Christian Coleman wins Birmingham 100m in photo finish (video)

By Nick ZaccardiAug 18, 2018, 11:15 AM EDT

In a matchup of two breakout U.S. sprinters, Christian Coleman beat Noah Lyles in a 100m for the second time this season at a Diamond League meet in Birmingham, Great Britain on Saturday.

Coleman, the 2017 World silver medalist, clocked 9.94 seconds. Lyles, the U.S. champion who is stronger at 200m, crossed in third in 9.98. Brit Reece Prescod was between them, also in 9.94 seconds and all but catching Coleman in the last half of the race.

Coleman is the fastest indoor 60m runner of all time, but the field usually closes on him in the last half of 100m races. Lyles is not a strong starter but makes up ground in the second half.

Lyles and another American, Ronnie Baker, are the fastest men in the world this year at 9.88 seconds. Coleman clocked 9.82 last year and could have broken 9.9 this year but missed all of June with a hamstring injury.

“It was a sigh of relief because you never know what to expect when you come back from injury,” Coleman said, according to meet organizers. “I got my rhythm back, and I came out with the win in a good time.”

Lyles said he thought he was last when he crossed the finish line and that it was his worst race.

Full results are here. The Diamond League concludes with finals meets in Zurich and Brussels on Aug. 30-31.

In other events Saturday, Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo emerged from one of the deepest 200m fields in history to win in 22.15 seconds.

Every woman in the field ranks in the top 60 all-time. Miller-Uibo upset Brit Dina Asher-Smith, the triple gold medalist from last week’s European Championships that included the fastest 200m in the world this year (21.89). The Bahamian Miller-Uibo is undefeated at all distances this year.

“The 200m isn’t a race that I love,” Miller-Uibo said. “I really do like it, but not as much as the 400m.”

London Olympic champion Greg Rutherford finished last in what may have been his last long jump competition. The 31-year-old Brit has said he will retire after this season after a series of injuries in recent years.

American Sandi Morris beat Greek Katerina Stefanidi in a reversal of their 2016 Olympic and 2017 World Championships finish. But Morris only cleared 4.62 meters in windy conditions, well off her 2018 world-leading clearance of 4.95 from July 27.

American Fred Kerley, the second-fastest 400m runner in the world last year, edged European champion Matthew Hudson-Smith of Great Britain to win in 45.54. Kerley ranks eighth int the world this season, with Michael Norman having the fastest time of 43.61.

Ethiopian-born Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan held off Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay — 4:00.60 to 4:01.03 — in a battle of the Nos. 3 and 4 1500m runners this year. Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba and U.S. breakthrough Shelby Houlihan, not in Saturday’s field, remain the fastest women of 2018.

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Summer McIntosh breaks 400m individual medley world record, extends historic week

By OlympicTalkApr 1, 2023, 7:03 PM EDT

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Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh broke her second world record this week, lowering the 400m individual medley mark on Saturday.

McIntosh, a 16-year-old who trains in Sarasota, Florida, clocked 4 minutes, 25.87 seconds at the Canadian Championships in Toronto.

She took down Hungarian Katinka Hosszu‘s world record of 4:26.36 from the 2016 Rio Olympics. Before Saturday, McIntosh had the fourth-fastest time in history of 4:28.61.

“It’s always nice to set world records,” McIntosh said.

On Tuesday, McIntosh broke the 400m freestyle world record, becoming the youngest swimmer to break a world record in an individual Olympic event since Katie Ledecky in 2013.

McIntosh also this week became the fourth-fastest woman in history in the 200m individual medley and the eighth-fastest woman in history in the 200m butterfly.

In each of her four races this week, she also broke the world junior record as the fastest woman in history under the age of 19.

She is entered to swim the 200m free on the meet’s final day on Sunday. She is already the eighth-fastest woman in history in that event.

McIntosh, whose mom swam the 1984 Olympic 200m fly and whose sister competed at last week’s world figure skating championships, placed fourth in the Tokyo Olympic 400m free at age 14.

Last summer, she won the 200m fly and 400m IM at the world championships, becoming the youngest individual world champion since 2011.

This summer, she could be at the center of a showdown in the 400m free at the world championships with reigning world champion Ledecky and reigning Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus of Australia. They are the three fastest women in history in the event.

Around age 7, McIntosh transcribed Ledecky quotes and put them on her wall.

MORE: McIntosh chose swimming and became Canada’s big splash

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Hilary Knight leads new-look U.S. women’s hockey roster for world championship

By OlympicTalkApr 1, 2023, 9:02 AM EDT

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Hilary Knight headlines a U.S. women’s hockey roster for this month’s world championship that lacks some of the biggest names from last year’s Olympic silver-medal team. Changes have been made as the U.S. looks to end losing streaks to Canada, both overall and in major finals.

The full roster is here. Worlds start Wednesday in Brampton, Ontario, and run through the gold-medal game on April 16.

It was already known that the team would be without stalwart forwards Kendall Coyne Schofield, who plans to return to the national team after having her first child this summer, and Brianna Decker, who announced her retirement last month.

Notable cuts include the No. 1 goalies from the last two Olympics: Alex Cavallini, who returned from Christmas childbirth for the tryout camp this past week, and Maddie Rooney, the breakout of the 2018 Olympic champion team.

Cavallini, 31, was bidding to become the first player to make an Olympic or world team after childbirth since Jenny Potter, who played at the Olympics in 2002, 2006 and 2010 as a mom, plus at several world championships, including less than three months after childbirth in 2007.

Forward Hannah Brandt, who played on the top line at last year’s Olympics with Knight and Coyne Schofield, also didn’t make the team.

In all, 13 of the 25 players on the team are Olympians, including three-time Olympic medalists forward Amanda Kessel and defender Lee Stecklein.

The next generation includes forward Taylor Heise, 23, who led the 2022 World Championship with seven goals and was the 2022 NCAA Player of the Year at Minnesota.

The team includes two teens — 19-year-old defender Haley Winn and 18-year-old forward Tessa Janecke — who were also the only teens at last week’s 46-player tryout camp. Janecke, a Penn State freshman, is set to become the youngest U.S. forward to play at an Olympics or worlds since Brandt in 2012.

Abbey Levy, a 6-foot-1 goalie from Boston College, made her first world team, joining veterans Nicole Hensley and Aerin Frankel.

Last summer, Canada repeated as world champion by beating the U.S. in the final, six months after beating the U.S. in the Olympic final. Canada is on its longest global title streak since winning all five Olympic or world titles between 1999 and 2004.

Also at last summer’s worlds, the 33-year-old Knight broke the career world championship record for points (now up to 89). She also has the most goals in world championship history (53). Knight, already the oldest U.S. Olympic women’s hockey player in history, will become the second-oldest American to play at a worlds after Cammi Granato, who was 34 at her last worlds in 2005.

The Canadians are on a four-game win streak versus the Americans, capping a comeback in their recent seven-game rivalry series from down three games to none. Their 5-0 win in the decider in February was their largest margin of victory over the U.S. since 2005.

Last May, former AHL coach John Wroblewski was named U.S. head coach to succeed Joel Johnson, the Olympic coach.

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