Habz, Stark light up Diamond League as Girma banishes Paris blues
France's Azeddine Habz (C) celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the men's 1500m (EMMA DA SILVA)
Unheralded Azzedine Habz and Grace Stark lit up a drama-loaded Diamond League meet in Paris on Friday, snatching the limelight with two outstanding performances that put a raft of higher-profile athletes in the shade.
Paris proved to be the perfect testing ground as athletes continue to fine-tune their form ahead of September's world championships in Tokyo.
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Habz sent the partisan crowd into raptures by becoming the sixth fastest man over 1500m of all time, riding the coattails of two pacemakers to clock 3:27.49 for a meet record and new French best.
In a shockingly fast race, Kenya's Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech set a world junior record in second, while 11 of the next 12 athletes all timed personal bests, including national records for the Netherlands, Belgium and South Africa.
"It's incredible, there's no other word for it," said the 31-year-old Morocco-born Habz, twice a minor medallist at European indoors.
"It's truly a dream come true. To succeed in a race like this in Paris is even stronger."
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There were a rash of further meet records in perfect, hot conditions at Stade Charlety.
American Stark clocked 12.21sec in the 100m hurdles to go joint fifth fastest of all time, holding off Nigeria's 2022 world champion and world record holder Tobi Amusan.
"I wanted to break that 12.3 so bad!" Stark said. "It feels that I can have a party.
"And then, I just need to keep working, taking it race by race, stay focused and stay quiet."
Dominican Republic's Marileidy Paulino made no mistake in the women's 400m although she had to pull out all stops down the home straight to outpace Bahraini rival Salwa Eid Naser.
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Paulino, gold medallist at last year's Paris Olympics and the 2023 worlds in Budapest, made it three victories in a row at Charlety in 48.81sec, four-hundredths ahead of Naser.
American Rai Benjamin also racked up a meet record of 46.93sec in the 400m hurdles, making easy work of the victory in the absence of Norwegian arch-rival Karsten Warholm and Brazilian Alison Dos Santos.
"Sub-47 is impressive. I just ran smart and ran for the win," said Benjamin.
- 'A little scared' -
Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma lit up the 2023 edition of the Meeting de Paris by smashing the previous world record (7:52.11) for the 3,000m steeplechase.
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There was disaster at the Paris Olympics, however, after Girma fell heavily in the last lap of the Stade de France track.
But he made a winning return to Stade Charlety, winning in 8:07.01 after admitting he had overcome a sense of dread.
"This is a big thing for me today, especially after the Paris Olympics," Girma said. "It feels it was a long time ago, so this was very important for me. This is a very big achievement, so I am very happy."
"I was a little scared at first getting into the race. Now that the race is finished I feel much better."
Morocco's Sofiane El Bakkali is the two-time Olympic steeplechase champion, but he opted to race the 5,000m in Paris alongside the Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, who claimed his 11th Diamond League victory in 12:47.84.
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Kenya's Faith Cherotich ran a world lead of 8:53.37 in the women's steeplechase, holding off Uganda's Peruth Chemutai.
Australia's Nicola Olyslagers, a two-time world indoor champion who has won twice in Paris (2021, 2023), won the women's high jump with a best of 2.00m.
Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the world and Olympic champion who set the current world record of 2.10 metres at last year's Diamond League meet in Paris, finished second with 1.97m on countback from another Australian, Eleanor Patterson.
Grant Holloway, the three-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist making his return to action after a disastrous opening outing in China, could only finish fifth in the 110m hurdles, albeit in a season's best of 13.11sec.
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It was his US teammate Trey Cunningham who won in a personal best of 13.00sec, ahead of Dylan Beard, also in a PB of 13.02sec, while Jason Joseph set a Swiss record of 13.07 for third.
And Spain's Mohamed Attaoui picked an inside line to outpace the American duo of Josh Hoey and Bryce Hoppel in what he called a "brutal" 800m in a season's best of 1:42.73.
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