Bolt beams as Alfred, Duplantis and Warholm light up Oslo Diamond League
Karsten Warholm, Julien Alfred and Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis lit up Thursday's star-studded Diamond League meet in Oslo where Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt was on hand to lend further glitter to a gripping evening of track and field.
Bolt, the 100 and 200m world record holder, had been introduced to the baying, sell-out 15,000-strong crowd in the Bislett Stadium by World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, who had himself set three world records at the Norwegian venue.
Bolt was on hand to present a bouquet of flowers to a delighted Alfred after she won the women's 100m in 10.89 seconds.
"It's always been wonderful being at the Bislett Games. The energy and the love that I always get when I come here is just wonderful," said Bolt on his first return to Oslo since his retirement in 2017.
Alfred said she had been honoured to meet the 38-year-old Bolt, an eight-time Olympic gold medallist and an 11-time world champion.
"It was my first race of the season so I was a little rusty, but I got the win under my belt which is the main thing," said the 24-year-old whose gold in the Paris was the first ever for the tiny Caribbean island of Saint Lucia.
"And I got to meet Usain Bolt yesterday for the first time ever and then two days running I got to meet him again!"
Duplantis notched up his 36th victory in 40 Diamond League outings, clearing 6.15 metres before calling it a day as temperatures dipped.
The US-born Swede was in a class of his own in another punishing display of vaulting of the highest order.
"It did get cooler so that was why I stopped jumping," he said.
"On Sunday at the Stockholm Diamond League it would be an absolute dream to break the world record."
The meet was rounded off in spectacular style when Warholm clocked 32.67sec to win the 300m hurdles, an event that was granted official status earlier this year but is yet to have a ratified world record.
The time bettered Warholm's own 33.05sec set earlier this season in Xiamen, China.
"I have been doing a lot of 200m practices and as you can see from today I was very clean over the hurdles," said Warholm.
"There were some top stars here which is great for Bislett and it was lovely to catch up with Usain and tomorrow we will have lunch and chat properly."
Reigning Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi missed out on the stadium record of 1:42.04 for the 800m set by Kenyan legend David Rudisha in 2010.
Wanyonyi was pushed all the way, but held on for victory in 1:42.78 ahead of Spain's Mohamed Attaoui, Algeria's Djamel Sedjati and France's Gabriel Tual.
"Today, my body felt a little tired as I have come from Kenya so the travel has been long but I am happy with my performance against a strong field and pleased to run a season's best," said Wanyonyi.
Olympic and Diamond League javelin champion Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan stole the lead in the fifth round with what proved to be a winning 64.63m effort.
It broke Greek Elina Tzengko's streak of three back-to-back victories on the circuit.
But Dominica's Thea LaFond could only finish fifth in the women's triple jump won by Cuba's Leyanis Perez Hernandez .
And another Olympic champion, Winfred Yavi of Bahrain, had to settle for second behind Kenya's Faith Cherotich, who set a meet record of 9:02.60 in the women's 3,000m steeplechase.
Oslo's Bislett Stadium is known as a venue where world records are regularly set. When a world-class field lined up for the 5,000m, they were chasing what could have been the 72nd world record set at the venue since Adriaan Paulen established the first one back in 1924.
But the history books remained unshuffled as American Nico Young timed 12:45.27 in a shock victory over the likes of Ethiopia's Hagos Gebrhiwet, Yomif Kejelcha and Berihu Aregawi.
It was a first Diamond League win and a personal best for the 23-year-old Team USA runner and also the fastest any American has ever run five kilometres outdoors.
The evening ended in chaotic scenes with Bolt embracing Warholm on the track, hundreds of children swarming around the Jamaican, who then started screaming 'Mondo! Mondo!' at Duplantis while in full television interview.
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