Mary Moraa wins in Berlin (© Getty Images)
World champion Mary Moraa fought for every hundredth of a second on the home straight of the 600m at the ISTAF – a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting – in Berlin on Sunday (1) and was rewarded with a world best of 1:21.63.
Running in front of 40,500 spectators, the Olympic bronze medallist from Kenya took 0.14 off the previous world best, finishing 1.35 seconds ahead of Shafiqua Maloney.
“I am feeling so well and happy,” said Moraa. “To achieve this record on my first attempt is just overwhelming. I am so satisfied about the way I ran today.”
Germany’s 2022 European champion Julian Weber gave himself a belated birthday present, winning the javelin with a season’s best of 88.64m just three days after turning 30.
“It was wonderful, just as I imagined it would be,” he said. “There were so many fans here in the stadium. It was so much fun. The people were so into it. The great series is awesome.”
USA’s Sam Kendricks won the men’s pole vault with 6.01m, the first six-metre vault at ISTAF in 25 years. Dutch vaulter Menno Vloon was also left in the competition at that height but was unsuccessful, ending with a best of 5.92m.
Olympic silver medallist Leo Neugebauer won a three-discipline combined events contest, clocking 10.77 in the 100m, throwing 53.13m in the discus and ending with a 4:38.10 run in the 1500m. The final discipline was held using the Gundersen method with athletes starting based on their points tally ahead of that event, meaning the first athlete to finish the 1500m was the overall winner.
World and Olympic champion Grant Holloway notched up another win in the 110m hurdles, clocking 13.14 to finish 0.07 ahead of Japan’s Rachid Muratake.
European champion Jessica Schilder achieved a decisive win over Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye in the women’s shot put, throwing 19.70m to the German’s 18.65m.
German champions Gina Luckenkemper and Emil Nana Kwame Agyekum set lifetime best performances to win their respective disciplines.
Luckenkemper made the most of a strong start in the 100m to win in a PB of 10.93 (1.0m/s) ahead of USA’s Jenna Prandini (11.09). Kwame Agyekum, meanwhile, produced the run of his life in the 400m hurdles to win comfortably in 48.21 from 2022 world bronze medallist Trevor Bassitt.
