Goule only Jamaican on podium on record-breaking night in Paris
NATOYA Goule ran a season’s best 1:58.23 minutes for third place in the women’s 800m at Friday’s Wanda Diamond League meeting at Meeting de Paris, the only Jamaican to finish in a podium position on what could go down as one of the greatest days in track and field.
Four Jamaicans participated in the fourth stop on the Diamond League tour as Candice McLeod ran a season’s best 50.80 seconds in the women’s 400m, while Yohan Blake was fourth in the men’s 100m and Danniel Thomas-Dodd also just missed the podium in the women’s shot put.
The meet saw two world records and also saw one ‘world best’ as one week after she broke the world record in the 1500m in Italy, Faith Kipyegon of Kenya ran 14:05.20 minutes to win the 5,000m — breaking the previous record of 14:06.62 that had been held by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey since October 2020.
Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia smashed the 3,000m steeplechase record when he ran 7:52.11 minutes, under the previous best of 7:53.63 set in 2004 by Saif Saaeed Shaeen of Morocco.
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen lowered the world best in the seldom-run two miles to 7:54.10, from 7:58.61 set by Kenya’s Daniel Komen in 1977.
Goule, the former Commonwealth Games medallist, lowered her previous season’s best 2:00.91 minutes set at the Diamond League meet in Rabat on May 28 as Keely Hodgkinson set a British record and world-leading 1:55.77 to win, while American Ajee Wilson was second in a season’s best 1:58.16.
Thomas-Dodd was wide of the mark by a centimetre after she threw 19.25m for fourth in the women’s shot put, just behind American world-leader Maggie Ewan’s 19.26m.
Portugal’s Auriol Dongmo threw a season’s best 19.72m to win and moves up to fourth in the world, behind Thomas-Dodd, while American Chase Ealey was second with 19.43m.
After a good start Blake finished fourth in the men’s 100m in 10.16 seconds (-0.9m/s) as American Noah Lyles won in 9.97 seconds, just ahead of Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala (9.98 seconds) and with Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo third in a season’s best 10.05 seconds.
McLeod was sixth in the women’s 400m that saw Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic chase and catch fast-starting American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, running away to win in a meeting record 49.12 seconds. Her time beat the previous record 49.15 seconds set in 2004 by Tonique Williams-Darling of The Bahamas.
McLaughlin-Levrone ran a personal best 49.71 seconds for second and Salwa Eid Nasar of Bahrain was third in 49.95 seconds.