LUKE McCANN SET a new national 1,000m record at the Monaco Diamond League on Wednesday.

The UCD AC athlete finished seventh while clocking a time of 2:16.40, smashing the previous record of 2:17.58, set by Olympian David Matthews in September 1996 – two years before McCann was born.

McCann, 24, also set the national 1,000m indoor record (2:17.40) while competing in the USA in February.

Scottish athlete Jake Wightman – who won Commonwealth bronze for Great Britain in the 1,500m last weekend – obliterated the meet record for a comfortable victory in 2:13.88.

Wightman kicked with 150 metres to go to reel in Canada’s world 800m bronze medallist Marco Arop.

The world 800m champion, Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir, ran out of steam and eased up to cross the line in last position.

“I did not really know I was in shape to do this today,” said Wightman.

“It was just very, very hard,” he added. “I had to stay strong to be able to catch him. This is a really nice step towards the European championships in Munich where I will run the 800m.”

Elsewhere, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Noah Lyles underlined their dominant sprint seasons with victories in Monaco, as Faith Kipyegon narrowly missed a sensational world record in the 1500m.

Jamaica’s Fraser-Pryce, fresh from a fifth world 100m title in Eugene last month, clocked a world leading 10.62 seconds for the win.

The Jamaican’s victory in Monaco was her third sub-10.70 run within a week and saw her become the first woman in history to break 10.70 six times in the same season.

Her time also smashed the previous meet best of 10.72sec set by disgraced American Marion Jones in 1998.

“I did what I needed to do and we had fun and let the clock do the talking,” said Fraser-Pryce.

Lyles, who won the world 200m title last month, also set a meet record, clocking 19.46sec to improve on his previous mark of 19.65 set back in 2018.

The American ran a powerful bend in a US cleansweep, getting the better of teenager Erriyon Knighton and world 400m champion Michael Norman.

World and Olympic 1500m champion Kipyegon arguably produced the stand-out performance of an amazing night of track and field.

The Kenyan ran the second fastest ever time over the distance as she won in 3:50.37, falling just half a second short of Ethiopian Genezebe Dibaba’s world record set in 2015, also in Monaco.

“I have been chasing the time for quite some time but I am happy with the personal best,” said Kipyegon, who was left to bolt home alone after both pacesetters had done their jobs.

“I knew this was the best place to get the world record but I am so disappointed I lost it in the last metres.”

Two-time Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas won the women’s 400m in 49.28sec while American Grant Holloway claimed victory in 12.99sec in the men’s 110m hurdles despite arriving in Monaco with no luggage, lost en route from a meet in Hungary.

Australian Kelsey-Lee Barber threw a best of 64.50m to win the women’s javelin, but Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas made hard work for the triumph in the women’s triple jump, eventually producing a winning effort of 15.01m after unusually opening with three no-marks.

Qatari Mutaz Barshim, whose gold in Eugene was his third world title, famously shared Olympic gold in Tokyo with Gianmarco Tamberi, but the Italian bailed out after just one successful jump, at the opening height of 2.20m, to finish eighth.

It looked for a moment like Barshim might have to share first place with South Korea’s Woo Sang-hyeok after both cleared 2.30m but failed at 2.32m with the same jump countback.

Barshim promptly won a golden jump-off at 2.30 for victory.

“Today felt like a marathon with too many jumps. I’m tired,” said the Qatari.

– © AFP 2022

 
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