Norwegian clocks 3:27.14 at a meeting that also sees a raft of fast times in the women’s metric mile and a big win by Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100m

With 34 days to the start of the World Championships in Budapest, Jakob Ingebrigtsen remains the man to beat in the 1500m. Racing at the Diamond League in Poland on Sunday he improved his European record to 3:27.14. It raises the Norwegian to No.4 on the world all-time rankings and leaves Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record of 3:26.00, which was set almost exactly 25 years ago, looking like it is on borrowed time.

On a day dominated by the Wimbledon men’s final, Tour de France and the Sunday sessions at both the European Under-23 Championships in Espoo and World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, the Diamond League was fighting to get noticed. But Ingebrigtsen did his best to help as he improved his continental record from the 3:27.95 he ran in Oslo last month.

Mounir Akbache led through 400m in 54.62, Erik Sowinski led at 800m in 1:50.72 and Stewart McSweyn, in an unfamiliar role as rabbit, at 1200m in 2:46.82 as Ingebrigtsen seemed to sense it was a little too quick and followed a few strides behind the pacemakers.

But on the last lap the 22-year-old let rip as he was chased home by Abel Kipsang and Reynold Cheruiyot, the Kenyans clocking PBs of 3:29.11 and 3:30.30 respectively.

In fourth, Andrew Coscoran smashed his own Irish record with 3:30.42, while Britain’s George Mills also enjoyed a PB with 3:31.54.

Such was the quality, Elliot Giles of Britain ran 3:33.00 but was only 10^th. Just behind him was 17-year-old Australian sensation Cameron Myers with a PB of 3:33.26.

“I wanted a fast race and I wanted to run another sub-3:28,” said Ingebrigtsen. “I knew if I could do that, there was a big risk of setting another PB. The pacemakers helped a lot today, especially with Stewart McSweyn taking over on the third lap. It is not every day that you get one of the best runners in the world to help you run fast. This result was the best I could hope for today.”

Ingebrigtsen now plans to go back into training ahead of a tilt at the 1500m and 5000m double in Budapest. “You cannot always think about records,” he added. “Today I wanted one, but I will now be focusing completely on getting ready for the World Championships.”

There were also PBs galore in the women’s 1500m with Melissa Courtney-Bryant and Jemma Reekie moving to third and fourth on the UK all-time list.

Racing before the main televised window of Diamond League events, Hirut Meshesha won the race in a meeting record 3:54.87 ahead of fellow Ethiopians Birke Haylom (3:54.93), Diribe Welteji (3:55.08) and Worknesh Mesele (3:57.00) with Haylom running an African under-20 record.

But behind the east African ‘green flood‘, Linden Hall of Australian ran an Oceania record of 3:57.27 in fifth with Courtney-Bryant improving her best from 4:00.45 to a Welsh record of 3:58.01 and Reekie beating her PB of 4:00.56 with 3:58.65.

Another Brit, Erin Wallace, also ran a PB of 4:06.29 in 13^th.

Before this meeting Courtney-Bryant was ranked No.8 and Reekie No.10 on the UK all-time rankings but they have now passed Lisa Dobriskey, Hayley Tullett, Zola Pieterse, Katie Snowden and Laura Weightman to go No.3 and No.4 respectively behind only Kelly Holmes (3:57.90) and UK record-holder Laura Muir (3:54.50).

This Kamila Skolimowska Memorial meeting was packed with top-quality performances and these included the women’s 100m where Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States beat Shericka Jackson of Jamaica in a keenly-awaited sprint showdown – 10.76 to 10.78 (0.2).

In third, Ewa Swoboda smashed her PB with 10.94 in front of her home crowd as Britain’s Daryll Neita was fifth in 11.01. Richardson, Jackson and Neita, plus Dina Asher-Smith and Marie-Josee Ta Lou will face each other again at the Diamond League in London next Sunday (July 23).

“I put a great race together,” said Richardson. “This was a great competition, it was amazing. I executed correctly. I love the atmosphere here. I wish we could replicate this to the US.”

Akani Simbine of South Africa won the men’s 100m after a blanket finish saw Fred Kerley and Cravont Charleston of the United States plus Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon dipping for the line. Simbine was given the verdict with 9.97 (0.0) as Kerley was second in 9.98, Eseme third with 9.98 and recent US champion Charleston, who had led at 80m, fourth in 9.99.

Fresh from his Euro under-23 victory in Espoo, Britain’s Jeremiah Azu was a late entry but finished last in 10.31.

Ryan Crouser of the United States won the shot put after throwing 22.55m in the fifth round and then improving to 22.58m in the sixth. Another world record-holder, Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela, was also in commanding form with triple jump victory with a meet record of 15.18m.

Tobi Amusan, world 100m hurdles record-holder, took the win as well with 12.34 (0.9) just one hundredth of a second ahead of Keni Harrison of the United States as Nia Ali, the US champion, was third in 12.38.

Another world record-holder in fine form was Wayde van Niekerk as the South African stormed to an emphatic win in the men’s 400m in 44.08 – his fastest time since 2017. Bayapo Ndori of Botswana was second in 44.61 while Alison dos Santos, the 400m hurdles world champion from Brazil, ran 44.73 in third in his comeback race from injury.

“We’re moving in a positive direction and I’m going to use this energy moving forward.”

World 400m record-holder @WaydeDreamer on his fastest one lap time of 44.08 in six years to win at the Silesia Diamond League ??

The second fastest time in 2023 ?

? @Diamond_League pic.twitter.com/TUNowyXYT5

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) July 16, 2023

With Keely Hodgkinson working on her 400m speed in Espoo, one of her big 800m rivals Mary Moraa continued her fine form in Poland as the Kenyan won the two-lap event in 1:56.85. In second, Halimah Nakaayi, the 2019 world champion, ran a Ugandan record of 1:57.78 in second. Up next for Moraa, however, is a 400m test against Sydney McLauglin among others in Monaco on Friday (July 21).

On an afternoon of brilliant performances, there was also a women’s javelin world lead and Japanese record of 67.04m from Haruka Kitaguchi with a big last-round effort.

Another meeting record fell in the men’s 3000m steeplechase as Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco clocked 8:03.16 despite admitting that he struggled a little in the warm conditions.

In only his second competition of the summer due to illness, Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar won a high-quality men’s high jump in a world lead and meeting record of 2.36m with fellow Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy runner-up with 2.34m as Tobias Potye of Germany also jumped 2.34m.

Iryna Gerashchenko won the women’s high jump on countdown with a meeting record of 1.98m after fellow Ukrainian Yuliya Levchenko and Australian Nicole Olyslagers cleared the same height. British champion Morgan Lake cleared 1.92m in fifth, whereas Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine was unable to compete due to travel problems.

Mondo Duplantis was also in action although did not steal the headlines this time. The Swedish star won with 6.01m and had three failed attempts at 6.13m as Sam Kendricks equalled his season’s best of 5.91m in second.

After the earlier women’s 1500m, there was an Ethiopian win in the 3000m too as Freweyni Hailu clocked a meeting record of 8:26.61. In seventh, the 18-year-old Latvian talent Agate Caune broke her national senior record with 8:39.78, with British steeplechase specialist Aimee Pratt running a PB of 8:44.15 in 11^th.

Natalia Kaczmarek delighted her home crowd with victory in the women’s 400m in a PB of 49.48 as she passed Lieke Klaver in the closing stages with Marileidy Paulino finishing third. In the men’s hammer, Wojciech Nowicki scored another win for Poland with a throw of 80.02m.