Lausanne Diamond League 2023: Mary Moraa, Femke Bol, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Marie-Josee Ta Lou shine at Athletissima meeting - as it happened
Olympic champions Katie Moon and Neeraj Chopra left it late to take respective pole vault and javelin victories after Ryan Crouser took the shot put, and Berihu Aregawi won a thrilling men's 5000m.
Athletics
The sixth Diamond League event of 2023, the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne on Friday (30 June), saw four meeting records and a raft of high-quality performances.
Mary Moraa showed why she will be one of the favourites for 800m gold at August's Budapest World Championships as she repeated her Commonwealth Games victory over world and Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson.
Ethiopia's Berihu Aregawi set the first of four meeting records on the night in the men's 5000m, stretching his rivals from the halfway point before seeing off the challenge of Joshua Cheptegei in a manner which suggests the Ugandan's world record is under threat.
Femke Bol came home in glorious isolation in the women's 400m hurdles before Jakob Ingebrigtsen almost toyed with his rivals in the men's 1500m as both joined Aregawi in breaking meeting records.
The fourth and final meeting record came in the non-Diamond League women's 4x100m relay with Marie-Josee Ta Lou - who had earlier won the individual 100m - running the second leg for Cote d'Ivoire as they clocked a new national record.
In the field, there were wins for Olympic champions Ryan Crouser, Neeraj Chopra and Katie Moon with the latter needing a last-gasp clearance at 4.82m, the best jump in the world this year, to take the pole vault.
Read on to find out what happened when it happened at the Lausanne Diamond League 2023.
21:50 Classy Ingebrigtsen wins 1500m
Jakob Ingebrigtsen looked like he was ripe for taking in the 1500m but the Norwegian just kept finding more in front.
The Olympic champion had Josh Kerr and Ethiopia's steeplechase world record holder Lamecha Girma in close attendance, but Ingebrigtsen ran the finish out of his rivals and was extending his lead by the end.
He clocked a meeting record of 3:28.72 with Girma taking second in a new Ethiopian record ahead Kerr and another Briton Elliot Giles.
There was drama at the end of the women's pole vault. After three failures for Wilma Murto at 4.82m, Katie Moon had one last attempt to take the victory. And the Olympic champion cleared it, just, for the best height in the world this year. Eliza McCartney was third.
There was another victory for an Olympic champion in the field courtesy of Neeraj Chopra. The Indian went into the lead in the fifth round with 87.66m, and that was enough for the win despite Julian Weber recording 87.03m in round six.
Jakub Vadlejch was third with 86.13m, also posted in the final round.
The last event was the non-Diamond League women's 4x100m relay with Cote d'Ivoire - led off by Murielle Ahoure-Demps and Marie-Josee Ta Lou - setting a new national record and the fourth meeting record of the night with a time of 42.23.
21:39 Femke Bol dominates 400m hurdles
Femke Bol was in a class of her own in the women's 400m hurdles, coming home almost two seconds clear of the field in a new meeting record of 52.76.
The Dutchwoman was a long way clear and, though she was grimacing in the home straight, completed a comfortable victory with Finland's Viivi Lehikoinen (54.67) and Ayomide Folorunso of Italy (55.12) edging out Britain's Jessie Knight for third.
Commonwealth Games champion LaQuan Nairn took the scalp of Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou in the men's long jump.
The Bahamian's third-round effort of 8.11m proved enough with Tentoglou posting 8.07m and Japan's Hashioka Yuki third with 7.98m.
21:27 Tebogo takes 200m as De Grasse toils again
The outside lanes were where you wanted to be in the men's 200m with Letsile Tebogo taking victory.
Aaron Brown made a quick start from lane four but the youngster from Botswana was smooth around the bend and came clear with Jereem Richards, the only man outside him in lane eight, chasing him home.
Running into a headwind, Tebogo won in 20.01 ahead of Richards (20.11) with Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia in third place.
Brown faded into fifth with his fellow Canadian, Olympic champion Andre De Grasse, back in sixth in 20.57.
Eliza McCartney has had three failures at 4.77m which leaves just two women in the pole vault - Katie Moon passed at the height after Wilma Murto cleared at the first attempt.
21:20 Camacho-Quinn holds off Amusan in 100m hurdles
Olympic gold medallist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn just got the better of world champion Tobi Amusan in an exciting 100m hurdles.
Tia Jones of the United States was best away but the big two were soon alongside her and it was the Puerto Rican star who battled to the front to win in 12.40 with Amusan (12.47) equalling her season's best in second. Jones was third in 12.51.
The women's pole vault is building nicely. After Eliza McCartney cleared 4.71m with her first attempt, Wilma Murto went over at the second time of asking, and then Olympic champion Katie Moon responded to the pressure with a big clearance on her third and final go with Tina Sutej bowing out.
With the bar up to 4.77m, McCartney had her first failure of the night but Murto went over first time. Moon has now passed with 4.82m the next height.
21:10 Berihu Aregawi wins incredible men's 500m
Who needs pacemakers when you have Berihu Aregawi?
The Ethiopian produced a massive injection of pace at the midway point - starting with a 59-second lap - and whittled the lead group down to four.
And Aregawi kept pouring it on at the front as compatriots Hagos Gebrhiwet and Telahun Bekele soon dropped away with only world record holder Joshua Cheptegei able to stay with him.
The Ugandan world record holder looked like he might snatch victory with 200m to go, but Aregawi dug deep to kick again and win in 12:40.45, the fifth fastest time in history.
Cheptegei was second with Gebrhiwet in third.
In the women's pole vault, Rio 2016 bronze medallist Eliza McCartney is having her best international competition for a long time.
The New Zealander missed all of last year but jumped 4.75m at April's Australian Championships.
And tonight she has had first-time clearances at 4.51m, 4.61m and now 4.71m to take a clear lead. Olympic champion Katie Moon, Finland's Wilma Murto and Tina Sutej of Slovenia are the only other women left and all failed with their first attempts at 4.71m.
20:55 Ta Lou too strong in women's 100m
Marie-Josee Ta Lou claimed her third Diamond League win of the season in comfortable fashion in Lausanne.
The Ivorian made her customary fast start, and stretched clear in the second half to win in 10.88 with Britain's Daryll Neita next in 11.07.
Germany's European champion Gina Lückenkemper was third, just ahead of Poland's Ewa Swoboda.
Mujinga Kambundji, the European 200m champion and 100m silver medalist, was eighth in 11.41 with the home favourite suffering from plantar fasciitis which she said this week would restrict her to the shorter sprint this season.
20:45 Beatrice Chepkoech takes women's steeplechase
She could not break nine minutes, but Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech was too good for world number one Sembo Almayew in the women's 3000m steeplechase as she won in a meeting record of 9:05.98.
Ethiopian Almayew regularly stepped on the hurdles and lost valuable momentum, and she was unable to shake off Chepkoech who kicked clear with 200m to go.
Uganda's Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai clocked a season's best in third place.
20:30 Wins for Izumiya, Crouser and Little
IOC President Thomas Bach is in the crowd for the Athletissima and he was an interested observer of the men's 110m hurdles.
After Wilhem Belocian was disqualified for a false start, Izumiya Shunsuke fairly flew out of the blocks on the second attempt.
Home favourite Jason Joseph was in hot pursuit but could not quite reach the Japanese who won in 13.22. Joseph was one-hundredth adrift with France's Just Kwaou-Mathey in third.
The first two field events are over - Ryan Crouser produced another 22m+ throw in the sixth round but did not improve on his best effort of 22.29m.
That was enough for victory with Tom Walsh (21.99m) taking second from Croatia's European champion Filip Mihaljevic (21.42m).
Mihaljevic's best throw came in round five, displacing Italy's Leonardo Fabbri from the top three by just one centimetre.
There was no change in the javelin with the final three all failing to improve - Mackenzie Little winning with 65.70m from Kitaguchi Haruchi (63.34m) and Lina Muze (62.58m).
20:10 Mary Moraa defeats Keely Hodgkinson again over 800m
Tactics won the day as Mary Moraa repeated her Commonwealth Games victory over world and Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson.
The Kenyan controlled the race from the front and used her superior 400m flat speed to kick away off the home bend, winning in 1:57.43.
Hodgkinson was second with Jamaica's Natoya Goule taking third.
That was the first Diamond League track event of the night. The field events are already underway - Mackenzie Little of Australia leads the women's javelin going into the final round thanks to a personal best of 65.70m in round five.
And double Olympic champion and world record holder Ryan Crouser holds the shot put lead with 22.29m after five rounds.
Lausanne Diamond League 2023 Preview
Lausanne hosts the sixth meet of the 2023 Diamond League athletics series on Friday (30 June) with the Athletissima being held in the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise.
The timetable can be found below, but one event - the women's high jump - was held on Thursday in the city.
There was something of a surprise as Australia's Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers (formerly McDermott) equalled her own Oceania record of 2.02m - a new 2023 world lead - to beat Ukrainian pair Iryna Geraschenko and world champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
The men's 1500m should be a race to savour with Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen up against Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma who broke the 3000m steeplechase record in Paris earlier this month.
The women's 800m is also one to relish with world and Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson meeting the woman who beat her in last year's Commonwealth Games final, Mary Moraa of Kenya.
Uganda's Olympic 5000m champion and world record holder Joshua Cheptegei goes in a competitive men’s 5000m with Beatrice Chepkoech, world record holder in the women's 3000m steeplechase, seeking go under nine minutes for the first time this season.
Femke Bol reverts to hurdles after winning the flat 400m at the European Team Championships in Silesia, while the 100m hurdles pits Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn against world champion Tobi Amusan.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou will bid for her third Diamond League victory this season in the 100m with Mujinga Kambundji hoping to give the home crowd reason for cheer.
The field events are also worth keeping an eye on with shot put world record holder Ryan Crouser in action and Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra making his return after a muscle strain.
Lausanne Diamond League 2023 schedule
All times local in CET (GMT+2)
19:15 Javelin Women
19:35 Shot Put Men
20:04 800m Women
20:06 Pole Vault Women
20:16 110m Hurdles Men
20:25 3000m Steeplechase Women
20:35 Long Jump Men
20:42 100m Women
20:48 Javelin Men
20:50 5000m Men
21:13 100m Hurdles Women
21:20 200m Men
21:28 400m Hurdles Women
21:39 1500m Men