Two Twos
The penultimate Diamond League meeting of the season unfolded this week in Brussels, with all eyes on the twos: the women’s 200m and the men’s 2000m. Both events were touted as world record attempts, with Jakob Ingebrigtsen and the men’s 2000m taking place first.
Men’s 2000m
The newly renovated King Baudouin Stadium track in the Belgian capital lived up to its promise of speed, courtesy of the endlessly talented Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
In Budapest last month, Ingebrigtsen’s unbeaten outdoor season hit a rare roadblock as he once again failed to capture the coveted 1500m world title. After bouncing back from illness to successfully defend his 5000m crown, the Norwegian decided to take some time off, returning to his hometown of Sandnes to recover. However, his rest would be brief, with his return to the circuit having been scheduled a month in advance, when, in early August, he earmarked the Brussels Diamond League as the location of a world record attempt over the seldom run 2000m.
Josh Kerr (M) outkicks Jakob Ingebrigtsen (R) to win the world 1500m title
(Photo credit: Getty Images for World Athletics)
Before his outing in Brussels, Ingebrigtsen held one world record and one world best time. Often lumped under the same term for simplicity, a world record must be run over an official World Athletics (the official governing body of the sport) distance, which means the Norwegian’s indoor 1500m time of 3:30.60 from last February does qualify as an official indoor world record. Alternatively, a world’s best is run over any distance that falls outside the World Athletics scope. While races over imperial measured distances were once very common, only the mile remains pertinent today due to its historical prominence in the sport. The dwindling occurrence of imperial distance races led World Athletics to delete all but the mile from the world record books in 1976. This means that when Ingebrigtsen ran the fastest ever two-mile race in June, it was classed as a world’s best time rather than a world record.
Brussels therefore presented an opportunity for the 22-year-old to claim his first official outdoor world record.
An aggressive start saw the field strung out after just one lap, with Ingebrigtsen settling into pole position behind the three pacemakers, who took him through the first kilometre in 2:22.28 despite being instructed to run 2:21.00. While that may not seem like much of a difference, those lost seconds through halfway could have heralded Ingebrigtsen’s undoing. The Norwegian, however, looked calm as ever, sitting patiently on the heels of the sole remaining pacer as a gap began to open to the rest of the field.
When the final pacer stepped off with 650m to go, Ingebrigtsen had only the ghost of Hicham El Guerrouj for company, materialised as a string of green lights ticking around the inside of the track at world record pace. El Guerrouj, a man 26 years Ingebrigtsen’s senior, ran 4:44.79 to set the 2000m record in 1999, a year before the Norwegian was born.
A chase pack of three – Australia’s Stewart McSweyn and Kenya’s Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot and Abel Kipsang – formed behind Ingebrigtsen, but even they knew their fight was for second.
Closing in his quickest lap of the race, Ingebrigtsen was finally able to clear the world record pace lights as he entered the home straight. Roared on by a standing ovation from the crowd, the prodigy clocked 4:43.13 to smash the 24-year-old world record by more than a second and a half and put more than five seconds into his next fastest competitor.
“It’s always fun to break a record,” commented Ingebrigtsen after the race.
“To be honest, this record wasn’t a difficult one for me. I got great help from the pacemakers. Actually, they were able to help me more than I expected.”
This is just the first of El Guerrouj’s three world records that the Norwegian aims to beat in his career, with the far more famous 1500m and mile records still safely in the hands of the Moroccan great. Nevertheless, Ingebrigtsen will take enormous confidence away from this performance.
The rarely run distance also yielded riches for most of those in Ingebrigtsen’s wake, including a world under-20 record and six national records out of 11 finishers from just eight nations.
Stewart McSweyn ran an excellent race off the back of a disappointing World Championships to finish third, breaking Craig Mottram’s 17-year-old Australian record in the process.
“I put myself in a good spot and fought hard against a world-class field in the last few laps,” he explained after the race.
“To break any national record is a huge honour so I’m very happy with tonight’s result and it gives me a lot of confidence leading into the Diamond League final next week in Eugene. Even though it was a tough race, it was great to finally get a result that is reflective of the work that I have put in this year.”
After the Diamond League final next week, the Australian will turn his attention to the inaugural road running World Championships, which will take place in Latvia at the end of the month.
Women’s 200m
The very next event following Ingebrigtsen’s world record performance was the women’s 200m.
With respect to her very talented competition, Shericka Jackson was the clear favourite and the person around whom the race was built. Following her 21.41 world championship defending run in Budapest last month, the Jamaican has warmed to the fact that if anyone is to break Florence “FloJo” Joyner’s seemingly untouchable 35-year-old record, it will be her.
“At the World Championships I was so close,” Jackson told reporters at a press conference on Thursday.
“Coach and I have spoken, and we are going after (the record) this year. I hope to get it.”
That record, which was set at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, has become a symbol of something unbeatable amongst women’s sprinting, with the best in the world consistently trying and failing to surpass it. But Jackson, the fastest woman alive and second fastest of all time, believes she will be the one to finally best that almost mythological mark of 21.34
If it is to fall, at the very earliest it will have to wait until Eugene. Quick out of the blocks, Jackson was almost immediately on the shoulder of Daryll Neita, the only runner on her outside. Storming into the home straight with a commanding lead, Jackson looked tight, as if she was trying to force the record-breaking speed from the famously fast track of Brussels. That didn’t stop her moving away from the field, racing against the clock that she eventually stopped in 21.48 to set a new Diamond League record and the fourth fastest time in history.
Second place went to Anthonique Strachan, finishing almost a second behind Jackson.
“We’re right there. We’re so close, we’re knocking on the door,” explained Jackson after the race.
“I am very happy with my race. For me personally, it is just to show up and especially in front of such an amazing crowd, you just have to put in your best and that's what I did today. It felt really good tonight, I definitely feel like I'm getting…closer to that record.”
The Jamaican has made it a tradition of writing race times on the inside of her bib, the details of which she rarely reveals. When asked about it at the World Championships, she simply responded with “You’ll see,” perhaps hinting at a mark that will materialise in the future. While she may never tell us, it’s almost certain that 21.33 will be marked on that Diamond League bib next week in Eugene as she makes a final bid for the world record this season.
Other Events
Brussels saw some other big performances as athletes aimed to secure their spot in the season finale taking place in Eugene next week.
The first track final of the night was the women’s 400m. A late withdrawal from recently crowned World 800m Champion, Mary Moora, saw just seven women toe the start line, with home favourite Cynthia Bolingo making a strong move in the final 100m to out dip Lieke Klaver at the line and take her first Diamond League win of the season.
Laura Muir ran a brilliant 1500m, finishing just one one-hundredth outside of the 20-year-old meeting record in a tactical race.
Elaine Thompson-Herah affirmed her place as one of the world’s best sprinters with a season’s best 10.84, while her Jamaican teammate Natasha Morrison charged home in lane one to finish second.
Femke Bol further established herself as the best female 400m hurdler in the world. In Budapest last month, and in the absence of world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Bol was able to upgrade her silver from 2022 to gold, beating out second place by over a second. In Brussels, the margin between the Dutchwoman and her next fastest competitor was even greater, as she easily lowered the meeting record and booked her ticket to Eugene.
While not as exciting as the women’s, the men’s 200m still produced a solid field, the highlight of which was another rematch between Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes and American sprinter, Kenneth Bednarek. In their third clash this year, Bednarek finally beat his British rival, relegating Hughes to silver by three one-hundredths of a second in their closest finish of the season.
The transcendent Armand “Mondo” Duplantis once again dominated the pole vault. The American-born Swede has been ranked number one in the world for almost four consecutive years, picking up Diamond League, Olympic, and World Championship titles in the process, as well as setting the world record, which he has subsequently broken six times over. After comfortably winning the competition, Duplantis set the bar at 6.23m in an attempt to break his own world record once again, coming tantalisingly close on his final attempt. He will have another chance in Eugene next week.
The start lists are now being confirmed for the Diamond League Finale, with the biggest names in athletics returning to the global stage for the last elite competition of the year.