It was a tale of World Leads (WL), Meeting Records (MR), Diamond League Records (DLR) and National Records (NR) falling at the 5th leg of the IAAF Diamond League which took place in Stockholm, with Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba producing the biggest highlight of the day.
Samba, who has been in imperious form so far, re-wrote the history books again as the Qatari hurdler powered to an MR, DLR and WL of 47.41s to win the men’s 400m Hurdles, defeating Karsten Warholm (47.81s) for the second time in less than seven days.
In the race, Warholm set out furiously – as he usually does – to take the lead through the back straight. He still had a yard on Samba coming off the curve, but the Qatari athlete showed greater composure over the final barriers to edge away from a clearly tiring Warholm.
Another athlete who set an MR and WL was Briana McNeal. The Olympic Champion who clipped a hurdle and couldn’t finish her race last time out in Rome, made amends as she crossed the line first in the women’s 100m Hurdles in a time of 12.38s.
2015 World Champion, Danielle Williams set a PB of 12.48s to come 2nd, while Alina Talay placed 3rd in the race.
It was another brilliant performance on the track for Salwa Eid Naser as she won the women’s 400m in a PB and NR of 49.84s.
She led the race from start, and although World Champion Phyllis Francis was coming at her strong down the home straight, Eid Naser didn’t give up her lead. Francis ran well and got an SB of 50.07s for her effort.
Also, Ethiopian middle distance runner, Gudaf Tsegay set a PB and MR of 3:57.64 to win the women’s 1500m.
In the men’s 200m, World champion Ramil Guliyev was the man to beat as he clocked a time of 19.92s to take the win. He finished 0.15s ahead of 2nd placed Aaron Brown.
The only upset to have happened on the track came in the women’s 100m. British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith who set an NR of 10.92s in Oslo, finally got a win on the circuit when she stopped the clock at 10.93s to beat Ivorian, Murielle Ahoure. Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor was 5th in 11.25s.
