The book of world records may have survived the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, but continental records took a hammering at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Staten Island on Saturday (13).
Middle-distance stars Donavan Brazier, Bryce Hoppel, Oliver Hoare and Elle Purrier all emerged from the meeting with area records to their name, while Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo and US high jumper Trey Culver produced world-leading marks in their respective events.
Brazier, the world 800m champion, opened his 2021 season with a race over his specialist distance, seeking his fifth consecutive victory at this meeting. He passed through half way in 51.16, then by 600m (1:17.37) he had a lead of almost two seconds.
With a final lap of 26.84, he crossed the line in 1:44.21 to shave 0.01 from his own North American indoor record, moving up one place on the world indoor all-time list to equal fourth. Britain&rsquo;s Jamie Webb was second in a PB of 1:46.26.
&ldquo;The plan was to go out fast and see if I can hang on,&rdquo; said Brazier. &ldquo;I was really hurting at the end. For that entire last 200, I was just thinking, &lsquo;American record, American record&rsquo;. When I crossed the line and the clock said 1:44.22, I thought, &lsquo;ah dang&rsquo;, but then the time was adjusted and I was happy.&rdquo; 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Area records fall at <a href="https://twitter.com/NBIndoorGP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBIndoorGP</a>, highlighted by <a href="https://twitter.com/DonavanBrazier?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DonavanBrazier</a>'s sensational 1:44.21 NR over 800m <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldIndoorTour?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldIndoorTour</a> 📺:<a href="https://t.co/fzZWEIEdxV">https://t.co/fzZWEIEdxV</a> <a href="https://t.co/aKIMtM0BTh">pic.twitter.com/aKIMtM0BTh</a>
&mdash; World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics/status/1360744485555208192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2021</a></blockquote>

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 While Brazier was the outstanding favourite in his event, Australia&rsquo;s Oliver Hoare produced one of the biggest surprises of the meeting to win the men&rsquo;s 1500m, a scoring event on this year&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Tour.
The 2019 NCAA indoor champion positioned himself right behind Jake Wightman for most of the race as the Briton led the field through 800m in 1:54.40 and 1200m in 2:50.45. Wightman started to struggle on the final lap while Hoare breezed to the front and opened up a huge gap, going on to win in 3:32.35.
Not only did Hoare rewrite his outright PB (3:34.63, set outdoors last year), he also smashed Stewart McSweyn&rsquo;s Oceanian record by almost three seconds. Wightman finished second in 3:34.48, narrowly missing the long-standing British record. In third, Sam Tanner broke Nick Willis&rsquo;s New Zealand record with 3:34.72.
&ldquo;I love running indoors, even though I&rsquo;m an Australian,&rdquo; said Hoare, who now moves up to seventh on the world indoor all-time list. &ldquo;I just really wanted to run under that Olympic standard (3:35.00) today.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/900bf549-240f-4505-819b-d7b17865a692.jpg?cachebuster=9f29665c-feb3-4c63-846f-c8dfc04aa647" alt="" width="600" height="400" />
 Elle Purrier secured back-to-back wins in the two miles at the New Balance Grand Prix, but her victory on Saturday was significantly more notable than her triumph 12 months ago.
The world 5000m finalist chopped almost 20 seconds from her PB and eight seconds from the North American indoor record to win in 9:10.28, becoming the third-fastest woman in history for the distance, indoors or out.
Having followed the pacemaker through the first mile in 4:41.93, she wound up the pace in the second half while 2017 world steeplechase champion Emma Coburn followed close behind. Purrier started to open up a noticeable gap with little more than 400 metres to go, passed through 3000m in 8:36.41, and then kicked hard for the final lap.
She crossed the line in 9:10.28 to win by more than five seconds from Coburn, whose time of 9:15.71 was also well inside Jenny Simpson&rsquo;s previous area record (9:18.35). Only Genzebe Dibaba and Meseret Defar have ever run quicker indoors; Purrier now moves ahead of Olympic gold medallists Tirunesh Dibaba and Vivian Cheruiyot on the world indoor all-time list. 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/3687a249-b89b-4374-a755-7aeb29cc4d04.jpg?cachebuster=8e7215dd-e0d9-443f-8c22-a184549ba0df" width="600" height="400" />
 Like Purrier, 1000m winner Bryce Hoppel also repeated his New Balance Indoor Grand Prix victory from last year, and did so with a North American indoor record.
The 23-year-old, who finished fourth in the 800m at the 2019 World Championships, ran a controlled opening 400m in 55.36 and passed through 600m in 1:23.24, in first place but slightly slower than intended.
Determined to break the record, Hoppel dug in for the final two laps and reached the finish in 2:16.27, taking half a second off David Torrence&rsquo;s area record. Canada&rsquo;s Marco Arop came through to take second place in 2:17.10 while Charlie Grice set a British record of 2:17.20 in third.
&ldquo;Following last year&rsquo;s race, I decided that I&rsquo;d go after the (North American indoor 1000m) record next time,&rdquo; said Hoppel. &ldquo;Getting into the record books is just incredible. It&rsquo;s not just me out there &ndash; it&rsquo;s cool to do something for everyone who helps me.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/b0baf314-2360-4b51-a976-91b908666d10.jpg?cachebuster=a7677940-c9d6-496a-821b-f35e12b9c52c" alt="" width="600" height="400" />
 In other middle-distance action, Canada&rsquo;s Justyn Knight won the men&rsquo;s two-mile race in 8:13.92 and Heather Maclean won the women&rsquo;s 1500m in 4:06.32. World bronze medallist Ajee Wilson put together a well-executed race to take the women&rsquo;s 800m in 2:01.79.
<h3>World leads for Miller-Uibo, Harrison, Culver and Thomas</h3>
Almost seven years since her last indoor 400m, Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo returned to her specialist distance on the boards and set her second national indoor record of the year.
The 26-year-old, who clocked a Bahamian indoor 200m record of 22.40 in Fayetteville last month, took extremely comfortable as she passed through the first lap in 23.92. World Championships fourth-place finisher Wadeline Jonathas tried to give chase, but Miller-Uibo pulled away to win in 50.21. Jonathas was second in 51.95. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Not bad for her first indoor 400m in seven years 👀<a href="https://twitter.com/Hey_ItsShaunae?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Hey_ItsShaunae</a> gliding to a 50.21 WL <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldIndoorTour?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldIndoorTour</a> <a href="https://t.co/ILRQPMQ5n3">pic.twitter.com/ILRQPMQ5n3</a>
&mdash; World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics/status/1360734958168518662?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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 Miller-Uibo&rsquo;s time took 0.13 off Christine Amertil&rsquo;s Bahamian record and moves Miller-Uibo to equal eighth on the world indoor all-time list. &ldquo;I came out here to see where we&rsquo;re at with my training and I&rsquo;m very satisfied,&rdquo; said the winner. &ldquo;I feel really strong right now.&rdquo;
World indoor 60m hurdles champion Kendra Harrison is also having a brief but impressive indoor campaign.
Harrison, the outdoor world record-holder, was a clear winner of the 60m hurdles in a world-leading 7.82. Britain&rsquo;s Tiffany Porter and USA&rsquo;s Gabrielle Cunningham placed second and third respectively, both clocking 7.89. 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/5298c72e-77dc-4be9-9228-847d1db0052f.jpg?cachebuster=b3acaba9-7151-436f-a21d-a2df3123df01" alt="" width="600" height="400" />
 Trey Culver equalled his PB to win the men&rsquo;s high jump with a world-leading 2.33m. He led at the early heights but then needed two tries at 2.25m. Once over that bar, he was the only one to clear 2.28m and he then progressed to 2.33m, clearing it on his second attempt, before bowing out with three misses at 2.36m.
&ldquo;I go into every competition expecting to jump better than before, so it was a good feeling to win,&rdquo; said Culver.
Gabby Thomas underlined her reputation as one of the world&rsquo;s best 300m runners, repeating her New Balance Indoor Grand Prix victory over the one-and-a-half lap distance.
Lynna Irby put up a strong fight and led for most of the way, but Thomas came through in the final 100 metres to win in a PB of 35.73, just 0.02 shy of the US indoor record. Thomas is now the only woman in history to better 36 seconds for the distance on three occasions indoors. Irby finished second in a PB of 35.99.
<h3>Norman wins two-lap thriller</h3>
Michael Norman maintained his perfect record over training partner Rai Benjamin, but their 400m clash in Staten Island was their closest finish to date.
Norman &ndash; who hasn&rsquo;t raced indoors since 2018 when he clocked 44.52, the fastest indoor 400m in history &ndash; started well and seemed to make up ground on 400m hurdles specialist Benjamin, who was drawn in the outside lane. They passed through the half-way point almost in unison with Norman edging into the lead, but Benjamin responded on the back straight. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Training partners <a href="https://twitter.com/Mike_Norman22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Mike_Norman22</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/_Kingben_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_Kingben_</a> delivering quality racing over 400m at the <a href="https://twitter.com/NBIndoorGP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBIndoorGP</a>.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldIndoorTour?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldIndoorTour</a> <a href="https://t.co/bVd1XvmOJG">pic.twitter.com/bVd1XvmOJG</a>
&mdash; World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics/status/1360738503060041728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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 Norman stood his ground but Benjamin was hardly letting up as the duo entered the final straight both very much still in contention. Norman held on to win in 45.34 with Benjamin close behind in a lifetime best of 45.39.
&ldquo;It felt good,&rdquo; said Norman. &ldquo;I just wanted to knock the cobwebs off because it&rsquo;s been more than a year since I last ran that distance. It&rsquo;s always very competitive between us, in training and in competition. It was a lot of fun.&rdquo;
Trayvon Bromell&rsquo;s winning margin in the men&rsquo;s 60m was three times as big as Norman&rsquo;s margin from the 400m. The 2016 world indoor champion won convincingly in 6.50 with Demek Kemp taking second place in 6.65.
Kayla White won a close women&rsquo;s 60m in a PB of 7.15 as just 0.06 separated the six finishers. Hannah Cunliffe was second in 7.17 and Candace Hill third in 7.19. Aleia Hobbs was the fastest in the heats, clocking 7.10, but she was disqualified for a false start in the final.
Elsewhere, world 200m champion Noah Lyles won the men's 200m in 20.80, having clocked 6.76 in the 60m heats earlier in the programme. World indoor champion Sandi Morris won the women&rsquo;s pole vault with 4.60m, while Jereem Richards won the men&rsquo;s 300m in 32.71
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

The book of world records may have survived the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, but continental records took a hammering at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Staten Island on Saturday (13).

Area records tumble at New Balance Indoor Grand Prix

World 5000m champion Muktar Edris will head a strong field in a rarely-held two mile race at the Prefontaine Classic, the third stop of the 2018 IAAF Diamond League, in Eugene on 26 May.
The event will reunite five of the top six from last year&rsquo;s thrilling World Championships 5000m final. It also will be a homecoming for Edward Cheserek, an Oregon legend who won five of his record 17 NCAA titles at Hayward Field. Cheserek, this year&rsquo;s fastest miler at 3:49.44 indoors, will be joined by Ronald Kwemoi, the winner of the Bowerman Mile last year, the meeting's signature event, in a race that has all the makings of a classic.
The 2-mile distance comes in a year with no major international championship 5000m races outside of the annual IAAF Diamond League, which incorporates the two mile and 3000m into its point standings for the 5000m. The Pre Classic two mile record of 8:03.50, set in 2007 by Australian Craig Mottram, remains the fastest run on US soil.
Edris, 24, ended Mo Farah's reign last summer at the World Championships, winning the global 5000m title that Farah had owned since 2011. The Ethiopian beat Farah, always a fast finisher, at his own game with a ferocious 52.4 last lap. For Edris, the gold was his first track major medal of any color &ndash; his only other medal being the bronze he earned at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships in China.
Meanwhile, his Ethiopian teammate, Yomif Kejelcha, raced to a second successive world indoor 3000m title in Birmingham last month. Kejelcha, 20, has twice raced to unprecedented feats at Hayward Field. In 2014 at age 16, he became the youngest ever 5000m winner at the World Junior Championships, held in Eugene. In 2015 he made his biggest splash, winning the Pre Classic and becoming the youngest 5000m winner by four years. A fantastic season saw him winning the Diamond League as well with a 12:53.98 PB. He's also the fastest in the field at 3000m with 7:28.19, the current world U20 record.
The youth fountain from Ethiopia continues with 18-year-old Selemon Barega, who became the youngest indoor 3000m medallist with his silver medal finish behind Kejelcha in Birmingham. He won the world U20 5000m title in 2016.
The field also includes Paul Chelimo, the only racer in the field with medals from Rio and last summer&rsquo;s World Championships. Both --Rio silver and London bronze-- came with thrilling finishes and are among the best ever by a US athlete.
Cheserek, 24, is on fire as the world&rsquo;s fastest miler this year, but his incredible racing stretches to the long distances and among the best ever seen in the U.S. His speed is no secret to the Hayward Field faithful who have seen him kick 53.1 for the first of a record three NCAA 10,000m titles.
Kenyan Paul Kipngetich Tanui can also boast strong credentials. The Rio Olympic 10,000m silver medallist, the 27-year-old won a third straight world 10,000m bronze last year in London.
At the moment, nobody brings better momentum to the line than 21-year-old Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, who'll arrive fresh off of an impressive 5000m/10,000m golden double from the Commonwealth Games. He was second over 10,000m at last year's World Championships and the world junior champion over the distance in 2014. Canada's Mohammed Ahmed is also in the field, the double silver Commonwealth medallist after finishing runner-up behind Cheptegei in both track races in Gold Coast.
Others in the field include Bahrain's Albert Rop, who has a 12:51.96 5000m lifetime best; Ryan Hill, the 2016 world indoor 3000m silver medallist, who has a 7:30.93 personal best over that distance; Eric Jenkins, 26, who won indoor NCAA titles for Oregon over 3000m and 5000m; Hassan Mead, the US 10,000m champion; Shadrack Kipchirchir, the US road 5km champion; and Australian Patrick Tiernan, the 2016 NCAA cross country champion.
Organisers for the IAAF
&nbsp;2018 IAAF Diamond League calendar 4 May &ndash; Doha, QAT 12 May &ndash; Shanghai, CHN 26 May &ndash; Eugene, USA 31 May &ndash; Rome, ITA 7 Jun &ndash; Oslo, NOR 10 Jun &ndash; Stockholm, SWE 30 Jun &ndash; Paris, FRA 5 Jul &ndash; Lausanne, SUI 13 Jul &ndash; Rabat, MAR 20 Jul &ndash; Monaco, MON 21-22 Jul &ndash; London, GBR 18 Aug &ndash; Birmingham, GBR 30 Aug &ndash; Zurich, SUI 31 Aug &ndash; Brussels, BEL

World 5000m champion Muktar Edris will head a strong field in a rarely-held two mile race at the Prefontaine Classic, the third stop of the 2018 IAAF Diamond League, in Eugene on 26 May.

Edris tops Eugene two mile field - IAAF Diamond League

After all of the conjecture ahead of Mo Farah&rsquo;s first appearance of the year in the two miles at the Sainsbury&rsquo;s Indoor Grand Prix, the final IAAF Indoor Permit meeting of the season, the race proved to be tailor-made for a swift clocking &ndash; the swiftest of all time.The Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham turned into a mini version of London 2012 as Britain&rsquo;s world, Olympic and European 5000m and 10,000m champion emerged from winter hibernation by nailing the first global mark of his career on another Super Saturday.Anyone who suspected that the 31-year-old Londoner might have lost a little of his cutting edge after a year in which he performed heroics to complete the track distance double at the European Championships in Zurich following illness and injury were silenced in quite stunning fashion as Farah consigned Kenenisa Bekele&rsquo;s seven-year-old world best to history.The Briton crossed the line in 8:03.40, slicing 0.95 off the world best figures of 8:04.35 that Bekele established on the same track in the same meeting back in 2008. It was the first world best or world record by a British man in a middle or long distance track race since 27 February 1990, when Peter Elliott set an indoor 1500m mark of 3:34.20 in Seville.It was a superbly-judged effort by Farah in his first track race since breaking Steve Ovett&rsquo;s European outdoor two mile best with an 8:07.85 clocking in Birmingham last August and his first race on any surface since his Great North Run half marathon victory in September.Tracking British pacemaker Dale Clutterbuck for the opening 800m and then Kenya&rsquo;s Paul Kipsiele Koech to just before the 2000m mark, he reeled off 400m splits of metronomic quality (59.3, 60.9, 61.9, 60.9, 60.5, 60.2 and 60.3 before finishing with a 57.7 flourish). His mile splits were 4:03.9 and 3:59.5 and his intermediary 3000m time of 7:33.1 broke the 7:34.47 British record he set here four years ago.For the record, as Farah soaked up the acclaim, Koech took second place in 8:13.46 and Bernard Lagat third in 8:17.05, a second world over-40 best for the US veteran in the space of seven days.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very special to finally break a world best on home soil in front of a British crowd,&rdquo; said Farah, who collected a $15,000 bonus for what was the tenth global mark in the history of the Birmingham meeting. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve waited so many years, with people asking me so many times if I could do it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been out in Ethiopia for seven weeks and I trained well so I was confident. It&rsquo;s different training for a world record or a world best and training for the championships. I wanted to see what I could do as we&rsquo;d targeted the world best.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never give up chasing medals for chasing world records. Medals mean a lot to me. This week inspired me. It feels amazing to break the world best.&rdquo;Farah intends to fly to his US training base in Portland tomorrow to celebrate with his family before preparing for the Lisbon Half Marathon on 22 March. His main target for 2015, of course, is to defend his 5000m and 10,000m titles at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August and on this evidence he will take some stopping.<h3>Rutherford saves his best for last</h3> Much the same could be said of Greg Rutherford, the British long jumper who also plundered a home gold on that super Saturday night at London 2012. In his first competition since the Great City Games in Gateshead five months ago and only his second indoor event in five years, the 28-year-old set four indoor PBs and finished with a world-leading 8.17m to snatch a dramatic victory with the final jump of the contest.Rutherford uncorked an 8.03m jump in the opening round, an indoor PB. A further advance came in round three (8.08m) and before Chinese champion Gao Xinglog threw down the gauntlet with an 8.12m in round five.Rutherford responded in the same round with a third PB, 8.10m, before snatching victory with the final jump of the competition. His 8.17m effort dislodged Spaniard Eusebio Caceres&rsquo; 8.16m from the top of the world list and was a tantalising one centimetre shy of Chris Tomlinson&rsquo;s British indoor record.All of which showed the worth of the extra weights Rutherford has been lifting in the gym this winter. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve put on a bit of muscle over the winter and I wasn&rsquo;t sure it would work,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was a trial of the body and I didn&rsquo;t expect to jump as well as I did.&rdquo;The Olympic, European and Commonwealth champion said he was still inclined to resist the temptation to contest the European Indoor Championships in Prague next month but added: &ldquo;To be just one centimetre off the British record is frustrating. I might try again somewhere next week.&rdquo;There was no world lead for Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the long jump but the 22-year-old who is looking on course to follow the third of Britain&rsquo;s Super Saturday gold medallists, Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, broke a second British indoor record in a week. She also beat Christabel Nettey, the Canadian who heads the 2015 world list with 6.99m. Nettey led with a first-round 6.84m before Johnson-Thompson leapt 6.93m in the third round &ndash; one centimetre farther than her outdoor best and a four-centimetre improvement on Shara Proctor&rsquo;s British indoor record.&ldquo;I knew I was in good shape after last week,&rdquo; said Johnson-Thompson, who high jumped a UK record of 1.97m at the British Indoor Championships in Sheffield last Saturday. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect to jump better than my outdoor PB of 6.92m here, though.&rdquo;Look out for Natailya Dobrynska&rsquo;s world indoor pentathlon record being challenged by the Briton in Prague. And look out for Greek fireworks in the women&rsquo;s pole vault.<h3>Another record for Kiriakopoulou</h3> The Greek record fell for a third time in three days as Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou gave an instant response to Ekaterini Stefanidi &ndash; and defeated the former world champion Fabiana Murer for the second time in three days.On Thursday night in Stockholm,&nbsp;Kiriakopoulou beat the Brazilian with a national record clearance at 4.76m. On Friday she lost her record to Stefanidi, who vaulted 4.77m in Flagstaff.In Birmingham the 2012 European bronze medallist nailed 4.80m at the third attempt, eclipsing Murer, who still holds the world lead with 4.83m.There was a world lead in the women&rsquo;s 60m hurdles, US collegiate champion Sharika Nelvis getting off to a cracking start and finishing a clear winner in 7.87, an improvement of 0.04 on her lifetime best. European outdoor champion Tiffany Porter could only finish fourth in 8.13, with Pan American Games champion Yvette Lewis second in 8.09 and Briton Lucy Hatton third in 8.11.The hotly-anticipated men&rsquo;s 60m featured an eighth win in eight finals this year for Kim Collins. The 38-year-old St Kitts and Nevis sprinter was a decisive winner in 6.50, with British champion Chijindu Ujah second in 6.55 and Trell Kimmons of the US third in 6.56. Daniel Bailey and Michael Rodgers fell victim to false starts.In the women&rsquo;s 60m Murielle Ahoure finished 0.05 clear of Tianna Bartlotta in 7.10, while Kevin Craddock took the men&rsquo;s 60m hurdles in 7.58, the low-dipping Briton Lawrence Clarke edging Jarret Eaton for second, both clocking 7.62.There were home wins in the women&rsquo;s 800m for world leader Jenny Meadows (2:01.25), in the men&rsquo;s 400m for Nigel Levine (46.43), but &ndash; Farah, Rutherford and Johnson-Thompson aside &ndash; the British performance of the day came from the Seren Bundy-Davies in the women&rsquo;s 400m.Having fallen at the British Championships last weekend, the 20-year-old blasted away out in front from the gun and was rewarded with a breakthrough win in 51.72, a Welsh indoor record and the scalp of world indoor champion Francena McCorory, the US sprinter finishing runner up in 52.09.Bundy-Davies now stands joint second on the 2015 world list with Taylor Ellis-Watson. Only Courtney Okolo (51.35) has gone faster.Elsewhere, there wins for Kenyans Jeremiah Mutai over 800m (1:45.93) and Vincent Kibet over 1500m (in 3:34.91, the same time as runner-up and compatriot Bethwell Birgen). Tunisia&rsquo;s Olympic steeplechase silver medallist Habiba Ghribi was a clear 3000m winner in 8:46.61, while Ethiopian Axumawit Embaye won the women&rsquo;s mile in 4:23.50, ahead of Shannon Rowbury of the US (4:24.12).Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

After all of the conjecture ahead of Mo Farah’s first appearance of the year in the two miles at the Sainsbury’s Indoor Grand Prix, the final IAAF Indoor Permit meeting of the season, the race proved to be tailor-made for a swift clocking – the swiftest of all time.

Farah breaks world indoor two miles best in Birmingham

Home star Mo Farah will definitely be the star attraction at the Sainsbury&rsquo;s Indoor Grand Prix, the fifth and final IAAF Indoor Permit meeting of the season, in Birmingham on Saturday (21).The last time the world saw Farah in track action was in the same city at the IAAF Diamond League in August last year. The reigning Olympic, world and European 5000m and 10,000m champion finished a summer campaign abbreviated by illness and injury by smashing Steve Ovett&rsquo;s 36-year-old European outdoor two mile best with a time of 8:07.85.Six months on, as Farah prepares to contest his first race of 2015, the watching world must be wondering whether he can again turn the clock back &ndash; and in another two mile race in Britain&rsquo;s second city, this time indoors in the Barclaycard Arena.Birmingham's indoor meeting has become renowned over the years for its clock-chasing feats, with world records and world bests by Haile Gebrselassie (three), Kenenisa Bekele (four), Wilson Kipketer, Gabriella Szabo and only last year Genzebe Dibaba ran a two mile best. This time, in a meeting featuring 33 IAAF World Championship medal winners and 14 Olympic medallists, it will be intriguing to see how quick Farah can go over 16 laps at the start of a year in which he aims to defend his 5000m and 10,000m titles at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing this coming August.In particular, can he measure up not to the greats of yesteryear but to the wintering Mo Farah of early 2012? In the same meeting three years ago, he finished runner up in the two miles race to Eliud Kipchoge in 8:08.07, emphatically demolishing the former British indoor best of 8:17.06 and the European best of 8:13.2 held since 1973 by the brilliant Belgian Emil Puttemans. That would appear to be the logical benchmark for the 31-year-old Briton, whose last race on any surface was his narrow victory in the Great North Run half marathon last September, and who did not race indoors in 2014.&ldquo;It will be great to see where my fitness is at,&rdquo; said Farah, who has been training in Ethiopia of late. &ldquo;This is a big year for me; I&rsquo;ll be defending my 5000m and 10,000m World Championship titles. It would be great to get it off to a strong start in Birmingham.&rdquo;<h3>Koech the threat </h3> Farah&rsquo;s hopes of doing that should be helped by the presence in the field of Paul Koech. Only Bekele (8:04:35) and Gebrselassie (8:04.69) have gone faster over two miles indoors than Koech, both in the Birmingham meeting.&nbsp; Koech, the 2004 Olympic Games steeplechase bronze medallist, clocked 8:06.48 behind Bekele in Birmingham in 2008.The field also includes the remarkable Bernard Lagat, the 2007 World Championships 1500m and 5000m winner and three-time world indoor 3000m champion.Two months after joining the ranks of the fortysomethings, Lagat lopped 3.24 seconds off Eamonn Coghlan&rsquo;s long-standing over-40 mile best with 3:54.91 at the Millrose Games in New York last Saturday. <h3>Collins on clock watch </h3> Kim Collins will turn 40 in April 2016 and, judging by his form this year, the pencil-slim Peter Pan speed merchant from St Kitts and Nevis could be threatening age records then. When the IAAF World Indoor Championships were held in Birmingham back in 2003, Collins took the 60m silver medal. Twelve years on, he returns as the 2015 world leader with the three fastest 60m times of the year, including a national record of 6.47 in Lodz on Tuesday.Collins is unbeaten in seven 60m finals thus far in 2015. The 60m field in Birmingham features four of the five next fastest men this year: Ryan Bailey (6.50), Akeem Haynes (6.51), Trell Kimmons (6.51) and Mike Rodgers (who has run 6.52 twice).The line-up also includes Britain&rsquo;s world indoor 60m champion Richard Kilty, who clocked a season&rsquo;s best of 6.54 in third place in Lodz, and newly crowned British champion Chijndu Ujah (6.53). There is also the X-factor presence of Jamaica&rsquo;s Nesta Carter. The 2012 world indoor 60m silver medallist has yet to race in 2015. Olympic, European and Commonwealth long jump champion Greg Rutherford also makes his first appearance of 2015, although the 28-year-old Briton has added another gold to his collection this year. Rutherford was out walking his dogs in the Buckinghamshire countryside last month when he stumbled across a seriously injured deer. He carried the stricken creature two miles to his home before driving her to Tiggywinkles Wildlife Trust in Aylesbury. Sadly, the ailing doe died of her injuries but the long jumper was given a Gold Heart Award by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). It is gold at the 2015 IAAF World Championships that Rutherford now has in mind. In his first test since ending his 2014 campaign on a winning note at the Great City Games in Gateshead five months ago he faces his perennial British rival Chris Tomlinson, the 2008 world indoor silver medallist.<h3>Ortega looking to conquer Birmingham barriers </h3> Fresh from his world-leading 7.45 clocking in Lodz on Tuesday night, Orlando Ortega renews his 60m hurdles rivalry with the two most recent Olympic 110m hurdles champions. Aries Merritt and Dayron Robles finished well behind the Cuban in Lodz, second and third in 7.54 and 7.64 respectively, but Robles was a close runner-up to his compatriot in Berlin last Saturday, finishing 0.02 behind in 7.53. The 1500m pits world leader Matt Centrowitz against Kenyans Vincent Kibet, Bethwell Birgen and Nixon Chepseba, plus fellow US runner Ben Blankenship and European bronze medallist Chris O&rsquo;Hare of Great Britain. There is also a tasty-looking 800m, featuring Olympic bronze medallist Timothy Kitum, 18-year-old world junior champion Alfred Kipketer and world indoor bronze medallist Andrew Osagie.<h3>Ahoure back on her favourite track </h3> The pick of the women&rsquo;s events is undoubtedly the 60m. Murielle Ahoure, the Ivorian 2013 World Championship 100m and 200m silver medallist, starts favourite, having clocked a world-leading 7.05 at the Millrose Games. She set her personal best of 6.99 when winning in Birmingham two years ago.The third and fourth fastest women of 2015 are also in the loaded field: Michelle-Lee Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago and the 19-year-old world junior 100m champion from Britain, Dina Asher-Smith. US sprinters Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Bartoletta are also in the mix, so sparks could fly.Look out too for a world-leading time in the 800m. Britain&rsquo;s Jenny Meadows tops the list with 1:59.21 and the 33-year-old Briton, back in form after injury, will be chasing her third sub-two-minute clocking of the year. The mile looks an intriguing prospect, with world indoor 1500m silver medallist Axumawit Embaye up against fellow Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay, the 18-year-old world junior silver medallist, as well as the USA&rsquo;s Shannon Rowbury.In the long jump, a week after her 1.97m British high jump record, 2014 heptathlon world leader Katarina Johnson-Thompson could possibly threaten Shara Proctor&rsquo;s UK indoor long jump mark of 6.89m. The 22-year-old from Liverpool was only eight centimetres short of it when taking the world indoor silver last March. In the women&rsquo;s pole vault, the bar could prove the biggest rival to Fabiana Murer. The 33-year-old former world champion from Brazil cleared an area record of 4.83m at Nevers in France two weeks ago.Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

Home star Mo Farah will definitely be the star attraction at the Sainsbury’s Indoor Grand Prix, the fifth and final IAAF Indoor Permit meeting of the season, in Birmingham on Saturday (21).

Farah gets his 2015 season underway in Birmingham

The Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center saw another world best, a world junior best, and six world-leading marks at the 20th edition of the IAAF Indoor Permit meeting now known as the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday night (7).Nick Willis provided the unexpected highlight when he delivered a scorching 3:51.61 to win the men&rsquo;s mile in meeting record time. It was a world-leading mark, an indoor best for Willis, and a New Zealand indoor record formerly held by middle-distance great John Walker.&ldquo;I wanted to negative split the race, running each section faster than the last, but the first 400 was too fast,&rdquo; said Willis &nbsp;Led by pacemaker Shawn Roberts, Willis was back in third and behind multiple World Indoor Championships medallist Abdalaati Iguider when Roberts stepped off just past halfway, but Willis was able to put Iguider&rsquo;s feet to the fire in the last two laps, carrying Ben Blankenship along with him, the latter finishing second in 3:53.13.&ldquo;I treated my indoor season seriously in 2008,&rdquo; said Willis, reflecting on the year when he won an Olympic silver medal, &ldquo;and it seems to have worked.&rdquo;<h3>Martinez maintains her momentum</h3>Brenda Martinez ran a 4:27.77 1600m to anchor a USA team to a world indoor best of 10:42.57 in the women&rsquo;s distance medley relay, a non-championship event that is rarely run outside the USA but will feature at this year's IAAF World Relays.The quartet of Sarah Brown (1200m - 3:15.54), Mahagony Jones (400m - 53.59), Megan Krumpoch (800m - 2:05.68) and Martinez (1600m - 4:27.77) chopped more than eight seconds off the old mark of 10:50.98, held by a Brown-anchored University of Tennessee squad since 2009.After two scorching 1200m legs, where a &ldquo;New York All-Stars&rdquo; team held the lead and separated two leaders from the pack of six, the record was a near certainty.By the time the baton came to Martinez with a narrow lead over Nicole Tully of the New York All Stars, 4:36 would have been sufficient to break the record.&ldquo;We had a team discussion last night,&rdquo; said Martinez. &ldquo;We agreed that if they gave me the biggest lead they could, my current fitness would be enough.&rdquo; Martinez, who anchored a winning USA 4x800m team, as well as being part of the 4x1500m squad, at the inaugural IAAF World Relays in The Bahamas last May, was making her first and likely only indoor appearance this season.Instead of needing to make up time, Martinez had to shake the shadow of Tully. Martinez actually lost the lead going in to the final lap, but mustered a ferocious kick over the last 100m to regain the lead and put her name in the record books.Their winning time was almost six seconds faster than the world outdoor best for the distance medley relay.<h3>Seyaum outdistances Kipyego and Coburn; redemption for Simpson</h3> Ethiopia&rsquo;s world junior 1500m champion Dawit Seyaum won the women&rsquo;s 2000m in 5:35.46, passing the mile in 4:32.13 on the way to the line. She wasn&rsquo;t seriously pressed late in the race despite sharing the starting line with world and Olympic silver medallist Sally Kipyego and steeplechase ace Emma Coburn; the former took second in 5:40.35 and the latter third in 5:41.11. Seyaum&rsquo;s mark is a world junior best for the event in addition to being a world-leading mark.<h3>Big win for Whiting </h3> Another world-leading mark came in the men&rsquo;s shot put when Ryan Whiting pitched the shot out to a massive 21.43m on his fourth attempt to really put his season in motion.Whiting surpassed 21 metres twice, while Christian Cantwell in second reached 20.83m.In the women&rsquo;s two miles, 2014 Diamond Race 1500m winner Jenny Simpson took the lead early and simply pulled away from Ethiopia&rsquo;s Sentayehu Ejigu to win in 9:18.35.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a fine balance between settling in and keeping the pace up,&rdquo; said Simpson. &ldquo;I had to listen closely to the splits in order to not slow down.&rdquo;The victory erased a 13-year-old US national record and gave Simpson a measure of relief from the 2014 meeting, when she miscounted her laps and came to a full stop after leading with a lap to go. &ldquo;I needed to run that 16th lap so they wouldn&rsquo;t fine me,&rdquo; Simpson joked after the race.<h3>1000m world leads </h3> Former US 1500m champion Treniere Moser picked up the win and a world-leading time in the women&rsquo;s 1000m, running 2:37.86 to grab victory from her training partner, the world junior 3000m champion Mary Cain. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had some down years, but now I&rsquo;m racing up to my own expectations,&rdquo; Moser said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about June and making the team for Beijing. The best in the world can close very fast, so I&rsquo;m here to work on my speed.&rdquo;Matt Centrowitz lowered his own world-leading mark in the men&rsquo;s 1000m, running 2:17.00. In doing so he also beat the meet record, a 2:17.86 set in 2002 by David Krummenacker. Now the second-fastest American ever at the distance, Centrowitz indicated that the national record was still a goal. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll have to tackle it another time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I thought I had it, but I was a couple of tenths slow.&rdquo;Dejen Gebremeskel won the men&rsquo;s 3000m in 7:48.19, less than 0.2 ahead of Bernard Lagat, whose move to the front with two laps remaining underscored the point that Lagat, now 40, is running for more than age group records. Lagat&rsquo;s 7:48.33 for second betters the listed men&rsquo;s over-40 mark by almost 13 seconds. &ldquo;I expected Lagat to have a fast last lap,&rdquo; said Gebremeskel. &ldquo;Of course Bernard has a strong kick. Last year I ran road races because there was no world championship after the World Indoors, but this year I will run the 5000m in Beijing.&rdquo;Mary Saxer won the women&rsquo;s pole vault with a clean slate up to 4.50m. World indoor record-holder Jenn Suhr only cleared that on her second attempt after passing all the other heights up to that point. Suhr explained her training had been hampered by illness, and added: &ldquo;in hindsight, I probably shouldn&rsquo;t have come.&rdquo;Trell Kimmons won the men&rsquo;s 60m in 6.51, barely a lean ahead of Asafa Powell in 6.52 and Michael Rodgers in 6.53. Trinidad&rsquo;s Michelle-Lee Ahye was the start-to-finish winner of the women&rsquo;s 60m in 7.15 with Tianna Bartoletta next over the line in 7.19.Tiffany Townsend upset Natasha Hastings in the final strides of the 300m, coming around the outside to win 36.74 to 36.80, the second and third fastest marks of the season in that event.Parker Morse for the IAAF

The Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center saw another world best, a world junior best, and six world-leading marks at the 20th edition of the IAAF Indoor Permit meeting now known as the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday night (7).

Willis's mile win leads the string of indoor superlatives in Boston

Ten more global medallists have been added to the array of big names competing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting, in Boston on 7 February.Among the latest star additions are US shot putters Ryan Whiting and Christian Cantwell, winners of five of the past six world indoor titles. Also announced was Jamaica&rsquo;s Asafa Powell, the former 100m world record-holder.The meeting is celebrating its 20th edition in 2015 and will be staged at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at the Roxbury Community College.The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix has played host to seven world records and 11 US records in its first 19 years. It is the third stop on the 2015 IAAF Indoor Permit meeting series.Among the names already announced are Olympic pole vault champion Jenn Suhr, two-time Olympic medallist Bernard Lagat, 18-year-old phenomenon Mary Cain, and 2011 world 1500m champion Jenny Simpson.The other names announced on Friday are 2008 Olympic 1500m silver medallist Nick Willis, 2012 world indoor 1500m champion Abdalaati Iguider, 2012 world indoor high jump champion Chaunte Lowe, 2005 world long jump champion Tianna Bartoletta, Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Sally Kipyego, Olympic relay silver medallist Ryan Bailey, and Olympic 5000m silver medallist Dejen Gebremeskel.Boston fans will remember Gebremeskel beating Great Britain&rsquo;s Mo Farah, in 2011 in just one shoe, after losing the other shoe early in the race. Organisers for the IAAF

Ten more global medallists have been added to the array of big names competing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting, in Boston on 7 February.

10 more stars set for Boston Indoor Permit meeting

Jenny Simpson, the most-decorated US woman over 1500m in athletics history, is the first athlete announced for the 2015 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting, on 7 February.Simpson, 28, is the 2011 world 1500m champion and reigning world silver medallist. The former US steeplechase record-holder returns to Boston as one of the top middle-distance women in the world after winning the 2014 Diamond Race title with a crashing dive across the line for victory at the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich.&ldquo;The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix is always a fun chance for me to peek at my own fitness and face some really incredible competition,&rdquo; said Simpson, who first competed at this meeting in 2005 in the junior invitational mile. &ldquo;The fields are good, the crowd is loud, and I have a lot of history there. I can't wait to return to Boston again this year.&rdquo;Simpson will again run the two-miles. She will, however, be hoping for a better result than last year, when she miscounted laps, unleashing a furious kick one lap early and coming to a near stop at the bell. Had she not erred, she would have almost certainly set a US indoor best for the distance instead of finishing second, in 9:26.19. The US best for the event (9:23.38) was set at this meeting in 2002.As always, Simpson addressed the situation with poise and good humour. &ldquo;3200/200=16,&rdquo; she tweeted soon after the race. &ldquo;Yes kids, algebra is important to learn for your everyday life. This is a public service announcement.&rdquo;Now in its 20th year, the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix has played host to seven world indoor records and 11 US records.Organisers for the IAAF

Jenny Simpson, the most-decorated US woman over 1500m in athletics history, is the first athlete announced for the 2015 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting, on 7 February.

Simpson set to return to Boston

Genzebe Dibaba is aiming for 5000m honours in 2015, the 23-year-old Ethiopian revealed ahead of the 2014 World Athletics Gala in Monaco where she is one of three athletes short-listed for the women&rsquo;s Athlete of the Year award, which will be announced on Friday (21).Dibaba set the world alight during the 2014 indoor season when she smashed the 1500m and 3000m world indoor records and set a world best at two miles, all within 15 days, before going on to claim the world indoor 3000m title in the Polish city of Sopot.She added a victory over 3000m at the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech in September and is now preparing for 2015 when she aims to break the world indoor 5000m record at the XL Galan in Stockholm and take the gold at the same distance at next summer&rsquo;s IAAF World Championships Beijing.&ldquo;This year was the best year for me,&rdquo; said Dibaba, who is short-listed for the award along with shot putter Valerie Adams and sprinter Dafne Schippers. &ldquo;The indoor season was the best of my career so far when I broke three world records.&ldquo;Now I have two goals for the 2015 indoor season. I am preparing myself to break the 5000m world indoor record in Stockholm and then run the mile in Birmingham.&ldquo;But my main goal this year is not more records, but only to win the gold medal at the World Championships where I will run 5000m.&rdquo;Genzebe is the latest member of the Dibaba family dynasty to reach the pinnacle of world athletics, following her older sisters Ejegayehu and Tirunesh, while the next in line could be Anna, her 18-year-old younger sister who has just started training.In Monaco, however, Anna&rsquo;s role is to be Genzebe&rsquo;s supportive companion and impromptu interpreter, a task she performed for a handful of the world&rsquo;s track and field media with shy competence and considerable charm.So what did it mean for Genzebe to be shortlisted for an award that Tirunesh&nbsp;&ndash; a three-time Olympic and five-time world champion - has won three times in the past?&ldquo;It is an honour,&rdquo; said Genzebe, her words relayed via Anna&rsquo;s quiet voice. &ldquo;Tirunesh has already won three times so it is great for me to be here. I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen tomorrow. We will see, but I hope to win.&ldquo;It is difficult to compare myself with Tirunesh. She&rsquo;s so strong and has won so many championships.&rdquo;After her incredible indoor season many expected Dibaba to carry on breaking records on the outdoor circuit, but she explained that she suffered a minor back injury after the World Indoor Championships which hampered her training.&ldquo;I felt my back when I was training so that was a problem and why my season was not as good outdoors as it was indoors,&rdquo; she said.&ldquo;Usually, it is not difficult to change from indoors to outdoors. I find outdoors easier than indoors but I am more interested in indoor athletics. I prefer it because it is hotter indoors and I like the shorter laps.&rdquo;This season, for the first time, Dibaba trained in Europe as well as at home in Ethiopia, spending two months in Spain, 20 minutes outside Barcelona, and one in Solentuna in Sweden.Like Tirunesh before her, Genzebe&rsquo;s achievements &ndash; and glamorous looks &ndash; mean she is now a celebrity in her home country where she has appeared on TV chat shows. The new fame, she admitted, is something she is growing to like.&ldquo;Yes, it&rsquo;s good,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t walk outside much at home, we go to training by car so we don&rsquo;t see people too often; but sometimes, when we go out, people ask us to sign things and for photographs. It&rsquo;s a good feeling.&rdquo;Home for Genzebe is very much a family place. She lives in Addis Ababa with Tirunesh, who&rsquo;s expecting her first child with husband Sileshi Sihine. Anna is also a member of the household, the youngster now taking her first steps towards a possible track career after leaving school.&ldquo;I just started training last year,&rdquo; explained Anna. &ldquo;I started later than my sisters because I didn&rsquo;t do athletics at school. I haven&rsquo;t competed yet.&ldquo;Tirunesh is my hero, she&rsquo;s the best, and she will be even better in the future. Genzebe is so strong because of Tirunesh too. Living with them is so good for me. Genzebe is not only my sister but also my best friend.&rdquo;With a fifth Dibaba sister, 16-year-old Melat, still to come, and their brother, 24-year-old Dereje, a marathon runner, there must be quite some secret to the family gift?&ldquo;Our family are farmers,&rdquo; explained Genzebe. &ldquo;And our mother was a runner. She was very strong because of her work but she never tried to have a career. When we started running our mother always encouraged us to do well.&rdquo;As for the future, how about a running school in the family name?, asked one enterprising journalist.&ldquo;Well, not yet,&rdquo; said Genzebe. &ldquo;But maybe in the future we will have a Dibaba running club. It&rsquo;s a good idea.&rdquo;Until then, the glamorous Genzebe has more world records to break, and gold medals to win.Matthew Brown for the IAAF

Genzebe Dibaba is aiming for 5000m honours in 2015, the 23-year-old Ethiopian revealed ahead of the 2014 World Athletics Gala in Monaco where she is one of three athletes short-listed for the women’s Athlete of the Year award, which will be announced on Friday (21).

Monaco press points – Genzebe Dibaba

Mo Farah improved on a 36-year-old European best for two miles to bring the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix to a rousing finish at the Alexander Stadium, the last in a series of ‘non-standard’ distance bests at the IAAF Diamond League meeting on Sunday (24). Farah produced a solo run second mile of almost exactly four minutes to win in 8:07.85, eclipsing Steve Ovett’s 1978 mark for the non-championship event by six seconds. Ovett’s almost-ancient mark of 8:13.51 was the aim for Farah on the second birthday of his twin daughters and he didn’t disappoint them or the crowdAfter passing half way in 4:07.8 he took the lead with three-and-a-half laps to go and opened a 50-metre gap on his training partner Zane Robertson.He took the bell with 7:10 on the clock, needing a 62-second last lap, a relatively easy task for the fast-finishing Briton. Farah romped home to win by almost 15 seconds, the length of the straight in front of Robertson.“I was a bit tired going into it,” said Farah, who completed a second 5000m-10,000m double at the European Championships just a week ago“I had to push myself to get that win but once I got into it, I got better and better. I was looking at the clock thinking ‘I can do it’.“Last week has definitely given me a lot of confidence, I know I have a lot of speed on that last lap.”The crowd already had much to admire on the track, including David Rudisha’s world best attempt over 600m and Mercy Cherono’s African best in the women’s two miles, plus meeting records for Kenyans Jairus Birech and Asbel Kiprop in the 3000m steeplechase and one mile respectively.Rudisha’s run will actually go down as one of the meeting’s three world leads (the others coming in the two mile races), and the Kenyan indeed showed something of his old front-running form to win in 1:13.71.The target was Johnny Gray’s world record of 1:12.81 and Rudisha certainly attacked. Eschewing pacemakers, he went through 200m in 23.25 before hitting the 400m mark between 46 and 47, bang on his predicted schedule. The task from there, the Kenyan said yesterday, was to push over the last 200 metres and that’s what he did, striding ever further away from the field around the bend to raise everyone’s expectations before he tired over the final 50 metres“Today wasn’t so bad,” said Rudisha, who went through 600m in 1:14.30 when setting his 800m world record. “This is my first 600m, so I guess it was difficult to judge the pace. I think I tried my best.”It may not have been the world best everyone had hoped for, but it was still the fourth quickest of all time and less than a second off his target; not bad for a man still on the comeback trail from injury.As the record slipped away, Poland’s European 800m champion Adam Kszczot came through for second in 1:14.69, saying later that he could have won if he hadn’t chased Rudisha early on. There may have been no record for Rudisha but there was for his fellow Kenyan Mercy Cherono, who led home a Kenyan one-two-three in the women’s two miles.Cherono tracked Genzebe Dibaba in the leading group of seven over the last four laps, then burst past the Ethiopian and Viola Kibiwot at the top of the finishing straight to cross the line in a world-leading 9:11.49.Kibiwot chased her to the line to record a personal best of 9:12.59 while Dibaba slipped back to fourth.Kiprop's finish was impressive too as he took the 62nd Emsley Carr Mile in 3:51.89, following a litany of famous names into the historic book where the event’s winners sign their names.The world 1500m champion made it look easy when swept off the final bend to pass three men down the home straight. Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman prevented a Kenyan sweep by hanging on for second ahead of Vincent Kibet and James Magut as 14 men broke four minutes.Birech continued his brilliant form this summer with a solo run in the steeplechase that brought him home in 8:07.78.It may have been much closer to eight minutes but for the 21-year-old Kenyan slowed to wave at the crowd as he rounded the final bend and stopped completely at the last barrier before hitching himself over with his hand.It didn’t make much difference to the result, however, as he had a 70-metre lead and strolled across the line to break the meeting record by almost 12 seconds. Brimin Kipruto followed him home in 8:16.61 as Kenyans filled the first seven places.Lynsey Sharp got revenge on Eunice Sum in the women’s 800m, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist beating the woman who took gold in Glasgow with a late run in 1:59.14 and Kirani James wrapped up his season with a second Diamond League win, holding off Botswana’s Isaac Makwala in 44.59, just 0.10 outside Iwan Thomas’s 17-year-old meeting record.Makwala clocked 45.02 to finish second, with Britain’s current No.1 one-lapper, European champion Martyn Rooney, taking third in 45.25 ahead of Dominican Republic’s Luguelin Santos.Matthew Brown for the IAAF

Mo Farah improved on a 36-year-old European best for two miles to bring the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix to a rousing finish at the Alexander Stadium, the last in a series of ‘non-standard’ distance bests at the IAAF Diamond League meeting on Sunday (24). 

Farah breaks European two miles best in Birmingham – IAAF Diamond League

One of the most compelling rivalries of this year’s IAAF Diamond League season is set to resume at the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix when Bogdan Bondarenko does battle again with Mutaz Essa Barshim on Sunday (24).The men’s high jump set to be one of the highlights of the afternoon at Alexander Stadium.The Ukrainian has won the last two meetings between the pair, including a historic contest in New York when both cleared 2.42m, and he comes to Birmingham fresh from a triumph at the European Championships last week when four jumps was all it took to lift the title on a cold, damp evening in Zurich.With good conditions promised for Sunday, the 12th stop on the 2014 IAAF Diamond League tour, Barshim may well push Bondarenko into 2.40m territory again as the world champion looks to extend his lead in the Diamond Race with another four points.It’s a height he’s cleared in his past three IAAF Diamond League meetings, but with three men in the field capable of competing at that level, including Barshim and Canada’s Derek Drouin, it may not be enough to guarantee maximum points.Barshim briefly led the world with his winning Asian record of 2.41m in Rome back in June, and the Qatari matched Bondarenko jump-for-jump in New York to go one centimetre higher just six days later. He was second to Bondarenko again at their last meeting in Monaco.Barshim has had a month to recharge his batteries and is expected to come out firing, especially after he warmed up for Birmingham by clearing a meeting record of 2.41m at the famous German high jump meeting in Eberstadt on Thursday night.Kirani James is another athlete ready to pick up his IAAF Diamond League campaign after bagging another championship gold medal.The Grenadan returns to the UK just three weeks after adding the Commonwealth Games 400m title to his world and Olympic crowns from 2011 and 2012.James dipped under 44 seconds in his last two IAAF Diamond League outings and lowered his Central American and Caribbean record to 43.74 in Lausanne on 3 July. Something special could be on the cards in Birmingham too where he will be pushed by Botswana’s Isaac Makwala, an IAAF Diamond League winner in Monaco, and Great Britain’s newly minted European gold and silver medallists Martyn Rooney and Matthew Hudson-Smith, plus two other high quality Caribbean men in Chris Brown of The Bahamas and Luguelin Santos from the Dominican Republic.Zurich heroes return homeBritain’s feted Zurich performers will be much in evidence throughout the programme, not least in the women’s 100m where Ashleigh Nelson and Jodie Williams, both individual sprint medallists, line up alongside fellow relay champions, Desiree Henry and Asha Philip, to take on the best of USA in Allyson Felix, fresh from her 200m triumph in Stockholm, Tori Bowie, English Gardner and Carmelita Jeter.It’s a similar story for Zurich 100m hurdles champion Tiffany Porter who finds herself back in the mix against the world’s best, including Sally Pearson who beat her in Glasgow to take her second Commonwealth title.The Australian will be keen to make amends after false starting in Stockholm on Thursday night, a rare mistake by the 2012 Olympic champion from which the current Diamond Race leader Queen Harrison benefited. She beat Pearson’s predecessor as Olympic champion, Dawn Harper Nelson, and both feature in a heavily loaded line-up here alongside another US sprint hurdler, the current world champion, Brianna Rollins.Like Porter, Eilidh Child will hear her name announced as European champion for the first time and, like Porter again, she will have her work cut out to beat a top quality field, which includes this year’s leading one-lap hurdler Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica.Spencer is looking to extend a seven-strong win streak in her first race since claiming the Commonwealth crown last month.US athletes Kori Carter and Georganne Moline are likely to provide the main opposition, although there’s no predicting the effect of home support on Child’s chances.Greg Rutherford will be hoping to ride that wave too as – boosted by a successful couple of weeks collecting Commonwealth and European gold medals – the Olympic champion takes on Diamond Race leader Jeff Henderson and China’s Li Jinzhe, plus 2012 Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor. The men’s 200m features two sub-20-second men in Nickel Ashmeade and Alonso Edward, while the 100m – one of four non-Diamond League events – provides Michael Rodgers with a chance to get over his Stockholm false start disqualification. Stockholm winner Nesta Carter, Commonwealth champion Kemar Bailey-Cole, Kim Collins and Christophe Lemaitre are among the opposition.Two of the meeting’s biggest names also run in non-Diamond League events. Britain’s serial double gold medal winner Mo Farah runs over the men’s two miles, where his opponents include his compatriot and double European Championships medallist Andy Vernon, and David Rudisha takes on the rarely-run 600m, the Kenyan Olympic 800m champion back in the UK after his shock defeat over two laps of the track in the Commonwealth Games final.Kenyans out in forceThere are plenty of top names in the IAAF Diamond League distance events too, not least in the historic Emsley Carr Mile, where the world-leading 1500m man, Silas Kiplagat, will be aiming to regain the Emsley Carr title he first won in 2012 and gain four more Diamond Race points against Kenyan compatriots Asbel Kiprop and Collins Cheboi.Kenyans feature strongly in the 3000m steeplechase too: Jarius Birech, Paul Koech, and the unrelated Kiprutos, Brimin and Conseslus, with Birech favourite for a fifth straight IAAF Diamond League win. Eunice Sum is also looking for a fifth victory in the women’s 800m where she comes up against the top young US talent Ajee Wilson.Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba shares top place in the women’s 5000m Diamond Race standings with Kenya’s Mercy Cherono and the two go head-to-head over two miles here with an outright points lead at stake.With five wins out of five, Valerie Adams has long since wrapped up the women’s shot Race, so the New Zealander’s task in Birmingham is to add another date to her daunting list of consecutive wins, stretching back over four seasons to 18 August 2010. USA’s Michelle Carter and Germany’s new European champion Christina Schwanitz are likely to contest the minor points.Other big names in the field events who will be defending their unbeaten IAAF Diamond League records this summer include: Germany’s Robert Harting in the men’s discus against Poland’s Diamond Race leader Piotr Malachowski; Barbora Spotakova, fresh from her thrilling Zurich javelin victory will face silver and bronze medallists Tatjana Jelaca and Linda Stahl; Fabiana Murer against Jenn Suhr in the pole vault; and Caterine Ibarguen in a triple jump tussle with Jamaica’s Kimberly Williams. Matthew Brown for the IAAF

One of the most compelling rivalries of this year’s IAAF Diamond League season is set to resume at the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix when Bohdan Bondarenko does battle again with Mutaz Essa Barshim on Sunday (24).

Battle commences again in Birmingham with Bondarenko v Barshim – IAAF Diamond League

Newly crowned European 10,000m champion Mo Farah has confirmed that he will race over two miles at the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix, an IAAF Diamond League meeting, on Sunday 24 August. The final IAAF Diamond League of the season in the UK this year will be in the city’s Alexander Stadium but it will be the first opportunity this year for British athletics fans to cheer on the double world and Olympic champion after he had to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games last month. It will also be his first race on British soil since his debut in the London Marathon in April.“I was gutted to have to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games but am really pleased that I’ll be back on the track racing for British fans at the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix,” said Farah, speaking after retaining his European 10,000m title in Zurich earlier this week.“I’ve retained my European 10,000m title and hope to be carrying the 5000m gold medal with me (which will be contested in Zurich on Sunday) as well, when I come to Birmingham next week. I can’t wait to race again in Birmingham, I have competed there many times in the past and the fans always give all the athletes huge support.”Farah will race over two miles against an international field including European Championship colleague and 10,000m silver medallist Andy Vernon, Kenya’s Emmanuel Bett, Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, USA’s Hassan Mead and New Zealand’s Zane Robertson.Organisers for the IAAF2014 IAAF Diamond League calendarDoha, QAT – 9 May Shanghai, CHN – 18 May&nbsp; Eugene, USA – 31 May Rome, ITA – 5 Jun Oslo, NOR – 11 Jun&nbsp; New York, USA – 14 Jun&nbsp; Lausanne, SUI – 3 Jul&nbsp; Paris, FRA – 5 Jul&nbsp; Glasgow, GBR – 11-12 Jul&nbsp; Monaco, MON – 18 Jul&nbsp; Stockholm, SWE – 21 Aug&nbsp; Birmingham, GBR – 24 Aug&nbsp; Zurich, SUI – 28 Aug&nbsp; Brussels, BEL – 5 Sep

Newly crowned European 10,000m champion Mo Farah has confirmed that he will race over two miles at the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix, an IAAF Diamond League meeting, on Sunday 24 August. 

 Farah chooses Birmingham for first UK track race in 2014 – IAAF Diamond League

A new wave of the world’s best distance runners seeks to run the fastest women’s two miles ever on US soil at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene on 30-31 May. Most are young, and all will be the first women to race an American classic distance at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field.The two-mile field is led by several distance-rich countries – especially Kenya and Ethiopia – whose athletes could possibly better the US all-comers’ record of 9:10.47, set by Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar in 2007. Given the right conditions, the field could even challenge the world best of 8:58.58 set by Defar later that same year. Mercy Cherono is a new-wave runner. The 23-year-old Kenyan earned silver last year in the 5000m at the IAAF World Championships, but is no stranger to winning gold, having won one world youth and two world junior 3000m titles on the track, as well as a world junior cross-country title.Last week she set a 3000m PB of 8:21.14 at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha, moving to sixth on the world all-time list and becoming the second-fastest African of all time. In that race she finished half a second behind Hellen Obiri, who broke the African record and will run the 1500m in Eugene.Distance fans won’t overlook two-time world 1500m champion Maryam Jamal of Bahrain. The Olympic bronze medallist is now 29, but is still a strong contender and took bronze in the 3000m at the recent IAAF World Indoor Championships. Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, only 22, is already a world bronze medallist, from the 5000m in Moscow last year. The world junior steeplechase record-holder smashed her 3000m flat PB in Doha last weekend with 8:24.58, just 0.07 shy of the Ethiopian record. One of the race favourites lives and trains in Eugene. Sally Kipyego won silver medals at the London Olympics and 2011 World Championships in the 10,000m, but she also knows how to step on the pedal in shorter distances, finishing second in the 3000m in Eugene two years ago with a PB of 8:35.89.More than a decade ago, Viola Kibiwot won three global junior titles – two in cross-country and one on the track – but the Kenyan continues to go from strength to strength. Last year she finished fourth in the 5000m at the World Championships and in Doha last week she smashed her 3000m PB with 8:24.41. She also has the fastest two-mile PB of the field with 9:18.26.Another global medallist, Belaynesh Oljira, is also in the field. The Ethiopian took bronze in the 10,000m at last year’s World Championships, but will step down in distance in Eugene.European under-23 cross-country champion Sifan Hassan is still only 21 but has recorded impressive PBs across a range of distances. She could even challenge the European two-mile best of 9:19.56 set by Sonia O’Sullivan in 1998.Other athletes in the field include 2010 Asian Games champion Mimi Belete, world junior 5000m champion Buze Diriba, African 1500m bronze medallist Margaret Muriuki, 2009 NCAA 1500m champion Susan Kuijken, six-time Polish champion Renata Plis, double Asian champion Bethlhem Desalgen and 2011 NCAA indoor champion Jordan Hasay.Organisers for the IAAF2014 IAAF Diamond League calendarDoha, QAT – 9 May Shanghai, CHN – 18 May Eugene, USA – 31 May Rome, ITA – 5 Jun Oslo, NOR – 11 Jun New York, USA – 14 Jun Lausanne, SUI – 3 Jul Paris, FRA – 5 Jul Glasgow, GBR – 11-12 Jul Monaco, MON – 18 Jul Stockholm, SWE – 21 Aug Birmingham, GBR – 24 Aug Zurich, SUI – 28 Aug Brussels, BEL – 5 Sep

A new wave of the world’s best distance runners seeks to run the fastest women’s two miles ever on US soil at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene on 30-31 May. Most are young, and all will be the first women to race an American classic distance at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field.