A barrier set too high marred the women’s 3000m steeplechase at a Diamond League meet in Oslo on Thursday.
A few competitors ran into the barrier. American Emma Coburn, the world champion, made it over clean but then motioned over and over again that something was wrong as she continued the race.
The barrier was wrongly set at the men’s height, which is six inches higher than the women’s height, Coburn and TV commentators said. A similar mishap occurred in qualifying at the 2009 USATF Outdoor Championships.
The runners went through the barrier three times before it was fully fixed. Kenyan Hyvin Kiyeng won in 9:09.63, holding off Coburn’s late charge by .07.
“I’m incredibly frustrated that we had to hurdle the men’s barrier on the back straight three times — we were waving around, and it wasn’t solved until my husband [who doubles as her coach] went out onto the track to tell the officials,” Coburn said, according to the IAAF. “It panicked me, but I tried to stay calm and feel as easy as possible from then on.”
In other events, Caster Semenya extended the longest winning streak (by days) in the sport, winning the 800m by 1.32 seconds in 1:57.25. Semenya last lost an 800m in 2015 but is expected to be impacted by an IAAF rule limiting testosterone levels in female middle distance runners scheduled to go into effect after this season.
Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba, the breakout of the outdoor season, won the 400m hurdles in 47.60 seconds, breaking a 32-year-old meet record. The 22-year-old Samba debuted in the 400m hurdles last year and is now ranked 14th all-time in the event, having run the fastest time since 2010 in his last meet (47.48).
In the pole vault, Olympic and world silver medalist Sandi Morris won with a 4.81-meter clearance, while Olympic and world gold medalist Katerina Stefanidi of Greece no-heighted, failing on all three attempts at 4.41 for last place. Stefanidi has struggled in three outdoor meets this season with a top clearance of 4.64 meters, ranking outside the world top 20.
The 2012 Olympic champion Jenn Suhr, who was not in Oslo, has the highest clearance in the world this season of 4.93 meters.
World champion Tom Walsh won a shot put that included the four men who combined to earn every medal at the 2016 Olympics and 2017 Worlds. His winning throw of 22.29 meters was a meet record but well off his world-leading 22.67 for the year.
Olympic champion Ryan Crouser said he believed his last throw was near 23 meters, but it was ruled a foul.
The Diamond League moves to Stockholm for a meet Sunday, live on NBCSN and streaming on NBC Sports Gold.
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