Pole vaulter Alysha Newman inches closer to qualifying for Diamond League Final
Places 3rd in Rome while Moh Ahmed, again, runs sub-13 minutes over 5,000m
Alysha Newman placed third in women's pole vault Friday at the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meet in Rome to strengthen her hold on a qualifying position for the Diamond League Final next month.
In her first event since becoming Canada's first-ever Olympic medallist in women's pole vault, Newman cleared 4.73 metres on a hot and humid evening at Stadio Olimpico.
She cleared the bar on her second of three attempts before missing all three tries at 4.83. Newman earned bronze at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 7 after raising her Canadian record to 4.85.
With her seventh top-three finish in 10 competitions this outdoor season, the London, Ont., native picked up six valuable points to climb one spot to fourth in the season standings with 18. The top six advance to the Sept. 13 Diamond League Final in Brussels, with the last qualifying competition Sept. 4 in Zurich.
"Good start to my last couple of meets here in Europe," Newman, who will compete in Switzerland next week, wrote in an Instagram story on Friday.
WATCH | Newman clears 4.73m for 3rd place at Golden Gala in Rome:
Italy's Roberta Bruni and Sandi Morris of the United States occupy the final two qualifying positions with 16 points, four more than Katie Moon and six ahead of her American teammate, Emily Grove.
Australian Nina Kennedy, who won Olympic gold in Paris, tops the season standings with 31 points after Friday's victory with a 4.83 clearance, her third Diamond League win of 2024. She attempted to top her 4.91 personal best but missed all three attempts at 4.93.
Kennedy mentioned the possibility of setting a world record in the next year. Russian Yelena Isbinbayeva's mark of 5.06 has stood for 15 years.
"I am still quite young, I am maturing as an athlete and I do not think I have quite jumped my highest yet," Kennedy said. "I feel like I am coming into my prime."
Molly Caudery of Great Britain and Switzerland's Angelica Moser round out the top three in the season standings, each with 20 points. Moser was eighth in Friday's field of nine at 4.43m after clearing 4.80 in the Olympic competition.
Morris also cleared a season-best 4.83 in Rome but had six missed attempts to Kennedy's four and finished second.
WATCH l Newman jumps 4.85m for Olympic bronze:
Ahmed falls short in DL Final pursuit
On the track, Canada's Moh Ahmed crossed the finish line in under 13 minutes in the men's 5,000m for a third time in as many races in Rome but a top-two finish remains a challenge.
The 33-year-old crossed the line in 12 minutes 54.90 seconds, 68-100ths of a second shy of his season best.
Ahmed, who ran much of the race from the chase pack, made a move and sat fourth with about 1,000 metres remaining. However, he dropped to seventh by the end of the next lap and couldn't make ground on the Ethiopian trio of Hagos Gebrhiwet (12:51.07), Yomif Kejelcha (12:51.25) and Selemon Barega (12:51.39 season best) that secured the top three spots.
WATCH | Ethiopians go 1-2-3 in men's 5,000, Ahmed 7th:
"Our tactics is that we Ethiopians work together, we have many good Ethiopian 5K runners and if one of us gets tired, another can help out with the pace," Gebrhiwet said. "I knew [I wasn't] alone.
"I trained a lot for my last 300 to 400 metres, for the final kick and this helped me tonight."
Ahmed has a history of success in Italy. Stadio Olimpico was the site of his first 5,000 race under 13 minutes when he clocked 12:58.16 on June 6, 2019. Before Friday, Ahmed had also clocked sub-13 minutes in his other three races in the country, including a 12:50.12 best in 2021 when he was third — his best career placing in Italy — at Stadio Luigi in Florence.
Ahmed, whose personal best is 12:47.20, attributed his success on Italian soil to being motivated to run well against strong competition, which was on display Friday.
The Canadian's racing season is over as the two points gained from Friday's race leave him three behind Norway's Narve Gilje Nordås for the last qualifying spot, with several other athletes between them.
WATCH l Ahmed tripped, knocked out of Olympic 5,000m heat:
Statement win for Tebogo in men's 100m
100, 200, 400.
When it comes to sprinting, Letsile Tebogo can do just about anything.
The Botswana runner clocked 9.87 seconds, and had time to glance around before easing to the line, to win the men's 100 metres
It was a statement victory for Tebogo after claiming gold in the 200 at the Paris Olympics and powering Botswana to silver in the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay.
WATCH | Tebogo rules men's 100m in Rome:
It concluded a memorable week for Tebogo, who met Pope Francis on Wednesday and showed him the spikes that he won with in Paris — the ones inscribed with his late mother's date of birth on them. She died in May of breast cancer.
Americans Christian Coleman (9.92) and Fred Kerley (9.95) finished second and third, respectively, while 2021 Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs placed last in 10.20 after pulling up protectively to avoid injury.
It was Tebogo's third Diamond League victory since the Olympics, having also won 200 races in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Chorzow, Poland, over the past nine days.
Other results:
- Ackera Nugent of Jamaica ran 12.24 in the women's 100 hurdles for the best time this year, 1-100th faster than Masai Russell's time at the U.S. trials. Russell, who won gold in Paris, crossed second in 12.31.
- Three-time Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser secured his first Diamond League victory of the season with a meet record 22.49m. Crouser also coaches Olympic discus champion Roje Stona, who finished second in his Diamond League debut behind Kristjan Ceh.
- Faith Kipyegon, another three-time Olympic champion, dominated the women's 1,500 in 3:52.89.
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With files from Andrew Dampf, Associated Press
