Noah Lyles runs 100m in personal-best time at Diamond League London
American sprinter wins in 9.81 seconds; Canada's Alysha Newman 2nd in pole vault
Noah Lyles warmed up for his assault on the Olympic 100-metres title in impressive style on Saturday as the American world champion ran a personal best of 9.81 seconds in the final Diamond League meeting before the Games.
Lyles, probably the biggest name in the sport at the moment, delivered in the final race of the day in front of a sellout crowd of 60,000 in London, easily the largest on the Diamond League circuit, clipping two hundredths off his best.
Lyles has developed into the biggest personality in athletics and, having taken the 100m world title in Budapest last year to add to three, and an Olympic bronze, over the 200m, he is becoming the man to beat in the marquee event.
"That was fun," said Lyles, who was sluggish out of the blocks but supreme over the second half of the race. "I could have had a better start but the transitions were great and coming away with a PB this has been what I prayed for and what I wanted."
WATCH | Lyles speeds to victory in men's 100m with personal-best time:
South African Akani Simbini took second in 9.86 while Letsile Tebogo was third in 9.88 as the first five broke 10 seconds.
In the women's pole vault, Australian Nina Kennedy won the event with a clearance of 4.85m, ahead of Canadian Alysha Newman's 4.75m.
WATCH | Canadian Newman vaults to 2nd-place finish in London:
In the women's 200m American Gabby Thomas delivered a final surge to edge past Julien Alfred of St Lucia in a thrilling finish.
Thomas clocked 21.82 seconds, carrying Alfred to a personal best of 21.86.
WATCH | Thomas takes the win in women's 200m:
Keely Hodgkinson delivered an emphatic statement that she is the woman to beat in the 800m in Paris when she took more than half a second off her own British women's record with a dominant 1:54.61 victory in a British 1-2-3.
Still only 22, Tokyo silver medallist Hodgkinson is favourite for Olympic gold after Athing Mu failed to qualify following a fall in the U.S. trials.
Hodgkinson was already the only athlete to go under 1.56.00 this year and was joined by compatriot Jemma Reekie (1:55.61), who edged Georgia Bell (1:56.28), both with personal bests, in the second and third fastest times in the world.
Another home favourite stepped up in the men's 400m as Matthew Hudson Smith won in a spectacular 43.74 — a European record and world lead.
A year ago at this meeting Hudson-Smith left the track in a wheelchair after tearing his Achilles tendon. He recovered to take silver in last year's world championships and now, as the 12th-fastest man in history, is a real contender to become the first British winner of the event at the Olympics since Eric Liddell 100 years ago in the same city.
Canada's Christopher Morales-Williams finished sixth in the 400, crossing the line in 44.90.
WATCH | Morales-Williams finishes 6th in final race before Paris:
Jamaica's Nickisha Pryce also looked very impressive in running a world-leading time of 48.57 to win the women's 400.
Femke Bol of the Netherlands easily won the women's 400m hurdles in 51.30 seconds, cementing her status as another gold-medal contender in Paris.
The 24-year-old world champion, who won bronze in Tokyo, dominated the race from the start, with Shamier Little finishing second in 52.78, a season's best for the U.S. athlete.
In the men's version, former world champion Alison dos Santos won in 47.18.
Italy's Leonardo Fabbri caused a surprise in the shot put, throwing 22.52m to beat Ryan Crouser of the U.S., who had been talking up his chances of breaking his own record at the last competition before the Olympics open on Friday.
Crouser threw 22.37, more than a metre off the record of 23.56.
A men's 4x100m relay – a non-Diamond League points event – was won by Japan in 38.07 seconds. Canada's Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney, Eliezer Adjibi, and Duan Asemota finished in fourth place with a time of 38.35.
WATCH | Canada finishes 4th in men's 4x100m relay:
With files from CBC Sports
