The 2024 Monaco Diamond League meeting delivered a night of historic athletic milestones and thrilling competition on Friday, headlined by 21-year-old Kenyan middle-distance star Emmanuel Wanyonyi shattering a 25-year-old men’s 1000m world record on his first ever attempt at the rarely contested distance.
Wanyonyi, already the reigning Olympic and world 800m champion, crossed the finish line in a blistering time of 2:11.83, knocking 0.13 seconds off the previous record set by Kenyan compatriot Noah Ngeny back in 1999. Great Britain’s 2022 1500m world champion Jake Wightman pushed Wanyonyi all the way to the final stretch, ultimately taking second place with a new personal best of 2:12.77 that lifted him to fifth on the sport’s all-time 1000m rankings.
Algeria’s Olympic bronze medalist Djamel Sedjati claimed third, while Great Britain’s Ben Pattison finished fifth in the top-tier field. Speaking to reporters after his landmark win, Wanyonyi expressed overwhelming joy at the achievement but quickly downed speculation that he would target David Rudisha’s iconic 800m world record set at the 2012 London Olympics. “I don’t want to talk about the world record in the 800m. I first want to run fast and improve my personal best,” Wanyonyi said. “Let me keep quiet. Actions speak louder than words.”
Wightman, for his part, said he had entered the race hoping to pull off an upset against the unbeaten Wanyonyi. “I wished I could have surprised Wanyonyi, but I was nearly there. This was just a long 800, so I wanted to go through quickly and try and hang on for as long as I could,” the 31-year-old Briton explained.
The 1000m record was far from the only highlight of the evening’s competition at Stade Louis II. In the men’s high jump, 22-year-old British athlete Kimani delivered a strong performance on his Diamond League debut, clearing 2.30m to take second place behind Ukraine’s world and European indoor champion Oleh Doroshchuk, who won gold with a first-attempt clearance at 2.32m. India’s Sarvesh Kushare rounded out the podium with a 2.26m jump.
Botswana’s world 400m champion Collen Kebinatshipi set a new Diamond League record of 43.44 seconds to take victory in the men’s 400m, beating Americans Jacory Patterson and Rai Benjamin into second and third place respectively. He marked the win with a push-up celebration, a tribute to legendary fellow Botswana sprinter Isaac Makwala. Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith finished fourth in the race with a time of 44.22 seconds.
In the men’s 100m, the final race of the night, Jamaican world champion Oblique Seville held off American challenger Jordan Anthony to win in 9.88 seconds, with Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme taking third. Saint Lucia’s Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred cemented her status as one of the fastest sprinters in history with a dominant win in the women’s 200m. Alfred crossed the line in 21.51 seconds, moving her up to third on the all-time women’s 200m rankings, behind only the legendary Florence Griffith Joyner’s 21.34 and Jamaican star Shericka Jackson’s 21.41. Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands and American Gabby Thomas took second and third respectively.
Swedish pole vault legend Armand Duplantis, the current world record holder, added another accolade to his resume by setting a new meeting record of 6.07m to take gold. France’s Baptiste Thiery and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall cleared 5.85m to claim second and third place. In other results, British Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee finished 12th in the men’s 5000m, marking his first Diamond League appearance in seven years.
The athletics circuit will next move to London for the next Diamond League meeting scheduled for 18 July.