Diamond League series starts in style, with Asher-Smith and Semenya among athletes to impress in Qatar

The 10th edition of the IAAF Diamond League series got off to a strong start on Friday, with Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and South Africa’s Caster Semenya among athletes to secure success.

In her first individual race of the season, triple European champion Asher-Smith made a statement with a dominant 200m victory. Her time of 22.26 (+1.1m/s) in the Khalifa Stadium, which will host the World Championships later this year, saw her finish well clear of the rest of the field, with Dutch European medallist Jamile Samuel second in 22.90 and Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare third in 23.14.

USA’s world 400m champion Phyllis Francis finished seventh in 23.47, while Britain’s Shannon Hylton did not get the chance to race following her disqualification for a false start.

“I didn’t know what to expect in my first race of the season but I ran faster than I thought I would so I’m really happy,” said British record-holder Asher-Smith.

“I ran a good race technically and this is a beautiful arena, I’m so glad I came here.

“To win in this stadium means a lot to me and it was nice to test out the arena and the track before the IAAF World Championships. There was a great championship atmosphere here and my aim is to come back here healthy and just try to do my best.

“Tonight, I didn’t expect to win in that way against such an accomplished field so it’s a good sign but the season is only just beginning.”

World champion Ramil Guliyev won the men’s 200m in 19.99 (+1.3m/s) from Alex Quiñónez with 20.19, while Britain’s Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake was sixth in 20.83 and Ireland’s Leon Reid seventh in 20.93.

Given the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling which had been announced just two days before, there was unsurprisingly a great deal of attention on the women’s 800m and the performance of Semenya, who had been a late entry to the field.

As reported on Wednesday, the CAS dismissed the challenges from both Semenya and Athletics South Africa against the IAAF’s new rules on female classification, with the new regulations coming into effect on May 8.

After following the pacemaker through 400m in 56.66, Semenya continued to control the race and crossed the finish line with a time of 1:54.98 on the clock to secure her 30th consecutive 800m victory in the 15th quickest-ever time.

Olympic and world silver medallist Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi was second in 1:57.75, while USA’s Ajeé Wilson was third in 1:58.83 and Britain’s Lynsey Sharp ninth in 2:01.51.

Speaking after the race, Semenya confirmed that she will “keep on training and running”.

“I’m excited winning here in Doha,” said the two-time Olympic and three-time world champion. “The first race of the season is tough and you may not be able to predict how your body is going to respond to the push but the weather is great and it was wonderful tonight.

“For me, I believe nothing is hard in life because it is up to you how you take life. As an athlete, I believe in sportsmanship and what sports teaches you is to keep pushing on despite all odds.

“I know life could be difficult at times but I’m a believer and I believe there is always a way to resolve issues. One of my firm beliefs is that there is always a way out for everything. So if a wall is placed in front of me, I jump it.

“I’m going to keep enjoying my life and live it. I will keep on training and running. To me, impossibility is nothing.”

The meeting had got off to an impressive start as Sweden’s world silver medallist Daniel Ståhl opened his discus competition with a Diamond League record throw of 69.63m before further improving it to 70.49m and then 70.56m.

Colombia’s Caterine Ibargüen, who last year won Diamond League titles in both the long jump and triple jump, leapt into the lead of the long jump competition in the fifth round and her 6.76m was enough to secure the win. Britain’s Lorraine Ugen finished fourth with 6.62m and Shara Proctor eighth with 6.35m.

Sam Kendricks soared over 5.80m in the pole vault, achieving a Tokyo Olympic qualifying standard as well as the win, while GB’s Charlie Myers cleared a best of 5.46m to place sixth. Women’s high jump victory was claimed by 17-year-old Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine as she cleared an outdoor PB of 1.96m and USA’s Ryan Crouser won the shot put with a throw of 22.13m.

Dalilah Muhammad clocked a meeting record of 53.61 to win the 400m hurdles as GB’s Meghan Beesley was sixth in 56.01, while the women’s 100m hurdles was won by Danielle Williams in 12.66 from Tobi Amusan with 12.73.

Nijel Amos won the 800m, clocking 1:44.29 from Emmanuel Korir with 1:44.50, while Soufiane El Bakkali battled to victory in the 3000m steeplechase, clocking 8:07.22 from Hillary Bor with 8:08.41, and Elijah Manangoi kicked to victory in the 1500m, clocking 3:32.21 ahead of Timothy Cheruiyot with 3:32.47.

Back on the track after her win at the World Cross in March, Hellen Obiri won the 3000m from Genzebe Dibaba, clocking 8:25.60 to Dibaba’s 8:26.20 PB.

Click here for full results.

CHICO, Calif. – After coming so close on many occasions, last year was the year that Willie Croft finally broke through and won the prestigious Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial.

Fast forward one year later, and the coveted Bradway is again up for grabs, with Croft hungry to defend his win on Saturday at California’s Silver Dollar Speedway.

“It’s been a bit of and up and down start to our season,” Croft said. “We have had good speed at times, just have had things not go our way and keep us from good finishes. We had really good speed during the last KWS 410ci race, and I am looking forward to getting back up to Chico this weekend and competing for another Bradway win.”

After a slew of 360 Sprint Car Challenge Tour events, Croft and company will get their 410ci engine bolted back into the frame rails of the Holey Smokes BBQ/ButlerBuilt/Brown and Miller-backed No. 29 to compete in the unsanctioned Bill Brownell Memorial on Friday.

Croft will then get back to King of the West/NARC action on Saturday night for the 29th Annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial.

“The Bradway is easily one of the biggest races we compete in with the King of the West Series,’ Croft said. “It is a race that means a ton to my family so to be able to win it was special, but we aren’t satisfied with just one.

“We want another and hopefully we can accomplish that goal on Saturday night.”

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- A judge sent an influential youth basketball coach to prison effectively for the rest of his life Thursday, saying he secretly collected sexual images of 440 boys and molested more than a dozen over a 20-year period.

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams sentenced former Iowa Barnstormers coach Greg Stephen to 180 years in federal prison, the maximum penalty he faced on sexual exploitation and pornography charges. Williams called Stephen's crimes horrendous, saying he abused his position of trust to prey upon boys who saw him as their ticket to college basketball.

"The harm the defendant caused to the children is incalculable and profound,'' Williams said from the bench in federal court in Cedar Rapids. He said Stephen's conduct was "of such an extreme nature'' that it warranted an effective life term.

The sentence, handed down after a daylong hearing, capped one of Iowa's largest and most stunning sexual abuse prosecutions involving youth sports.

Stephen, 43, had worked with Iowa's most promising youth players as a co-director and coach of the Barnstormers, which was sponsored by Adidas and competed nationally. Almost all of the high school seniors he worked with earned college athletic scholarships, including to play at universities such as Iowa, Northern Iowa and Wisconsin.

Stephen secretly amassed a digital collection of thousands of sexual videos and photos of his players and their friends. The majority of the victims were coerced by online personas in which Stephen pretended to be a teenage girl and enticed them to provide videos and photos of themselves masturbating; these were relationships that went on for years. Others were surreptitiously recorded by devices that Stephen placed in bathrooms in hotels and his home or disrobed by Stephen and photographed while they slept.

On at least 15 occasions between 1999 and 2018, Stephen touched boys, often as he shared a hotel bed with them during trips to tournaments and professional basketball games, according to Thursday's testimony.

One of the boys later told police he kept quiet for years because he believed Stephen was his link to college basketball coaches for whom he dreamed of one day playing, Division of Criminal Investigation agent Ryan Kedley testified.

"He decided to swallow that experience and not tell anyone,'' Kedley said.

Federal prosecutors and the mothers of two victims had urged Williams to impose a life sentence on Stephen, who helped manage his family's auto dealership in Monticello, Iowa.

"He believed you held the keys to the basketball kingdom,'' said the mother of one boy, who was tricked by Stephen into providing images of himself masturbating. "My son trusted you and you destroyed that. ... How dare you use basketball for your selfish, despicable, disgusting, self-seeking motivation.''

Stephen's defense had asked Williams for leniency, seeking a sentence of no more than 20 years in prison followed by intensive supervision on release. His lawyers and experts argued that his conduct was primarily as a voyeur, not a hands-on molester, and that he was at a low risk to reoffend now that he has been caught. Stephen's father, Roger, said his son had helped him run the dealership after his brother was killed in a traffic accident seven years ago.

"He is not a threat to society,'' he said.

Stephen apologized to his former players and their parents, saying, "I am disgusted. The things I have done are repulsive and wrong.'' He said his greatest regret was that his accomplishments as a coach were now tarnished.

Williams rebuked Stephen for that comment, saying his biggest regret should be the harm he caused the boys and their parents.

Stephen came under investigation after his former brother-in-law found one of the recording devices while performing remodeling work at Stephen's home in Monticello last year and gave it to police. Eventually, investigators found a hard drive that contained more than 400 file folders, each with the name of a different boy, that contained thousands of images collected over more than a decade. A trove of additional pornographic material was stored in a file that was waiting to be organized, Kedley said.

Stephen, who has been jailed since his arrest last year, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child sexual exploitation and production of child pornography charges. He is expected to appeal his conviction and sentence, in part by arguing that the seizure of the recording device by his former brother-in-law violated his privacy rights.

California attorney Mark Haushalter said he has been retained for that appeal.

"We believe there is merit based on the unusual and extremely unorthodox behavior of law enforcement in this case,'' he said.

Olympic sixth-placer clocks 13:18.16 and Amy-Eloise Neale 15:21.58 for 5000m to achieve Doha qualification marks, while Yomif Kejelcha runs Tokyo standard

Andrew Butchart continued his return to top form after injury by running a World Championships qualifying time at the Payton Jordan Invitational in California on Thursday.

Finishing third in 13:18.16 in his first 5000m race since breaking his foot in February 2018, the Olympic sixth-placer was well inside the standard of 13:22.50 for the championships in Doha later this year.

13:18 first one back ? thanks for all the kind messages !!! 2019 summer is coming fast ??? #BionicButchy

— Andrew Butchart (@andybutchart91) May 3, 2019

The Payton Jordan meeting was held on the opening day of the qualification window for most events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Racing for the first time since breaking the world indoor mile record in Boston in March, Ethiopia’s world indoor champion Yomif Kejelcha achieved the Tokyo 5000m mark with his winning time of 13:10.72.

Placing 21st, Butchart’s fellow Scot Chris O’Hare clocked 13:48.66.

More on the Tokyo qualifying standards and dual qualification system can be found here

European 5000m champion Sifan Hassan enjoyed a winning 10,000m debut as she clocked 31:18.12 ahead of her fellow Dutch athlete Susan Krumins with 31:23.81 as both were inside the Olympic and world qualifying times.

Britain’s Alice Wright ran a 19-second PB of 31:56.52 in 12th and was just six seconds off the Worlds qualifier, while Eilish McColgan dropped out with four laps to go after leading in the early stages, as she raced just her second-ever track 10,000m.

Britain’s Amy-Eloise Neale was another to achieve a Doha standard as she clocked a 15:21.58 5000m PB for third in race won by USA’s Jenny Simpson in 15:21.12.

GB’s Marc Scott also went faster than ever before as he ran an 11-second 10,000m PB of 27:56.19 to finish second behind USA’s Ben True with 27:52.39.

Outdoor season has begun! 11 second PB and World #2 (2019) over the 10k tonight at Payton Jordan in 27:56. Mistakes were made but better now than later. Good, but not good enough. Appreciate the messages from you all.
Back to work!??

— Marc Scott (@_MarcScott) May 3, 2019

Results can be found here.

Jamie Murray says he is "honoured" the ATP Challenger event in Glasgow will be renamed the Murray Trophy as a tribute to his family's contribution to tennis.

Brothers Jamie and Andy helped Great Britain win the Davis Cup for the first time in 79 years in 2015, and have won nine Grand Slam titles between them.

Their mother Judy is a coach and former GB Fed Cup captain.

In January, two-time Wimbledon champion Andy, 31, criticised British tennis' failure to build on his success.

Jamie - the first British player to rank as world number one in the open era - has worked closely with the Lawn Tennis Association to develop the event.

"I'm excited to be working with the LTA and Glasgow Life on this event and honoured to have it named in recognition of my family's achievements in the sport," said six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Jamie, 33.

"I really hope we can use the Murray Trophy - Glasgow to increase awareness of tennis and create opportunities for more boys and girls to play, both in Scotland and Britain as a whole."

The Murray Trophy will take place at Scotstoun Sports Campus from 16-22 September.