Italy’s Marcel Jacobs stormed his way to Paris by running his fastest 100 metres outside of the Olympics at the Paavo Nurmi Games. World Championships Continental Tour Gold Medal The meeting will take place in Turku on Tuesday (18th).
The Olympic champion is one of several world gold medallists to have made their name in Finland’s oldest city. 2016 Olympic champion Omar McLeod made a comeback in the 110m hurdles and 2019 World Champion Nia Ali won the 100m hurdles. Olympic and World Champion Neeraj Chopra surged to the top of the javelin, while Nina Kennedy won the pole vault and fellow World Champion Camryn Rogers triumphed against a strong field of hammer throwers.
In a battle of Olympic champions, it was Jacobs who sent the most powerful message. He broke 10 seconds in both the heats and the final, winning the 100m final in 9.92 seconds (1.5 m/s). As he prepares to defend his Olympic 100m title in Paris in August, Jacobs ran the third-fastest time of his career; the only time the 29-year-old Jacobs ran a faster time was when he won gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Jacobs, who won his heat in Turku in 9.99 seconds, led an Italian one-two finish with the first sub-10 second time of his career, edged out by Chitul Ali in 9.96. Canada’s Olympic 200m gold medallist Andre de Grasse was third in 10.00.
“Before today I was a little worried because I’d still never gone under 10 seconds (this season), but that’s part of the sport and now I’ve gone under 10 seconds twice,” Jacobs said. “I started really well in qualifying but was just average at the end and then it was the opposite in the final so now I just need to put it all together.”
McLeod and Ali also won both rounds of the sprint hurdles competition. Despite a significant rest period in 2023, Jamaica’s McLeod said she felt what it felt like to run fast again when she won the 110m hurdles heat in 13.29 seconds and the final in 13.25 seconds (1.4 meters per second), far ahead of Belgium’s Ellie Bakari in a personal best time of 13.38 seconds.
The women’s 100m hurdles final was a very close contest. After qualifying in 12.51 seconds, American Ali beat Nadine Visser in 12.48 seconds (1.6 m/s) in the final, matching Visser’s personal best of 12.51 seconds. However, Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho Quinn was unfortunate in the heats, stopping in her tracks and then limping off the track.
As always at the Paavo Nurmi Games, the men’s javelin was the highlight, this time won by India’s Chopra. After coming second to Finland’s Oliver Helander in the 2022 Games, Chopra turned the tables and won in the third round with a personal best of 85.97m. Helander came third with 83.96m, while compatriot Toni Keranen shared the win with a personal best of 84.19m.
Kennedy needed just five attempts to reach a pole vault record of 4.80m. The Australian cleared 4.41m on his first attempt, then reached 4.61m, also on his first attempt. He needed two attempts to reach 4.73m, then cleared 4.80m on his first attempt, before making three unsuccessful attempts at a world-leading 4.87m.
Rene Letzius and Alisha Newman both cleared 4.61m to take second and third place respectively.
Rogers surpassed 73 metres twice in the hammer throw, setting a personal best of 73.36 metres in the first round and backing that up with a throw of 73.33 metres in the third round. Finland’s 2021 U20 World Champion Silja Kosonen took second place with 71.67 metres, while Katrin Koch-Jacobsen’s second-best throw secured third place from fourth place. Jacobsen’s personal best matched the best achieved by Olympic champion and world record holder Anita Wlodarczyk, as both women threw 70.57 metres.
Shanieka Ricketts of Jamaica was one of the swimmers who won the event after just one attempt. The two-time world triple jump silver medalist jumped 14.17 meters (1.1 m/s) in the first round and 14.14 meters in the second round to beat Daria Derkach, who used the wind to her advantage (3.1 m/s) to 14.08 meters, beating her by nine centimeters.
Ella Junilla delighted her home fans by winning the high jump, clearing 1.97m on her first attempt, breaking the national record by one centimetre and qualifying for the Olympic Games, ahead of 2022 World Champion Eleanor Patterson, who came second with 1.94m.
In the men’s 800 meters, he also qualified for the Olympics and set a new national record.
Sweden’s Andreas Kramer led from the start to the tape for the full 800 meters, eventually edging out Ireland’s Mark English for the win in 1:44.65. English was rewarded with a personal best of 1:44.69, breaking the national record by 0.02 and beating the Paris qualification time by 0.01.
Ireland also celebrated victory in the men’s 1500m, with Cathal Doyle winning in a new PB of 3:34.09, followed by compatriot Luke McCann in 3:34.32. PBs continued to swell as Finland’s Jonas Rinne set a new national record in front of his home fans in 3:35.20, beating the previous record of 3:36.33 that had stood since Pekka Vasala won Olympic gold in 1972.
In the women’s 800 metres, Gabriela Gajanova, fresh from winning silver at the European Championships in Rome, overtook race leader Evelina Mattanen, who was hoping for a home victory, but Mattanen was unable to fight back and Gajanova won in 1:59.57.
Ethiopia’s Abraham Seme won the men’s 3,000m steeplechase by more than four seconds in 8:17.22, while Rasmus Maggi and Kemi Adekoya won the 400m hurdles in 48:42 and 54:37, respectively.
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