South African Akani Simbine beat Olympic medalists Yohan Blake and Andre De Grasse in the London Diamond League 100m on Saturday.
Simbine, fifth at the most recent Olympics and world championships, clocked 9.93 seconds at the 2012 Olympic Stadium. He held off Brit Zharnel Hughes (9.95), while the 2012 Olympic silver medalist Blake was third (9.97) and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist De Grasse was fifth (9.99).
The race lacked the fastest men of 2019 — Americans Christian Coleman (9.81), Noah Lyles (9.86) and Justin Gatlin (9.87) and NCAA champion Divine Oduduru of Nigeria (9.86).
The meet concludes Sunday, live on NBC Sports Gold at 8:50 a.m. ET. U.S. stars are skipping this stop to prepare for the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships next weekend, where world championships spots are at stake.
In other events Saturday, world championships 800m favorite Nijel Amos of Botswana was wheeled off in a chair after grabbing the back of his right upper leg and stopping just after the start of the race. Eight days ago, Amos clocked the world’s fastest 800m since David Rudisha‘s world record at the London Olympics.
In his absence, Kenyan Ferguson Rotich won in 1:43.14, which was 1.25 seconds off Amos’ time from the previous Diamond League meet. Rudisha hasn’t competed in two years due to injury.
In the 5000m, Norwegian 18-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen lowered his personal best by 15.04 seconds in finishing second to Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet, who won by .17 of a second in 13:01.86. Ingebrigtsen ranks Nos. 2 and 9 in the world this year in the 1500m (his best event) and the 5000m. Gebrhiwet won two weeks after miscounting laps in the Lausanne Diamond League, celebrating 400 meters too early and ending up 10th.
World 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm broke the European record in 47.12, the seventh-fastest time in history. Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba and American Rai Benjamin, who went faster in 2018, were not in Saturday’s race.
Jamaican Danielle Williams won the 100m hurdles in 12.32 seconds, a national record and the world’s fastest time in two years. World-record holder Kendra Harrison and Olympic champion Brianna McNeal were not in the field.
Olympic champion Elaine Thompson took the 200m in 22.13, the fourth-fastest in the world this year. Thompson owns the fastest time of 2019, a 22.00 from the Jamaican Championships on June 23.
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