Latest news with #RabatDiamondLeague
IOL News
15-07-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
South African 400m star Zakithi Nene prepares for London Diamond League showdown
The in-form Zakithi Nene (centre) will take to the track again against a tough 400m field at the London Diamond League meeting on Saturday. SA's 400m star Zakithi Nene returns to the track at Saturday's London Diamond League meeting ready to build on his status as the fastest one-lap runner in the world this year against tough opposition. Nene, whose time of 43.76 seconds is the world lead for 2025, will take comfort in the fact that none of his challengers who will line up in the starters' blocks at the London Stadium have come close to that time this year, with season's best times hovering around the mid-44s. Home favourite and Paris Olympics silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith could be among Nene's strongest rivals. Home favourite He is in good form after his win at the recent Eugene Diamond League in the US, in a time of 44.10. That field included US 400m runner Jacory Patterson, who pipped Nene to the Rabat Diamond League title in a nail-biting finish. The jet-heeled Nene, fresh from a break in competition after a busy start to the season, has been based at a high-performance centre in Switzerland in the week leading up to the London event, according to his coach, Victor Vaz. While all eyes will be on the 27-year-old South African flyer to see if he can dip below 44 seconds again, Vaz feels the win would be more beneficial to Nene in the build-up to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.
Irish Examiner
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Sarah Healy breaks personal best to finish second in Paris Diamond League
Sarah Healy produced another stellar performance to break her personal best and finish second over 1500m at the Paris Diamond League on Friday night, the Dubliner clocking 3:57.02. Healy's previous best was the 3:57.46 she ran at the same meeting in Paris last July, but having finished seventh in that race, this marked another step forward in what has been a superb year to date. The race was won by Kenya's Nelly Chepchirchir in 3:57.02, with Birke Haylom of Ethiopia finishing third in 3:57.50 and Georgia Hunter Bell, the Olympic bronze medallist and a training partner of Healy's in Manchester, sixth in 3:58.06. The race was a messy one, with 17 athletes bunching over the opening laps as 800m was reached in a swift 2:05. Healy played a patient game and then coasted into contention for victory on the back straight, unleashing a strong finish on the inside to move into second in the closing metres. Having won European Indoor gold over 3000m in March, Healy has been in sparkling form through the early part of the outdoor season, finishing third at the Rabat Diamond League over 3000m and taking victory in Rome over 1500m. As the second fastest Irishwoman in history at 1500m, she will likely have Ciara Mageean's national record of 3:55.87 in her sights later in the summer. Elsewhere, Mark English produced the second fastest time of his career to again dip under 1:44 in the 800m, the 32-year-old Donegal man clocking 1:43.98 to finish sixth in a loaded field. With 13 men on the track, it was crowded at the break from lanes and English wisely chose to stay out of trouble and run at the back as the leaders passed 400m in a rapid 49.15 seconds. He began to creep through the field on the second lap, navigating heavy traffic, and turned in a typically strong last 100m to claw his way up to sixth place. The race was won by Spain's Mohamed Attaoui in 1:42.73, with English's occasional training partner Josh Hoey of the US second in 1:43.00. After winning his fifth European medal in Apeldoorn back in March, English came into the outdoor season in the form of his life, his run in Paris being his fifth time under 1:45 in the past four weeks. He will race in Ostrava, Czechia next Tuesday and then complete a spell of altitude training ahead of the London Diamond League on 19 July. English has broken his own Irish outdoor 800m record twice already this season, becoming the first Irishman to go under 1:44 when clocking 1:43.92 in Hengelo last week. He finished seventh at the Oslo Diamond League three days later and while the depth in the men's 800m is better than ever, he's hopeful this might be the year to reach his first global final. 'There's a faster time in me,' he said.
Irish Independent
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Sensational Sarah Healy secures first Diamond League victory in Rome
In a race that set off fast, then slowed after halfway, the athletes bunched together on the penultimate lap, with Healy losing a couple of metres after being barged as the field passed the bell with a lap to run. Nonetheless, she soon coasted back into contention on the back straight and then had to utilise all her gears up the home straight, powering to the front in the last 40 metres to edge Australian duo Sarah Billings (3:59.24) and Abbey Caldwell (3:59.32). 'I'm obviously really happy to come away with the win,' said Healy. 'It was a really competitive field, I thought it wouldn't be crazy quick and it was quite crowded, there was a lot of bodies and I was further back than I wanted to be the whole time. But I tried to stay patient and in the last lap I had to make a good few moves, which I was happy with, especially on the home straight. 'I know my shape is good, I ran a big 3km PB two weeks ago so I know I'm really fit. Hopefully a PB in the 1500m is coming for me soon but today, I just wanted to compete for the win. I know I'm good at hard, fast races, but races like this were more where I struggled so I'm really, really happy to win – it's really cool.' Healy, who recently finished third over 3000m at the Rabat Diamond League, will race next over 1500m at the Paris Diamond League on 20 June. 'I'm having a lot of fun which is the main thing,' she said. 'And it's probably why I'm running so well.' Earlier in the night, Cathal Doyle clocked a big personal best of 3:32.15 in the men's 1500m. Doyle came home 14th in a loaded race, which was won by France's Azeddine Habz in 3:29.72, the Dubliner smashing his previous best of 3:33.32 and going under the automatic standard for the World Championships of 3:33.00. It makes him the eighth Irish individual athlete to qualify for Tokyo. It was also the second fastest run in history by an Irishman, behind only Andrew Coscoran's national record of 3:30.42. 'Absolutely delighted,' said Doyle. 'I kind of died the last 100 or so, I was trying to come through a bit but it's my first ever standard knocked out. I can't really complain. It's a one-second PB so I have to take that.' Doyle said he's training 'with September in mind' and will next race in Turku, Finland on 17 June before going back into a short block of training. Meanwhile, Mark English will return to action on Monday at the FBK Games in Hengelo, the Netherlands, the Donegal man hoping to continue his fine start to the season after recently breaking the Irish 800m record. Rhasidat Adeleke will be in Diamond League action in Oslo next Thursday and again in Stockholm three days later, taking on world-class fields at both events over 400m – her first races of 2025 at her specialist distance.
TimesLIVE
05-06-2025
- Sport
- TimesLIVE
High-flying Zakithi Nene faces tough battle to become 400m king of Rome
Zakithi Nene, the fastest 400m runner in the world so far this year, lines up at the Rome Diamond League meet on Friday night against a field that boasts a combined 10 Olympic medals and 17 world championship gongs. Nene, the anchor of South Africa's golden 4x400m outfit at World Relays in China a month ago, this past weekend raced to victory in Nairobi in 43.76sec, a time that placed him atop the world list. This year the 27-year-old has burst out of his role as a solid member of the national relay squad and entrenched himself as a serious individual medal contender at the world championships in Tokyo in September. The Durban-based star is the form athlete going into Rome, looking to score the second Diamond League victory of his career against pedigreed competitors, topped by Olympic champion Quincy Hall of the US. Nene beat Hall for the first time at the Rabat Diamond League last month in a race he led from the start, only to tire on the home straight and get overhauled by American Jacory Patterson, the only other sub-44 athlete this year. But there are three athletes in the race who Nene has never beaten, starting with former Olympic and world champion Kirani James of Grenada.
IOL News
31-05-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Zakithi Nene beats personal best time, clocking 43. 76 in dominant 400m at Kip Keino Classic
The in-form Zakithi Nene (centre) is the headline act in the 400m at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, where he broke his PB on Saturday. | BackpagePix South Africa's one-lap star Zakithi Nene stormed to a world leading time this year of 43.76 seconds, smashing his personal best, in winning the 400m at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi on Saturday afternoon. The sprint sensation finally delivered on the threat to run a sub-44-second time in an individual race, having already done so in the 4X400m relay earlier this year. He also quickly put behind him last week's Rabat Diamond League disappointment, when he was pipped to the line by American Jacory Patterson. Before Saturday's race, the American had also held the world-leading time this year. There would be no close finish this time as Nene flew out of the blocks in typical fashion and only grew stronger as the race wore on. He finished more than a second ahead of Nigeria's Africa Games champion Chidi Okezie (44.98), while local runner Zablon Ekwam finished in third (45.01). Nene's coach, Victor Vaz, had predicted a "comfortable win" for his charge in the build-up to the race that is part of the World Athletics Continental tour. Yet even he could not not have imagined such an emphatic response to last weekend's disappointment.
