Narrow wins by Cooper Lutkenhaus and Timothy Cheruiyot, sprint victories by Julien Alfred and Letsile Tebogo, and statement triumphs by Chase Jackson and Alison dos Santos highlighted the Wanda Diamond League action in Oslo on Wednesday (10).
An 800m battle between the world and Olympic champion and the world indoor champion ended in a photo finish as Lutkenhaus made it two out of two for Diamond League victories.
The US world indoor champion won his Diamond League debut in Stockholm in 1:42.70 – then the fastest outdoor time in the world this year – and just three days later, he emulated that performance at the Bislett Games in Oslo, running a world-leading PB of 1:42.08 to move to joint 14th on the world all-time list.
The 17-year-old tracked two-time global gold medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi for the first lap, waiting for his moment to strike. Lutkenhaus kicked past his rival with 200 metres to go, but Wanyonyi fought back – finishing just a hundredth of a second back as Lutkenhaus dived over the line to narrowly miss the meeting record of 1:42.04 set by world record-holder David Rudisha in 2010.
Marco Arop, who finished second to Lutkenhaus in Stockholm – a meeting that Wanyonyi missed following the birth of his first child – was third this time in 1:43.33.
“It was a very tough race, and I had to dive for the line to be sure of the win,” said Lutkenhaus. “I knew he (Wanyonyi) was on my shoulder and I was willing the line to come towards me. To beat the Olympic champion is awesome, and it means a lot. I have not seen the grazes yet from my dive, but I think they will hurt in the shower later.”
Kenya’s Cheruiyot dipped to his first Diamond League win since 2021, the 2019 world 1500m champion beating a stacked field in the Dream Mile. In another photo finish, both Cheruiyot and Yared Nuguse clocked 3:48.21 – the fastest outdoor time in the world so far this year – but after winning the 1500m from Cameron Myers and Cheruiyot in Stockholm, Olympic bronze medallist Nuguse had to settle for second place this time. Myers was third in 3:48.35, and the top 10 all finished inside 3:50.
Alfred, Tebogo and Dos Santos in control
Botswana’s Olympic champion, Letsile Tebogo, cruised to his first Diamond League win of the season, clocking a season’s best of 19.84 (0.2m/s) in the 200m despite easing down on his approach to the finish line.
Sinesipho Dambile was second in Stockholm, and he repeated the feat in Oslo, running 20.12 this time. Jereem Richards was third in 20.50, and Gout Gout – who ran a world lead and world U20 record of 19.67 in April – finished sixth on his Diamond League debut in 20.60.
Saint Lucia’s Olympic champion, Julien Alfred, picked up from where she left off last year – powering to victory in her first Diamond League 100m since her win in the final in September. Dominating the race, she ran a wind-assisted 10.76 (3.2m/s) ahead of world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt (10.99) and Zoe Hobbs (11.03).
Brazil’s 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos won his fourth hurdles race of the year – and his third head-to-head against home star Karsten Warholm – taking the 400m hurdles in 46.89. Dos Santos beat the world record-holder in Shanghai and Xiamen, and then won a promotional race in Stockholm, and he maintained that form to win clearly again in the 10th-fastest time of his career. Warholm, who hit an early barrier, finished second in 47.40.
Slovak record-holder Emma Zapletalová also continued her strong start to the season, winning her third Diamond League 400m hurdles race of the year in 53.13. Rushell Clayton went one better than in Rabat and Rome, finishing second in 53.50.
Oslo Diamond League 3000m results
Freweyni Hailu threatened the meeting record in the 3000m, rebounding after her third-place finish in the 5000m in Rome by winning in a world-leading 8:24.22, 0.02 off the record. She led an Ethiopian top four and was followed home by Rome winner Likina Amebaw in 8:25.15, Senayet Getachew in a PB of 8:25.85, Hawi Abera in a PB of 8:27.18 and the Netherlands’ Maureen Koster in 8:27.67.
Ethiopia’s Addisu Yihune held off the fast-finishing Birhanu Balew of Bahrain to win the 5000m, running a world-leading PB of 12:47.62 to Balew’s Asian record of 12:47.73. Yihune, who also won the Diamond League in Xiamen, took two seconds off his previous best, which was also run in Oslo in 2024. World 10,000m bronze medallist Andreas Almgren was third in 12:48.61, and Parker Wolfe took almost 10 seconds off his PB with 12:49.45 for fourth. The top 11 dipped under 13 minutes, including Australia’s Ky Robinson, who improved the Oceanian record to 12:50.82.
