Residence victories for Morgan Lake, Georgia Hunter Bell and Charlie Dobson at arguably the world’s premier one-day observe and area assembly
On a day when the UK Authorities backed London’s bid to stage the 2029 World Athletics Championships, the Novuna London Athletics Meet gave everybody a style of what they may count on in 4 years’ time. That is assuming the British capital wins a bidding battle which World Athletics president Seb Coe predicts will likely be “aggressive” and which UKA chief government Jack Buckner admits will likely be removed from a shoo-in.
A sold-out London Stadium crowd of near 60,000 individuals on Saturday (July 19) noticed a Diamond League assembly filled with thrills, spills and three stirring British victories. Or make that 12 wins when you embody all of the relays, para and ‘nationwide’ races.
On a sometimes gray and damp day in London, the assembly escaped the worst of the weekend’s heavy downpours by just a few hours. Ultimately the athletes loved respectable circumstances with minimal winds and cooler circumstances than the earlier weekend’s heatwave.
Georgia Hunter Bell was among the many British winners as she produced a withering dash end to win the ladies’s 800m in 1:56.74. The occasion was disenchanted to lose its poster woman, Keely Hodgkinson, as a result of harm however not for the primary time the occasion however noticed a British winner in her absence.
Two years in the past Jemma Reekie stepped as much as win right here after Hodgkinson’s final minute withdrawal and now, in 2025, Hunter Bell received impressively from Addison Wiley of the US as Reekie completed sixth this time and Laura Muir, who’s coming back from harm, was tenth.
“I’m a part of such a particular period with not simply Keely and my group however Jemma and Laura who’ve set the requirements for years,” stated Hunter Bell. “With the British Champs arising, I can’t loosen up. I must convey my A-game to that occasion in two weeks’ time.”
She added: “In that final 100m I felt wonderful so I actually wished to push to the end line. You are feeling so supported on this stadium that the 2029 Worlds right here could be unbelievable. It’s so noisy and for us British women it’s unbelievable.”
Matt Hudson-Smith began favorite for the boys’s 400m however when he faltered slightly within the dwelling straight it was fellow Brit Charlie Dobson who stormed by to take the win.
Dobson, the European silver medallist from final yr, clocked 44.14 as he surged by from sixth place with 50m to go to win.
Hudson-Smith, the Olympic silver medallist, ran 44.27 in second as Zakithi Nene of South Africa ran 44.29 in third.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” stated Dobson, “I really like operating right here in entrance of a large dwelling crowd and it’s simply superior to get that point.”
Morgan Lake not solely took excessive soar victory but it surely was her first ever win at a Diamond League. The 28-year-old proved a well-liked winner with the house crowd as she jumped 1.96m on her second try as world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, Eleanor Patterson of Australia and Christina Honsel of Germany all cleared 1.93m behind her.
“In London with so many family and friends right here, it’s wonderful,” stated Lake. “Even on the decision outs the group have been so loud and immediately was all about having fun with it and having enjoyable and staying within the competitors so long as doable.
“I cleared 1.96m on the second try so I used to be actually blissful about that. It felt like an enormous clearance, so after I jumped that, I knew I had 2.00m in there. I had three good makes an attempt at it, so I’m actually happy with how I carried out. I used to be almost over it on the final try, I simply clipped it with my toes, so I do know it’s in there.”
Few occasions produced as a lot drama as the boys’s 1500m as George Mills and Cam Myers fell with 200m to go, leaving teenage Kenyan Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech of Kenya to storm to victory in a meet document of three:28.82 as Josh Kerr chased him dwelling in 3:29.37.
Amid discuss of a British document, Ben Claridge led by 400m in 55.47 and 800m in 1:51.46 earlier than Zan Rudolf assumed the pacing duties. With 550m to go, Mills took over and was main down the again straight on the ultimate lap earlier than Kerr, who had sat behind Mills all through, overtook him on the surface as Koech concurrently handed him on the within with 250m to go.
As Koech started to burst clear across the remaining bend – with Kerr chasing arduous – Mills’ and Myers’ legs appeared to make contact, sending each runners flying on to the ground.
Koech, who continues to be solely 18, seemed highly effective as he strode away from Kerr to set one in every of a number of UK all-comers’ data through the afternoon. Kerr, the reigning world 1500m champion, was glad about his sub-3:30 and can now flip his consideration to 5000m on the UK Championships after having raced 800m on the identical assembly final yr.
Mills may have been notably aggravated as he fell within the Emsley Carr Mile at this assembly 12 months earlier and likewise fell within the Olympic 5000m heats.
With Mills and Myers jogging dwelling together with one other faller, Robert Farken, it left Isaac Nader of Portugal clear to complete third in 3:31.55 with Jake Wightman, the 2022 world champion, persevering with his encouraging return to high kind with fourth in a season’s finest of three:31.58.
“Basically I actually appreciated how I felt in the entire race,” stated Kerr. “I felt like I made a strong transfer at 250m, I simply didn’t have my head on straight with 200m to go and I allow them to go slightly bit. The ability was not fairly there however it’s not distant. However now we have not ran a race like that for some time. To be operating 3:29 at this level of the season is encouraging and I do know I could make some jumps over the subsequent couple of months.”
Olympic champion Noah Lyles was anticipated to win the boys’s 100m however Indirect Seville of Jamaica hadn’t learn the script and blasted to a cushty victory in 9.86 (-0.6) as Lyles completed runner-up with 10.00.
In third, Zharnel Hughes clocked 10.02 with fellow Brit Jeremiah Azu operating 10.11 in sixth. Letsile Tebogo, the Olympic 200m champion from Botswana, was seventh in 10.12 with one other Brit, Louie Hinchliffe, clocking 10.21 in eighth as he regains health following harm.
The lads’s 800m was billed as a world document try however Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the Olympic champion, needed to make do with a mere assembly document of 1:42.00 because the Kenyan loved one other good win.
Behind, Marco Arop of Canada clocked 1:42.22 with Britain’s Max Burgin having fun with a wonderful run in third with 1:42.36 to go No.3 on the UK all-time rankings behind Seb Coe’s long-standing British document of 1:41.73 and Ben Pattison’s 1:42.27.
Pattison positioned tenth right here in 1:46.08 however the 2023 world bronze medallist is on the comeback path from harm. In ninth, in the meantime, Ethan Hussey made the a lot of the alternative with a PB of 1:44.30.
As for Burgin, the Olympic finalist says he’s realized to handle the decrease leg points which have precipitated him issues in current seasons. He benefited from a a lot cleaner race in London than within the current Monaco Diamond League, too, the place he was bumped round by rivals and jogged dwelling disenchanted.
“I knew this race had been in me, so it was nice to lastly get all of it collectively after disappointing runs at Paris and Monaco Diamond Leagues,” he stated. “I managed to stick with the leaders on this one with out taking the lead too early and it was vital to get a superb, robust race in earlier than the trials and put my stamp down.
“It was a massively robust area on the market immediately, so to come back away with a PB could be very pleasing. I received’t do an excessive amount of extra now earlier than the trials only a little bit of sharpening. As regular, I gave it my all immediately however I actually wanted that PB and a superb race after some messy ones.”
Certainly, such was the standard of the sector, Donavan Brazier, the 2019 world champion from the US, ran 1:43.08 as he continues his comeback from Achilles issues however was solely sixth.
The ladies’s 5000m was not so quick on the sharp finish with Medina Eisa of Ethiopia profitable in 14:30.57 – a comparatively routine time on the world scene throughout a summer season that has seen Beatrice Chebet break the 14-minute barrier. However behind there have been some nice British performances.
Hannah Nuttall ran a PB of 14:39.48 whereas Innes FitzGerald, nonetheless solely 19, clocked a British under-20 document of 14:39.56 to smash Zola Budd’s nationwide junior mark 14:48.07 that has stood for 40 years.
When Budd ran that point, it was additionally a world document. She did it in naked toes, too.
FitzGerald, nevertheless, has erased Budd’s title from the document books. “I nonetheless love 3000m, although,” she stated when requested which occasion she prefers. “The 5000m is a great distance!”
The Exeter College pupil additionally now has a barely faster finest than her mentor, Jo Pavey. In addition to being a British under-20 document, FitzGerald’s time was additionally a European under-20 document.
Such is the standard of the Diamond League, Megan Keith completed sixteenth however nonetheless ran an honest time of 14:47.34.
Gudaf Tsegay led a raft of quick occasions within the ladies’s mile. The Ethiopian received in 4:11.88 – a time that’s sooner than the previous world document held by Sifan Hassan, the latter of whom was as a result of race however needed to pull out of this assembly a few days earlier.
Tsegay went off arduous and the early splits have been 59.9 at 400m, 2:03.4 at 800m and three:07.9 at 1200m. By the bell she had been caught by Jess Hull, however Tsegay drew away once more from the Australian within the closing levels.
Runner-up Hull ran an Oceania document of 4:13.68. In third, Sara Healy of Eire ran a PB of 4:16.26 and fourth-placed Sinclair Johnson of the US ran a North American document of 4:16.32.
First Brit dwelling was Revee Walcott-Nolan with 4:19.16.
With world-class performances coming thick and quick, Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia ran a nationwide document, UK all-comers’ document, meet document and world lead of 21.71 (-0.6) to win the ladies’s 200m in model.
Rising to the problem in entrance of her dwelling crowd, Dina Asher-Smith battled by to second place in a season’s finest of twenty-two.25, with fellow Brit Amy Hunt third in a PB of twenty-two.31.
Mykolas Alekna, the discus world record-holder, threw a Diamond League and UK all-comers’ document of 71.70m in cooler and barely greasier climate than he’s used to.
“Situations weren’t too good but it surely was not slippery so I felt very assured with my throws and my method,” he stated. “It’s my greatest throw ever on this stadium. Individuals have been saying I solely throw large outdoors of stadiums, however now I’ve thrown large inside one.”
It’s 13 years since a younger Lawrence Okoye reached the Olympic discus remaining in London and right here he threw nicely for third place with 68.74m.
Molly Caudery completed fifth equal within the ladies’s pole vault with 4.60m as Olivia McTaggart of New Zealand took the win on depend again with 4.73m. On the comeback from a current harm, Caudery is optimistic about her possibilities of making the rostrum on the World Championships in Tokyo in September.
Lengthy soar victories went to Malaika Mihambo of Germany with 6.93m (-0.6) as Britain’s Jazmin Sawyers jumped 6.63m (-0.5) throughout a season that has seen her make a exceptional comeback from Achilles surgical procedure, whereas world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson jumped 6.48m (-0.6).
Sawyers stated: “It has been going nicely so I hoped to get a greater efficiency out of myself. However I’ve loads of time to construct extra power and get extra competitors apply.”
The lads’s lengthy soar, in the meantime, was received by Wayne Pinnock of Jamaica with 8.20m (0.2), one centimetre forward of world No.1 Miltos Tentoglou of Greece.
Femke Bol has lit up the London Stadium in current seasons and she or he received once more this weekend however not fairly as rapidly as regular, though her 52.10 left her greater than a second in entrance of runner-up Jasmine Jones of the US.
Earlier within the programme, Ben Sandilands ran 3:48.95 to win the boys’s para 1500m whereas Sophie Hahn clocked 12.89 (0.0) as she pulled away from Olivia Breen within the ladies’s para 100m.
The lads’s para 100m was nearer as Zak Skinner clocked 11.01 (0.5) to beat Thomas Younger by one hundredth of a second. It was so shut, the truth is, Younger felt he’d received and celebrated as he crossed the road.
Twelve months after Sam Reardon’s 44.70 victory within the ‘nationwide’ males’s 400m, Lewis Davey loved the same sub-44 breakthrough as he clocked a PB of 44.91 to win the 2025 version of this race. Davey’s PB beforehand stood at 45.60.
Davey stated: “I got here into this competitors hungry after just a few excessive 45s. I actually wished to come back right here and smash my PB and I’ve carried out that. The entire week I’ve been visualising a PB.”
Victoria Ohuruogu was simply outdoors her season’s finest when profitable the ladies’s ‘nationwide’ 400m in 51.22.
Tyri Donovan was one other Brit who rose to the event in entrance of his dwelling crowd as he equalled his PB within the ’nationwide’ males’s 400m hurdles with 48.46 forward of Seamus Derbyshire. The occasion guarantees to be one of the vital aggressive on the UK Championships in early August.
Within the 4x100m relays, Dina Asher-Smith, Amy Hunt, Desiree Henry and Daryll Neita got here near their UK document of 41.55 with 41.69 – world main time – as Jamaica, France and Eire adopted them dwelling, the latter in a nationwide document of 43.73.
Within the males’s 4x100m, Kishane Thompson anchored the Jamaican males dwelling in 37.80 because the British quartet of Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe, Romell Glave and Zharnel Hughes have been second in 38.08.
From the celebs of 2025, there was additionally the possibility to recognise the winners of yesteryear Roger Black, Iwan Thomas, Jamie Baulch, Mark Richardson and Mark Hylton have been belatedly awarded an upgraded gold from the 4x400m on the 1997 World Championships in Athens following the disqualification of the US.
“We acquired an awesome reception,” stated Thomas. “I believe we have been a well-liked staff and I’m in all probability extra emotional now than I’d have been if I’d acquired the medal in 1997 as a result of I used to be simply younger and within the second.”
Actually, athletics followers love nostalgia and the 4x400m staff from 1997 loved one of many greatest cheers of the day.
Full outcomes right here
