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After bursting off the turn and widening the gap between herself and the field around her, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone once again demonstrated her range by cruising to 200m victory at the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, on Saturday (18).
Her plan for the season, however, revolves around focusing on just one event, one she calls &ldquo;what I&rsquo;m most comfortable with&rdquo; &ndash; the 400m hurdles.
While McLaughlin-Levrone dropped down in distance to test her speed in Los Angeles, her US compatriot Rai Benjamin raced his specialism and was rewarded with a world-leading 46.64 &ndash; the ninth-fastest performance of all time &ndash; on his 400m hurdles season opener.
<h2>McLaughlin-Levrone makes a statement</h2>
One year after producing the second-fastest 400m in US history (48.74), only to later withdraw from the World Championships because of a knee injury, McLaughlin-Levrone said she had not given much thought to attempting a 400m and 400m hurdles double at the Paris Olympics before ultimately deciding to focus solely on the hurdles, the event in which she most recently smashed the world record two years ago en route to the 2022 world title.
Doubling is "definitely a possibility in the future, but just wanting to come back after last season, stick to one event and try to do it the best I can,&rdquo; said McLaughlin-Levrone, the Tokyo Olympic gold medallist. &ldquo;Be healthy, which we are, and I&rsquo;m very happy about that and just keep it that way.&rdquo;
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After testing her speed over 200m in California, she may run some 400m races in the coming weeks to continue to do the same. McLaughlin-Levrone, who added that her knees &ldquo;feel great&rdquo;, had hoped to run sub-22 at UCLA's Drake Stadium. Despite registering the slowest reaction time in the nine-runner field, she achieved the Olympic standard while convincingly beating runner-up Abby Steiner (22.32), Brittany Brown (22.35), Rhasidat Adeleke (22.45), Jenna Prandini (22.61) and Olympic and world silver medallist Gabby Thomas (22.68).
Thomas also ran a 100m race earlier the same day.
&ldquo;Today was really tough because I just didn&rsquo;t feel like myself,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;I would have loved to have gotten more out of today and that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s really frustrating because it doesn&rsquo;t reflect what I did in practice or did in training.&rdquo;
<h2>Change pays off for Benjamin</h2>
Rai Benjamin and his coach Joanna Hayes had &ldquo;changed a lot,&rdquo; he said, in his own training this year before running a world-leading 46.64 to win the 400m hurdles. The motivation behind the changes was keeping him healthier entering a major championship, which has not been the case the past two years, as he chases his first global gold medal at 400m hurdles. Benjamin owns the second-fastest all-time performance in the event and has claimed silver at the Tokyo Olympics and silver and bronze at the last two world championships while competing against Karsten Warholm and Alison Dos Santos, the trio that has pushed the event faster than ever in the past three years.
Those training changes heavily include technique, with Benjamin and Hayes honing his final 100m, as well as &ldquo;figuring out that we could get away with 13 (steps between hurdles) now at this time of year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But championship season, I have to go 12s down the backstretch.&rdquo;
He left Saturday&rsquo;s race describing &ldquo;still a lot of things to fine-tune&rdquo; despite taking the world-leading time away from Dos Santos. What did running a time like that in May tell him about what could be possible in the Olympics?
&ldquo;Who knows, maybe 45, maybe 44, who knows? Sky&rsquo;s the limit.&rdquo; Benjamin said. &ldquo;Once I keep coming out and just running well, staying healthy, I think I&rsquo;m the fastest guy in the field, honestly.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Michael Norman, a longtime training partner of Benjamin, won the 400m in 44.53, beating Kirani James (44.85) and Vernon Norwood (44.86). Norman has rarely sprinted since the winter because of what he termed a &ldquo;quite a difficult January to May&rdquo; while dealing with injuries.&nbsp;
One day after saying he hoped his shot put attempts would &ldquo;hit the wall&rdquo; in UCLA&rsquo;s intimate shot facility, Joe Kovacs won with 22.93m, the joint 16th farthest ever winning mark and just two centimetres off Leonardo Fabbri&rsquo;s world lead set in Savona.&nbsp;
<h2>Nakaayi runs world lead</h2>
Melissa Jefferson overcame a slower start to edge Morolake Akinosun, 11.27 to 11.28, to win the 100m, but the day&rsquo;s smallest margin of victory belonged to Halimah Nakaayi, who won the 800m in 1:57.56, only six-thousands of a second ahead of Tsige Duguma.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Of course I would like to be an Olympic champion,&rdquo; Nakaayi said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s my dream.&rdquo;
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In a 400m featuring world champion Marileidy Paulino and 800m specialist Mary Moraa, Paulino won in 50.27, ahead of Moraa&rsquo;s 50.56. Their showdown was initially expected to include Olympic and 2022 world 800m champion Athing Mu, but Mu did not ultimately compete.
Tonea Marshall won the 100m hurdles in 12.55, edging Alaysha Johnson by 0.02. Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn finished fourth after initially false-starting and running under protest.&nbsp;
In winning the 1500m in 3:34.73, Olli Hoare did not reach the Olympic standard of 3:33.50, which he called his top goal for the race, but said he was happy with his season&rsquo;s best performance nonetheless, as he prepares for next week&rsquo;s Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t get on the pace, I expected more people to push forward for it and then the last lap felt very slow for me, which is a good sign, so I came through on the outside and just so I could win the race,&rdquo; Hoare said.&nbsp;
Hoare outkicked Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot by 0.1, with Matthew Centrowitz finishing third in 3:35.16. The 34-year-old 2016 Olympic gold medallist has called this season his last competing as a professional, and said announcing that decision had been helpful in his approach toward his final Olympic trials in June.
&ldquo;I love pressure, I&rsquo;ve been dealing with it my whole life having a two-time Olympian as a father,&rdquo; Centrowitz said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t add pressure. If anything I&rsquo;m running a little more free, nothing to lose.&rdquo; He added that &ldquo;I&rsquo;m taking this season as seriously as any other year.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Using a 52.09 final lap, the fastest of any competitors, Bryce Hoppel won the 800m in 1:43.68, a season&rsquo;s best. Hoppel had already achieved the Olympic standard of 1:44.70, but the race pulled five men under it, including Isaiah Jewett (1:44.02), 2022 world 1500m champion Jake Wightman (1:44.10), who is also tuning up for next week&rsquo;s Prefontaine Classic, and Brandon Miller and Isaiah Harris.
If many events were claimed by favourites, it was not the case in the men&rsquo;s pole vault or 100m. Ernest John Obiena vaulted 5.80m to upset Simen Guttormsen (5.70m) and US athletes KC Lightfoot (5.70m), Chris Nilsen (5.70m), Jacob Wooten (5.60m) and Sam Kendricks (5.60m). In the sprint, Kyree King ran 10.11 to top Letsile Tebogo&rsquo;s 10.13, with Aaron Brown third in 10.23.
Thea LaFond won the women&rsquo;s triple jump at 14.37m, Anna Cockrell ran 53.75 to win the 400m hurdles and Diribe Welteji won the 1500m in a season&rsquo;s best of 3:55.23, leading four women under four minutes.&nbsp;
<h2>Barega top in 5000m</h2>
The two-day meeting began on Friday evening, when 12 men ran under the Olympic 5000m standard of 13:05 in a race won by Selemon Barega in 12:51.60. Barega closed the final 400m in 54.15, the fastest lap of anyone in the field, to edge his Ethiopian compatriot Berihu Aregawi, in 12:52.09. Barega and Aregawi had already achieved the standard before Friday, however. World record-holder Joshua Cheptegei had yet to, until he finished third in 12:52.38. He was among six who achieved the standard in the race, including Biniam Mehary, Cooper Teare, Stewart McSweyn, Cole Hocker and Morgan McDonald.
Only two months after winning the world indoor 3000m title, Elle St. Pierre ran a 63.2 bell lap to capture her own Olympic standard and win the 5000m in 14:34.12. The time is a personal best by 24 seconds.
Also on Friday, Sandi Morris needed only four jumps at three heights to win the women&rsquo;s pole vault at 4.70m, her highest clearance since February&rsquo;s US Indoor Championships. Valarie Allman easily claimed the women&rsquo;s discus title at 67.93m, nearly three metres farther than her competition, and Roje Stona comfortably won the men&rsquo;s discus at 66.93m.&nbsp;
In a hammer competition featuring five women already with the Olympic standard, Brooke Andersen won on her second throw of 77.32m, edging Denna Price. Mykhaylo Kokhan won the men&rsquo;s hammer at 80.33m. Ceili McCabe ran a Canadian record 9:20.58 to win the women&rsquo;s steeplechase, leading four women who reached the Olympic standard in the race.
Andrew Greif for World Athletics
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7206591?eventId=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

World leads by Rai Benjamin and Halimah Nakaayi, while Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone makes a statement with 200m win

Benjamin and McLaughlin-Levrone impress in Los Angeles

Peru&rsquo;s Kimberly Garcia and Japan&rsquo;s Toshikazu Yamanishi proved strongest at the Gran Premio Cantones, a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting, held on Saturday (18) in the Spanish coastal city.&nbsp;
While the 2022 double world champion Garcia became a commanding winner to retain her title, the two-time world 20km race walk champion Yamanishi prevailed over Spain&rsquo;s double world champion Alvaro Martin after a tough battle in a race of incredible depth. With six athletes clocking 1:18 or faster, it was arguably one of the quickest ever men&rsquo;s 20km contests.
<h2>Garcia in a class of her own</h2>
The women&rsquo;s contest opened at a slow rhythm, the first kilometre taking 4:35 with Mexico&rsquo;s Alegna Gonzalez making most of the pace while China&rsquo;s Ma Zhenxia and Brazil&rsquo;s Erica Sena race walked at her shoulder. The cadence heated up over the following circuits, averaging 4:25 thanks to Qieyang Shenjie of China&rsquo;s front tactics.
By the 5km checkpoint (22:13), 16 women remained in the leading pack with Qieyang at the helm closely followed by Garcia, Australia&rsquo;s world silver medallist Jemima Montag, Spain&rsquo;s Laura Garcia-Caro, Garcia and the former world record-holder Liu Hong. At that stage, Spain&rsquo;s double world champion Maria Perez remained as part of the leading group.
The first serious movement came just before the eighth kilometre &ndash; the fastest to that point (4:19) &ndash; when Garcia increased her pace, trying to leave her rivals behind. China&rsquo;s Yang Jiayu, Liu and Montag responded and didn&rsquo;t let the Peruvian get away. But Garcia kept on pushing hard &ndash; clocking 4:18 for the 10th kilometre to reach halfway in 43:58 &ndash; and finally her efforts paid off as only Yang and Ma could keep up. Six women formed part of a chasing group: Gonzalez, Liu and her Chinese compatriot Peng Li, Garcia-Caro, Perez and Brazil&rsquo;s Viviane Lyra, while Montag looked to have lost any chance of winning.
With the clock reading 51 minutes some 11.2km into the race, Yang&rsquo;s resistance came to an end and Garcia pulled away quite easily to gradually increase her advantage on the Chinese athlete. By 13km, Garcia &ndash; who averaged a frantic 4:14 for the previous three circuits &ndash; became a virtual winner as Yang race walked 14 seconds adrift, herself just a couple of seconds clear of the quintet comprising Garcia-Caro, Gonzalez, Ma, Liu and Lira. Even as her pace slowed over the following circuits, Garcia widened her lead to 18 seconds by the 15th kilometre, while Yang had been reeled in by the quintet. Meanwhile, a courageous Perez travelled a lonesome eighth, another eight seconds behind that group of six.
While Garcia continued her brisk 4:17/4:18 cadence, Ma lost touch with the chasing group before the 17th kilometre &ndash; the quintet some 23 seconds adrift of the Peruvian by then. Over the closing circuits, Garcia-Caro became the next casualty with Yang, Gonzalez, Liu and Lira fighting hard for the two remaining podium berths. It was the Mexican who proved to be the strongest as she unleashed a powerful attack some 1500m from home to open a sizeable margin on her rivals. At the bell she was 16 seconds behind Garcia, but 11 seconds ahead of Yang, Liu and Lira.
Garcia romped home unopposed in 1:26:41, just one second off her lifetime best set in La Coruna last year and some 17 seconds clear of a fast-finishing Gonzalez who bettered her career best by two seconds to improve on third place from last year. Liu completed a mouth-watering podium with a 1:27:11 performance, two seconds ahead of Lira who clocked a massive PB. The same goes for Garcia-Caro with a 1:27:19 career best for fifth. As for Perez, she showed fine form in her first 20km contest since the World Championships in Budapest, the 28-year-old clocking 1:27:40 for her fifth quickest ever time.
&ldquo;Winning here for the second time in a row is fantastic, as Cantones features the best possible line-up in the world and that&rsquo;s quite encouraging for me,&rdquo; said Garcia. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m building up for Paris and this win is a morale booster for me.&rdquo;
<h2>Yamanishi prevails</h2>
Unlike the women&rsquo;s competition, the men&rsquo;s kicked off at a brisk pace, the opening circuit being covered in 3:56 with the Chinese pair of Zhang Jun and Zhang Jiaxu plus Brazil&rsquo;s title defender Caio Bonfim and Spain&rsquo;s Alvaro Martin at the helm. Qian Haifeng took the lead in the fourth kilometre and hit 5km timed at 19:44, closely followed by his compatriots Zhang Yun and Cui Lihong, while Martin and his fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Lopez were tucked behind alongside Australia&rsquo;s Declan Tingay. Japan&rsquo;s Tomohiro Noda and Ecuador&rsquo;s Brian Pintado also moved to the front over the following laps, the still large leading pack going through the 8km point in 31:40.&nbsp;
The halfway stage was reached in 39:33 after the fastest kilometre to that point (3:55), with 25 athletes still in the large heading group. Japan&rsquo;s Noda accelerated over the next circuit, clocking 3:54 with Qian and Martin in hot pursuit, but the first key movement came when the 29-year-old Spaniard picked up the pace to cover the 12th kilometre in a blistering 3:49. Despite that kind of rhythm, still 14 men remained in close attendance.&nbsp;
By the 15km checkpoint the clock read 58:57, averaging sub-3:56/km speed. Shortly afterwards, Pintado opened full gas to cover the 16th kilometre in 3:48 and that whittled the leading group down to seven as he was joined by Spain&rsquo;s Martin and two-time European medallist Diego Garcia, the Japanese duo of Yamanishi and the season&rsquo;s quickest performer Koki Ikeda, Bonfim and Zhang. Another 3:49 circuit led by the Ecuadorian proved to be too fast for Bonfim, who lost ground with two circuits left, while Garcia also began to falter. With some 1600m left, Yamanishi produced a devastating change of speed and only Martin could follow in his footsteps. The pair covered the penultimate lap in 3:43 to hit the bell two seconds clear of Pintado, with three on Ikeda, four over Zhang and with Bonfim travelling five seconds in arrears.
The closing circuit became a thrilling two-horse battle between the 28-year-old Yamanishi and the local hero Martin, while Pintado and Bonfim also fought hard midway through the last lap. Finally, the 2019 and 2022 world champion Yamanishi found another gear to get rid of Martin 200m before the finish line, which he crossed in 1:17:47 following a 3:36 final lap. The Spaniard came runner-up in 1:17:49, his second quickest ever performance, while a fast-finishing Bonfim got the better of Pintado, who managed a lifetime best of 1:17:54. Ikeda also ducked under the 1:18 barrier.
<h3>Leading results</h3>
Women 1 Kimberly Garcia (PER) 1:26:41 2 Alegna Gonzalez (MEX) 1:26:57 3 Liu Hong (CHN) 1:27:11 4 Viviane Lyra (BRA) 1:27:13 5 Laura Garcia-Caro (ESP) 1:27:19 6 Yang Jiayu (CHN) 1:27:27 7 Maria Perez (ESP) 1:27:43 8 Ma Zhenxia (CHN) 1:28:14 9 Shi Yuxia (CHN) 1:28:44 10 Pauline Stey (FRA) 1:29:07
Men 1 Toshikazu Yamanishi (JPN) 1:17:47 2 Alvaro Martin (ESP) 1:17:49 3 Caio Bonfim (BRA) 1:17:52 4 Brian Pintado (ECU) 1:17:54 5 Koki Ikeda (JPN) 1:17:59 6 Zhang Jun (CHN) 1:18:00 7 Diego Garcia (ESP) 1:18:19 8 Cesar Rodriguez (MEX) 1:18:23 9 Ricardo Ortiz (MEX) 1:18:31 10 Miguel Angel Lopez (ESP) 1:18:33
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7202817?eventId=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

Peru’s Kimberly Garcia and Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi proved strongest at the Gran Premio Cantones

Garcia and Yamanishi triumph in La Coruna

Simon Ehammer and Michelle Atherley are the overnight leaders after they both enjoyed a strong start to their campaigns at the Hypomeeting in G&ouml;tzis, this season&rsquo;s third World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting, on Saturday (18).
With 4601 points after the first five events in the decathlon, Switzerland&rsquo;s Ehammer sits just 16 points ahead of Canada&rsquo;s Damian Warner, while Australia&rsquo;s Ashley Moloney is in third on 4477.
Olympic champion Warner was the early No.1 as he ran 10.20 to lead the first event, the 100m. The next seven quickest times were all PBs &ndash; Olympic bronze medallist Moloney equalling his lifetime best with 10.34, a time matched by Ehammer who took 0.08 off his previous best. Ken Mullings clocked 10.45, Lindon Victor 10.48, Sven Roosen 10.49, Sven Jansons 10.56 and Felix Wolter 10.58.
But Ehammer &ndash; the world indoor heptathlon champion in Glasgow in March &ndash; launched himself into the lead after the next event. The 2022 world long jump bronze medallist leapt 8.25m &ndash; just 20cm off the world decathlon best he set at this meeting in 2022 &ndash; and followed it with 8.22m. That put him 81 points ahead of Warner, who leapt 7.80m, while Moloney managed 7.75m and Commonwealth Games champion Victor a PB of 7.73m.
Ehammer and Warner would hold on to those positions for the rest of the day, as they respectively threw 14.08m and 14.55m in the shot put, both cleared 2.03m in the high jump and then clocked 48.22 and 47.46 in the 400m.
While Moloney dropped to sixth after the shot put, in which he threw 14.11m, he moved to fourth with a 2.00m high jump clearance and then up another place with 47.59 in the 400m.
Lithuania&rsquo;s Edgaras Benkunskas had the best mark in the shot put &ndash; a 15.91m PB &ndash; and Roosen went quickest in the 400m, running a lifetime best of 46.64. In the high jump, Mullings of The Bahamas joined Ehammer and Warner in clearing the best height of the day, 2.03m, which Tim Nowak and Niels Pittomvils also managed.
With 4601 points, Ehammer is 60 points off his day one score from the 2022 European Championships in Munich, where he went on to set his national record of 8468. Warner is second on 4585 and Moloney third on 4477. Victor has 4438 points and Mullings 4417, putting them fourth and fifth respectively overnight.
<h2>PB performances from Atherley and Pawlett</h2>
Atherley, winner of the heptathlon at the Mt. SAC Relays with a PB score of 6372 last month, was in PB form again on Saturday, improving in both the 100m hurdles and the shot put.
Those performances helped her to rack up 3944 points after the first four events, 118 more than Olympic silver medallist Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands, with Great Britain&rsquo;s national pentathlon champion Abigail Pawlett just six points off Vetter&rsquo;s day one tally in third place overnight.
Atherley&rsquo;s 100m hurdles set the tone. Storming to a PB of 12.71 in the last of the five races, she improved the meeting best set by her compatriot Anna Hall last year by 0.04. That took more than a tenth of a second off the PB Atherley set at the Mt. SAC Relays and saw her lead by 24 points after the first event.
Beatrice Juskeviciute also had the race of her life, setting a Lithuanian record of 12.87 in the same race to sit in second place ahead of Switzerland&rsquo;s Annik Kalin, who ran 12.97 to dip under 13 seconds for the first time, plus USA&rsquo;s Allie Jones (13.00) and Pawlett (13.10 PB).
There was disappointment for Germany&rsquo;s Sophie Weissenberg, however, as she did not finish her race, while USA&rsquo;s Taliyah Brooks &ndash; the winner at last month&rsquo;s Multistars &ndash; did not start.
Atherley maintained her lead by clearing the highest bar of the day in the high jump &ndash; 1.80m, just 1cm off her PB. That height was also managed by Switzerland&rsquo;s Mathilde Rey &ndash; a PB by a centimetre.
While Vetter and USA&rsquo;s Annie Kunz dominated the shot put &ndash; both surpassing 15 metres with respective best throws of 15.37m and 15.14m &ndash; Atherley&rsquo;s PB of 13.67m was enough to keep her in the top spot. She was 59 points ahead of Kunz after three events, with Vetter another 40 points back. Pawlett&rsquo;s PB of 14.39m saw her hold on to fourth place overall.
Despite not finishing her 100m hurdles race, Weissenberg decided to continue the competition and she was rewarded with a PB when she returned to the track. Clocking 23.39, she improved her previous 200m best by a tenth of a second and was the fastest overall, ahead of Jones with 23.48, Atherley with 23.53 and Pawlett with another PB &ndash; 23.55.
There were also lifetime bests for Juskeviciute (23.58), Australia&rsquo;s Tori West (23.67) and Kalin (23.72).
Vetter was next fastest on 23.73 and that moved her up to second place at the end of the first day, just ahead of Pawlett, with Kalin in fourth (3783) and Kunz in fifth (3777).
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7199540?eventId=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

Simon Ehammer and Michelle Atherley are the overnight leaders after they both enjoyed a strong start to their campaigns at the Hypomeeting in Götzis

Meeting Name	Venue	Country	Date
Polish Combined Events Championships	Stadion	POL	18 May 2024
Italian University Championships	Stadio	ITA	18 May 2024
Hypomeeting	Mösle-Stadium,	AUT	18 May 2024
20.Int. Sparkassen Hammerwurf-Meeting 2024	Betty	GER	18 May 2024
Meeting Cidade de Lisboa	Estadio	POR	18 May 2024

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