Dina Asher-Smith Runs Impressive 200-Meter World Lead in Stockholm

By Adam Kopet

It was a cold and windy evening in Stockholm for the third stop on the 2019 Diamond League circuit. Many of the competitions were negatively affected as athletes battled to stay warm as much as they did against their competitors.

RESULTS

The cold did not seem to bother Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith as she stormed to victory in the women's 200 meters, running a world-leading 22.18.

She beat both the reigning Olympic and world champions in Elaine Thompson of Jamaica and Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands, who ran 22.66 and 22.78, respectively. Jenna Prandini was fifth in 23.09.

Rhonex Kipruto was also able to shrug off the cold to win the final event of the evening, the men's 10,000 meters. Competing after the television window had ended, the 19-year-old Kenyan ran a personal-best and world-leading 26:50.16. Ethiopia's Hagos Gebrhiwet finished second in his 10,000-meter debut, running 27:01:02.

Stockholm hosted one of the few big meet 10,000-meter races this year, with many having their eyes on the IAAF World Outdoor Championships and Olympics standards. The top four men earned the World Championships standard and the top three earned the Olympic standard.

Paul Chelimo, who had not raced the 10,000 meters since 2011, finished fifth in 27:43.89. It was a two-minute personal best, but he fell four seconds short of the world standard.

Americans won four events in Stockholm. Sam Kendricks prevailed in the pole vault in a competition that not only faced cold temperatures, but a cross wind that made jumping difficult. After being the only athlete to clear 18-9.25 (5.72m), doing so on his first attempt, Kendricks retired from the competition, choosing not to risk injury by jumping higher.

In the men's 400 meters, Michael Norman led an American sweep of the top-four places, winning in 44.53. Rai Benjamin finished second in 45.13. Michael Cherry and Vernon Norwood rounded out the top four, running 46.30 and 46.39, respectively.

Keni Harrison showed why she continues to be one of the best sprint hurdlers in the world. She won the 100-meter hurdles in 12.52. At the midway stage of the race, Sharika Nelvis put pressure on Harrison, pulling even, but Harrison was able to pull away over the final three hurdles to secure the victory. Nelvis was second in 12.69.

Ajee' Wilson used her front-running skills to take charge of the women's 800 meters from the start. Once the pacemaker dropped out, no one was able to match Wilson as she cruised to victory in 2:00.87. Ethiopia's Habitam Alemu and Kenya's Nelly Jepkosgei finished second and third in 2:01.26 and 2:01.98, respectively. Raevyn Rogers finished fourth in 2:02.35.

The women's 5,000 meters and the men's 1,500 meters both featured unfortunate events. The 5,000 saw two falls in the race. Lilian Kasait Rengeruk of Kenya fell early, but was able to quickly regain her position. Hellen Obiri, also of Kenya, was not so lucky. The IAAF World Cross Country champion was unable to recover from her fall in the last few laps. Agnes Jebet Tirop of Kenya won in 14:50.82. Rengeruk finished third in 14:51.34. Obiri limped home in 12th place, running 15:07:70.

Instead of a fall, the 1,500 meters was a victim of bad pacing. Both pacemakers got off to an over-excited start that saw them build nearly a 30-meter lead in the opening 200 meters. They slowed to let the field catch up, but the pace never got back to what it had been scheduled to accomplish.

That ill-paced race did not stop Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot from returning to the winner's circle, taking victory by more than a second in 3:35.79. Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti was able to just hold off the hard-charging Jakob Ingebrigtsen for second, both being timed in 3:37.30.