Oslo Diamond League: Jakob Ingebrigtsen runs world’s fastest mile in 21 years

By OlympicTalkJun 16, 2022, 4:06 PM EDT

Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen ran the world’s fastest mile in 21 years, clocking 3 minutes, 46.46 seconds at a Diamond League meet in rainy Oslo on Thursday.

Ingebrigtsen was chasing the European record and just missed Brit Steve Cram‘s 3:46.32 from 1985.

Still, the 21-year-old Norwegian had the 13th-best time in history and the fastest since world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco clocked 3:44.95 in 2001. El Guerrouj’s world record is 3:43.13 from 1999.

Ingebrigtsen is building toward the world championships next month in Eugene, Oregon, where he will bid to follow his Olympic 1500m title with his first world title.

Full Oslo results are here. The Diamond League moves to Paris for a meet on Saturday.

Elsewhere in Oslo, Devon Allen followed his breakout 110m hurdles time on Sunday by winning his Diamond League season debut.

Allen, who will join the Philadelphia Eagles as a wide receiver after the track season, clocked 13.22 seconds clipping a hurdle into a headwind, four days after running 12.84, the third-fastest time in history, in New York City.

While Allen beat reigning world champion Grant Holloway on Sunday, the Oslo field didn’t feature the other top contenders for the USATF Outdoor Championships next week or the world championships. Rio Olympic champion Omar McLeod of Jamaica scratched.

American discus thrower Valarie Allman suffered her first defeat since Sept. 1. In a battle between Olympic champions, Croatian Sandra Perkovic prevailed with a 66.82-meter throw. Allman, who has the world’s top throw this year of 71.46, threw 65.91 wearing sneakers rather than throwing shoes.

American Alicia Monson, who already earned a world spot in the 10,000m, finished fifth in a 5000m where the top three were Ethiopians, led by Dawit Seyaum prevailing in 14:25.84. Monson ran 14:31.11, chopping 11.45 seconds off her personal best and moving to No. 3 on the U.S. all-time list.

American Chase Ealey won the women’s shot put by upping her personal best for a third consecutive meet. She threw 20.13 meters and in the last month moved from seventh to fourth on the U.S. all-time list.

The women’s shot is shaping up to be one of the intriguing events at nationals, where the top three in most events qualify for worlds. Maggie Ewen has a bye into worlds as reigning Diamond League season champion. Ealey is No. 1 in the nation this year by nearly a foot.

Raven Saunders, the Tokyo Olympic silver medalist, ranks sixth in the country this year. Michelle Carter, the 2016 Olympic champion, hasn’t competed since missing the Olympic Trials after having a benign tumor removed. Carter said last week that she will compete at nationals.

Olympic champion and world record holder Mondo Duplantis won the men’s pole vault with a 6.02-meter clearance, upping his 2022 world lead by one centimeter. American Sam Kendricks, the reigning world champion, scratched before what would have been his Diamond League season debut.

Olympic silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson won the women’s 800m in 1:57.71, slicing one hundredth off her best time this season. Olympic gold medalist Athing Mu, who didn’t enter Oslo, has the best time this year of 1:57.01.

“Athing Mu took my world lead so I want it back,” the Brit Hodgkinson said, according to meet organizers.

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French Open: Daniil Medvedev stunned by 172nd-ranked qualifier

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 1:43 PM EDT

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No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev was eliminated by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild at the French Open, the first time a top-two men’s seed lost in the first round of a major in 20 years.

Seyboth Wild, a 23-year-old in his second-ever Grand Slam main draw match, prevailed 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in more than four hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“I’ve watched Daniil play for, like, my entire junior career until today, and I’ve always dreamed about playing on this court, playing these kind of players,” he said. “In my best dreams, I’ve beaten them, so it’s a dream come true.”

Seyboth Wild overcame the ranking disparity, the experience deficit (it was his first five-set match) and cramps. He began feeling them in the second set, and it affected his serve. Medvedev’s serve was affected by windy conditions. He had 15 double faults.

“I’m not going to look at it back on TV, but my feeling was that he played well,” he said. “I don’t think I played that bad, but he played well.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Seyboth Wild, who had strictly played in qualifying and lower-level Challenger events dating to February 2022, became the first man to take out a top-two seed at a Slam since Ivo Karlovic upset Lleyton Hewitt at 2003 Wimbledon, which ended up being the first major won by a member of the Big Three.

The last time it happened at the French Open was in 2000, when Mark Philippoussis ousted No. 2 Pete Sampras.

It’s the most seismic win by a Brazilian at the French Open — and perhaps any major — since the nation’s most successful man, Gustavo Kuerten, won his third Roland Garros title in 2001.

Tuesday marked the 26th anniversary of Kuerten’s first big splash in Paris, a third-round win over 1995 French Open champion Thomas Muster en route to his first Roland Garros title.

As a junior, Seyboth Wild won the 2018 U.S. Open and reached a best ranking of eighth in the world. Since, he played eight Grand Slam qualifying tournaments with a 1-8 record before advancing through qualifying last week.

The 2021 U.S. Open champion Medvedev entered the French Open having won the first clay tournament title of his career at the Italian Open, the last top-level event before Roland Garros.

“Because wind, dry court, I had a mouthful of clay since probably third game of the match, and I don’t like it,” he said. “I don’t know if people like to eat clay, to have clay in their bags, in their shoes, the socks, white socks, you can throw them to garbage after clay season. Maybe some people like it. I don’t.”

Medvedev’s defeat leaves no major champions in the bottom half of the men’s draw. The top seeds left are No. 4 Casper Ruud, last year’s French Open and U.S. Open runner-up, and No. 6 Holger Rune. No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Novak Djokovic play their second-round matches in the top half on Wednesday.

Women’s seeds to advance Tuesday included No. 6 Coco Gauff, who rallied past 71st-ranked Spaniard Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, plus No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 4 Elena Rybakina and No. 7 Ons Jabeur in straight sets.

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Olympians, Paralympians star on Top Chef World All-Stars in Paris

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls get a taste of Paris in this week’s episode of Top Chef World All-Stars, premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Olympic medalists Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Suni Lee and Paralympic medalists Mallory Weggemann and Hunter Woodhall team up with contestants for a cooking challenge in front of the Eiffel Tower, one year before the French capital hosts the Games.

Olympians have appeared on Top Chef before.

A 2020 episode set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum included Diana Taurasi, Rai Benjamin, Nastia Liukin, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Christian Coleman and Kerri Walsh Jennings.

A January 2018 episode featured figure skater Meryl Davis, freeskier Gus Kenworthy and skeleton slider John Daly, one month before the PyeongChang Winter Games.

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