Chepng'etich cruises in Ostrava as Warholm misses world record, again

Ostrava, Czech Republic

Kenyan reigning Olympic champion Faith Chepng'etich eased to her third straight victory since the restart, this time winning the 1,500 metres race in 3min 59.05sec at Tuesday's Golden Spike meet in the Czech city of Ostrava.

The time, which was also a meet record, means Chepng'etich is now the second woman this year to go under four minutes. Great Britain's Laura Weightman was second.

In the men’s 1500m, Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen cruised to victory in 3:33:92 ahead of Kenya's Kumari Taki who clocked a personal best of 3:34:14.

It was also a tough night for Kenya’s Commonwealth Games champion Wycliffe Kinyamal in the men's 800m, after finishing seventh in 1:45:53 in a race won by Great Britain’s Jake Wightman in 1:44:18.

Sheila Chelagat had to content with a second place in the 5,000m behind red-hot Netherland’s Sifan Hassan. Hassan, fresh from breaking the one-hour record last weekend in Brussels, set a season's best time of 14:37:85 while Chelagat clocked a personal best of 14:40:51.

Warholm close

Meanwhile, Norway's Karsten Warholm failed in his bid to set a new world record in the men's 400m hurdles.

The 24-year-old is in electric form and in Stockholm two weeks ago came within 0.09 seconds of Kevin Young's long-standing world record of 46.78sec which the American set at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

A false start did not help matters in Ostrava, where Warholm blasted off to his usual fast start at the second time of calling.

But the two-time world champion flagged coming through for victory at the line, clocking 47.62sec.

"It's always nice to get a win," the 24-year-old Norwegian told reporters.

"Today I was a bit surprised by the time to be honest, I actually thought it was faster."

"But this is sport and... you've got to take whatever you get," Warholm said, refusing to blame the false start.

"You don't want this of course, but it's part of the game."

But he admitted he had to adjust his pace in the final turn of the race.

"There is nothing dramatic about it, I needed to do a switch and maybe that was what cost me a good time today," said Warholm.

"Everything that ruins the rhythm is bad for the sake of time of course."

Warholm only agreed to run at Ostrava last week after weighing carefully the pros and cons of competing in the eastern Czech steel hub during the coronavirus pandemic.

"We are starting to get used to it, this is our third meet and I think we're very good at doing the right decisions and being smart considering the virus," he said.

"I have a plan about going to Rome for the Diamond League (on September 17) but time will show."

Elsewhere in Ostrava, two-time Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor cleared a world-leading 17.46 metres in his final jump, beating Fabrice Zango Hugues by four centimetres.

In men's pole vault, Ernest John Obiena from the Philippines stole the show from the likes of Renaud Lavillenie, Sam Kendricks and Thiago Braz, taking the honours for 5.74 metres.

Britain's Laura Muir clocked 1min 58.84sec on 800 metres for the world's second best time of the season.