US pole vaulter Katie Nageotte (© Getty Images)
Last updated: 2 Aug 18:30 CEST
Katie Nageotte topped a world-leading 4.92m at the American Track League series meeting in Marietta, Georgia, near Atlanta on Saturday (1).
The leap elevated the 29-year-old US athlete to No.6 position on the all-time list. Her previous best outdoors was 4.83m, which she cleared on 18 July, also in Marietta. But she also had a 4.91m effort to her credit from 2018.
"Sixth highest height ever and had some really great attempts at the American Record," Nageotte said on an Instagram post.
World 400m champion Steven Gardiner clocked 20.19 to win the 200m.
Reekie and Pozzi shine in Trieste
Jemma Reekie and Andrew Pozzi produced the standout performances at the 13th Triveneto Meeting in Trieste, Italy, on Saturday (1), as the international athletics season continued its return in Italy, the European country hardest hit by this year's coronavirus pandemic.
In a fiercely fought 800m, Reekie held off training partner Laura Muir over the final five metres to win by a scant 0.02, clocking 1:59.52. It was a big victory for the double European U23 champion who knocked nearly two seconds from her previous outdoor career best of 2:01.45 set last year.
Norway's Hedda Hynne clocked 1:59.94 to finish third, edging Selina Buchel of Switzerland who also dipped under two minutes with 1:59.97.
Pozzi, who arrived at his third meeting of the year as the world leader at 13.30, won again handily in 13.36, but wasn't especially pleased with his performance.
"I struggled to get my timing – we weren’t able to warm up in spikes before the actual race,” said the world indoor champion. “My timing was really messed up to hurdle one so that was too much to fully recover. But there were some good bits to the race.
“I’m running really, really well in training – I’m in really good shape,” he continued. “So I’m really looking forward to a nice opportunity to show it. Hopefully that will come up in August.”
He'll race next at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku on 11 August and then again at the Wanda Diamond League fixture in Monaco three days later.
Paolo Dal Molin was second in 13.65.
Van Niekerk sidelined after Covid-19 scare
The evening's key attraction was to be Wayde van Niekerk, the Olympic 400m champion and world record holder, making his first international appearance since sustaining an ACL tear in a charity rugby match in October 2017. But he never made it to the start line after testing positive for Covid-19 on Friday. A second test came back negative, but ultimately medical officials didn't give him clearance to compete.
His training partner Antonio Alkana, who finished a distant fifth in the 110m hurdles, said that their entire group, who are based in Gemona del Friuli for the European summer months, have been tested four times over the past two weeks: just prior to their departure from South Africa, again two days after their arrival on 19 July, this past Tuesday and again on Friday.
The best performance for the appreciative home crowd was delivered by Lamont Marcell Jacobs who took the 100m in 10.10 in his third competition of the outdoor season. His previous season's best was 10.14 set in Savonna on 16 July.
Ghanaian Sean Safo-Antwi was second in 10.26.
Olympic champion Thiago Braz won the pole vault with a 5.50m clearance in his first competition since last year's World Championships in Doha.
Elsewhere, Leonardo Fabbri took the shot put with 20.68m. Italy's Edoardo Scotti won the 400m in 45.85 and Pablo Torrijos of Spain took the triple jump with a 16.86m leap.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics
Tzengko breaks world U20 javelin record
Elina Tzengko of Greece broke the world U20 record* in the javelin throw at the Greek U20 Championships on Saturday (1).
Tzengko, who will celebrate her 18th birthday on 2 September, threw 63.96m in the first round to eclipse the previous record of 63.86m set by Cuba's Yulenmis Aguilar on 2 August 2015, almost exactly five years to the day.
That was her only recorded throw of the competition.
Tzengko's previous best with the senior implement was 61.53m set on 8 July in Thessaloniki.
Tsengko won the Youth Olympic title in 2018 and in early 2019 set a world U18 best with the 500m spear with a 63.34m effort at the Greek Schools Championships in Ioannina. Tzengko was fourth at last year's European U20 Championships.
*pending the usual ratification procedures
Allman breaks US discus throw record
Valarie Allman broke the US record in the discus throw with a 70.15m blast at the Iron Wood Throws Center Invitational in Rathdrum, Idaho, on Saturday (1).
Allman's throw, which came in the first round, smashed both her own previous career best of 67.15m set last season, and the previous US record of 69.17m set by Gia Lewis-Smallwood in 2014.
It was also the first a world lead and the first 70-metre throw of the 2020 season.
Allman produced a solid series, with a 65.86m throw in the fourth round and a 66.03m effort in the fifth.
Allman, the silver medallist at the 2014 U20 Championships, finished seventh at the World Championships last year.
Chase Ealey won the shot put with a 19.41m effort, another 2020 world lead. Javelin thrower Kara Winger, also a finalist at last year's World Championships, reached 64.44m to win her event.
Records bettered in Oregon
The Bowerman Track Club produced the highlights of the latest Portland Intrasquad meeting in Portland on Friday (31) as they bettered the women’s 4x1500m world record and the men’s 4x1500m North American record.
Colleen Quigley led off the BTC’s ‘A’ squad, lining up against 2017 world steeplechase silver medallist Courtney Frerichs, who ran the opening leg for the ‘B’ team. Quigley completed her stage just inside 4:08 before handing over to Elise Cranny, who reached halfway in 8:18. At this point they were a couple of seconds outside the pace needed to break the record of 16:33.58 set by Kenya at the 2014 World Relays.
Karissa Schweizer ran the third leg in about 4:04 to put the team back on world record schedule, handing over to Shelby Houlihan. The North American record-holder ran the anchor leg in 4:05, crossing the line in 16:27.02 to finish six seconds inside the world record. The ‘B’ team finished more than a minute adrift in 17:29.98.
It is not currently known whether all the necessary measures were in place to meet the criteria required for world record ratification.
The men’s race was more competitive between the ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams. Britain’s Marc Scott and Canada’s Moh Ahmed, both 5000m specialists, ran the first two legs for the multi-nationality ‘A’ team. On the final stretch of the second leg, Grant Fisher of the ‘B’ team eased into a narrow lead, handing over to Sean McGorty. He opened up a five-second gap on Ryan Hill as Lopez Lomong took up the running on the final leg.
The 35-year-old, who last year won US titles at 5000m and 10,000m, finished strongly with a 57.14-second last lap to bring the ‘B’ team home in 14:34.97, taking almost three seconds off the previous area record set at the 2014 World Relays.
On the same night in Newburg, just a 30-minute drive south-west of Portland, USA’s Donavan Brazier contested his first outdoor 800m since winning the world title over the distance last year, clocking 1:43.84 at the Big Friendly 3 meeting.
The North American record-holder was paced through the first lap in 50.8, by which point he already had a comfortable lead over world indoor silver medallist Drew Windle. His pace dropped only slightly on the second lap as he crossed the line in the first outdoor sub-1:45 performance of 2020. Windle finished second in 1:49.64.
Britain’s Josh Kerr was a comfortable winner of the men’s 1500m, recording a world-leading 3:34.53, while Shannon Rowbury finished almost five seconds ahead of her competitors in the women’s 1500m, finishing in 4:03.62, her fastest time since winning the 2016 Diamond League final in Zurich.
