both of those times were the fastest in the world this year and the clocking in the 100 was tied for the seventh fastest ever and only a hundredth of a second off the personal best that she had set in winning the gold medal in last year’s world championships in Tokyo.

Her performance in the 200 was even more impressive as her 21.47 effort crushed her previous personal best of 21.68 from Tokyo, was the fourth fastest ever run, and moved her to third on the all-time performer list behind Florence Griffith Joyner of the U.S, who set the world record of 21.34 in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, and Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, who ran 21.41 in the 2023 world championships that were also held at the National Athletics Centre.

In case you missed them, detailed reports from each day of the Ultimate Championship were posted last week. The following links will take you to the first, second, and third day of the men’s competition, while the ensuing links will take you to the first, second, and third days of the women’s competition. Details about the mixed 4 x 100 relay are included in the day one women’s report and details about the mixed 4 x 400 relay are included in the day three women’s report.

Although Tina Clayton of Jamaica was ahead of Jefferson-Wooden early in the 100, Jefferson-Wooden beat Olympic champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia and 2023 world champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. out of the blocks and neither one of them was able to seriously challenge her for the win as Alfred finished second in 10.74 and Richardson placed third in 10.76.

Jamaicans Jonielle Smith and Clayton finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in 10.94.

“It feels amazing,” Jefferson-Wooden said in a World Athletics post. “I crossed the line with a smile on my face because only I know all the things I have done to get to this moment. When I got into the blocks today, I just told myself that this is my moment.”

Although Alfred had not entered the 200 in Budapest after lowering her personal best to 21.51 earlier this year, Jefferson-Wooden said she was looking forward to the challenge of trying to win the deuce, an event in which she would be required to run in a semifinal and final on Sunday.

“If I could win the double, it would just add to who I actually am,” she said. “I am down to do things that haven’t been done before. I am down for innovation and for challenging myself. Coming here, running four races in two days, it’s something I haven’t ever done before. I feel it is just a testament to what I am inspired to do.”

After clocking an eased up 22.15 to finish second to Thomas (21.88) in a semifinal, Jefferson-Wooden led the final from start to finish as her 21.47 clocking left her well ahead of runner-up Thomas at 21.77.

Kayla White of the U.S. finished third in 21.93 and world championship silver medalist Amy Hunt of Great Britain was fourth in 22.10.

Jefferson-Wooden had a lead of nearly a tenth of a second over second-place White after she covered her opening 100 meters in 11.03 seconds while running in lane six, but she blew the race open when she ran her final 100 in a scintillating 10.44 in the contest in which the wind reading was a negative 0.6 meters-per-second.

Thomas, whose personal best of 21.60 makes her the sixth fastest performer ever, is known for having a strong finish in the second half of her races. But she lost ground to Jefferson-Wooden in the home straightaway on Sunday as she covered the final 100 in 10.52 while running in lane eight.

“I did not see the 21.47 coming tonight!” Jefferson-Wooden said in a World Athletics post. “I told myself that I need to be smart in the semifinal and save some energy. I knew when I came out of the curve in the semifinal, it would be just enough to qualify for the final.

“I never thought that people like Usain Bolt would watch my races and even have great reactions to my performances. He said to me earlier this week how proud he is of me for making it seem so easy.”

Continuing, she said that “I told my husband that whatever happens tonight, it will happen because of him. That’s what the scream was for when I crossed the finish line. I was thinking I could run this fast in maybe two years but not tonight. I really have no words.”

Bednarek wins first global titles: Kenny Bednarek of the U.S., a sprinter who had previously been a silver medalist in the men’s 200 meters in the 2021 and ’24 Olympic Games, and in the 2022 and ’25 world championships, won both the 100 and 200 in the Ultimate Championship last week.

The 27-year-old Bednarek began his double last Saturday when he ran 9.85 seconds in the 100 while upsetting defending world champion Oblique Seville of Jamaica, who finished second in 9.90 in a race in which Ronnie Baker of the U.S. and Kayinsola Ajayi of Nigeria each ran 9.93 while finishing in third and fourth place, respectively.

He then completed his double victory on Sunday when his time of 19.52 seconds in the 200 left him well ahead of Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who finished in second place in 19.76.

Courtney Lindsey, who trains with Bednarek, placed third in 19.79 and he was followed by Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa in 19.91 and 2021 Olympic champion Andre De Grasse of Canada in 19.92.

Bednarek’s time was the fastest in the world this year, as it topped a pair of his own 19.62 efforts from earlier this season, and it also trimmed .05 seconds off his personal best of 19.57 while moving him to seventh on the all-time performer list.

After coming from behind to beat Seville in the 100, he was in front of second-place Lindsey and third-place Tebogo after covering the first 100 meters of the 200 in 10.16 seconds. He really took charge of the race early in the home straightaway while on his way to a split of 9.36 for the concluding 100.

Bednarek, who admits to having a relatively low-key personality, was stoked after winning his first two global titles and the $300,000 in prize money that came with them.

“Oh my God! I mean, it’s been a crazy few days and I’m just happy to be 300k richer,” Bednarek said to Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports. “Like I said, I got a lot to do with that, but just performance-wise and execution-wise, I give myself an A plus right now just because there’s a lot of things I’ve been trying to work on, and I put it all together today and the rest of the week.”

Motoring on: Collen Kebinatshipi of Botswana fell short of his pre-race goal in the men’s 400 meters in the Ultimate Championship on Saturday, but he concluded an unprecedented season in terms of depth when he clocked a winning 43.39 seconds that was tied for the fifth fastest effort in history and made him the No. 5 performer ever. It also gave him a huge margin of victory as Rai Benjamin of the U.S. finished second in 44.15.

Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago placed third in 44.23, followed by Chris Bailey of the U.S. in fourth in 44.27 and Olympic silver medalist Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain in fifth in 44.28.

While the victory was his seventh in eight finals this year, Kebinatshipi was hoping to better the yearly world-leading time of 43.38 that Nigerian Samuel Ogazi had run in winning the NCAA title for the University of Alabama in June.

The 22-year-old Kebinatshipi figured he would have to go out faster than usual for the opening half of the race to better Ogazi’s mark, and as a result, he led second-place Hudson-Smith by three tenths of a second when he came through 200 meters in 20.67. His advantage was nearly twice that when his split of 31.37 for 300 meters was half a second faster than when he had lowered his national record to 43.40 in the Diamond League Final in Brussels eight days earlier.

While his quick early pace caused him to slow down more in the final 100 meters than he typically does, his 43.39 effort upped his record total for sub-44 clockings to six this season and he has now run 44.00 or faster in eight of his last nine finals dating back to his 43.53 effort in the world championships last year.

“I’m proud of myself for hanging on from the start of the season to the end of it and with everything I was able to do this year,” Kebinatshipi said in a World Athletics post. “I am usually always sitting back and kicking in the last metres but today I wanted to feel what other athletes were feeling over their races, to tie up a bit in the last metres.

“I was really tired over the last meters but that was what I wanted to do and to feel; I wanted to leave everything here before I head back home.”

Ten for ten: Audrey Werro Switzerland capped a scintillating outdoor season in the women’s 800 meters when she won her tenth race of the season without a loss in the Ultimate Championship on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Werro ran 1:55.88 in a race that left her ahead of Olympic champion Kelly Hodgkinson of Great Britain in second place in 1:56.26.

Femke Broeders-Bol of the Netherlands, who had come very close to beating Werro in two of the seven times in which they had raced one another, placed third in 1:56.74 and Addy Wiley of the U.S. was fourth in 1:57.54.

“I am so happy with the race,” Werro said in a World Athletics post. “I think I’ve won every race I’ve had this year during the outdoor season. It is really crazy, but at the same time, it is something I have worked for and now I am getting the result.”

While NBC commentator Ato Boldon spoke beforehand about the possibility of the race being extremely fast, that seemed a little unrealistic at this stage of the season, particularly because the finalists had run in semifinals on Friday.

With no pacesetters in the race, Werro, Broeders-Bol, and Hodgkinson were running 1-2-3 after the first 200 meters of the contest and that was still the case when Werro came through the opening lap in 57.84 seconds and when she was credited with a split of 1:27.58 at 600 meters.

Hodgkinson, who had set a world short track record of 1:54.87 in February, moved past Broeders-Bol during the final turn. But Werro had a solid lead when she entered the home straightaway and though Hodgkinson made up some ground on her during the first 60 or so meters of the homestretch, Werro ran the final 100 meters of the race slightly faster than the Brit while beating her for the third time during the outdoor season.

Werro’s win came during an outdoor campaign in which she ran the third fastest time in history at 1:53.70, as well as the fourth quickest at 1:53.80 and the fifth fastest at 1:53.98.

Furthermore, she is the first woman to have ever run under 1:54 more than once in a year, as well as in a career, and she ran under 1:55 an unprecedented six times.

In a post-race interview with Lewis Johnson of NBC, Werro said that at the beginning of the race she did not have a specific strategy in mind.

“I was just running and seeing how everything goes,” she explained, “and then I just decided to be in the front and to run faster and faster every 100 meters because I know that I’m the best with this tactic. So I just decided to be in the front, but at the same time, to control the race behind me, so I was always looking a little bit behind me, and yeah, it was a great tactic for the day.”

Clearly the best: Josh Kerr of Great Britain, the man who lowered the world record in the mile to 3:42.66 in July and ran away with the mile title in the Commonwealth Games in August, defeated a stellar field in winning the 1,500 meters in the Ultimate Championship on Sunday.

Kerr’s time of 3:29.35 came in a race in which 20-year-old Cam Myers of Australia finished second in 3:29.68. The next three finishers were a tightly packed trio of Americans as Hobbs Kessler finished third in 3:30.73, Olympic champion Cole Hocker placed fourth in 3:30.74, and Olympic bronze medalist Yared Nuguse was fifth in 3:30.75.

With no pacesetters in the race, Robert Farken of Germany led the field through the first 400 in 57.09 seconds and the opening 800 in 1:55.29.

Nuguse had moved to the front shortly after that and his closest pursuers were Kerr, Farken, and Myers when he went through 1,200 meters in 2:49.91.

The 28-year-old Kerr surged into the lead heading down the backstretch and the runners closest to him as he entered the final turn were Myers, Nuguse, Kessler, and Azeddine Habz of France. However, it was a two-runner battle for first place between him and Myers entering the home straightaway and the young Australian was unable to seriously threaten the 28-year-old Scot.

Myers has arguably been the second-best performer in the world this year in the 1,500 and mile as he has set Oceania records of 3:28.00 in the former and 3:46.06 in the latter, but he could not match Kerr during the closing stages of the race as the Scotsman ran his final 100 in 12.99 seconds, his last 200 in 26.02, and his concluding 400 in 52.57. He also covered the final 800 meters in 1:47.79.

“I ran the perfect race,” Myers said in a World Athletics post. “I thought with 200 to go that I was going to win and that is an exciting feeling. Josh was just too strong today and that shows why is a world record-holder.”

Kerr, the 2023 world champion in the 1,500, said that his light racing schedule this year had him put him in an advantageous position entering the meet in which there were no qualifying heats.

“I didn’t race a lot this season so I kind of came here fresh and ready to go,” he said. “Cameron is an awesome athlete, he was pushing a lot but I managed to look at the screen and see what the gap was.”

Another global title for Ingebrigtsen: Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway is probably best known for the slew of fast times he has run in the 1,500 meters and the mile during his career, but he is a master of winning tactical races at 5,000 meters.

The latest example of that came in the Ultimate Championship last Friday when he outran everyone in the home straightaway of the 5,000 while winning his fourth global title in the last five years with a time of 12:59.24.

Defending world champion Cole Hocker of the U.S. was second in 13:00.05, followed by teammate Parker Wolfe in 13:00.13, 19-year-old Ethiopian Biniam Mehary in 13:00.24, and the American trio of Nico Young, Grant Fisher, and Graham Blanks in 13:00.26, 13:00.34, and 13:00.40, respectively.

Ingebrigtsen, who had undergone Achilles surgery early in the year, had run his first race of the season when he won the 5,000 in the European championships on Aug. 10. But he had finished fourth, fifth, and fourth, respectively, in three races in the 1,500 since then.

He had dropped from first to fourth in the final 100 meters of the Diamond League Final in Brussels a week before he ran in Budapest. But the 2021 Olympic 1,500 champion went from fifth place at the start of the bell lap to fourth heading into the final turn to second approaching the home straightaway of the 5,000 in the Ultimate Championship before he overtook Wolfe.

His surge into the lead was decisive as the race for first place was over in a hurry and he ended up finishing six or seven meters ahead of Hocker, who had used a big kick in winning the 5,000 in last year’s world championships.

Ingebrigtsen’s closing splits were impressive as he ran the last lap in 54.39 seconds, the final 200 in 26.07, and the closing 100 in 12.60.

“I haven’t run too many 5,000 races this year, or too many races at all, so I was a bit nervous,” Ingebrigtsen said in a World Athletics post. “Not many weeks ago I was telling my team the 2026 season is far gone, but then it started to get a little bit better, Eventually, I got my momentum going. I have gained a lot from the races in the last couple of weeks and I was running smoother and smoother.

“Being injured, I was fearing the worst outcome and did not know if I would be able to run at all, especially at this level. This is amazing, I am extremely happy.”

Another sub-46 effort: Alison dos Santos of Brazil ran the third fastest time in history in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles in the Ultimate Championship on Sunday when his 45.98 clocking left him ahead of second-place Rai Benjamin of the U.S. in 46.40, third-place Karsten Warholm of Norway in 46.78, and fourth-place Emil Egyekum of Germany in a national record of 47.10.

The 26-year-old dos Santos had shocked the track and field world when he lowered the world record from 45.94 to 45.80 in the Weltklasse Diamond League meet in Zurich on Aug. 27 after entering that race with a personal best of 46.29. But his performance in Budapest should have put to rest any talk that his race in Zurich was a fluke.

Although Benjamin was doubling back from a second-place finish in the 400 on Saturday, he basically ran stride for stride with dos Santos through the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight flights of hurdles in the intermediates on Sunday before the Brazilian took a small lead at the ninth set of barriers before pulling away further after the 10th.

“I thought I had it,” Benjamin said to Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports after running the sixth fastest time ever and the third quickest of his career. But I “clipped hurdle nine a little bit” and that ultimately contributed to his second-place finish. As he said, “You just can’t make mistakes.”

The victory capped an undefeated season for dos Santos, one in which he ran the first-, third-, ninth-, and 12th-fastest times in history.

“I opened the (World Athletics) app and I saw a post on the main page saying I had something like a 95 percent chance of winning,” dos Santos said in a World Athletics post. “I thought, ‘Wow, that is pretty high.’ So I just wanted to go out there and run as fast as I could.

He then spoke about the difference between running on the Diamond League circuit and running in a championship meet.

“Running fast is important but winning is more important. I knew that everybody would give their best and fight all the way to the line and I knew coming off the eighth hurdle into the final part of the race it was going to be a real battle.”

Costly mistake: Cordell Tinch of the U.S. came ooh so close to winning his second consecutive global title in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles in the Ultimate Championship last Friday when he finished a hundredth of a second behind winner Ja’Kobe Tharp.

The 26-year-old Tinch was in the lead after he had cleared the 10th — and final — hurdle of the race, but he made a tactical blunder when he did not lean as he crossed the finish line while running in lane three. In contrast, Tharp employed an exaggerated lean while he ran in lane seven and that gave him a time of 12.94 in the race in which Tinch ran 12.95, followed by compatriots Bradley Franklin in 13.01 and Trey Cunningham in 13.08.

Tinch was so confident he had won that he immediately began celebrating after he crossed the finish line. However, it was the 20-year-old Tharp who soon burst into a wide smile when an examination of the photo finish determined that he had finished first while running under 13 seconds for the sixth time this season after starting the year with a personal best of 13.01.

“It sounds strange to be the NCAA champion only and then win the Ultimate Championship, but my coach and I wanted to come out here and get the win – and I did it by a lean,” Tharp said in a World Athletics post. “If I had lost this race, it would have been the only championship that I have lost this year. I ran as hard as I could from the last hurdle to the finish line to get my way.

“Right now, I am much more excited for my future in athletics, even though I’m still going to classes. Can you believe I did my homework this morning? It was geography, English, the boring stuff. I had much more fun here!”

Unprecedented season: Ja’Kobe Tharp of the U.S. is one of a record six men — all of whom are from the U.S. — who combined to run under 13 seconds in the 110-meter high hurdles an unprecedented 13 occasions this year.

While Tharp accomplished that feat six times, Jamal Britt did it four times, with Kendrick Smallwood, 2025 World champion Cordell Tinch, Trey Cunningham, and Bradley Franklin each doing it once.

Smallwood capped his junior year at the University of Texas when he finished second to Tharp, who ran 12.90, in the final of the NCAA championships.

Franklin, who finished fifth in the NCAA meet as a sophomore at Samford University, ran 12.99 while winning the second semifinal of the Ultimate Championship before finishing third in the final in 13.01.

The previous high for sub-13 clockings in a season had occurred in 2012 when three men had combined to do that 11 times.

Aries Merritt of the U.S. had produced a record eight sub-13 efforts that year, with his top time of 12.80 having lowered the world record of 12.87 that had been set by Dayron Robles of Cuba in 2008.

Dominance continues: Masai Russell of the U.S. extended her monster season in the women’s 100-meter hurdles when she won that event in the Ultimate Championship last Friday.

The reigning Olympic champion timed 12.22 seconds while winning her 12th final of the season without a loss and finishing comfortably ahead of second-place Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, who ran 12.34.

European champion Nadine Visser of the Netherlands finished third in 12.39 and she was followed by Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas in 12.40 and Megan Simmonds of Jamaica in 12.42.

Russell’s time was tied for the 12th fastest in history and it was the equal-seventh fastest of her career.

Paced by her world record of 12.09 that she set in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on Aug. 27, she has now run four of the top six times ever and eight of the top 13.

She has won 13 consecutive races since finishing fourth in 12.44 in last year’s world championships in Tokyo and she told Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports that the disappointment of that performance had served as a wake-up call for her as she had set a U.S. record of 12.17 earlier in the season.

“Yeah, it’s everything I dreamed of and more,” she said when asked about her latest victory. “You know, like coming fourth last year in Tokyo, I was like, ‘Something has to change.’ You know, I got so much talent. I work hard. I do all the things. So it’s just like the only person that’s stopping me is me … So yeah, I’m just blessed. Like to have all these accolades by my name now in such a short amount of time, it’s just a testament … to the hard work, the grind.

“I feel like my hard work has just compounded. So that’s what we’re seeing now.”

To the surprise of no one, Charlton, one of Russell’s training partners, beat everyone to the first hurdle in the final on Friday and she was still in the lead after the seventh of 10 barriers. But the 26-year-old Russell was beginning to close in on her at that point and she zipped past Charlton when the three-time defending world champion in the 60 hurdles hit the eighth hurdle.

Amusan, the 2022 world outdoor champion, and Visser eventually passed Charlton, but neither of them made a serious run at Russell, who has now run the five fastest times in the world this year and nine of the top 10.

Her consistency has been unprecedented in the event as her top nine times this season have been 12.09, 12.14, 12.20, 12.22, 12.22, 12.24, 12.25, 12.26, and 12.27.

“I didn’t even know where I was at in the race. I’m not gonna lie,” Russell said when Johnson asked her about big close in the latter stages of the contest. “I gotta look back at it. I think that whenever I feel people, like my instinct is just to win … at all costs and get to the line first.”

Great stretch run: In terms of world records set, 2026 was not a stellar year for Mondo Duplantis of Sweden as he had a single world-record clearance after producing a trio of global bests in 2024 and four of them last year.

However, he closed this season with a rush as he cleared 6.15 meters (20 feet 2 inches) or higher in five consecutive meets and he made 6.20 (20-4) or higher in his last four competitions, two things that he had never done during a career in which he has set 15 world records, won two Olympic gold medals, three world outdoor championships, and four world indoor titles.

His latest victory came on the first day of the Ultimate Championship last Friday when he cleared 6.20 (20-4) in a competition in which Manolo Karalis of Greece finished second at 6.15 (20-2) and Sondre Guttormsen of Norway placed third at 5.95 (19-6½) after clearing that height on his first attempt.

Kurtis Marschall of Australia and Zach Bradford of the U.S. each made 5.95 (19-6½) on their second attempts, with Marshall finishing fourth ahead of Bradford because he had fewer total misses during the competition.

The 26-year-old Duplantis had pulled out of the Diamond League Final a week earlier because of what was described a muscle tightness in one of his legs, but he showed no ill effects of that in Budapest as he cleared 5.60 (18-4½), 5.80 (19-¼), 5.95 (19-6¼), 6.05 (19-10¼), 6.15 (20-2), and 6.20 (20-4) on his first attempts.

Karalis had also made 6.15 (20-2) on his first try, but he was in second place in the standings because he had needed three attempts to make 6.05 (19-10¼).

After missing his first attempt at 6.20 (20-4), he passed to 6.25 (20-6), and when he was unsuccessful on his two remaining tries that height, Duplantis had the bar raised to a world record height of 6.32 (20-8¾).

Although he missed all three of his tries at that bar, his third attempt was relatively close and he has now cleared 6.20 (20-4) or higher in 16 meets during his illustrious career. Karalis is the only other man to have done that once.

“I approached this event with a lot of nerves and excitement,” Duplantis said in a World Athletics post. “This was a missing piece for me, to become the Ultimate champion.

“With Manolo, I just want to give a huge shout-out to him and his team, and give a big hats-off for what they accomplished throughout this year. Pole vault is always the most exciting event out there but it is totally different now.”

Long time coming: Sandi Morris of the U.S. won her first outdoor global title in the women’s pole vault last Saturday when she cleared 4.90 (16-¾) on her second attempt and compatriot Hana Moll made it on her third.

Morris’s victory came about after she had made a decision to pass at 4.85 (15-11) because she was in fifth place in the standings — behind Moll, Angelica Moser of Switzerland, and New Zealand’s Imogen Ayris and Eliza McCartney — after she had needed three attempts to make 4.80 (15-9).

The 34-year-old Morris later said in a World Athletics post that her decision to pass at 4.85 (15-11) was based on two factors.

One was she figured a vault of 4.90 (16-¾) was going to be needed to win the competition.

The second was she felt like her successful clearance at 4.80 (15-11) had come on a vault that was equivalent to a make at 4.90 (16-¾).

“I decided to risk it for the biscuit,” Morris said. “All I needed to do was that same jump at 4.90 so I waited, gathered my energy and I knew I had the height. I was like ‘forget 4.85, that’s not going to win, so I’m going to jump 4.90.’ I had to battle really hard for that title.”

After Imogen and McCartney missed three times at 4.85 (15-11), Moll, Moser, and Morris each missed their first attempts at 4.90 (16-¾). But Morris took the lead when she made that height on her second try and Moll and Moser both missed.

Although Diamond League Final champion Moll made that height on her third attempt and Moser missed, Morris won the event when neither she nor Moll could clear the next height of 4.95 (16-2¾).

While Moll, who was jumping ahead of Morris in the vaulting order, missed all three of her attempts at what would have been a personal best for her, Morris missed twice at 4.95 (16-2¾) before passing to 5.00 (16-4¾), a height at which she missed her single remaining attempt.

Morris’ victory came after the two-time world indoor champion had been the runner-up outdoors in the 2016 Olympic Games, as well as in the world championships in 2017, ’19, ’22, and ’25.

In an Instagram post, the following text ran with a video of Morris’ winning vault: When your moment calls, YOU ANSWER. 📞 Ultimate World Champ 😭🫶🏻🍻 🏆 #AWAC #Polevault #NEVERGIVEUP ✨

Impressive streak ends: While Sandi Morris of the U.S. won her first global outdoor title in the women’s pole vault in the Ultimate Championship on Saturday, compatriot Katie Moon had a superb run of success come to an end when she finished in sixth place at 4.70 (15-5).

The 35-year-old Moon had previously won outright titles in the 2021 Olympic Games and in the 2022 and ’25 world championships, tied for first with Nina Kennedy of Australia in the 2023 global championships, and placed second to Kennedy in the 2024 Olympics.

Clutch jumping: After finishing sixth in his first two meets of the season in July, Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy won the fourth world title of his career in the men’s high jump when he cleared a yearly world-leading height of 2.37 (7-9¼) in the Ultimate Championship on Sunday.

JuVaughn Harrison of the U.S. finished second at 2.30 (7-6) and Erick Portillo of Mexico placed third at 2.26 (7-5). World indoor champion Oleh Doroshchuk of Ukraine and Romaine Beckford of Jamaica also cleared 2.26 (7-5), but they needed two attempts to make that height while Portillo made it on his first.

Doroshchuk placed fourth in the standings ahead of Beckford because he had fewer total misses in the competition.

Tamberi, the co-champion in the Olympic Games in 2021, had been hampered by injuries and illnesses for much of 2024 and all of last year. But he had won his third consecutive European title in August when he cleared what was then a season best of 2.32 (7-7¼) and his victory in Budapest was his fourth in his last five competitions.

After clearing 2.22 (7-3¼) and 2.26 (7-5) on his first attempts, he needed two tries to make 2.30 (7-6½). But he was still in first place because second-place Harrison had needed all three of his attempts to make that bar.

The 34-year-old Tamberi then took charge of the competition with first-attempt clearances at 2.33 (7-7¾) and 2.35 (7-8½) and a second-attempt make at 2.37 (7-9¼).

After missing his first attempt at 2.33 (7-7¾), Harrison passed to 2.35 (7-8½), and after missing that height on his first try, he passed to 2.37 (7-9¼), the bar at which his competition ended when he missed his one remaining attempt.

Tamberi then passed at 2.39 (7-10), a height that would have tied his personal that he set in 2016, before he missed three times at 2.41 (7-10¾).

Tamberi, who is one of the great showmen in the sport of track and field, had the crowd’s rapt attention as he kept making height after height in the same stadium in which he won the world outdoor title in 2023.

“It was an amazing night,” he said in a World Athletics post. “I came here with great memories from the world championships in 2023 so I was looking forward to competing here knowing that it is an amazing place to jump.

“I started the season probably 14th in the world rankings, so this really was a comeback. My career was very tough because, if I look at the ups and downs, I cannot even say which one was the most difficult to come back from. After I was not able to get in the final in Tokyo last year, people started to say that it’s my time to retire – it was difficult to hear and to struggle against all these feelings. Finally, I’m here with 2.37. Now I can say to everyone: ‘Never stop believing in your dreams, never put a limit on yourself.’”

Clutch throw: Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan won her third world title in the last four years when she raised her national record in the women’s javelin to 68.92 (226-1) in the Ultimate Championship last Saturday.

That effort gave her an upset victory over previously undefeated Yan Ziyi of China, who finished second at 68.05 (223-3). Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado of Colombia placed third at 64.84 (212-8) and Mackenzie Little of Australia was fourth at 63.37 (207-11).

The 18-year-old Yan had taken the lead with a throw of 68.05 (223-3) in the first round, but she appeared to have sustained a foot or ankle injury on her second throw that traveled 63.95 (209-9) and she retired from the competition after that.

Kitaguchi, the 2023 world and 2024 Olympic champion, had a throw of 61.15 (200-7) in the first round, but her 68.92 (226-1) effort in the second put her in the lead before she fouled on her last two attempts.

Kitaguchi had been hampered by injuries last year and she was eliminated in the qualifying round of the world championships in Tokyo, but her 68.92 (226-1) mark in Budapest bettered her previous national record of 67.38 (221-0) that she had set in 2023 and it moved her into a tie for 10th on the all-time performer list.

“The competition was very hard as the girls have been throwing far this season,” Kitaguchi said in a World Athletics post. “I dream and believe I have a chance every competition, and I threw a national record today to win the Ultimate title and it feels wonderful. It has just been an amazing day.”

The 28-year-old performer then added that after throwing 61.15 (200-7) in the first round “my coach told me to keep my concentration and to keep the javelin straight, and that, if I did so, I could throw far.”

Looking ahead: Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic and Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland will be shooting to complete a unique triple when they compete in the ATHLOS London 2026 women’s track and field event at StoneX Stadium on Friday.

The meet will be the first ATHLOS meet to be held outside of the U.S. after the first two meets were held in New York City in 2024 and last year. Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island had been scheduled to host another meet on Oct. 2 of this year, but it was recently canceled after meet founder Alex Ohanian said in a social media post that he had received plenty of feedback stating that it was going to be difficult for athletes to put forth high-quality performances in early October at the end of a long season.

The London meet is scheduled to consist of fields of six women in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters, the mile, 100 hurdles, and long jump.

The 100 hurdles will kick off the proceedings at 2:08 p.m. EDT in the U.S., with the 200 scheduled to conclude the competition at 4:11.

Olympic champion Paulino is undefeated this year and a victory on Friday would follow her wins in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on Sept. 5 and in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest last Saturday.

Kazimierska had been beaten in five of her first seven races of the outdoor season in the 1,500 or mile, but she won the 1,500 in both the Diamond League Final and the Ultimate Championship.

The women’s mile could be the deepest field in the meet as it is scheduled to also include Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain, Nikki Hiltz of the U.S., and Dorcus Ewoi of Kenya, who placed second, third, and fifth, respectively, in the 1,500 in the Ultimate Championship.

The race is also expected to include Jessica Hull of Australia and Birke Haylom of Ethiopia, who had disappointing finishes in Budapest.

Hull was the Olympic silver medalist in Paris in 2024 and she placed third in the world championships last year.

Haylom ran 3:55.56 in the 1,500 in May and she has a personal best of 3:53.22 that she set in 2024.

Olympic champions Gabby Thomas of the U.S. and Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain are the top entrants in the 200 and 800, respectively, with 2023 world champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the U.S. leading the field in the 100 and 2022 world champion Tobi Amusan of Nigeria doing likewise in the 100 hurdles.

Unfortunately, Olympic champion and world record-holder Masai Russell of the U.S. was a late withdrawal from the 100 hurdles.

Diamond League Final winner Monae’ Nichols of the U.S. tops the list of entrants in the long jump.

The meet will be televised and streamed in the U.S. on ESPN+, starting at 2 p.m. EDT.

World Athletics would have been hard pressed to come up with a better finish to its inaugural Ultimate Championship meet in Budapest, Hungary, on Sunday than what Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the U.S. did in the women’s 200 meters.

Running in the final race of the three-day meet in which the winners of each of the 26 individual events were awarded $150,000 in prize money, Jefferson-Wooden gave the 38-year-old world record in the deuce a little bit of a scare when she won the event in 21.47 seconds while competing before a packed house at the National Athletics Centre.

Jefferson-Wooden’s time was the fourth fastest ever and moved her to third on the all-time performer list behind the late Florence Griffith Joyner of the U.S., who ran 21.34 in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, and Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, who clocked 21.41 in winning the 2023 world championships, which were also held in the National Athletics Centre.

Jefferson-Wooden’s effort crushed her previous personal best of 21.68 that she had run in winning last year’s world championships in Tokyo and it came a day after she had turned in a decisive victory in winning the 100 in a yearly world-leading time of 10.62 that was only a hundredth of a second off her personal best.

Last, but not least, she finished three tenths of a second in front of Olympic champion Gabby Thomas of the U.S., who finished second in 21.77.

Compatriot Kayla White placed third in 21.93, followed by world championship silver medalist Amy Hunt of Great Britain in 22.10 and Ashanti Moore of Jamaica in 22.34.

Jefferson-Wooden had a look of utter disbelief on her face when her time flashed across a video board on the infield of the track.

“I did not see the 21.47 coming tonight!” she said in a World Athletics post. “I told myself that I need to be smart in the semifinal and save some energy. I knew when I came out of the curve in the semifinal, it would be just enough to qualify for the final.

“I never thought that people like Usain Bolt would watch my races and even have great reactions to my performances. He said to me earlier this week how proud he is of me for making it seem so easy.”

Continuing, she said that “I told my husband that whatever happens tonight, it will happen because of him. That’s what the scream was for when I crossed the finish line. I was thinking I could run this fast in maybe two years but not tonight. I really have no words.”

With the top four finishers in each of two semifinals advancing to the final later in the evening on Sunday, Thomas had surprised many when she put forth a fairly hard effort in winning the first heat in 21.88 while Jefferson-Wooden finished second in 22.15 and White placed third in 22.28.

However, it was all Jefferson-Wooden from the get-go in the final as she ran her opening 100 meters in 11.03 seconds while running in lane six before covering the second 100 in 10.44 in a race in which the wind reading was a negative 0.6 meters-per-second.

White was in second place when she ran the opening 100 in 11.12, and Hunt and Thomas followed in 11.20 and 11.25, respectively.

The 25-year-old Jefferson-Wooden had actually run a faster opening 100 of a 200 earlier this year when she produced a split of 10.96 in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in New York City in July. But she had run 10.73 for her second 100 of that race to finish in 21.69.

Thomas, whose personal best of 21.60 makes her the sixth fastest performer ever, is known for having a strong finish in the second half of her races, but she lost ground to Jefferson-Wooden in the home straightaway on Sunday as she covered the final 100 in 10.52 while running in lane eight.

“Shocked the heck out of me,” Jefferson-Wooden said in an msn.com post. “Honestly, I wanted to PB. I was thinking, like, 21.6-low, 21.5. But I skipped all over 21.5 and went 21.4. I did not know 21.4 was in the scope of things tonight.”

Jefferson-Wooden was one of four women who won individual titles on the final day of the meet.

The others were Jasmine Jones of the U.S. in the 400 hurdles, Likina Amebaw of Ethiopia in the 5,000, and Saly Sarr of Senegal in the triple jump.

A U.S. team of Chris Bailey, Alexis Holmes, Jacory Patterson, and Aaliyah Butler also won the mixed 4 x 400 relay.

Jones had been the silver medalist behind Femke Bol of the Netherlands in the 400 hurdles in last year world championships, but she had not had an overwhelming season heading in the Ultimate Championship, as she had finished sixth, third, and sixth, respectively, in her three Diamond League races.

But she lowered her season best to 52.77 in winning her semifinal on Saturday before winning the final in 52.45 while finishing ahead of second-place Emma Zapletalová of Slovakia in 52.68, third-place Anna Cockrell of the U.S. in 53.09, fourth-place Dalilah Muhammad of the U.S. in 53.11, and fifth-place Sanique Walker of Jamaica in a personal best of 53.61.

Zapletalová and Cockrell were regarded as co-favorites before the final and they were in lanes six and seven, respectively, after they had won a combined seven Diamond League races during the season.

Cockrell was in first place through the first three 100-meters segments of the race. But the 24-year-old Jones, running in lane five, was in fourth place after 200 meters and she had moved into third behind Cockrell and Zapletalová after 300.

She had taken the lead by the ninth hurdle and though her advantage had increased over second-place Zapletalová after she had first cleared the 10th barrier, the Slovak made up some ground on her in the final 20 meters of the race.

“This is wild and I didn’t see that coming,” Jones said in a World Athletics post. “Coming off Dalilah’s last race, she inspired me so much growing up as a 400 hurdler. Having Dalilah and Emma, who has had such a breakout season, alongside me and competing with them in this brand new championship was so much fun.”

The 36-year-old Muhammad had said that Sunday’s race would be the final competition of her career that included gold medals in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2019 world championships in Doha, Qatar, as well as silver medals in the 2015 world championships in Moscow and the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.

She also set a pair of world records in 2019, with her second lowering coming in the world championship final when her 52.16 clocking edged runner-up teammate Sydney McLaughlin, who ran 52.23 at the age of 20.

“It never really hits you until you finish your career and see what you have accomplished,” Muhammad said in a World Athletics post. “I had a really blessed career and I’m really grateful for it.”

Amebaw won the 5,000 in 14:30.36 after she had taken over the lead about halfway through the race.

Jessica Hull of Australia finished second in a personal best of 14:32.39 and she was followed by the Ethiopian trio of Fantaye Belayneh in 14:32.62, Freweyni Hailu in 14:32.95, and Aleshign Baweke in 14:32.95.

After Maureen Koster of the Netherlands led the field through the first kilometer in 3:00.64 and past two kilometers in 6:00.63, Amebaw moved into first place shortly after six laps and led a lead pack of 10 women when she came through three kilometers in 8:51.70.

Her lead had grown to more than 20 meters at 3,600 meters and she was more than six seconds ahead of Belayneh when she came through 4,000 meters in 11:38.45 after having run the previous kilometer in 2:46.75.

Her lead continued to grow and she was nearly nine seconds ahead of second-place Hailu at the start of the bell lap before she finished just over two seconds in front of Hull.

While Hull and other members of the chase pack made up a lot of ground on the 28-year-old Amebaw during the last lap, a lot of that seemed to have occurred because Amebaw was slowing down because she knew she had the race won.

Despite that, she still covered the final 3,000 meters of the race in a notable 8:28.00.

“I’m very happy to become the Ultimate champion,” Amebaw said in a World Athletics post. “I was thinking I do not have too much of a sprint, so I was thinking halfway through the race that I’ve got to push.”

Sarr just missed her Senegalese record in the triple jump when her top mark of 15.06 meters (49 feet 5 inches) was two centimeters longer that the 15.04 (49-4¼) effort of Davidleydi Velazco of Cuba.

Defending world champion Leyanis Pérez Hernández of Cuba finished third at 14.90 (48-10¾) and she was followed by Olympic champion Thea LaFond of Dominica at 14.47 (47-5¾).

The 23-year-old Sarr, who had set a Senegalese record of 15.08 (49-5 ¾) last month, bounded her winning jump of 15.06 (49-5) on her first attempt before fouling on her second and recording marks of 14.92 (48-11½) and 14.83 (48-8) in the final two rounds.

Velazco produced her top mark of 15.04 (49-4¼) in the third round and she also had jumps of 14.83 (48-8) in the first round and 14.44 (47-4½) in the fourth.

“It really means a lot to win and become the Ultimate champion,” Sarr said in a World Athletics post. “I am really happy, really emotional and truly satisfied. We will keep working, keep winning and prepare ourselves for other goals in the future. There’s no holidays, it’s just back to work.”

The U.S. won the mixed 4 x 400 relay in 3:08.32 after being pushed by the Netherlands for the first three legs of the race. Great Britain eventually finished second in 3:09.40 and the Netherlands, whose team did not include Femke Bol, placed third in 3:09.57.

Belgium finished fourth in 3:10.85, followed by Norway in fifth in 3:11.31, and Jamaica in sixth in 3:11.46.

The time by the U.S. foursome was the No. 7 performance in history in the event that has been contested at the international championship level since the 2019 world championships.

Bailey, who had finished fourth in the men’s 400 on Saturday, was credited with a split of 44.73 on his opening leg on Sunday and it gave the U.S. a small lead over the Netherlands at the first exchange. And even Holmes ran a very respectable 49.51 for her second leg, Lieke Klaver’s 49.37 split for the Netherlands left her team a scant .08 seconds behind at the second exchange.

Patterson’s 44.61 carry on the third leg picked up three tenths of a second on the Netherlands and Butler capped the U.S. effort with a 49.47 anchor leg.

“The atmosphere with this team was so good,” Holmes said in a World Athletics post. “Whenever the USA puts a team together, they put together a group they trust, people with the character to go out there and make it happen, and that is what we had today.”

You can click here for complete results of the meet.

I do not know what will happen in the world of marathon running during the final three and a half months of this year. But as of right now, Alison dos Santos would be my pick for the male track and field athlete of 2026.

The 6-foot-7 Brazilian is currently one of five men who have set a world record this year in an event that is contested at the global championship level. But two of those individuals have each been beaten in a pair of meets and another two have competed sparingly.

Dos Santos is the only one of the five who has an undefeated record while regularly taking on the best performers in the world in his specialty, the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.

His eighth and final win of the season occurred on Sunday when he capped a phenomenal year by winning the intermediates in 45.98 seconds on the final day of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary.

The time by the 26-year-old dos Santos at the National Athletics Centre was the third-fastest in history and it came about two and half weeks after he had shocked a multitude of fans by lowering the world record from 45.94 to 45.80 in the Weltklasse Diamond League meet in Zurich.

It also showed me that his 45.80 performance does not appear to have been a case of him running a perfect race, one that he will be unable to replicate or better in the future. Furthermore, there was a competitor in the race in Budapest who appears fully capable of becoming the third member of the sub-46 club.

That competitor is Rai Benjamin of the U.S., who won the intermediate hurdles in the Olympic Games in 2024 and in the world championships last year before spending most of this season focusing on improving his already impressive speed in the 400.

Not long after lowering his personal best in the 400 to 43.83 in the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzów, Poland, on Aug. 23, Benjamin began to consider competing in the both the 400 and the intermediate hurdles in the Ultimate Championship.

Doing so required him to run two semifinals and two finals in a period of roughly 48 hours. But he managed to finish second in the final of the 400 with a 44.15 clocking on Saturday before qualifying for the final of intermediate hurdles less than two hours later and then placing second in the event on Sunday with a time of 46.40 that was the eighth fastest in history, as well as the third-fastest of his career.

After dos Santos and Benjamin, former world record-holder Karsten Warholm of Norway finished third in 46.78 in a race in which Emil Agyekum of Germany placed fourth in 47.10 to better his previous national record of 47.45 and move into a tie for ninth of the all-time performer list.

“I’ve been to a similar situation where I was running hurdles and flats,” dos Santos said when Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports asked him about Benjamin’s double. “So I knew he’d get to the final ready. I know the shape that he is in right now, and I know the athlete he is because nobody likes to lose, and I knew he would be ready to run. He would follow us into the eighth hurdle … And I’m happy like everybody’s able to show up. I run 45, he runs like 46 something and Karsten also runs 46. And we’re just proving that we’re in the best event right now, in my opinion, because we keep delivering again and again and again.”

One could argue that Benjamin did more than just follow dos Santos and Warholm to the eighth of 10 hurdles in the race, for he appeared to have basically been running stride for stride with dos Santos — and ahead of Warholm — when he cleared the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth barriers of the race.

Dos Santos had taken a small lead at the ninth hurdle and it had grown a little as he cleared the tenth — and final — barrier of the race with 40 meters remaining.

His winning performance made him the first man to have run under 46 seconds twice during a career — or season for that matter — and it concluded a campaign in which dos Santos ran the first-, third-, ninth-, and 12^th-fastest times in the history of the event.

“I opened the (World Athletics) app and I saw a post on the main page saying I had something like a 95 percent chance of winning,” dos Santos said in a World Athletics post. “I thought, ‘Wow, that is pretty high.’ So I just wanted to go out there and run as fast as I could.

He then spoke about the difference between running on the Diamond League circuit and competing in a championship meet.

“Running fast is important but winning is more important. I knew that everybody would give their best and fight all the way to the line and I knew coming off the eighth hurdle into the final part of the race it was going to be a real battle.”

For his part, Benjamin told Johnson of NBC Sports that he “impressed” himself with his performance in the intermediate hurdles.

He added that “I thought I had it,” but said he “clipped hurdle nine a little bit” and that played a part in his second-place finish. As he said, “You just can’t make mistakes.”

In addition to dos Santos, five other men earned $150,000 in prize money for winning their respective events on Sunday.

Those men were Kenny Bednarek of the U.S. in the 200, Josh Kerr of Great Britain in the 1,500, Djamel Sedjati of Algeria in the 800, Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy in the high jump, and Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage of Sri Lanka in the javelin.

Bednarek’s win completed a sprint double for the American as he had upset defending world champion Oblique Seville of Jamaica in the 100 on Saturday before dominating the 200 as the favorite.

His winning time of 19.52 in the final had followed a 19.86 clocking in a semifinal earlier in the evening and it left him well ahead of Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who finished second in 19.76.

Courtney Lindsey, who trains with Bednarek, placed third in 1979 and he was followed by Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa in 19.91 and 2021 Olympic champion Andre De Grasse of Canada in 19.92.

The winning time by the 27-year-old Bednarek was the fastest in the world this year and bettered a pair of 19.62 efforts on his behalf. It also trimmed .05 seconds off his personal best of 19.57 that he had run in 2024 and moved him to seventh on the all-time performer list while making him the fourth fastest American ever.

Bednarek was in front of second-place Lindsey and third-place Tebogo after covering the first 100 meters of the race in 10.16 seconds, but he really took charge of things in the first 30 or so meters of the home straightaway while on his way to a split of 9.36 for the concluding 100.

“Oh my God! I mean, it’s been a crazy few days and I’m just happy to be 300k richer,” Bednarek said to Johnson. “Like I said, I got a lot to do with that, but just performance-wise and execution-wise, I give myself an A plus right now just because there’s a lot of things I’ve been trying to work on, and I put it all together today and the rest of the week.”

Kerr, who broke a 27-year-old world record when he ran 3:42.66 in the mile in London in July, won a 1,500-meter race that included, among other entrants, the winners of the world championships in 2019, ’22, and ’25, the reigning Olympic champion, the Olympic bronze medalist from 2024, and two of the brightest young talents in the world.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, the 2021 Olympic champion and a two-time silver medalist in the world championships, had chosen not to run in the race after winning the 5,000 on Friday.

Kerr’s time of 3:29.35 came in a contest in which 20-year-old Cam Myers of Australia finished second in 3:29.68. The next three finishers were a tightly bunched trio of Americans as Hobbs Kessler finished third in 3:30.73, Olympic champion Cole Hocker placed fourth in 3:30.74, and bronze medalist Yared Nuguse was fifth in 3:30.75,

With no pacesetters in the race, Robert Farken of Germany led the field through the first 400 in 57.09 and the opening 800 in 1:55.29.

Nuguse had moved to the front shortly after that and his closest pursuers were Kerr, Farken, and Myers when he went through 1,200 meters in 2:49.91.

Kerr surged into the lead heading down the backstretch and Myers, Nuguse, Kessler, and Azeddine Habz of France were running 2-3-4-5 entering the final curve. However, it was a two-runner battle for first place between him and Myers entering the home straightaway and the young Australian was unable to seriously threaten the 28-year-old Scot.

Kerr’s closing splits were incredibly even as he ran the final 100 in 12.99, the last 200 in 26.02, and the concluding 400 in 52.57.

“I didn’t race a lot this season so I kind of came here fresh and ready to go,” Kerr said in a World Athletics post. “Cameron is an awesome athlete, he was pushing a lot but I managed to look at the screen and see what the gap was.”

The 27-year-old Sedjati won his first global title in the 800 after having finished second in the 2022 and ’25 world championships and third in the Olympic Games in Paris.

His winning time of 1:41.91 was the sixth fastest of his career and it came in a race in which 2023 world champion Marco Arop of Canada finished second in 1:42.28 and defending Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya placed third in 1:42.44.

Brandon Miller of the U.S. was fourth in 1:42.54 and he was followed by Francesco Pernici of Italy in a national record of 1:42.67, European champion Mark English of Ireland in a personal best of 1:42.78, and Yanis Meziane of France, who also ran a personal best of 1:42.78.

Arop, as he often likes to do, went to the front of pack early and he led the field through 200 meters in 24.01 seconds, 400 in 49.67, and 600 in 1:15.32.

He had a little bit of a gap over second-place Wanyonyi as he turned into the home straightaway, but Sedjati was in third and starting to make a move.

For a little while, it looked like Arop’s bold front running might pay off in his second global title, but Sedjati started to reel him in with roughly 60 meters to go and he overtook him with about 30 meters left in the race before quickly expanding his lead.

“That was very tactical but also very fast, and I am really happy to have won this race today,” Sedjati said in a World Athletics post. “This is the first title for me so I’m incredibly happy and grateful to everyone who supported me.”

Tamberi won the fourth global title of his career in the high jump when he cleared a yearly world-leading height of 2.37 meters (7 feet 9¼ inches).

JuVaughn Harrison of the U.S. finished second at 2.30 (7-6) and Erick Portillo of Mexico placed third at 2.26 (7-5).

World indoor champion Oleh Doroshchuk of Ukraine and Romaine Beckford of Jamaica also cleared 2.26 (7-5), but they needed to two attempts to make that height while Portillo made it on his first.

Doroshchuk placed fourth in the standings ahead of Beckford because he had fewer total misses in the competition.

Tamberi, the co-champion in the Olympic Games in 2021, had been hampered by injuries and illnesses in 2024 and ’25. But he had won his third consecutive European title in August and his win on Sunday was his fourth in his last five competitions.

After clearing 2.22 (7-3¼) and 2.26 (7-5) on his first attempts, he needed two tries to get over 2.30 (7-6½). But he was still in first place because second-place Harrison had needed all three of his attempts to make that bar.

The 34-year-old Tamberi then took charge of the competition with first-attempt clearances at 2.33 (7-7¾) and 2.35 (7-8½) and a second attempt make at 2.37 (7-9¼).

After missing his first attempt at 2.33 (7-7¾), Harrison passed to 2.35 (7-8½), and after missing that height on his first try, he passed to 2.37 (7-9¼), the height at which his competition ended when he missed his one remaining attempt.

Tamberi then passed at 2.39 (7-10), a height that would have tied his personal that he set in 2016, and he missed three times at 2.41 (7-10¾).

Tamberi, who is one of the great showmen in the sport of track and field, had the crowd’s rapt attention as he cleared height after height in the same stadium in which he won the world outdoor title in 2023.

“It was an amazing night,” he said in a World Athletics post. “I came here with great memories from the world championships in 2023 so I was looking forward to competing here knowing that it is an amazing place to jump.

“I started the season probably 14th in the world rankings, so this really was a comeback. My career was very tough because, if I look at the ups and downs, I cannot even say which one was the most difficult to come back from. After I was not able to get in the final in Tokyo last year, people started to say that it’s my time to retire – it was difficult to hear and to struggle against all these feelings. Finally, I’m here with 2.37. Now I can say to everyone: ‘Never stop believing in your dreams, never put a limit on yourself.’”

Pathirage had a large margin of victory in the javelin while winning the first global title of his career with a top throw of 91.09 (298-10).

Anderson Peters of Grenada finished second at 86.18 (282-9) and two-time European champion Julian Weber of Germany placed third at 85.89 (281-9).

Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, who had won his second world title last year, finished fourth at 82.41 (270-4) and Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan placed fifth at 81.49 (267-4).

It was the 12th victory in 13 meets this season for the 23-year-old Pathirage, who began the competition with a throw of 75.89 (248-11) in the first round before improving to 85.69 (281-1) in the second, 87.11 (285-9) in the third, and 91.09 (298-10) in the fourth.

It was the third meet of the year in which he has topped 90 meters (295-3).

“This was my one and only goal – to bring the trophy back to Sri Lanka,” Pathirage said in a World Athletics post. “I faced a lot of challenges today but I was still hoping to win and I’m proud I did it. I was never thinking about the prize money and I don’t have any idea yet how I will spend it. Sri Lankan athletes have won two Olympic medals so far and my next goal is to bring the Olympic gold medal home.”

You can click here for complete results of the meet.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the U.S. took the first step in becoming a double global sprint champion for the second consecutive year when she won the women’s 100 meters in the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, on Saturday.

Jefferson-Wooden had won the 100 and 200, and also run a leg on the winning 4 x 100 relay, in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last year, and she rolled to victory in the 100 in the meet at the National Athletics Centre on Saturday when her 10.62-second clocking left her well clear of Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred in second place and fellow American Sha’Carri Richardson in third.

Alfred is the defending Olympic champion in the 100 and Richardson won the 2023 world title in the meet that was also held at the National Athletics Centre, but their respective times of 10.74 and 10.76 left them well behind Jefferson-Wooden in a race in which Jamaicans Jonielle Smith and Tina Clayton placed fourth and fifth in identical times of 10.95.

Jefferson-Wooden’s time was the fastest in the world this year and only a hundredth of a second off her personal best that she had run in winning the world title last year. It was also tied for the seventh fastest performance ever.

“It feels amazing,” Jefferson-Wooden said in a World Athletics post. “I crossed the line with a smile on my face because only I know all the things I have done to get to this moment. When I got into the blocks today, I just told myself that this is my moment.”

Jefferson-Wooden and Alfred, who had split two races against one another in the 100 earlier this year, each ran 10.73 in winning their respective semifinals prior to the final. But Alfred’s performance had been the more impressive of the two as she eased during the last three or so strides of her race.

World championship silver medalist Clayton beat Jefferson-Wooden out of the blocks in the final, but Jefferson-Wooden was clearly ahead of Alfred after the first 40 meters of the race and her advantage over the slower starting Richardson was even larger.

Alfred, who had lowered her national record to 10.70 when she and Jefferson-Wooden had been credited with the same time while finishing first and second, respectively, in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on Aug. 27, had reduced her deficit to the American roughly 60 meters into the race. But she never pulled even with her and she lost ground to her rival in the final 25 meters of the contest when Richardson was gaining on her.

Jefferson-Wooden’s victory gave her four wins in five finals in the 100 this season and though Alfred had defeated her by a significant margin in a 200 in the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meet in Rome in June, Alfred is not entered in the 200 in Budapest.

Olympic champion Gabby Thomas of the U.S. would appear to be the biggest threat to Jefferson-Wooden in the 200 as her season best of 21.70 is only a hundredth of a second slower than Jefferson-Wooden’s 21.69. But Jefferson-Wooden seemed excited about the prospect of pursuing the double when she was asked about it on Saturday.

“If I could win the double, it would just add to who I actually am,” she said. “I am down to do things that haven’t been done before. I am down for innovation and for challenging myself. Coming here, running four races in two days, it’s something I haven’t ever done before. I feel it is just a testament to what I am inspired to do.”

The 25-year-old Jefferson-Wooden was one of six women who earned $150,000 in prize money for winning their respective individual events on Saturday.

The other winners were Audrey Werro of Switzerland in the 800 meters, Sandi Morris of the U.S. in the pole vault, Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan in the javelin, Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic in the 400, and Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland in the 1,500.

The 22-year-old Werro capped an historically great outdoor season in the 800 when she won her 10th final of the year without a loss with a 1:55.88 effort that left her ahead of Olympic champion Kelly Hodgkinson of Great Britain in second place in 1:56.26.

Femke Broeders-Bol of the Netherlands, who had come very close to beating Werro in two of the eight times in which they had raced one another this year, placed third in 1:56.74 in the race in which Addy Wiley of the U.S. was fourth in 1:57.54.

“I am so happy with the race,” Werro said in a World Athletics post. “I think I’ve won every race I’ve had this year during the outdoor season. It is really crazy, but at the same time, it is something I have worked for and now I am getting the result.”

While NBC commentator Ato Boldon spoke beforehand about the possibility of the race being extremely fast, that seemed a little unrealistic at this stage of the season, particularly because the finalists had run in semifinals on Friday.

With no pacesetters in the race, Werro, Broeders-Bol, and Hodgkinson were running 1-2-3 after the first 200 meters of the contest and that was still the case when Werro came through the opening lap in 57.84 seconds and when she was credited with a split of 1:27.58 at 600 meters.

Hodgkinson, who had set a world short track record of 1:54.87 in February, moved past Broeders-Bol during the final turn. But Werro had a solid lead when she entered the home straightaway. And though Hodgkinson made up some ground on Werro in the homestretch, you never got the feeling that she was going to overtake the Swiss runner.

Werro’s win capped a season in which she ran the third fastest time in history at 1:53.70, as well as the fourth quickest at 1:53.80 and the fifth fastest at 1:53.98.

Furthermore, she is the first woman to have ever run under 1:54 more than once in a year, as well as in a career, and she ran under 1:55 an unprecedented six times.

In a post-race interview with Lewis Johnson of NBC, Werro said that at the beginning of the race she did not have a specific strategy in mind.

“I was just running and seeing how everything goes,” she explained, “and then I just decided to be in the front and to run faster and faster every 100 meters because I know that I’m the best with this tactic. So I just decided to be in the front, but at the same time, to control the race behind me, so I was always looking a little bit behind me, and yeah, it was a great tactic for the day.”

Morris’ victory was her first in an outdoor global championship meet as she had previously placed second in the 2016 Olympic Games, as well as in the world championships in 2017, ’19, ’22, and ’25. Furthermore, her win was the result of a gutsy decision to pass at a bar late in the competition when she was sitting in fifth place in the standings.

Eventually she and U.S. compatriot Hana Moll each cleared 4.90 meters (16-¾), with Morris winning the title because she made that bar on her second try and Moll did it on her third. They both then missed their first two tries at 4.95 (16-2 ¾), and when Moll was unsuccessful on her third attempt, Morris passed to 5.00 (16-4¾) and missed her one remaining try.

Angelica Moser of Switzerland finished third at 4.85 (15-11) and she was followed by the New Zealand duo of Imogen Ayris and Eliza McCartney. They each cleared 4.80 (15-9), but Ayris placed fourth on the tiebreaker because she made that height on her first attempt and McCartney did so on her second try.

Katie Moon of the U.S. placed sixth at 4.70 (15-5) to mark the first time since the 2019 world championships that she had not won a gold or silver medal in an outdoor global championship meet.

The 34-year-old Morris, who had previously won world indoor titles in 2018 and ’22, cleared 4.50 (14-9) on her first attempt on Saturday, but she needed two attempts to make 4.70 (15-5) and three to get over 4.80 (15-9). But because she had some room to spare at her clearance at 4.80 (15-9), she passed at 4.85 (15-11) because she was in fifth place in the standings.

Moll and Moser remained in first and second place when they made 4.85 (15-11) on their first attempts, but the Kiwi duo of Ayris and McCartney missed all three of their tries and were out of the competition.

The bar was then raised to 4.90 (16-¾), and after Moll, Moser, and Morris each missed their first attempts that height, Morris took the lead when she was the only one to clear it on her second try.

Although Moser missed her third attempt at that height, Moll was able to make it on her final try. But Morris was in the lead because of her second-attempt clearance and she eventually won the title when Moll missed all three of her tries at 4.95 (16-2 ¾), a height that would have added four centimeters to her personal best.

“I decided to risk it for the biscuit,” Morris said in a World Athletics post when talking about her decision to pass 4.85 (15-11). “All I needed to do was that same jump at 4.90 so I waited, gathered my energy and I knew I had the height. I was like ‘forget 4.85, that’s not going to win, so I’m going to jump 4.90.’ I had to battle really hard for that title.”

Kitaguchi won her third global title in the javelin when her personal best of 68.92 (226-1) left her in front of previously undefeated Yan Ziyi of China, who finished second at 68.05 (223-3).

Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado of Colombia placed third at 64.84 (212-8) and Mackenzie Little of Australia was fourth at 63.37 (207-11).

The 18-year-old Yan had taken the lead with her throw of 68.05 (223-3) in the first round, but she appeared to have sustained a foot or ankle injury on her second throw that traveled 63.95 (209-9) and she retired from the competition after that.

Kitaguchi, the 2023 world and 2024 Olympic champion had a throw of 61.15 (200-7) in the first round, but her 68.92 (226-1) effort in the second round put her in the lead before she fouled on her last two attempts.

The 68.92 (226-1) mark bettered her previous national record of 67.38 (221-0) that she had set in 2023 and it moved her into a tie for 10th on the all-time performer list.

“The competition was very hard as the girls have been throwing far this season,” Kitaguchi said in a World Athletics post. “I dream and believe I have a chance every competition, and I threw a national record today to win the Ultimate title and it feels wonderful. It has just been an amazing day.”

The 28-year-old performer then added that after throwing 61.15 (200-7) in the first round “my coach told me to keep my concentration and to keep the javelin straight, and that, if I did so, I could throw far.”

Paulino won her ninth race of the season without a loss in the 400 as her 49.07 effort left at the front of a contest in which European champion Henriette Jæger of Norway placed second in 49.28, Nickisha Pryce of Jamaica finished third in 49.56, and Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands was fourth in 49.91.

Olympic champion Paulino had been in eighth place, nearly seven tenths of a second behind first-place Klaver, when the Dutchwoman went through 200 meters in 23.26. But Paulino had moved up to fifth, less than two tenths of a second behind Klaver, at 300 meters and she took over first place with about 70 meters left in the race.

While the race snapped Paulino’s record streak of sub-49 finals at seven, the victory continued a superb string of performances for the 29-year-old sprinter in global outdoor championships as she has now placed second, second, first, first, second, and first in the six global title meets that have been contested from 2021-26.

“This is what I came here for and I achieved my goal of winning the Ultimate Championship,” Paulino said in a World Athletics post. I still have some work to do on the first part of my race, but I’m not quite finished with my season – I’ll be racing at the Athlos event in London, which is one last opportunity to run sub-49.”

Kazimieska’s victory followed her win in the Diamond League Final in Brussels a week earlier.

While she had won that race in a Polish record and yearly world-leading time of 3:54.05, she ran 3:57.55 on Saturday in a contest in which she repelled a late charge from Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain, who placed second in 3:57.72.

Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. finished third in 3:58.16 and she was followed by Freweyni Hailu of Ethiopia in 3:58.44 and world championship silver medalist Dorcos Ewoi of Kenya in 3:58.55.

Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, the three-time defending Olympic champion in the 1,500, did not compete in the race as she had announced last month that she was calling it a season after hamstring issues had hampered her training for much of the year.

The 25-year-old Kazimierska had won the Diamond League Final title after moving from eighth place at the start of the bell lap to fifth at 1,200 meters to first heading into the final turn. But she spent much of the Ultimate Championship race in second place behind Agathe Guillemot of France.

With no pacesetters in the race, Kazimierska had been close behind Guillemot when the French runner led the field through 400 meters in 63.32 seconds, 800 in 2:11.31, and 1,200 in 3:14.96. But she surged into the lead heading down the backstretch and Hunter Bell, Guillemot, and Hiltz were her two closest pursuers as she entered the final turn.

The race for first place was down to Kazimierska and Hunter Bell as they entered the homestretch as Hiltz had dropped back a little bit.

Hunter Bell, who was the silver medalist in the 800 in last year’s world championships, looked poised to move past Kazimierska early in the straightaway, but the Pole kept her at bay.

Kazimierska ran her final 100 meters in 14.27 seconds, her last 200 in 28.02, and her concluding 400 in 57.44.

“It was a completely new position for me to be the favourite in a race like that,” Kazimierska said in a World Athletics post. “After winning the Diamond League Final in Brussels last week, I felt a bit of pressure. I really enjoyed winning that race and I was hoping to do that again tonight.

“The last 100 fighting against Georgia was thrilling but I prepared myself well over the season and I’ve gained lots of experience. I’ve raced Georgia a few times this year and I had a plan for this race – finally it played out exactly as I planned. This year I also was building up mentally; I had a few races where I learned a lot – it was like mentally unlocking something in my head.”

In addition to the six women’s finals contested on Saturday, there were also semifinals in the 400 hurdles.

With the top four finishers in the two semifinals advancing to the final, Emma Zapletalová of Slovakia finished first in the first heat in 52.93 and Jasmine Jones of the U.S. took the second in 52.77.

The final day of the three-day meet will be televised and streamed in the U.S. on Peacock and NBC from noon to 3 p.m. EDT.

You can click here for results of the first two days of the meet, as well as for a schedule and entry lists for today.