Inform Abel Kipsang sparkles in Birmingham Diamond League

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom, May 21 – Inform Abel Kipsang won his second successive Diamond League in the men’s 1500m after dominating the second leg in Birmingham on Saturday.

Kipsang, who missed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics podium, has found a winning formula, and  since clinching the Kip Keino Classic Continental Tour, he has not looked behind.

Kipsang opened the Wanda Diamond League season with a win in Doha before cruising to victory in Birmingham, clocking 3 Minutes, 35.15 Seconds ahead of Spaniard Katir Mohamed who came second in a time of 3 Minutes, 35.62 Seconds while Australian Hoare Oliver settled for third in 3 Minutes, 35.76 Seconds.

The other Kenyan in the race Charles Simwoto finished last in 3 Minutes, 44.82 Seconds.

In the corresponding women’s 1500m race, the only Kenyan representative Winny Chebet finished third in 4 Minutes, 05.56 Seconds in a race taken by Briton Laura Muir (4:02.81)

“I’m so happy, I couldn’t wish for more from my first race,” Muir said.

In the men’s 800m, Commonwealth Games champion Wycliffe Kinyamal finished a disappointing 6th in 1 Minute, 46.64 Seconds in a race won by Canadian Arop Marco. (1:45.41)

-Asher-Smith sparkle in Diamond League-

Meanwhile Britain’s leading athletes Dina Asher-Smith and Keely Hodgkinson powered to victory to delight a home crowd.

Asher-Smith clocked 11.11sec to beat Olympic bronze medallist Shericka Jackson of Jamaica by one hundredth of a second for her best result so far of a season in which she is aiming to retain her world 200m title.

Hodgkinson controlled the women’s 800m to show that the surprise silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics is in convincing form on the road to the world championships in Oregon in July.

The 20-year-old kicked hard in the home straight to open up a gap on the field and win in 1min 58.63sec from France’s Renelle Lamote.

“It’s a confidence-booster and I want to build on it with two months to go before the world championships,” Hodgkinson told the BBC.

Keely Hodgkinson showed she is in the right form to win world championships medals at 800m to add to her surprise Olympic silver © AFP / Paul ELLIS

She said she was looking forward to a “good test” when she runs against the Americans in the Oregon Diamond League next weekend.

Olympic 200 metres champion Andre De Grasse was beaten into fourth place in a disappointing men’s 100m that was deprived of American Trayvon Bromell and Britain’s Zharnel Hughes by false starts.

De Grasse was outclassed by Canadian compatriot Aaron Brown who won in a modest 10.13sec, with 32-year-old Jamaican Yohan Blake second in 10.18.

De Grasse’s time was a pedestrian 10.24 but he showed better form when he anchored a Canadian quartet to victory in the men’s 4x100m relay in 38.31.

Britain’s first-choice quartet, who were stripped of their Olympic silver medal after Chijindu Ujah failed a doping test, made a bad start to the 2022 season when Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake dropped the baton in the final changeover.

Hansle Parchment, who caused an upset to win the Olympic 110m hurdles title last year, set a world-leading 13.09sec to beat another Jamaican, reigning world champion Omar McLeod.

American Dalia Muhammad, the Olympic champion in 2016 and silver medallist last year, eased to victory in the women’s 400m hurdles in 54.54sec, ahead of two Ukrainians, Viktoriya Tkachuk and Anna Ryzhkova.

In the men’s high jump, Gianfranco Tamberi, who famously shared Olympic gold with Mutaz Essa Barshim in Tokyo, had to settle for second in a competition won by Canadian Django Lovett with 2.28m to the Italian’s 2.25m.

Germany’s Olympic gold medallist Malaika Mihomba leaped a world-leading 7.09m to dominate the women’s long jump.

In the men’s discus, Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh moved into the men’s all-time world top 10 with a huge throw of 71.27m.