Ashton Eaton makes history at Oslo Diamond League

By Nick ZaccardiJun 11, 2014, 4:23 PM EDT

Ashton Eaton became the first decathlete to win a Diamond League event ever, while Allyson Felix notched her first race victory of the Diamond League season in Oslo on Wednesday.

Eaton, the Olympic and World decathlon champion, captured the non-decathlon event of 400m hurdles in 49.16 seconds.

It was .09 of a second slower than his personal best from Sunday, but Eaton beat an Oslo field that included 2011 World bronze medalist LJ Van Zyl.

Eaton is focusing on the 400m hurdles this season since there are no Olympics or World Championships to defend his decathlon titles.

He is the 10th fastest 400m hurdles man this year and said he would like to break 49 seconds in his next meet, Tuesday in the Czech Republic.

Felix took the 200m in 22.73, continuing her comeback from a torn hamstring at the 2013 World Championships.

The six-time Olympic medalist actually ran .29 faster in Eugene, Ore., two weeks ago, when she finished third against a stronger field.

The Diamond League moves to New York for the Adidas Grand Prix on Saturday.

In other Oslo events, Galen Rupp followed up his 10,000m American record from Eugene with a third-place finish in the 5000m. Rupp clocked 13:03.35, 10 seconds slower than Bernard Lagat‘s American record. Ethiopian Yenew Alamirew won in 13:01.57.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Richard Thompson won the 100m in 10.02, .02 faster than France’s Jimmy Vicaut. The event was missing stars Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay.

Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman edged New Zealand’s Nick Willis in the Dream Mile, 3:49.49 to 3:49.83. American Matthew Centrowitz was eighth in 3:52.23.

Olympic champion and world record holder Renaud Lavillenie stayed perfect on the Diamond League season with a 5.77m pole-vault clearance.

Olympic silver medalist Will Claye won his third straight triple jump competition (17.41m), topping Olympic champion Christian Taylor (17.15m). Brit Phillips Idowu, on the comeback trail after winning medals at every global championship from 2008 through 2011, was eighth and last at 16.30m.

American Joe Kovacs upset Olympic and World shot put medalists David Storl, Reese Hoffa, Tomasz Majewski and Christian Cantwell with a 21.14m throw.

Olympic and World high jump champions Anna Chicherova and Blanka Vlasic were beaten by Russian World Indoor champion Mariya Kuchina, who leaped 1.98m.

Jamaican Novlene Williams-Mills, a breast cancer survivor, won the women’s 400m in 50.06, ahead of American Natasha Hastings (50.6) and 2011 World champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana (51.05).

Kenyan Eunice Sum took the 800m in 1:59.02, ahead of American World bronze medalist Brenda Martinez (1:59.68). South African Caster Semenya was 12th out of 12 finishers in 2:03.68.

France’s Pascal Martinot-Lagarde took the 110m hurdles in 13.12, the fastest time in the world this year. He smashed a field that included the four reigning Olympic and World silver and bronze medalists by .24.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce out of Adidas Grand Prix

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At the French Open, a Ukrainian mom makes her comeback

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 12:02 PM EDT

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Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, once the world’s third-ranked tennis player, is into the French Open third round in her first major tournament since childbirth.

Svitolina, 28, swept 2022 French Open semifinalist Martina Trevisan of Italy, then beat Australian qualifier Storm Hunter 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the last 32 at Roland Garros. She next plays 56th-ranked Russian Anna Blinkova, who took out the top French player, fifth seed Caroline Garcia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on her ninth match point.

Svitolina’s husband, French player Gael Monfils, finished his first-round five-set win after midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. She watched that match on a computer before going to sleep ahead of her 11 a.m. start Wednesday.

“This morning, he told me, ‘I’m coming to your match, so make it worth it,'” she joked on Tennis Channel. “I was like, OK, no pressure.

“I don’t know what he’s doing here now. He should be resting.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Svitolina made at least one major quarterfinal every year from 2017 through 2021, including the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019. She married Monfils one week before the Tokyo Olympics, then won a singles bronze medal.

Svitolina played her last match before maternity leave on March 24, 2022, one month after Russia invaded her country. She gave birth to daughter Skai on Oct. 15.

Svitolina returned to competition in April. Last week, she won the tournament preceding the French Open, sweeping Blinkova to improve to 17-3 in her career in finals. She’s playing on a protected ranking of 27th after her year absence and, now, on a seven-match win streak.

“It was always in my head the plan to come back, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself, because obviously with the war going on, with the pregnancy, you never know how complicated it will go,” she said. “I’m as strong as I was before, maybe even stronger, because I feel that I can handle the work that I do off the court, and match by match I’m getting better. Also mentally, because mental can influence your physicality, as well.”

Svitolina said she’s motivated by goals to attain before she retires from the sport and to help Ukraine, such as donating her prize money from last week’s title in Strasbourg.

“These moments bring joy to people of Ukraine, to the kids as well, the kids who loved to play tennis before the war, and now maybe they don’t have the opportunity,” she said. “But these moments that can motivate them to look on the bright side and see these good moments and enjoy themselves as much as they can in this horrible situation.”

Svitolina was born in Odesa and has lived in Kharkiv, two cities that have been attacked by Russia.

“I talk a lot with my friends, with my family back in Ukraine, and it’s a horrible thing, but they are used to it now,” she said. “They are used to the alarms that are on. As soon as they hear something, they go to the bomb shelters. Sleepless nights. You know, it’s a terrible thing, but they tell me that now it’s a part of their life, which is very, very sad.”

Svitolina noted that she plays with a flag next to her name — unlike the Russians and Belarusians, who are allowed to play as neutral athletes.

“When I step on the court, I just try to think about the fighting spirit that all of us Ukrainians have and how Ukrainians are fighting for their values, for their freedom in Ukraine,” she said, “and me, I’m fighting here on my own front line.”

Svitolina said that she’s noticed “a lot of rubbish” concerning how tennis is reacting to the war.

“We have to focus on what the main point of what is going on,” she said. “Ukrainian people need help and need support. We are focusing on so many things like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation, not helping anything.

“I want to invite everyone to focus on helping Ukrainians. That’s the main point of this, to help kids, to help women who lost their husbands because they are at the war, and they are fighting for Ukraine.

“You can donate. Couple of dollars might help and save lives. Or donate your time to something to help people.”

Also Wednesday, 108th-ranked Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis ousted three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in four and a half hours. Wawrinka’s exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the lone man in the draw who has won the French Open and Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz as the lone men left who have won any major.

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Marcell Jacobs still sidelined, misses another race with Fred Kerley

By OlympicTalkMay 31, 2023, 7:07 AM EDT

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Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy will miss another scheduled clash with world 100m champion Fred Kerley, withdrawing from Friday’s Diamond League meet in Florence.

Jacobs, 28, has not recovered from the nerve pain that forced him out of last Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, according to Italy’s track and field federation.

In his absence, Kerley’s top competition will be fellow American Trayvon Bromell, the world bronze medalist, and Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, the world’s fastest man this year at 9.84 seconds. Kerley beat both of them in Rabat.

The Florence Diamond League airs live on Peacock on Friday from 2-4 p.m. ET.

Jacobs has withdrawn from six scheduled head-to-heads with Kerley dating to May 2022 due to a series of health issues since that surprise gold in Tokyo.

Kerley, primarily a 400m sprinter until the Tokyo Olympic year, became the world’s fastest man in Jacobs’ absence. He ran a personal best 9.76 seconds, the world’s best time of 2022, at last June’s USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. Then he led a U.S. sweep of the medals at July’s worlds.

Jacobs’ next scheduled race is a 100m at the Paris Diamond League on June 9. Kerley is not in that field, but world 200m champion Noah Lyles is.

The last time the reigning Olympic and world men’s 100m champions met in a 100m was the 2012 London Olympic final between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. From 2013 to 2017, Bolt held both titles, then retired in 2017 while remaining reigning Olympic champion until Jacobs’ win in Tokyo, where Kerley took silver.

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