London Diamond League Recap: Noah Lyles And Keely Hodgkinson Star
London Diamond League Recap: Noah Lyles And Keely Hodgkinson Star
The final tune-up before the Paris Olympics did not disappoint in London, as the Diamond League meeting featured some seriously fast races.
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In the final Diamond League meeting prior to the Paris Olympics, some of Great Britain’s finest stars showed up for their home crowd, including the likes of Keely Hodgkinson and Matthew Hudson-Smith, both of whom set world leads in their respective events.
With various star-power assembled, many events saw many fast times go down, with penty of of meet records getting broken, too.
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Noah Lyles Continues Hot Streak in Men’s 100m
Noah Lyles set a new personal best in the 100m on Saturday, clocking a time of 9.81 to take home the win in London.
Lyles is getting closer and closer to that elusive sub-9.80 barrier. This weekend, he ran into the slightest of resistance, with the wind measuring at -0.3 m/s. This performance was the third-fastest time in the world in 2024, only behind Kishane Thompson (9.77) and Ferdinand Omanyala (9.79).
The battle between those three men at the Olympics is going to be incredible, but Akani Simbine and Letsile Tebogo’s performances for second and third, respectively, were also impressive.
Simbine set a season best in 9.86 to miss his PB by 0.02 seconds, while Tebogo ran 9.88, which set a new career best and re-set his own Botswanan national record, too.
Zharnel Hughes improved his season’s best by running 10.00, but the British athlete still isn’t in the top form that we’ve seen from him in seasons prior and he finished sixth, behind Olympic teammate Louie Hinchliffe, the University of Houston sophomore who won NCAAs. He was fourth here in 9.97.
With just a few weeks until the Paris Olympics, we’ll have to see if he can round into his best form when it matters most.
Keely Hodgkinson Sets British National Record in Women’s 800m
Competing in front of her home crowd, Keely Hodgkinson showed out for the London faithful, carrying an incredible field of women to the deepest 800m of the year.
Hodgkinson kept her foot on the gas after coming through 400m mark in 56 seconds, going wire-to-wire to ultimately clock a time of 1:54.61, which re-set her own personal best -- which was the existing British record.
This performance was the new world lead, which she had previously held at 1:55.78, and it was also a London Diamond League meeting record, too.
It’s safe to say that Hodgkinson had a great day on the oval, solidifying herself as the top 800m runner in the world and setting herself up to be the Olympic Gold favorite heading into Paris.
Hodgkinson was followed closely behind by fellow British teammate Jemma Reekie, who stuck on Hodgkinson’s tail for nearly the whole race. Reekie , the race's reigning champion, was rewarded with over a second personal best, running 1:55.61 to run the second fastest time in the world in 2024.
Georgia Bell, rounding out the dominant trio of British women in this race, ran the third-fastest time in the world in 2024, hitting the finish in 1:56.28, which set a personal best by over three seconds.
Natoye Goule-Toppin was impressive for fourth in 1:56.83 to crush her season best by over two seconds and add to the incredible depth in this race.
Renelle Lamote, Halimah Nakaayi, Allie Wilson, and Laura Muir all went under 1:58, while Catriona Bisset and Elena Bello went under 1:59, which put an impressive 10 women under that 1:59 mark, which is an incredible showing from top to bottom all-around.
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Matthew Hudson-Smith Produces World Lead in Men’s 400m
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With the London crowd backing him, Matthew Hudson-Smith put on a show for his home crowd, authoring a remarkable 43.74 over 400m to bring home the win.
This was Hudson-Smith’s first time under 44 seconds in the open 400m, which re-set his own area record, established a new Diamond League London meeting record and set the world lead in this event over Quincy Hall’s 43.80 that he ran just a few days ago.
Hudson-Smith was the runner-up at last year’s World Championships in Budapest and he’s now a definite front-runner to go after a gold medal at the Paris Olympics in just a few weeks.
Vernon Norwood, who didn’t make the U.S. Olympic Team in the 400m but was selected for the relay pool, ran an excellent race for second, producing a time of 44.10 to set a new personal best.
Kirani James finished fifth in 44.38.
Oliver Hoare Escapes the Chaos, Wins Emsley-Carr Mile
After an extremely chaotic start to the Emsley-Carr Mile, which saw three men go down in the first 100m, it was Oliver Hoare who reigned supreme, just edging out Narve Gilje Nordås for the win.
Hoare has been rounding back into form after some injuries earlier this year and this performance was certainly a great marker heading into the Olympic campaign. His 3:49.03 for the full mile is a great performance and was definitely his best race of the year so far.
Nordås, Adel Mechaal, Niels Laros, and Stewart McSweyn rounded out the five men who broke the 3:50 barrier.
Laros was one of the three men that went down in the beginning of the race. But he rallied incredibly well and still ran 3:49, which is a great testament to his current fitness.
Even with some poor luck in falling two races in a row, he’s in a good spot and has shown resilience in dealing with adverse race situations.
It's unfortunate that Neil Gourley and George Mills, both of whom are 3:47 milers, couldn’t escape the early carnage and chaos. Both men ended up not finishing, as the race was not called back after those early falls. They certainly would have added even more depth to this race with their talents up front.
Gabby Thomas Surges Late to Win Women’s 200m
After navigating a tough start, Gabby Thomas ran an unbelievable final 20 meters to surge past Julien Alfred to bring home the win, running 21.82 to Alfred’s 21.86.
Thomas’ mark was a Diamond League London meeting record, but after 120m it didn’t look like it. Dina Asher-Smith and Alfred got out to incredible starts, imposing dominance entering the home stretch off of the curve.
But Thomas did not relent, as she closed incredibly hard and secured the win in the final steps.
Asher-Smith would finish third,
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