As is often the case at the Paavo Nurmi Games, throwing events will be a prime focus at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku on Tuesday (17).
The women&rsquo;s hammer, in particular, is a standout discipline as world and Olympic champion Camryn Rogers faces Olympic silver medallist Annette Echikunwoke, two-time world medallist Janee Kassanavoid, world record-holder Anita Wlodarczyk and Finnish duo Krista Tervo and Silja Kosonen who have exchanged national records this year.
<div><a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-continental-tour/where-to-watch" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/684efc752d228b4160778325.jpg" alt="Paavo Nurmi Games 2025" /></a></div>
Rogers started her season with a bang, throwing 78.14m &ndash; the second-best mark of her career &ndash; to win at the Mt SAC Relays, then won in Nairobi with 77.93m. But earlier this month she was beaten in Bergen by Kosonen, who&rsquo;ll be keen to repeat the feat on home soil.
Kosonen has also enjoyed a great start to 2025, setting national records of 75.45m and 77.07m in March, then following it with three more victories. But just a few days ago she was beaten in Lahti by compatriot Tervo, who won with a Finnish record of 77.14m.
Echinwoke has also been operating near her best this year, having thrown 75.47m &ndash; just one centimetre shy of her silver-medal-winning mark from Paris and two centimetres shy of her PB. Kassanavoid is one place ahead of Echinwoke on this year&rsquo;s world list, having set a season&rsquo;s best of 76.42m in Tucson a few weeks ago.
Hammer-throwing legend Wlodarczyk is no stranger to Turku, having won here in 2019. Now aged 39, the Pole heads to Finland with a season&rsquo;s best of 71.51m but has been improving with every competition this year.
The men&rsquo;s discus is similarly loaded; three of the men in the field have, between them, won the past five global titles in the event.
Roje Stona, the surprise Olympic champion in Paris last year, takes on his predecessor as Olympic champion, Daniel Stahl, as well as 2022 world champion Kristjan Ceh. Olympic bronze medallist Matt Denny, owner of the second-best throw in history, adds further quality to the line-up.
At the time of publication, Ceh has won his past five competitions &ndash; three of which produced throws beyond 72 metres, all in different cities. Denny has the longest PB of the field with his 74.78m from the throws Mecca that is Ramona. Setting aside his 13 throws beyond 70 metres achieved at that venue this year, Denny&rsquo;s best mark this season is his 68.97m from Doha last month. More recently, he finished second to Ceh in Hengelo.
Stahl, like Ceh, has opted not to compete in Ramona this year. The Swede, who holds the meeting record of 70.62m in Turku, has a season&rsquo;s best of 67.06m from finishing runner-up to Denny in Doha. Stona, meanwhile, opened his season in Hengelo earlier this week, finishing a close third to Denny with 67.19m.
There are three other disciplines in Turku that bring together two or more winners of global titles.
In the men&rsquo;s long jump, world indoor champion Mattia Furlani takes on 2019 world champion Tajay Gayle of Jamaica and world indoor heptathlon champion Sander Skotheim. Gayle shares a world-leading mark of 8.34m with world indoor bronze medallist Liam Adcock, who is also set to compete in Turku. Furlani&rsquo;s best this year, 8.31m, is close behind, while decathlon specialist Skotheim sailed out to an outright PB of 8.19m during the indoor season.
In the men&rsquo;s 100m, Marcell Jacobs and Andre de Grasse &ndash; winners of the 100m and 200m titles respectively at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 &ndash; will go head to head. Ghana&rsquo;s Benjamin Azamati, South Africa&rsquo;s Benji Richardson and Britain&rsquo;s Romell Glave should all be competitive too.
And in the men&rsquo;s javelin, 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott and 2015 world champion Julius Yego take on Poland&rsquo;s Marcin Krukowski.
Fresh from smashing the German record in Rabat with 8:01.49, Frederik Ruppert leads a men&rsquo;s steeplechase field that also includes 2022 African champion Hailemariyam Amare and 2024 world indoor 1500m champion Geordie Beamish.
In the women&rsquo;s event, 2022 world champion Norah Jeruto is joined by Kazakh compatriot Daisy Jepkemei and two-time world finalist Marwa Bouzayani of Tunisia.
In a well-matched men&rsquo;s 1500m line-up, 2023 world bronze medallist Narve Gilje Nordas takes on Kenya&rsquo;s Brian Komen, South Africa&rsquo;s Tshepo Tshite and Spanish 800m specialist Adrian Ben.
The women&rsquo;s 800m, meanwhile, features Ethiopia&rsquo;s Habitam Alemu, Swiss record-holder Audrey Werro and Assia Raziki, who set a Moroccan 100m record of 11.45 back in 2016 but has now moved up to the 800m and recently clocked a PB of 1:58.49.
Two of Europe&rsquo;s finest sprint hurdlers &ndash; Pia Skrzyszowska and Ditaji Kambundji &ndash; clash in the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles. World indoor pentathlon champion Saga Vanninen is also in the line-up.
Another world-beating combined eventer, recent Hypo Meeting winner Anna Hall, will be in action in the high jump.

Paavo Nurmi Games

As is often the case at the Paavo Nurmi Games, throwing events will be a prime focus at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku on Tuesday (17).

Big throws showdowns in Turku

Just three days after the latest instalment of the Wanda Diamond League in Oslo, the world&rsquo;s best athletes will head to Stockholm&rsquo;s Bauhaus Galan for the next fixture in the series on Sunday (15).
Seven individual gold medallists from the Paris 2024 Olympics &ndash; four of whom were in action in Oslo on Thursday &ndash; headline the action in the Swedish city. And, as was the case in Oslo, the three-way clash between the Olympic medallists in the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles has top billing.
Karsten Warholm, Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos have, between them, won the past six global titles in the 400m hurdles and produced the 18 fastest times in history, elevating the discipline to new heights. Sunday&rsquo;s race will be the first time the trio has clashed in the 400m hurdles since the Paris Olympics, where they occupied the top three spots.
They also filled the top three spots in the 300m hurdles in Oslo on Thursday when Warholm set a world best of 32.67 to finish ahead of Benjamin and Dos Santos.
Warholm, the world record-holder and three-time world champion, also heads to Stockholm as the world leader in the 400m hurdles following his 47.28 run at the Diamond League meeting in Keqiao last month.
Benjamin, the gold medallist in Paris, had been leading in Oslo up until the final barrier but clipped the hurdle and lost some momentum, still finishing in a US record of 33.22.
Dos Santos, the 2022 world champion, set the meeting record of 46.80 in Stockholm three years ago and is undefeated in the 400m hurdles this year, having won in Kingston, Miami and Philadelphia.
The rematch theme will also be strong in the men&rsquo;s 800m as it contains four of the top six finishers from the Paris final and five of the top six finishers from Oslo on Thursday.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the winner of both races, will start as the favourite following his season&rsquo;s best of 1:42.78 in the Norwegian capital. Algeria&rsquo;s Djamel Sedjati, who was third in both Paris and Oslo, has fond memories of Stockholm, having won here last year in 1:43.23. European champion Gabriel Tual, two-time Commonwealth champion Wyclife Kinyamal, and US duo Josh Hoey and Bryce Hoppel &ndash; winners of the past two world indoor titles &ndash; are also in the loaded field.
In the women&rsquo;s event, world indoor champion Prudence Sekgodiso faces world champion Mary Moraa, alongside Audrey Werro, who recently set a Swiss record of 1:57.25, and Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell.
The home crowd will have high expectations for Mondo Duplantis, who has won the pole vault at this meeting for the past five years. The multiple world and Olympic champion won in Oslo on Thursday with a world-leading 6.15m &ndash; just one centimetre shy of the Stockholm meeting record he set in 2022.
The world record-holder will be up against the likes of Emmanouil Karalis, Sam Kendricks, Kurtis Marschall, Ernest John Obiena and Menno Vloon.
Julien Alfred is another Stockholm-bound Olympic champion who won in Oslo earlier this week. The sprinter from St Lucia laid down a marker of 10.89 in Oslo in what was her first 100m of the year, so she&rsquo;ll look to improve on that on Sunday when she takes on Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith and Dina Asher-Smith, the athletes who finished second and third in Oslo.
Three other Olympic champions are in action in the field events.
Olympic long jump champion Tara Davis-Woodhall makes her 2025 Diamond League debut in a loaded field that also includes world champion Ivana Spanovic, two-time world champion Malaika Mihambo, world indoor champion Claire Bryant, European indoor champion Larissa Iapichino, world indoor silver medallist Annik Kalin and Olympic bronze medallist Jasmine Moore.
All three Olympic medallists will clash in the women&rsquo;s high jump as Yaroslava Mahuchikh takes on world indoor champion Nicola Olyslagers and 2022 world champion Eleanor Patterson.
Olympic discus champion Roje Stona will contest just the second Diamond League meeting of his career. The Jamaican &ndash; who opened his season with a 67.19m third-place finish in Hengelo earlier this week &ndash; will take on 2022 world champion Kristjan Ceh, who last month threw beyond 72 metres in three different cities within the space of a week.
Two-time world champion Daniel Stahl and Olympic bronze medallist Matt Denny add further quality to the field.
<h2>Bol returns</h2>
World champion Femke Bol will return to the scene of her first ever Diamond League win. The Dutch 400m hurdler first won here back in 2020 and has gone on to rack up a string of 37 consecutive victories in invitational races, 25 of which have been in the Diamond League.
She has won in Stockholm four times to date and holds the meeting record of 52.27, set in 2022. So far this year, she has won in Rabat (52.46) and Hengelo (52.51) and she&rsquo;ll no doubt be keen to finish well inside 53 seconds again on Sunday.
She&rsquo;ll face 2016 Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad, Panama&rsquo;s Gianna Woodruff and world-leading heptathlete Anna Hall.
Following their thrilling finish in Oslo, USA&rsquo;s Isabella Whittaker and Norway&rsquo;s Henriette Jaeger clash again in the 400m flat. Whittaker came from behind to win on that occasion as both women set outdoor PBs, 49.58 to 49.62. World indoor champion Amber Anning, Ireland&rsquo;s Rhasidat Adeleke and Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands &ndash; who were third, fourth and fifth respectively in Oslo &ndash; are also entered.
Ackera Nugent, the fastest woman in the world last year, is part of a 100m hurdles field that also includes former world record-holder Kendra Harrison, two-time world indoor champion Devynne Charlton and USA&rsquo;s Grace Stark.
Having won the 200m in Oslo ahead of Canada&rsquo;s Andre de Grasse and Liberia&rsquo;s Joseph Fahnbulleh, Cuba&rsquo;s Reynier Mena will try to achieve the feat again in Stockholm.
Elsewhere, Kuma Girma &ndash; who clocked a PB of 12:46.41 in Oslo &ndash; takes on Andreas Almgren in the men&rsquo;s 5000m. The women&rsquo;s pole vault, meanwhile, features Sandi Morris, Angelica Moser and Tina Sutej.

BAUHAUS-Galan

Just three days after the latest instalment of the Wanda Diamond League in Oslo, the world’s best athletes will head to Stockholm’s Bauhaus Galan for the next fixture in the series on Sunday (15).

Global champions Duplantis, Warholm and Bol return to Stockholm

Karsten Warholm gave the packed crowd at the 60th edition of the Bislett Games in Oslo the performance they craved in the latest&nbsp;Wanda Diamond League&nbsp;meeting as he set a 300m hurdles world best of 32.67, becoming the first athlete to better 33 seconds in this event.
It was the final event of a programme that had seen Mondo Duplantis set two meeting records in the men&rsquo;s pole vault, Kenya&rsquo;s Faith Cherotich set a women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase meeting record and world lead of 9:02.60 and Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Isaac Nader and Nico Young earn stirring victories in, respectively, the men&rsquo;s 800m, mile and 5000m.
Racing against the US athlete who succeeded him as Olympic 400m hurdles champion last year, Rai Benjamin, Warholm offered ominous evidence of his 2025 prospects. The 29-year-old Norwegian athlete improved significantly upon the time of 33.05 he set at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen earlier this year.
Benjamin, two lanes inside his rival in lane five, appeared to have the race in his grasp as he moved past Warholm into the final straight, but he faltered over the final 50 metres as the home athlete drove home remorselessly.
Benjamin nevertheless clocked a personal best of 33.22 in second place ahead of Brazil&rsquo;s 2022 world 400m hurdles champion Alison dos Santos, who recorded 33.38.
It was the first time that Warholm, Benjamin and Dos Santos had all met in this discipline; they now move on to the 400m hurdles at Sunday&rsquo;s Diamond League meeting in Stockholm.
&ldquo;The race went well although I was rather worried with how much Rai (Benjamin) was closing on me,&rdquo; Warholm said. &ldquo;But I knew I could push on over the last hurdle to home. I usually fade at the end of the 400 so the 300 suits me to some degree but I will be back strong in the 400 on Sunday.&rdquo;
A few minutes earlier, Duplantis earned his customary victory in the men&rsquo;s pole vault &ndash; taking his fifth Bislett Games title &ndash; before going on to set successive meeting records of 6.03m and 6.15m.
Sweden&rsquo;s double Olympic champion, unbeaten since the 2023 Monaco Diamond League meeting, thus improved his outdoor world lead of 6.11m set at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting &ndash; having set his 11th world record earlier his year by clearing 6.27m indoors.
Cherotich ran a coolly judged race, moving clear over the final lap to better the mark of 9:05.08 she set in winning at the Doha Diamond League ahead of Bahrain&rsquo;s Winfred Yavi, who also improved her season&rsquo;s best as she clocked 9:02.76.
Kenya&rsquo;s Wanyonyi, the Olympic 800m champion, earned a season&rsquo;s best of 1:42.78 under extreme pressure. Five metres clear at the bell, the 20-year-old began to look a touch desperate as the field closed on him at the start of the finishing straight.
Yet he would not, could not, be passed and held on to register the second fastest time of the season behind the 1.42.70 set by Botswana&rsquo;s Tshepiso Masalela at last month&rsquo;s Rabat Diamond League meeting, with Spain&rsquo;s Mohamed Attaoui second in 1:42.90 and Algeria&rsquo;s Olympic bronze medallist Djamel Sedjati third in 1:43.06.
Isaac Nader set a Portuguese record of 3:48.25 to win the first Dream Mile to be held in Oslo since 2022, finishing a couple of metres clear of a wide wave of talent from which Australia&rsquo;s 19-year-old Cameron Myers emerged to take second place in a personal best of 3:48.87.
Nico Young set a US outdoor 5000m record of 12:45.27 after a monumental race that produced eight other personal bests including two other national records.
While the touted joust at Joshua Cheptegei&rsquo;s 2020 world record of 12:35.36 did not come to pass, a hugely accomplished field produced a hugely competitive spectacle which ended with the 22-year-old moving past the Briton who led at the bell, George Mills, and pushing on for victory ahead of Ethiopians Biniam Mehary and Kuma Girma, who clocked personal bests of 12:45.93 and 12:46.41 respectively.
Mills was rewarded for his true grit with a British record of 12:46.59, eclipsing Mo Farah&rsquo;s 2011 mark of 12:53.11. Switzerland&rsquo;s Dominic Lobalu also set a national record, placing 10th in 12:50.87.
The first 100m of the season for Olympic champion Julien Alfred underlined her enduring power as, despite being beaten out of the blocks by the Ivory Coast&rsquo;s Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith, she won in 10.89, slowing over the final few metres.
Ta Lou-Smith was second in 11.00, with Britain&rsquo;s Dina Asher-Smith third in 11.08.
Isabella Whittaker of the United States won the women&rsquo;s 400m in 49.58 ahead of home runner Henriette Jaeger in a national record of 49.62 and Britain&rsquo;s Amber Anning, who clocked 50.24.
Dalilah Muhammad of the United States won the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles in 53.34 from Slovakia&rsquo;s Emma Zapletalova (54.44). US heptathlete Anna Hall was going well until falling at the last hurdle &ndash; happily without serious harm.
Leyanis Perez Hernandez of Cuba managed only two scoring efforts in the women&rsquo;s triple jump but the second of them, 14.72m, was enough for victory ahead of Jamaica&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts (14.57m).
The men&rsquo;s triple jump saw Jamaica&rsquo;s Jordan Scott earn a notable win over Portugal&rsquo;s 2021 Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo thanks to an opening personal best of 17.34m, with the latter athlete managing 17.06m.
Cuba&rsquo;s Reynier Mena won the men&rsquo;s 200m in 20.20 from Timothe Mumenthaler of Switzerland in a personal best of 20.27, with Canada&rsquo;s Tokyo 2020 champion Andre de Grasse third in 20.33.
Victory in the women&rsquo;s javelin went to Japan&rsquo;s Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi with a fifth-round best of 64.63m that took her past Serbia&rsquo;s Adriana Vilagos (63.78m).
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

Karsten Warholm gave the packed crowd at the Bislett Games the performance they craved as he set a 300m hurdles world best of 32.67

Warholm breaks world 300m hurdles best in Oslo

World Athletics congratulates Senior Vice-President Ximena Restrepo on her election to the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Council. Restrepo will continue athletics&rsquo; representation on the Council following the conclusion of World Athletics President Sebastian Coe&rsquo;s two full terms.
Restrepo, who was elected through 2025-2027, said: &ldquo;I am incredibly grateful to Seb for his unwavering support and encouragement in my bid to become elected to the ASOIF Council. I would also like to thank those international federations who have shown their trust in me to represent their collective interests related to the Summer Olympic Games and the Olympic movement.&rdquo;
President Coe said: &ldquo;I am delighted that Ximena has been deservedly elected on to the ASOIF Council. I am proud that athletics continues to lead by example in successfully putting forward such an accomplished female sports administrator to become one of only two female representatives on the ASOIF Council.
&ldquo;As an Olympic medallist and first-class sports leader, Ximena knows as well as anyone that athletes are the heart and soul of the Olympic Games &ndash; and that without the international federations we have no athletes and without the athletes, we have no Olympic Games.
&ldquo;As my term on the ASOIF Council has come to an end, I would like to thank all my Council colleagues, all the international federations for their support, and Presidents Ingmar De Vos and Francesco Ricci Bitti for their leadership.&rdquo;
Restrepo is one of South America's most successful sprinters. She took Olympic 400m bronze in 1992, earning Colombia's first Olympic medal in athletics and becoming the first Colombian woman to win an Olympic medal. Her time in that race, 49.64, still stands as a Colombian record and South American record
Restrepo competed at four Olympic Games in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, and three World Championships, making the finals in 1991 and 1993.
Throughout her career, she won numerous medals and titles at the South American Championships, Pan-American Games, Ibero-American Championships and South American Games.
Restrepo was elected to the World Athletics Council in 2019 and is the first female Senior Vice-President in the organisation&rsquo;s history. Thorughout her tenure as an athletics administrator she has held important positions including as a member of the World Athletics Human Rights Working Group and member and the World Athletics Gender Leadership Taskforce, whose remit is to provide oversight of World Athletics&rsquo; gender leadership strategy to mainstream equity and ensure sustainable leadership pathways for women.

Restrepo will continue athletics’ representation on the Council following the conclusion of World Athletics President Sebastian Coe’s two full terms.

World Athletics Senior Vice-President Ximena Restrepo elected to ASOIF Council

The NCAA Division I Outdoor Track &amp; Field Championships descend upon Eugene's Hayward Field at the University of Oregon this week, bringing the top collegiate athletes to vie for individual and team titles.
Among the collegians are a slew of current U20 athletes, defined as any athlete of 18 or 19 years of age on 31 December in the year of the competition. World Athletics hosts its U20 Championships every other year, with the next iteration coming to Hayward Field in the summer of 2026 from 4-9 August.
Below are notable U20 athletes to keep an eye on as the NCAA Track &amp; Field Championships unfolds. For a full overview of the event, including broadcast information, visit <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/trackfield-outdoor-women/article/2025-05-22/2025-ncaa-outdoor-track-and-field-championships-schedule-location-tv&#96;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the NCAA website</a>.
&nbsp;
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/xavier-butler-15082573" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Xavier Butler (USA)</a> is a sophomore (second-year student) at the University of Texas and has run the fastest U20 time over 200m so far this year. Butler&rsquo;s time of 20.02 was run during the NCAA qualifying rounds and is his personal best in the event. Butler enters the NCAA Championships with the eighth-fastest qualifying mark. In addition to the 200m, Butler is entered as part of the Longhorns&rsquo; 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/684849a1c75ed73af643f13e.jpg" alt="Xavier Butler" />
Xavier Butler (&copy; University of Texas)
</div>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/micahi-danzy-15022226" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Micahi Danzy (USA)</a> is a freshman (first-year student) at Florida State University, where he also plays football, and has run the fastest U20 time over 400m so far this year: 44.38, run during the ACC Outdoor Track &amp; Field Championships. Danzy ran 45.26 in the qualifying rounds, the fifth-fastest qualifying time in the NCAA Championships field. In addition to the 400m, Danzy is entered as part of the Seminoles&rsquo; 4x100m relay team.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/68484911c75ed73af643f132.jpg" alt="Micahi Danzy" />
Micahi Danzy (&copy; Florida State University)
</div>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/nigeria/samuel-ogazi-14978353" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Samuel Ogazi (NGR)</a> is a sophomore at the University of Alabama and has run the second-fastest U20 time over 400m so far this year: 44.43, run as the fastest qualifying time for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Ogazi represented Nigeria at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games at just 18 years old, where he finished seventh in 44.73 seconds after setting a PB of 44.41 in the semi finals. Prior to the Olympics, he finished third at the 2024 African Championships. In addition to the 400m, Ogazi is entered in the NCAA Championships as part of Alabama&rsquo;s 4x400m relay team.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6848498ac75ed73af643f13b.jpeg" alt="Samuel Ogazi" />
Samuel Ogazi (&copy; University of Alabama)
</div>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/nigeria/chioma-nwachukwu-15023596" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chioma Nwachukwu (NGR)</a> is a freshman at the University of Iowa and has run the fastest U20 time over 400m so far this year: 51.26. Earlier in the year, she clocked an African U18 indoor best of 52.07. She is entered in the Hawkeyes&rsquo; 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/684848f7c75ed73af643f12f.JPG" alt="Chioma Nwachukwu" />
Chioma Nwachukwu (&copy; University of Iowa)
</div>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/braelyn-baker-14994013" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Braelyn Baker (USA)</a> is a freshman at Duke University and has run the second-fastest U20 time over 400m so far this year: 51.69. Baker qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400m hurdles, in which she&rsquo;s run the third-fastest U20 mark in the world this year with 56.48 in the qualifying round. She is also entered in the Blue Devils&rsquo; 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/684848d2c75ed73af643f12c.jpg" alt="Braelyn Baker" />
Braelyn Baker (&copy; Duke University)
</div>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/nigeria/prestina-oluchi-ochonogor-14970513" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prestina Ochonogor (NGR)</a> is a freshman at Tarleton State University and has jumped the second-farthest U20 mark in the long jump so far this year: 6.67m. Her personal best of 6.79m, set last year, is an African U20 record. Last year she won the senior Nigerian Championships, earned bronze at the African Games, finished 12th in the Olympic final and fifth at the World U20 Championships. Ochonogor jumped 6.66m to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the second-best mark in qualifying rounds.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/68484929c75ed73af643f135.jpg" alt="Prestina Ochonogor" />
Prestina Ochonogor (&copy; Tarleton State University)
</div>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/venezuela/ricardo-david-montes-14999232" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ricardo David Montes (VEN)</a> is a freshman at High Point University and has produced the best U20 mark in the pole vault so far this year: 5.60m in February &ndash; which is also a senior Venezuelan record. Montes also earned his first South American title this year, vaulting 5.40m in Argentina. Montes jumped 5.43m during the rounds to earn the top qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/68484975c75ed73af643f138.jpeg" alt="Ricardo Montes" />
Ricardo Montes (&copy; High Point University)
</div>
&nbsp;
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/anna-willis-14967585" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anna Willis (USA)</a> is a freshman at the University of South Dakota and has jumped the highest U20 mark in the pole vault so far this year: 4.52m in May &ndash; a personal best. Willis jumped 4.42m to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the top qualifying mark in the event.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6848489fc75ed73af643f129.jpg" alt="Anna Willis" />
Anna Willis (&copy; University of South Dakota)
</div>
 The decathlon kicks off four days of action at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships on Wednesday 11 June at 12:00pm Pacific time. Events conclude with the women&rsquo;s 4x400m relay on Saturday 14 June at 8:21pm Pacific time.

World Athletics U20 Championships

Notable U20 athletes to keep an eye on as the NCAA Track & Field Championships unfolds

NCAA Track & Field Championships: U20 athletes to watch

&ldquo;Quality over quantity&rdquo; defines Rai Benjamin&rsquo;s professional athletics career.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just always been a philosophy of mine,&rdquo; says the Olympic 400m hurdles champion. &ldquo;And I think it&rsquo;s a good philosophy for anyone to have.&rdquo;
Except for his 2 February victory in a 300m in Boston, Benjamin hasn&rsquo;t competed this year. When he races on Thursday (12) at the Oslo Bislett Games in a star-studded 300m hurdles against Karsten Warholm and Alison dos Santos, that will mark his latest outdoor debut since the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season. Three days later, the trio will contest a 400m hurdles in Stockholm.
Given his sparse Wanda Diamond League history, Benjamin has never raced before at either of these meetings.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very smart guy, so he knows his body and we try to make good choices to keep him healthy,&rdquo; says Joanna Hayes, who coaches Benjamin in conjunction with fellow Olympic gold medallist Quincy Watts. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s had a lot of injuries in the past so the races that he runs all have to make sense.&rdquo;
Believe it or not, that indoor 300m made sense because Benjamin was already going to be in Boston for a podcast. Benjamin hosts &ldquo;Beyond the Records&rdquo; with Olympic gold medallists Noah Lyles and Grant Holloway.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/68481ec9742fa88ff67878d4.jpg" alt="Rai Benjamin and Vernon Norwood in Boston" />
Rai Benjamin and Vernon Norwood in Boston (&copy; Dan Vernon for World Athletics)
</div>
&ldquo;I just came on a whim,&rdquo; Benjamin says. &ldquo;My agent was like, &lsquo;Yo man, you might as well just run.&rsquo; And I was like, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not running.&rsquo;&rdquo;
But Benjamin had second thoughts. He called Vernon Norwood and convinced him to switch from the 400m to the 300m so they could go head-to-head at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. Both posted lifetime bests &ndash; Benjamin in 32.21 and Norwood in 32.39 &ndash; and were smiling as they crossed the finish line.
&ldquo;I told Coach Hayes: &lsquo;I&rsquo;m not even going to try and press it &ndash; it makes no sense to run so fast this early in the year,&rsquo;&rdquo; Benjamin says. &ldquo;So, I just got out how I usually do. I heard (Norwood) coming in, I was like, &lsquo;OK, I gotta put my foot down a little bit.&rsquo;&rdquo;
The podcast gives the 27-year-old New York native a chance to flex other muscles.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s been a series where the athletes themselves have had a platform to voice their thoughts and their opinions and get other athletes and other notable people from their respective fields to come and talk to us,&rdquo; Benjamin says. &ldquo;We teach them about track and they teach us about their respective fields.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to get out there and brand ourselves, especially leading into 2028 (Los Angeles Olympics) where we have home-field advantage. It&rsquo;s good to get the audience involved and look at us and look at our personalities. It&rsquo;s been awesome so far.&rdquo;
There have been eight podcast episodes in the first four months of 2025 &ndash; the same number of 400m hurdles races Benjamin ran in 2024 (including rounds).
He opened the 2024 season with a 400m in April, clocking 44.42, and then ran 46.64 in a 400m hurdles in May.
After Benjamin posted a time of 46.46 in the final at the US Olympic Trials, he proved he was in exceptional form in his sole 2024 Diamond League appearance at the Herculis EBS in Monaco. That race turned out to be a precursor to the Paris Olympics as Benjamin edged Warholm 46.67 to 46.73, with Dos Santos third in 47.18.&nbsp;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/682b76e9ad71f4b0a215f1a7.jpg" alt="Karsten Warholm, Alison dos Santos and Rai Benjamin in Monaco" />
Karsten Warholm, Alison dos Santos and Rai Benjamin in Monaco (&copy; Chiara Montesano / Diamond League AG)
</div>
Benjamin was even more dominant at the Games, posting a winning time of 46.46 even though he landed awkwardly off the eighth hurdle and stutter-stepped and switched take-off legs approaching the 10th. Warholm clipped the ninth hurdle and clocked 47.06 while Dos Santos came in at 47.26.
&ldquo;I had so much momentum coming off the turn, that when I got off the hurdle, I didn&rsquo;t stabilise my core in time,&rdquo; Benjamin says. &ldquo;So, I had so much centrifugal force coming out of the turn that it just kind of threw me to the outside of the lane and I had to take an extra step, which threw me off a bit.&rdquo;
Yet coming off the turn with too much speed is a good problem to have. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about efficiently distributing that speed evenly throughout the race,&rdquo; Benjamin says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping this year I clean it up significantly.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Hayes, the UCLA head coach who won Olympic gold in the 100m hurdles in 2004, says Benjamin wasn&rsquo;t supposed to take 14 steps leading up to the final hurdle, but commended him for making a wise choice. &ldquo;Our whole thing at the Olympic Games was just win,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to take any risks, we don&rsquo;t want to do anything fancy. Just win. And that&rsquo;s what it was.&rdquo;
Despite being one of the top 400m hurdlers in the world since 2018, when he tied Edwin Moses for the second-fastest time (47.02) in history during the NCAA Championships, Benjamin had never won an individual global title until Paris.
He claimed the silver medal behind Warholm at the 2019 World Championships and at the Tokyo Olympics, where they both went faster than the previous world record and Benjamin set a North American record of 46.17.
He again took the silver in 2022, this time behind Dos Santos, and then got bronze in 2023 as Warholm won his third world title and Kyron McMaster of British Virgin Islands finished second.
&ldquo;I got the monkey off my back, I got the big one,&rdquo; Benjamin says of Paris. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the one that everyone really wants.&rdquo;
Of course, he would also like to finally secure a world title, but contends he&rsquo;s not feeling any pressure to replicate his Olympic success. &ldquo;For me, I don&rsquo;t feel like there&rsquo;s a target on my back,&rdquo; Benjamin says. &ldquo;I just want to finally PR. Because I haven&rsquo;t got a PR since 2021.
&ldquo;It would lower the American record and possibly break the world record. So, we&rsquo;ll see.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/66b66143095d30ec7751a730.jpg" alt="Rai Benjamin in the 400m hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games" />
Rai Benjamin in the 400m hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
Benjamin has been putting in the work in Los Angeles, where he splits his time between Hayes at UCLA and Watts at USC, where he is the head coach.&nbsp;
&ldquo;From a health perspective, just running a lot of meets can sometimes wear you out,&rdquo; says Benjamin, discussing his strategy of minimising the number of races he runs to prolong his career. &ldquo;And it doesn&rsquo;t take very long for me to be ready for a championship, whether it&rsquo;s USAs or Worlds. And once I&rsquo;m healthy, that&rsquo;s the focus, so we pick and choose. I want to be able to run something fast every time I get on the track.&rdquo;
He&rsquo;ll need to do that in Oslo and Stockholm. Warholm has a 5-4 edge in their head-to-head races and they are tied 4-4 in finals.
&ldquo;I know on any given day, any one of three or four guys can run 46, and 46 low,&rdquo; says Benjamin.
He also stays close to home because of the demands of the sport.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so hard, travelling,&rdquo; Benjamin says. &ldquo;My coach is a college coach. She has a job and she has kids, so I can&rsquo;t just pick up and go somewhere for a week when her kids are in school.&rdquo;
In the summer, Hayes can travel with Benjamin. And now that he finally has the Olympic gold, she says: &ldquo;He feels a little free and can try things and do new things, so we&rsquo;ll get creative and see what else he can do.&rdquo;
Prior to Paris, Warholm said he wanted to be the first men&rsquo;s 400m hurdler to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals since Glenn Davis in 1956 and 1960. Now it could be Benjamin.
&ldquo;Could be,&rdquo; he says.
In the meantime, he&rsquo;ll enjoy having one Olympic 400m hurdles gold &ndash; plus two in the 4x400m, which are dear to him, but don&rsquo;t count in quite the same way as the individual crown. &nbsp;
Benjamin marvels at &ldquo;just the happiness that it&rsquo;s brought my family and friends because the previous years, I&rsquo;ve obviously fallen short.&rdquo;
He adds:&nbsp;&ldquo;Second at my first World Championships, second again, third in Budapest. It&rsquo;s like you&rsquo;re just right there and you&rsquo;re scratching the surface. There are some people that have been so great, but they never have won a gold medal in a sport.&rdquo;
And it wasn&rsquo;t for lack of trying. But in Benjamin&rsquo;s case, he&rsquo;ll choose quality over quantity every time.
Karen Rosen for World Athletics

World Athletics Championships, Tokyo 2025

“Quality over quantity” defines Rai Benjamin’s professional athletics career

Quality over quantity for Olympic champion Benjamin

A clash between Karsten Warholm, Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos in the 300m hurdles, a world record attempt in the men&rsquo;s 5000m, a 100m season opener for Julien Alfred and a pole vault contest starring world record-holder Mondo Duplantis are among the highlights set for the Bislett Games, a Wanda Diamond League meeting, in Oslo on Thursday (12).
The programme, which includes an additional afternoon of action on Wednesday (11), features nine Olympic champions from the Paris 2024 Games &ndash; Benjamin, Alfred and Duplantis joined in Norway&rsquo;s capital by Ethan Katzberg, Haruka Kitaguchi, Thea LaFond, Markus Rooth, Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Winfred Yavi.
The three fastest men&rsquo;s 400m hurdlers in history will race each other twice within three days when they compete in Oslo and the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on Sunday (15). First up is the 300m hurdles in Oslo and it will be the first time that Warholm, Benjamin and Dos Santos have all clashed in the discipline, following its introduction as an official event earlier this year.
As well as being the world 400m hurdles record-holder and a three-time world champion, home favourite Warholm holds the world best for the 300m hurdles having improved his own global mark to 33.05 at the Diamond League season opener in Xiamen in April.
USA&rsquo;s Benjamin claimed the Olympic 400m hurdles title ahead of Warholm and Dos Santos in Paris last year, while Brazil&rsquo;s Dos Santos claimed the 2022 world title. Between them, the trio own the 18 fastest performances of all time in the 400m hurdles.
&ldquo;It will be a fantastic weekend with 300m hurdles in Oslo on Thursday and then 400m hurdles in Stockholm on Sunday, both with the three fastest of all time,&rdquo; said Benjamin.
&ldquo;This is the first time I will compete in these two historic competitions, which makes it even more interesting. What more could you want?&rdquo;
Fast times are also expected in the 5000m &ndash; a race that has been billed as a world record attempt. Last year Hagos Gebrhiwet came close to achieving the 72nd world record to be set at the Bislett Stadium as he clocked 12:36.73, just 1.37 seconds shy of Joshua Cheptegei&rsquo;s global mark of 12:35.36 from 2020.&nbsp;
Now he returns to try again, joined by his compatriot Yomif Kejelcha who ran 12.38.95 last year &ndash; making it the first time that two men had ever broken 12:40 in the same race. Further strengthening the field are Kenya&rsquo;s Jacob Krop and Nicholas Kipkorir, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Kuma Girma and Biniam Mehary, Spain&rsquo;s Thierry Ndikumwenayo and Switzerland&rsquo;s Dominic Lobalu.
The world record is always under threat whenever Duplantis competes. The Swedish pole vault star has improved the global mark 11 times in his career so far, most recently with a 6.27m clearance in Clermont-Ferrand in February, and he will be looking to build on the outdoor world lead of 6.11m he achieved in Shanghai/Keqiao at the start of May. The two-time Olympic and world champion competes along with five other six-metre-plus vaulters: his fellow Paris Olympic medallists Sam Kendricks and Emmanouil Karalis, plus Ernest John Obiena, Renaud Lavillenie and Sondre Guttormsen.
A record could also fall in the 800m, as three of the six fastest runners in history take to the start line. Kenya&rsquo;s Olympic champion Wanyonyi, Algeria&rsquo;s Djamel Sedjati and Gabriel Tual of France have all dipped under 1:42 and could target David Rudisha&rsquo;s stadium record of 1:42.04 set in 2010.
The mile features Kenya&rsquo;s 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, who ran 3:29.75 but was narrowly beaten in the 1500m in Rome, plus the in-form Robert Farken and Samuel Pihlstrom, Oliver Hoare, Niels Laros and world bronze medallist Narve Gilje Nordas.
Saint Lucia&rsquo;s Olympic champion Alfred makes her 100m season debut in Oslo. Unbeaten so far this year, she faces world indoor medallists Zaynab Dosso and Patrizia van der Weken, plus Dina Asher-Smith and Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith.
Poland&rsquo;s world and Olympic medallist Natalia Bukowiecka leads the 400m field and she takes on Rhasidat Adeleke, Sada Williams, Lieke Klaver and Henriette J&aelig;ger, while Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown clash with Kyree King, Joseph Fahnbulleh and Reynier Mena in the 200m.
Kenya&rsquo;s Olympic bronze medallist Faith Cherotich and Bahrain&rsquo;s Olympic champion Winfred Yavi have posted the two fastest 3000m steeplechase times in the world so far this year and they both line up in Oslo, joined by 2022 world champion Norah Jeruto. USA&rsquo;s multiple Olympic and world gold medallist Dalilah Muhammad leads the entries for the 400m hurdles, which will also feature her compatriot Anna Hall, fresh from a 7032-point heptathlon in G&ouml;tzis.
The women&rsquo;s triple jump features all six medallists from the Paris Olympics and Nanjing World Indoor Championships in LaFond, Shanieka Ricketts, Jasmine Moore, Leyanis Perez Hernandez, Liadagmis Povea and Ana Peleteiro-Compaore. In the men&rsquo;s event, Tokyo Olympic gold and Paris silver medallist Pedro Pichardo takes on world champion Hugues Fabrice Zango and world silver medallist Lazaro Martinez, while the top two at the Paris Olympics &ndash; Japan&rsquo;s champion Kitaguchi and South Africa&rsquo;s silver medallist Jo-Ane du Plessis &ndash; renew their rivalry in the javelin.
As part of a series of combined events clashes, Olympic decathlon champion Rooth will compete against his Norwegian compatriot Sander Skotheim, who recently set a national record to win in G&ouml;tzis, as well as Switzerland&rsquo;s Simon Ehammer.
The full Paris Olympic podium of Katzberg, Bence Halasz and Mykhaylo Kokhan will compete against Poland&rsquo;s Pawel Fajdek and Wojciech Nowicki in the hammer during the extra evening of action on Wednesday.

A 300m hurdles clash, a world record attempt in the men’s 5000m and a 100m season opener for Julien Alfred are among the highlights set for the Bislett Games

Fierce clashes and record attempts on the cards for Oslo

Femke Bol delighted the home crowd with a dominant meeting record-breaking victory in the 400m hurdles, while Chase Jackson secured a statement shot put win at the FBK Games &ndash; a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting &ndash; in Hengelo on Monday (9).
World champion Bol maintained the momentum two weeks on from achieving her fastest ever 400m hurdles season opener in Rabat, finishing just 0.05 off the time she ran there to win in Hengelo in 52.51.
The 25-year-old is using a new technique out of the blocks this season and she got out fast. Gradually moving further away from her rivals, she eventually won by two seconds as Panama&rsquo;s Gianna Woodruff secured second place in 54.54.
&ldquo;I've done it &ndash; I've got the meeting record,&rdquo; said Bol, who improved her own record of 53.94 set in 2022. &ldquo;To be honest, I didn't really think about a specific time or anything before the race, but I really wanted to win here in front of the home crowd.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The first part (of the race) went really well, especially with the changes I've made recently. Obviously, I felt the pain and the lactate at the end of the race, but you just know that's coming. This result shows I'm on track. I ran faster than I usually do at this time of the year.&rdquo;
USA&rsquo;s two-time world shot put champion Jackson has also had a superb start to the season and she built on the outdoor world lead of 20.54m she set in Shanghai/Keqiao by going eight centimetres farther.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/68472c1a637736a3afe5dfb2.jpg" alt="Chase Jackson in action in Hengelo" />
Chase Jackson in action in Hengelo (&copy; Dan Vernon for World Athletics)
</div>
Even more impressively, she achieved that 20.62m throw in the first round of the competition, just two days on from competing in Taipei City where she also won with a throw beyond 20 metres. Including indoor meetings, the 30-year-old has surpassed the 20-metre mark in eight competitions this year and this latest winning throw is just 14 centimetres off her own national record set in Eugene in 2023.
Jackson also threw 20.05m in the fifth round in Hengelo and all of her other throws were 19.49m or beyond. Home star Jessica Schilder also bettered 20 metres, throwing 20.16m to finish second, while USA&rsquo;s Maggie Ewen was third with 19.48m.
Slovenia&rsquo;s 2022 world champion Kristjan Ceh claimed his fifth discus win in 16 days, throwing 69.21m to triumph in a battle against Olympic champion Roje Stona and Olympic bronze medallist Matthew Denny.
Ceh surpassed 67 metres with all four of his valid throws, achieving his winning mark in the third round and backing it up with 68.82m, 67.79m and 67.05m. Australia&rsquo;s Denny and Jamaica&rsquo;s Stona also went beyond the 67-metre mark, managing 67.64m and 67.17m to finish second and third, respectively &ndash; Stona in his first competition since September.
World leader Cordell Tinch returned to winning ways in the 110m hurdles, three days on from being beaten by just thousandths of a second in Rome. This time the US athlete, who moved to equal fourth on the world all-time list with 12.87 earlier in the season, clocked 13.10 (0.0m/s). His compatriot Dylan Beard had him under some pressure but suffered a fall after hitting the final hurdle and Jamaica&rsquo;s Omar McLeod clinched the runner-up spot in 13.42.
Home favourite Nadine Visser dipped to victory in the 100m hurdles, clocking 12.59 (1.0m/s) to win ahead of South Africa&rsquo;s Marione Fourie, who launched herself over the finish line and finished just 0.01 back. Pia Skrzyszowska was third in 12.77.
Uganda&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Peruth Chemutai cruised to a dominant win in the 3000m steeplechase. She started fast, covering the first 1000m in 2:57.94, before reaching the 2000m mark in 6:03.33 and going on to win by more than 13 seconds in 9:07.79. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Wosane Asefa followed her over the finish line to secure second place in a PB of 9:20.83.
Mark English improved his own Irish 800m record for the second time this season, going sub-1:44 for the first time with 1:43.92 to win after a strong kick down the home straight. France&rsquo;s Yanis Meziane was second in 1:44.32 and Australia&rsquo;s Peyton Craig was third in 1:44.32, while 19-year-old Jakub Dudycha improved his own Czech record to 1:44.78 in fourth place.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/68472c62637736a3afe5dfb3.jpg" alt="Mark English wins the 800m in Hengelo" />
Mark English wins the 800m in Hengelo (&copy; Dan Vernon for World Athletics)
</div>
Jonas Phijffers improved the Dutch U23 record in front of a delighted home crowd to win the 400m, dipping under 45 seconds for the first time with 44.93 to deny Brazil&rsquo;s Matheus Lima (45.21). Botswana&rsquo;s Olympic 4x400m silver medallist Busang Kebinatshipi pulled up and did not finish.
There was another home win in the men&rsquo;s 100m, Elvis Afrifa dipping to victory in 10.25 (-1.0m/s) ahead of South Africa&rsquo;s Benjamin Richardson (10.28) and Sweden&rsquo;s Henrik Larsson (10.29). USA&rsquo;s Anavia Battle cruised to a comfortable win in the 200m, clocking 22.75 (-0.5m/s) to maintain her win streak in individual events in 2025.
Ana&iuml;s Bourgoin of France found a gap on the inside to beat Botswana&rsquo;s Oratile Nowe in the 800m. Nowe was to the fore once the pacemaker stepped aside but Bourgoin timed her finishing kick to perfection, taking advantage of the space on Nowe&rsquo;s left to win in 1:59.53. Nowe was second in 1:59.58 and USA&rsquo;s Sage Hurta-Klecker was third in 1:59.77.
USA&rsquo;s multiple global medallist Chris Nilsen cleared 5.82m on his third attempt to win the pole vault ahead of his compatriot KC Lightfoot (5.74m), while Australia&rsquo;s two-time world indoor champion Nicola Olyslagers won the high jump, clearing 1.93m to clinch her victory before managing 1.97m on her second try.&nbsp;
Portugal&rsquo;s Gerson Balde, fresh from a PB of 8.20m at the end of last month, this time managed 8.07m (0.2m/s) to win the long jump ahead of Australia&rsquo;s Liam Adcock, who jumped 8.34m to win three days ago in Rome and jumped 7.97m (0.5m/s) in Hengelo.
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-continental-tour/calendar-results/7216763/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

Femke Bol delighted the home crowd with a dominant meeting record-breaking victory in the 400m hurdles, while Chase Jackson secured a statement shot put win at the FBK Games

Bol blasts to meeting record in Hengelo, Jackson shines in shot put

Midway through the feature race on the churned-up Stade de Courtemanche track 60 years ago, the star attraction of the Wednesday evening meeting in Rennes was two and a half seconds down on world record schedule.
Michel Jazy, formerly employed as a typographer with L&rsquo;Equipe, had come to the Breton capital on 9 June 1965 with the intention of making the morning headlines in the daily sports newspaper he always called his &lsquo;bible&rsquo;.
Eight months on from the crushing disappointment of the Olympic 5000m final in Tokyo, the rejuvenated French athlete was on a mission: to break the 3:54.1 world mile record held by New Zealand&rsquo;s middle distance colossus Peter Snell.
In the Olympic arena in Japan the previous October, Jazy had forged a lead of 10 metres with 200 metres remaining and was savouring the prospect of victory. &ldquo;I was beside myself with joy,&rdquo; he confided later.
Within the course of three strides, that joy turned to despair. His legs suddenly felt like they were made of lead and &ldquo;weighed a ton each&rdquo;.
Bob Schul, an officer in the US Air Force, swept past him 50 metres from the finish line. Jazy was so deflated he faded out of the medals, finishing fourth.
<h2>Deeply moved</h2>
It had been different in Rome in 1960. Back then, Jazy had been overjoyed to finish 2.8 seconds behind Herb Elliott&rsquo;s stunning 3:35.6 world 1500m record run. At 24, the French athlete had an Olympic silver medal, a huge PB and a new national record.
Besides, the jubilant Jazy insisted at the time, he was the first man across the line. &ldquo;Elliott was a being from another planet,&rdquo; he reasoned.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6846a2c5d82474572e182065.jpg" alt="Michel Jazy, Herb Elliott and Istvan Rozsavolgyi in Rome in 1960" />
Michel Jazy, Herb Elliott and Istvan Rozsavolgyi in Rome in 1960 (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
</div>
In the wake of his Tokyo torment, the distraught Jazy decided to hang up his racing spikes. He changed his mind after receiving 12,000 letters from young fans, urging him to carry on.
&ldquo;I was deeply moved,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Those letters meant more to me than the gold medal I didn&rsquo;t win in Tokyo.&rdquo;
Resuming training with a renewed sense of purpose, Jazy re-emerged with a vengeance in 1965, setting a European mile record of 3:55.4 on 2 June at Saint-Maur, and then a new continental mark for 5000m with 13:34.4 in Lorient on 6 June.
On the cool evening of 9 June, Jazy maintained his composure in Rennes when Jean Wadoux, ninth in the 1500m final in Tokyo, towed him to halfway in 1:56.5 &ndash; 2.5 seconds down on Snell&rsquo;s world record split.
Claude Nicolas, another compatriot, then assumed the pacemaking duties and Jazy reached the bell in 2:57.4 &ndash; by then 3.4 seconds behind schedule.
Left out in front on his own, he needed a final lap of 56.6. &ldquo;Vas-y Ja-zy!&rdquo; screamed the crowd rhythmically: &ldquo;Go Jazy!&rdquo;
Their hero duly went for it.
&ldquo;His calm, almost bored expression changed into one of pain,&rdquo; wrote Bud Shrake, a distinguished US novelist and screenwriter, in an eloquent report for Sports Illustrated.
&ldquo;His lips tightened. Running like a sprinter, flying away from the field, driving towards the finish, Jazy went for the record.
&ldquo;He crashed through the tape and, slowing, looked away disgustedly. He was convinced he had failed.&rdquo;
Pointing in anger towards the badly torn up track, Jazy railed against the scheduling of his race at the very end of an evening of regional races.
But then the public address speaker began to crackle. The stadium announcer proclaimed: &ldquo;three minutes 53.6 &ndash; a new world record.&rdquo;
Jazy had his place on the front page of L&rsquo;Equipe &ndash; and in the annals of French track and field, alongside his compatriot and confidant Jules Ladoumegue, the first man to break 4:10 for the mile with his 4:09.2 clocking in Paris in 1931.
&ldquo;The mile has been my ambition,&rdquo; declared the joyous Jazy. &ldquo;All the really great names are there: Bannister, Landy, Elliott, Snell. These men are idols to me.
&ldquo;Now the ambition is realised. I&rsquo;ve done what I set out to do.&rdquo;
<h2>Four world records and six European records</h2>
Not that Jazy was finished in what was for him personally, and for the distance running world, an annus mirabilis.
From 1000m up to the one hour run, 23 global marks were set in 1965, with the Australian Ron Clarke, the Kenyan Kip Keino and the razor-sharp Jazy the three musketeers doing most of the damage to the world record books.
Between 2 June and 30 June, Jazy broke four world records and six European records.
At Melun on 23 June, he bettered his own mark for 3000m with 7:49.0, en route to a two mile world record of 8:22.6, beating Clarke by 2.2 seconds.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6846a19cd82474572e182062.jpg" alt="Michel Jazy leads from Ron Clarke in Melun in June 1965" />
Michel Jazy leads from Ron Clarke in Melun in June 1965 (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
</div>
Two days after that, at Saint-Maur-des-Fosses, Jazy teamed up with fellow French athlete Wadoux, Nicolas and Gerard Vervoort to set a 4x1500m relay world record of 14:49.0.
There was no global mark in Helsinki on 30 June, but Jazy emerged victorious from what was billed as &ldquo;the 5000m race of the century,&rdquo; beating Clarke, Keino, Olympic 10,000m champion Billy Mills and Schul in 13:27.6, a European record.
Jazy set five other global marks in his career: 25:01.6 for 2000m and 7:49.2 for 3000m in 1962; 8:29.6 for 2 miles in 1963; 4:56.2 for 2000m in 1966; and 15:04.2 as part of a French 4x1500m relay quartet at Versailles in 1961.
The future national sporting hero endured a tough upbringing in a Polish immigrant coal mining family at Oignies in northern France.
Born in the same street as Guy Drut, who became Olympic 110m hurdles champion in Montreal in 1976, the youthful Jazy was known as &ldquo;the zebra of the mining villages&rdquo;. He bore striped scars on his back from regular beatings administered by his teacher at school.
Jazy was 12 when his father died of silicosis. He lived with his grandparents before moving to Paris to join his mother, who worked as a waitress in Monmartre.
Twice a European champion at 1500m, Jazy settled in the south of France in later life. He died in Dax in February 2024, aged 87.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage

Michel Jazy, formerly employed as a typographer with L’Equipe, had come to Rennes on 9 June 1965 with the intention of making the morning headlines in the daily sports newspaper he always called his ‘bible’

"Vas-y Ja-zy!" 60 years since Jazy broke Snell's mile world record

China&rsquo;s Zhang Jiale threw 75.14m* to break the world U20 hammer record at the Sparkassen Hammerwurf-Meeting, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event, in Fr&auml;nkisch-Crumbach, Germany, on Sunday (8).
The 18-year-old, who won the world U20 title in Lima last year, beat the previous world U20 record of 73.43m set by the 2021 world U20 champion Silja Kosonen of Finland in Vaasa in 2021.
As well as adding 1.71m to the previous world U20 record, Zhang improved her own previous best achieved in April by almost three metres to finish second in a competition won by her compatriot Zhao Jie, the Olympic bronze medallist.
Zhang&rsquo;s record-breaking throw came in the second round of the competition and she backed it up with marks of 71.56m, 70.61m and 69.62m.
Zhao won with a PB of 76.60m from the third round and all five of her valid attempts surpassed 75 metres &ndash; her series also including throws of 76.11m, 75.99m, 75.34m and 75.04m.
Great Britain&rsquo;s Anna Purchase was third with 71.77m.
Germany&rsquo;s Merlin Hummel won the men&rsquo;s competition with a PB of 81.23m.
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7218449" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure 
<h2>Fabbri and Andersen among winners in Lucca</h2>
Leonardo Fabbri became the first athlete to surpass 22 metres in the shot put this season, while Brooke Andersen was just five centimetres off her own world hammer lead at the Lucca International Meeting, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event, in Italy on Sunday (8).
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/68469cc2c940b1cc8a5341bb.JPG" alt="Leonardo Fabbri at the Lucca International Meeting" />
Leonardo Fabbri at the Lucca International Meeting (&copy; Organisers)
</div>
Home star Fabbri, the world silver medallist, threw 22.31m to win the shot put ahead of USA's Adrian Piperi (21.96m).&nbsp;
USA's 2022 world champion Andersen managed 79.24m to win the hammer, going close to the world lead of 79.29m she set in Arizona last month.
Olympic champion Thea LaFond leapt 14.45m to top the triple jump, while 2022 world gold medallist Eleanor Patterson cleared 1.95m to win the high jump.
Other winners included Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech in the 1500m (3:32.26) and Emmanuel Eseme in the 100m (10.05).
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-continental-tour/calendar-results/7221244/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

China’s Zhang Jiale threw 75.14m* to break the world U20 hammer record at the Sparkassen Hammerwurf-Meeting, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event

Zhang throws world U20 hammer record in Fränkisch-Crumbach

The Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) will open its largest exhibition of the year in one month&rsquo;s time, bringing much of the world&rsquo;s most prestigious collection of athletics memorabilia to Tokyo in celebration of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.
The MOWA Heritage Athletics Exhibition Tokyo 2025 &ndash; featuring the competition clothing, shoes, medals and equipment of more than 80 world and Olympic medallists and world record-breakers &ndash; will be exhibited from 6 July to 21 September on two floors of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No.1.
The exhibition&rsquo;s theme is &ldquo;Tokyo 91 &ndash; Tokyo 25&rdquo; which acknowledges the two World Athletics Championships in the Japanese capital, in 1991 and 2025. It will be visually represented across the displays by the images of two Japanese world champions, 1991 world marathon gold medallist Hiromi Taniguchi and reigning world and Olympic javelin champion Haruka Kitaguchi, who is also a medal contender for the WCH Tokyo 25. Uniquely, a set of medals from both championships will be displayed.
The opening ceremony of the exhibition, by invitation only, will take place on Sunday 6 July hosted by World Athletics Council Member Yuko Arimori, the 1992 and 1996 Olympic marathon medallist.
Arimori will be joined by other Japanese world and Olympic medallists, along with representatives of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, local organising committee of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, Japanese Association of Athletics Federations, and World Athletics and LOC partners and suppliers.
The exhibition will open to the public from Monday 7 September.
<div><a href="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/684062ed7e4fcf9a92d336b0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/68454f0ae800e36828cf4833.jpg" alt="MOWA Heritage Athletics Exhibition Tokyo 2025 promotional card - front" /></a>
<div><a href="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/684062ed7e4fcf9a92d336b0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/68454f1ee800e36828cf4836.jpg" alt="MOWA Heritage Athletics Exhibition Tokyo 2025 promotional card - back" /></a>
<h3><a href="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/684062ed7e4fcf9a92d336b0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MOWA Heritage Athletics Exhibition Tokyo 2025 promotional card</a> </h3>
<h2>Spectacular sights, highlights and &lsquo;selfies with the stars&rsquo;</h2>
The smaller of the two MOWA displays in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No.1 will be located on the 45th floor of the North Tower Observatory which is an established tourist attraction. That floor offers spectacular views across the Tokyo skyline, giving visitors the opportunity to gaze out over the city to the National Stadium where the World Athletics Championships will take place from 13 to 21 September.
The 45th floor exhibit will feature life-sized cut-outs of Taniguchi and Kitaguchi and of USA&rsquo;s Carl Lewis, who set a world 100m record in Tokyo in 1991, next to whom visitors can pose to take &lsquo;selfies with the stars&rsquo;.
Touch screens will allow visitors to select and watch video highlights of many of the 1991 gold medallists in action and the victories of the seven Japanese world champions who have been crowned since the first edition in Helsinki in 1983.
There will also be a display of the MOWA historic collection with artefacts dating back to 1924 including items from legendary athletes such as Jesse Owens, Fanny Blankers-Koen Emil Zatopek, Wyomia Tyus and Alberto Juantorena, from the decades prior to the first World Athletics Championships.
Bringing the display right up to date, there will be artefacts from today&rsquo;s headline acts such as Paris Olympic champions Sifan Hassan, Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Nafissatou Thiam, who will fight for victory in Tokyo in 2025.
<h2>Chronological and contextual displays</h2>
The main MOWA exhibition will be on the second floor, which is easy to find as it is at this level that all visitors to the 45th floor observatory deck leave the North Tower. MOWA is immediately to the right as they exit the lift.
Those displays chronologically cover the history of the 19 editions of the World Athletics Championships from 1983 to 2023 with dozens of competition artefacts from legends such as Lewis, Usain Bolt, Valerie Adams, Allyson Felix, Jan Zelezny and more, supported by video, photographs and text explanations in English and Japanese.
This year&rsquo;s centenary of the Japanese Association of Athletics Federations will also be featured.
As is customary in larger MOWA exhibitions, the athletes&rsquo; achievements will be put into context. There will be actual height displays of the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s pole vault and high jump world records for visitors to stand next to, walk under and admire in awe. Visitors will also be able to safely lift the shot, discus, hammer and javelin implements to gauge the difference between the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s category weights.
As on floor two, there will be life-sized cutouts of further famous athletes such as sprint legend Bolt and Japanese global champions Koji Murofushi and Mizuki Noguchi.
What: MOWA Heritage Exhibition Tokyo 2025 When: Sunday 6 July to Sunday 21 September 2025 Where: Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No.1, 2-8-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo 163-8001 Transport: Metro - Tochomae Station (Oedo Line) is conveniently located directly beneath the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building No.1, which is only three metro stops away, a six-minute journey from the National Stadium
Unable to visit the exhibition?
The collection of the Museum of World Athletics can be permanently viewed online in the <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/visitMOWA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world&rsquo;s first digital 3D sports museum</a>.
Chris Turner for World Athletics Heritage
</div>
</div>

The Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) will open its largest exhibition of the year on 6 July

MOWA Heritage Athletics Exhibition Tokyo 2025 – one month to go

Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson produced an emphatic run to win the men&rsquo;s 100m in 9.88 (0.0m/s) at the Racers Grand Prix, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting, in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday (7).&nbsp;
Thompson, drawn in lane four, reacted quickly to the starter&rsquo;s gun and pulled away from the field at the midway mark. His compatriot Oblique Seville finished with a flourish to clinch second place in a season&rsquo;s best of 9.97 ahead of the South African pair of Gift Leotlela (10.04) and world U20 champion Bayanda Walaza (10.06).&nbsp;
&ldquo;Today, I put together a decent race,&rdquo; said Thompson, who registered a season&rsquo;s best. &ldquo;I went through my phases as best as I could, and I&rsquo;m super grateful for finishing injury-free. I want everyone to be patient because great things are going to happen.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Seville, last year&rsquo;s winner, was also satisfied with his performance. &ldquo;I am pleased with dipping under 10 seconds because I had to run conservatively due to a niggle that I picked up in the Atlanta City Games,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Tonight&rsquo;s run has given me the confidence that I will do well at the national senior championships in three weeks&rsquo; time.&rdquo;&nbsp;
In the women&rsquo;s equivalent, two-time world U20 champion Tina Clayton ran a season&rsquo;s best of 10.98 (1.8m/s) to defeat USA&rsquo;s Jacious Sears (11.04).&nbsp;&nbsp;
In the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles, Olympic bronze medallist Rasheed Broadbell defeated the red-hot US athlete Trey Cunningham in a tight contest &ndash; 13.06 to 13.08 (0.7m/s). It was Broadbell&rsquo;s third win against Cunningham in five finals.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Each time I compete, I get better and better. Tonight, my execution was clean, my aim was to be in front after the first six hurdles, and once I achieve that, I will not be caught,&rdquo; said Broadbell, who set a meeting record.&nbsp;
USA&rsquo;s Alia Armstrong clocked 12.54 (1.1m/s) to equal the meeting record in the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles. Following in Armstrong&rsquo;s wake was world indoor champion Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas in a season&rsquo;s best of 12.65.&nbsp; &nbsp;
The men&rsquo;s 200m was one of the most highly anticipated events on the night, and it almost lived up to its billing. Jamaican champion Bryan Levell solidified his growing reputation with a scintillating run, bursting the tape at 19.79. However, the celebrations from the 15,000 spectators were muted when the wind reading of 2.5m/s appeared on the scoreboard. Levell&rsquo;s compatriot Christopher Taylor, returning from a two-year suspension, came through for second place in 20.39.
World champion Shericka Jackson won the women&rsquo;s 200m in a season&rsquo;s best of 22.53 (1.0m/s).&nbsp;
Returning from a serious-looking injury suffered a month ago at the Miami Grand Slam Track meeting, Jamaica&rsquo;s Roshawn Clarke showed no signs of discomfort as he triumphed in the 400m hurdles in 48.65. The world U20 record-holder had to withstand a late surge in the home straight from his compatriot Assinie Wilson, who clocked 48.77.
USA&rsquo;s world indoor champion Christopher Bailey continued his love affair with Jamaica&rsquo;s stadium track, winning the 400m in 44.74. Bailey dragged Jamaica&rsquo;s Delano Kennedy to a 45.22 PB.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&ldquo;I felt a little sloppier than normal at the start, but I knew I could rely on my finish. I have a great finish, and I was happy to go sub-45 here again,&rdquo; said Bailey, who opened his outdoor season in Kingston in April with an impressive 44.34 clocking.&nbsp; His compatriot Lynna Irby-Jackson made it a US sweep of the 400m when she ran a season&rsquo;s best of 50.23 to deny Jamaica&rsquo;s Stacy-Ann Williams (50.56).&nbsp;
Elsewhere, world and Olympic silver medallist Wayne Pinnock scored his first long jump win of the year, cutting the sand at 7.97m in the third round.
Noel Francis for World Athletics
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-continental-tour/calendar-results/7222281/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson produced an emphatic run to win the 100m in 9.88 at the Racers Grand Prix

The day the ‘Bouncing Barrister’ Banks made history

Duplantis breaks world pole vault record with 6.28m in Stockholm

Adkin and Machoka triumphant at Tatra Fest

Sutherland and Lemngole impress as records fall at NCAA Championships

Nathaniel, Makarawu and Mullings shine at NCAA Championships