Lyles smashes world 150m best in Ostrava

Noah Lyles took a quarter of a second off the world 150m best at the Golden Spike in Ostrava on Tuesday (16), clocking 14.67 at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting.

The Olympic 100m champion and four-time world 200m champion was contesting the distance for the first time, but the rarely run event looked tailor-made for him. Strong enough over 100m and dominant over 200m, Lyles used both parts of his sprinting range to full effect in the Czech city.

Coming off the bend, he was level with South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile, but Lyles then edged in front and pulled clear to win in 14.67, improving the world best of 14.92 set earlier this year by Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson.

Dambile held on to take second in 14.78, also inside the previous world best, while rising Australian talent Gout Gout finished strongly to take third in 14.96.

The victory continued Lyles’ unbeaten outdoor start to 2026. He had already won at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Tokyo and the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rome, and in Ostrava he added another landmark performance to that sequence.

"It was about time," said Lyles. "This feeling (to become the fastest in the world) - it's nothing new. It's very hard to get used to running from a staggered 150 start. We do it in practice, but that's without blocks. But all in all, I think that it was really good."

Nine days after her remarkable world-leading victory in Stockholm, Audrey Werro produced another outstanding performance in the women’s 800m. The Swiss athlete won by almost three seconds in 1:54.45, the eighth-fastest performance in history and just 0.48 shy of the national record she set earlier this month.

Two-time world 400m hurdles champion Femke Broeders-Bol, making her outdoor 800m debut, tracked Werro on the first lap but was unable to stay with her over the final 200 metres. Nevertheless, she clocked 1:57.13 to finish second, putting her third on the Dutch all-time list, behind Ellen van Langen and Sifan Hassan.

"Today I felt really, really good," said Werro. "I was expecting a very fast time, but in the end it was a little bit too hard because I was alone in the final metres. To run this time, and the meeting record, it means a lot to me."

The third meeting record of the night came in the men’s mile, where Nathan Green broke a mark that had stood since 2009. The US runner won in 3:49.44, overtaking compatriot Vincent Ciattei in the closing stages, with Ciattei finishing second in 3:49.51.

Lima, Manuel and Walaza among track winners

Brazil’s Matheus Lima continued his fine form in the men’s 400m hurdles, winning by half a second in 47.64. Spain’s Jesus David Delgado finished second in a national record of 48.11.

World indoor champion Lurdes Gloria Manuel of Czechia delighted the home crowd in the women’s 400m, winning in a PB of 49.74. Cuba’s Roxana Gomez was second in 50.20.

Attila Molnar won the men’s 400m in 44.56, with Belgium’s Daniel Segers second in 44.81.

South Africa’s Bayanda Walaza equalled his PB to win the men’s 100m in 9.94, finishing ahead of Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme, who clocked 9.99. World indoor champion Jordan Anthony was fifth in 10.20.

Cuba’s Kendry Menendez won the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.14. The women’s 100m hurdles was much closer, with Nadine Visser winning in 12.65 from Pia Skrzyszowska, who ran 12.66, and Marione Fourie, who clocked 12.68.

Fabbri and Ayris take field event wins

Two-time world medallist Leonardo Fabbri notched up his 10th victory of the year in the men’s shot put, retaining his Golden Spike title with 21.91m. Nigeria’s Chukwu Enekwechi was second with 21.43m.

Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage dominated the javelin with three throws beyond 85 metres – all of which would have been sufficient to win. His best was 86.57m, which came in the third round, and gave him victory over Anderson Peters (84.27m).

In the pole vault, intermittent rain made conditions challenging. Imogen Ayris won the women’s event with 4.75m, while Emmanouil Karalis took the men’s competition with 5.82m before going on to attempt 6.00m.

Elsewhere, Peter Bol timed his effort to perfection in the men’s 1000m, striding down the home straight to overtake Samuel Chapple and Marino Bloudek. The Australian won in an Oceanian record of 2:15.13, with Chapple second in 2:15.20 and Bloudek third in 2:15.40.

Salah Eddine Ben Yazide led a Moroccan one-two in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, winning in 8:09.88 from Mohamed Tindouft, who clocked 8:10.04.