Selemon Barega, Beatrice Chepkoech and Akani Simbine were among the athletes to make their mark at the Yangtze Delta Athletics Diamond Gala, the second Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season, in Suzhou on Saturday (27).
One week on from the opening Diamond League meeting in Xiamen, there were also back-to-back wins for Mondo Duplantis, who attempted another world record in the pole vault, plus Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Daniel Roberts, Marileidy Paulino and Valarie Allman.
Berega affirms his status
The men’s 5000m was the penultimate race of the evening and it saw the meeting record fall as Ethiopia’s Olympic 10,000m champion Barega got his season started with a win. The 24-year-old, who closed his indoor campaign by gaining world 3000m bronze in Glasgow, held off the challenge posed by his 17-year-old compatriot Biniam Mehary, racing just his second ever 5000m.
After battling down the back straight, Barega led off the final bend and was able to respond to Mehary’s strong finish to win, 12:55.68 to 12:56.37.
Kenya’s world cross country bronze medallist Benson Kiplangat was third in a PB of 12:58.78.
Chepkoech dominant at Wanda Diamond League
In the women’s 3000m steeplechase, Kenya’s world record-holder Chepkoech was dominant.
Despite not feeling well, she followed her win in Xiamen with victory in 9:07.36 ahead of Uganda’s Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai.
In her first steeplechase race since the 2022 World Championships following the birth of her daughter in April 2023, Germany’s two-time world bronze medallist Gesa Felicitas Krause was third in 9:16.24.
Over in the sprints, Britain’s Olympic and world relay medallist Daryll Neita got a strong start in the women’s 200m and she turned it into a powerful finish to win on her individual season debut.
Clocking 22.62 (0.2m/s), she held off Anavia Battle (22.99) and her US compatriot Sha’Carri Richardson, the world 100m champion, who ran 23.11.
The focus in the men’s 100m might have been on the head-to-head between USA’s Fred Kerley and Christian Coleman, but South Africa’s Simbine beat them both.
He won in 10.01 (-0.1m/s), 0.03 ahead of Coleman, with Kerley third in 10.11.
World 400m champion Paulino made it two wins from two races, following her victory in Xiamen with success in Suzhou in 50.89. USA’s Talitha Diggs was second in 51.77 and Sada Williams third in 52.00.
The same was also the case for Camacho-Quinn and Roberts in the hurdles.
