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>
Watch World Athletics Continental Tour Gold highlights on&nbsp;<a href="https://worldathletics.org/videos/playlist/world-athletics-continental-tour-gold-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inside Track</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 (PER) 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

Olympic champion Damian Warner extended his historic Hypo Meeting winning tally by taking his eighth decathlon victory, while Olympic silver medallist Anouk Vetter regained her heptathlon title at the World Athletics Combined Events Challenge Gold meeting in G&ouml;tzis on Sunday (19).
Warner put together a remarkably consistent series to win the decathlon with 8678 having overtaken early leader Simon Ehammer after the seventh discipline, the discus. Vetter also came from behind, her almighty 57.91m throw in the javelin propelling her into the lead with just one discipline to go.
Warner, contesting his first combined events competition since taking world silver in Budapest last year, ran 10.20 to lead the first event, the 100m. Olympic bronze medallist Ashley Moloney equalled his lifetime best with 10.34, a time matched by Ehammer who took 0.08 off his previous best. Ken Mullings clocked 10.45 and Lindon Victor ran 10.48, also PBs for both men.
World indoor heptathlon champion Ehammer launched himself into the lead after the next event. The 2022 world long jump bronze medallist from Switzerland leapt a best of 8.25m, which put him 81 points ahead of Warner, who jumped 7.80m, while Moloney managed 7.75m and Commonwealth champion Victor a PB of 7.73m.
Ehammer and Warner held 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. Those marks gave Ehammer a slender 16-point lead over Warner at the end of the first day.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6648e8de233fcf847f7518e3.jpg" alt="Decathlon leader Simon Ehammer in G&ouml;tzis" />
Decathlon leader Simon Ehammer in G&ouml;tzis (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
</div>
Moloney was third at the half-way stage, having thrown 14.11m in the shot, jumped 2.00m in the high jump and clocked 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.
At the start of day two, Warner closed the gap on Ehammer to just two points as the Canadian clocked 13.45 in the 110m hurdles. It was just 0.09 shy of his own meeting record, but Ehammer was close behind with 13.55. Mullings was also comfortably inside 14 seconds, his 13.72 clocking moving him up to third overall.
Warner went into the lead thanks to his 46.41m effort in the discus, nine metres farther than Ehammer&rsquo;s best effort of 37.36m. Victor jumped up to third place after producing the best mark of the day, 52.34m.
Ehammer made up some of the deficit in the pole vault, where he cleared a best of 5.00m, 20cm higher than Warner. Behind the leading duo, just 33 points separated Moloney (4.90m), Victor (4.60m), Johannes Erm (5.10m) and Mullings (4.80m).
A 57.53m effort in the javelin kept Warner in contention for victory, and it meant he headed into the 1500m with a 223-point lead. Ehammer dropped to fourth after throwing just 48.57m, while Victor (59.10m) and Moloney (57.41m) moved into second and third respectively.
Given his leading margin in the overall stakes, Warner didn&rsquo;t need to push too hard in the 1500m. He completed the event in 4:36.94, giving him a winning score of 8678.
With Ehammer not starting in the 1500m, the battle for podium places was made slightly easier. Sven Roosen, who pushed the pace in the 1500m and finished in 4:20.77, was rewarded with the runner-up spot in a PB and Olympic qualifying mark of 8517. Erm took third place with 8462, 95 points ahead of Moloney, whose tally of 8367 was his best since taking Olympic bronze in 2021. Victor was one point behind in fifth with 8366, and Germany&rsquo;s Tim Nowak set a PB of 8282 in sixth.
<h2>Vetter gets the better of Kalin</h2>
Vetter, as is so often the case, got off to a steady start before making her way up the leaderboard on day two to claim victory.
USA&rsquo;s Michelle Atherley held the early lead after storming to a PB and meeting record of 12.71 in the opening discipline, the 100m hurdles. 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.
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.
Vetter had a more modest start, clocking 13.64 in the 100m hurdles and clearing 1.74m in the high jump, but she topped the shot put with a best of 15.37m. USA&rsquo;s Annie Kunz also excelled, throwing 15.14m, but Atherley&rsquo;s PB of 13.67m was enough to keep her in the top spot.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/664a17b90f09c6aec84eece1.jpg" alt="Anouk Vetter at the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis" />
Anouk Vetter at the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
</div>
Germany&rsquo;s Sophie Weissenberg, who failed to finish the 100m hurdles, continued for a few more disciplines and clocked the fastest 200m performance of the day, running 23.39. Atherley (23.53) and Juskeviciute (23.58) were close behind, while Vetter (23.73) and Kalin (23.72) were closely matched.
By the end of the first day, Atherley had a 118-point lead over Vetter. Britain&rsquo;s Abigail Pawlett was third and Kalin was fourth.
Those positions all changed after the first discipline of day two as Kalin sailed out to a 6.70m leap in the long jump, giving her a six-point lead over Atherley (6.18m). Vetter jumped a season&rsquo;s best of 6.47m to stay in contention for victory.
As soon as Vetter opened her account in the javelin, throwing 56.05m, it was clear the Dutch all-rounder had given herself a great shot at victory. She consolidated that with 57.91m in round three, giving her a 201-point lead over Kalin, who threw 45.93m. Atherley managed just one valid attempt, 38.03m, but was still in a podium place with one of her strongest events to come.
Atherley dominated the 800m and clocked a season&rsquo;s best of 2:08.55, giving her an overall score of 6465, a personal best, but ultimately it wasn&rsquo;t enough to catch Vetter and Kalin in the overall contest.
Vetter came through the line in 2:21.37, giving her a winning tally of 6642 &ndash; the fourth-best mark of her career &ndash; while Kalin clocked 2:16.63 to end with a season&rsquo;s best of 6506. Behind the podium finishers, Emma Oosterwegel of the Netherlands placed fourth (6337) and Germany&rsquo;s Vanessa Grimm was fifth (6307).
<h3>Leading results</h3>
Women&rsquo;s heptathlon 1 Anouk Vetter (NED) 6642 2 Annik Kalin (SUI) 6506 3 Michelle Atherley (USA) 6465 4 Emma Oosterwegel (NED) 6337 5 Vanessa Grimm (GER) 6307 6 Tori West (AUS) 6245 7 Annie Kunz (USA) 6209 8 Verena Mayr (AUT) 6196
Men&rsquo;s decathlon 1 Damian Warner (CAN) 8678 2 Sven Roosen (NED) 8517 3 Johannes Erm (EST) 8462 4 Ashley Moloney (AUS) 8367 5 Lindon Victor (GRN) 8366 6 Tim Nowak (GER) 8282 7 Felix Wolter (GER) 8190 8 Ken Mullings (BAH) 8176
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7199540?eventId=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a>

Damian Warner extended his historic Hypo Meeting winning tally by taking his eighth decathlon victory, while Anouk Vetter regained her heptathlon title 

Warner wins for eighth time in Götzis, Vetter scores world-leading 6642

The Wanda Diamond League <a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/diamond-league/news/meeting-international-mohammed-vi-marrakesh-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">continues on Sunday (19) in Marrakech with the fourth meeting of the season</a>.
World record-holders, Olympic gold medallists and world champions will collide at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d&rsquo;Athl&eacute;tisme.
The action will start at 18:00 local time (GMT+1) with the women's high jump and the main two-hour broadcast window will begin at 19:00 local time with the women's 400m hurdles.
<a href="https://rabat.diamondleague.com/programme-resultats-rabat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results, programme and entry lists</a>&nbsp;| <a href="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/document/66491004f20e89bd05b72914.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">media information sheets and athlete biographies</a>
<h3>Where to watch</h3>
The meeting will be streamed in a number of territories on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@diamondleague/streams" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wanda Diamond League YouTube page</a> from 19:00 local time (GMT+1). The live stream will not be available in all territories.
To find out the broadcast rights holder in your country, check the list below. If your country does not appear on the list, please check local listings. The list is&nbsp;subject to change, and some broadcasters may only show highlights coverage, while others will show the meeting live.&nbsp;Please check your local listings to find out more information.&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; border-color: #333333; border-style: solid;" border="1" width="90%" cellpadding="2">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Territories</td>
<td>Broadcaster/ rights holder</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Africa (English language):&nbsp;Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, C&ocirc;te d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, S&atilde;o Tom&eacute; and Pr&iacute;ncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland</td>
<td>Supersport (English)&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Africa (French language):&nbsp;Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, S&atilde;o Tom&eacute; and Pr&iacute;ncipe, Mayotte</td>
<td>New World TV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Argentina</td>
<td>TeleRed, TyC Sports</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Azerbaijan</td>
<td>Saran Group, CBC Sport</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Baltics: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland</td>
<td>SIA All Media, Viasat Baltics, TV3 Sport</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Balkans:&nbsp;Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia</td>
<td>United Media - Sportklub</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Belarus</td>
<td>Saran Group</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Belgium</td>
<td>VRT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Brazil</td>
<td>COB,&nbsp;TVN Sports, Globo Sport Brazil, Newco - BandSports</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bulgaria</td>
<td>Mobitel, A1 - Sport Max</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Canada</td>
<td>CBC</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Caucasus/Central Asia:&nbsp;Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.</td>
<td>Saran</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Saint Barth&eacute;lemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bonaire, Bermuda, Cura&ccedil;ao, Sint Maarten</td>
<td>Flow Sports, CWC</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Central America:&nbsp;Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname</td>
<td>Sky Mexico</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>China</td>
<td>CCTV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Chinese Taipei</td>
<td>Elta</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Czech Republic</td>
<td>Ceska Televize</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Denmark</td>
<td>TV3 Sport, Viasat Sport A/S Account</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Finland</td>
<td>MTV Katsomo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Germany</td>
<td>Sky Deutschland</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Greece&nbsp;</td>
<td>TAF/ERT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hong Kong</td>
<td>PCCW</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hungary</td>
<td>ASC1, MTVA</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>India</td>
<td>Viacom 18</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Israel</td>
<td>Charlton - Sport 1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Italy&nbsp;</td>
<td>Sky Italy / Rai</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Malaysia</td>
<td>Measat, Astro</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mongolia</td>
<td>SPS Mongolia</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Morocco</td>
<td>SNRT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Netherlands</td>
<td>Liberty Global Content, Ziggo Sports, NOS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>New Zealand</td>
<td>TVNZ</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Norway</td>
<td>NRK</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Philippines</td>
<td>TAP DMV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Poland</td>
<td>Polsat</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Portugal</td>
<td>Sport TV Portugal</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Qatar</td>
<td>ALKASS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Slovakia</td>
<td>RTVS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Singapore</td>
<td>Singtel, Starhub</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>South America: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela</td>
<td>Panam Sports</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>South Korea</td>
<td>KBS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Spain</td>
<td>Telefonica</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sweden</td>
<td>TV4, SVT</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Switzerland</td>
<td>SRG</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Thailand</td>
<td>Cineplex, JKN</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Turkey</td>
<td>Saran Group, Ssport</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>United Kingdom</td>
<td>BBC</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ukraine</td>
<td>Setanta</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>USA</td>
<td>NBC Sports</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, France, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan, Monaco, Myanmar (Burma), Romania, South Korea, Sri Lanka</td>
<td>Wanda Diamond League YouTube / Facebook</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2>Social media</h2>
- World Athletics: <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldAthletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/worldathletics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@worldathletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> - Wanda Diamond League: <a href="https://twitter.com/diamond_league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/DiamondLeague/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/diamondleagueathletics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a>
&nbsp;

The Wanda Diamond League continues on Sunday in Marrakech with the fourth meeting of the season

How to watch and follow the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Marrakech

The three women who stood on the javelin podium at last year&rsquo;s World Championships will take to the runway at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix &ndash; a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting &ndash; in Tokyo on Sunday (19).
The highly popular world champion Haruka Kitaguchi will have the support of the entire stadium in the Japanese capital as she takes on a field that includes Flor Denis Ruiz of Colombia and Mackenzie Little of Australia.
Kitaguchi has won both of her competitions so far this year, throwing a season&rsquo;s best of 62.97m at the Diamond League meeting in Suzhou where Little and Ruiz finished second and third respectively.
Since then, however, Ruiz won gold at the Ibero-American Championships with a world-leading South American record of 66.70m, so the 33-year-old will head to the Japanese capital full of confidence.
China&rsquo;s Dai Qianqian, winner at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen, and New Zealand&rsquo;s Tori Peeters add further depth to the field.
Three other winners of global titles feature in the men&rsquo;s jumps.
China&rsquo;s 2022 world champion Wang Jianan takes on 2016 world indoor champion Marquis Dendy in the men&rsquo;s long jump. Dendy recently got the better of Wang by just one centimetre in Suzhou, so another close competition can be expected in Tokyo.
But in-form Australian champion Chris Mitrevski is unbeaten so far this year and is fresh from an 8.32m PB at the Australian Championships and an 8.24m victory in Osaka.&nbsp; Yuki Hashioka carries Japanese hopes in this event, having jumped a best of 8.28m this year, while Asian champion Lin Yu-Tang of Chinese Taipei is also one to watch.
Korea&rsquo;s Woo Sanghyeok, the 2022 world indoor champion, highlights the men&rsquo;s high jump field. So far this year, the 28-year-old has jumped 2.33m indoors and then took bronze at the World Indoor Championships. Last weekend in Doha, he cleared a season&rsquo;s best of 2.31m.
Australia&rsquo;s Brandon Starc, USA&rsquo;s world indoor finalist Vernon Turner, and Japan&rsquo;s Asian Games bronze medallist Tomohiro Shinno are also in the line-up.
Elsewhere in the field events, Japan&rsquo;s Ryohei Arai and Genki Dean take on Latvian duo Rolands Strobinders, Patriks Gailums in the men&rsquo;s javelin.
<h2>Highly competitive hurdles</h2>
Japanese record-holder Rachid Muratake faces compatriot and Asian champion Shunya Takayama in the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles, but Senegal&rsquo;s Louis Francois Mendy and USA&rsquo;s Eric Edwards will be trying their best to prevent a victory for the host nation.
Kenya&rsquo;s Wiseman Mukhobe will have the same aim in the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles as he takes on World University Games sprint hurdles champion Ken Toyoda, two-time national champion Kazuki Kurokawa, and Kaito Tsutue, the fastest Japanese athlete this year. Just 0.11 separates the PBs of all four men.
Oceanian record-holder Zoe Hobbs lines up as the fastest woman in the 100m, but many eyes will be on rising Australian talent Torrie Lewis, who upstaged a quality field to win the 200m in Xiamen last month.
Liberia&rsquo;s Emmanuel Matadi and Japan&rsquo;s Hakim Sani Brown lead the entries for the men&rsquo;s 100m. Canada&rsquo;s Brendon Rodney should also feature, in both this event and the 200m, where he takes on Cuban record-holder Reynier Mena.
Japanese record-holder Kentaro Sato and namesake (but no relation) Fuga Sato jumped to first and third respectively on the Japanese all-time 400m list last year. They recently teamed up to secure Japan&rsquo;s Olympic qualification in the 4x400m at the World Relays in Nassau, but this Sunday&rsquo;s race will be their first individual 400s of the season.
The focus of the endurance events will likely be fall on the women&rsquo;s 1500m. Multiple Japanese record-holder Nozomi Tanaka takes on Australian duo Georgia Griffith and Sarah Billings, both of whom set sub-four-minute PBs in Xiamen last month.
In the women&rsquo;s 5000m, Kenya&rsquo;s in-form Margaret Akidor takes on Australia&rsquo;s Rose Davies.

Seiko Golden Grand Prix

The three women who stood on the javelin podium at last year’s World Championships will take to the runway at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix

World Championships javelin rematch the highlight in Tokyo

Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Athlétisme de Rabat/Marrakech

World record-holders, Olympic gold medallists and world champions will collide at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Athlétisme

Field event giants clash in Marrakesh

Olympic champion Damian Warner, Olympic silver medallist Anouk Vetter and their fellow global medallists Ashley Moloney, Emma Oosterwegel and Lindon Victor form part of the formidable fields set for the Hypomeeting in G&ouml;tzis, this season&rsquo;s third World Athletics Combined Events Tour Gold meeting, this weekend (18-19).
The world-class event will be a key step for many on the road to Rome and path to Paris, with athletes preparing for the European Championships in Italy and the Olympic Games in the French capital.
Warner continues to work towards his Olympic title defence by returning to compete at the M&ouml;sle-Stadium for the 11th time, as a seven-time Hypomeeting decathlon winner.
After six successive victories, the Canadian 34-year-old finished runner-up to his compatriot Pierce LePage last year and that top two was repeated at the World Championships in Budapest three months later as LePage took the title ahead of Warner and Grenada&rsquo;s Lindon Victor.
Now Warner is back in G&ouml;tzis as a four-time world medallist and he&rsquo;ll renew his rivalry with Victor, who is also in the line-up.
Victor has had one 400m outing so far this year, while Warner&rsquo;s performances at the Bryan Clay Invitational last month included a 13.65 110m hurdles, 15.15m shot put and 4.80m pole vault.
Moloney, meanwhile, has already completed a decathlon this year and he goes on the hunt for a performance that will secure him a place for Paris. The 24-year-old, who set his Oceanian record of 8649 to win his Olympic bronze in Tokyo, competed in G&ouml;tzis last year but withdrew before the 1500m, while his campaign at the World Championships in Budapest also came to an early end. He finished 13th with 8038 on his debut in G&ouml;tzis in 2019, receiving the 'rookie of the meeting' award.
Two other athletes on the entry list have also surpassed 8400 points in their careers so far: Switzerland&rsquo;s Simon Ehammer and Estonia&rsquo;s Johannes Erm. After deciding to focus on the long jump in Budapest, where he finished ninth, Ehammer rebounded to win the Diamond League title in the individual discipline at the end of the season. He returned to global combined events action at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March, where he won the heptathlon with a national record score of 6418.
Erm was also in PB form in Glasgow and his 6340 points earned him world indoor bronze.
In G&ouml;tzis they will be joined by Erm&rsquo;s compatriot Risto Lillemets, the European indoor bronze medallist who was second at the Multistars last month, plus Brazil&rsquo;s South American champion Jose Fernando Ferreira Santana, USA&rsquo;s Devon Williams and Germany&rsquo;s Tim Nowak.
<h2>Can Vetter regain heptathlon crown?</h2>
After winning the Hypomeeting heptathlon title for the first time in 2022, Vetter withdrew during her title defence last year as a precaution due to achilles discomfort.
She was back in medal-winning form in Budapest as she bagged bronze to go with the world silver and bronze medals she had already claimed in Oregon and London, respectively, as well as her Olympic silver from Tokyo.
In G&ouml;tzis two years ago, Vetter became the first Dutch heptathlon winner in the event&rsquo;s history with a then national record score of 6693. She improved again less than two months later, scoring 6867 to secure her world silver in Oregon.
She&rsquo;s not the only Olympic medallist in action, however, as she faces her compatriot Oosterwegel, who claimed bronze in Tokyo and then finished fifth at the World Championships in Budapest. Her PB is the 6590 she set in Tokyo.
USA&rsquo;s Taliyah Brooks recently matched her PB of 6330 to retain her Multistars title and four weeks on she is back in action. She&rsquo;ll be joined by her compatriots Erica Bougard and Annie Kunz, who have both surpassed 6500 in their careers so far, plus Michelle Atherley and Allie Jones.
Switzerland&rsquo;s Annik Kalin and Austria&rsquo;s Ivona Dadic and Verena Mayr also have 6500-plus PBs and add further strength to the field as they target performances that will put them in the running for Paris. Like Brooks, 2018 world indoor pentathlon silver medallist Dadic also contests her second heptathlon in a month. Continuing her comeback after injury, she competed at the Multistars but withdrew before the 800m. The 2019 world bronze medallist Mayr finished fifth in the pentathlon at the World Indoor Championships in March, while Kalin &ndash; the world indoor long jump fifth-place finisher in Glasgow &ndash; is back in multi events action after finishing runner-up at Decastar in September.
Also competing on home soil is Sarah Lagger, while others looking to make an impact will be Germany&rsquo;s Sophie Weissenberg and Vanessa Grimm, and Great Britain&rsquo;s Holly Mills.

Olympic champion Damian Warner, Olympic silver medallist Anouk Vetter and their fellow global medallists Ashley Moloney, Emma Oosterwegel and Lindon Victor form part of the formidable fields set for the Hypomeeting

Global medallists head strong fields for Götzis

Four more creatives will have their work showcased on World Athletics digital channels following their selection to the World Athletics Content Creator Programme.
Following its launch in 2023, the Content Creator Programme returned in January and received thousands of applications from all around the world.
The four selected creatives &ndash; from three different continents &ndash; will now create TikTok, YouTube and Instagram content for World Athletics&rsquo; platforms.
<h3>They are:</h3>
Demitra Carter, a former NCAA All-Conference and Baylor University sprinter from Kansas, USA. During her time at Baylor, where she competed for five years, she received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and a Master of Science in Education in Sport Management. She is committed to bridging the gap between fans and athletes with her original series Tiny Talks on the Track. You can often find her asking fun questions around the track with a tiny mic in hand. She will be producing Tiny Talks with World Athletics alongside another fun series made to bring fans closer to the sport.
Gabriele Fusar Bassini, an Italian graphic designer. Prior to becoming a graphic designer, he studied cinema and then data science. Athletics has been a part of his life since the age of 11 and he fell in love with the 400m. Combining storytelling with AI and design &ndash; using skills developed during his varied academic journey &ndash; Fusar Bassini&rsquo;s Content Creator Programme project will be to create an alternate reality game (launching at the end of the summer)&nbsp;where mysterious information and messages make up a treasure hunt. It will be a mix of escape room, Sherlock Holmes, fiction and athletics history, with a final prize.
Julia Lillo, a video editor and content creator who was born in Madrid and now lives in Barcelona, Spain. Studying for a communications degree, she has been in love with athletics since she can remember. She had almost finished her third year in medical school when she finally decided to pursue what she truly enjoyed: telling stories and evoking emotion through videos. Through her involvement with the programme, she hopes to help make athletics more thrilling than ever.
Sam Su, a creator born in China and raised in New York City, who is known for his passion for capturing the human experience through art. His love for movies and his playful storytelling abilities allow him to blend a cinematic style with lively documentary photography and films. As an athlete himself, he believes that sport is the heart of community and cultural exchange, and it will always be a big part of his life. Through the programme, he aims to create content that better bridges the gap between the athletes we idolise and the spectators who fuel the sport.
Stay tuned to World Athletics&rsquo; online platforms to engage with the content that these up-and-coming creatives will produce.
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@worldathletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tiktok.com/@worldathletics">TikTok</a> |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/worldathletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.youtube.com/worldathletics">YouTube</a>&nbsp;| <a href="https://www.instagram.com/worldathletics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.instagram.com/worldathletics/">Instagram</a>
World Athletics

Four more creatives will have their work showcased on World Athletics digital channels following their selection to the World Athletics Content Creator Programme

Fresh talent discovered in World Athletics' Content Creator Programme

A vast array of talent will gather at the Gran Premio Cantones de Marcha &ndash; one of the two Spanish legs of this season&rsquo;s World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold &ndash; on Saturday (18). The competition in La Coruna, a city which has annually hosted this world-class competition since 1987, again offers a top field worthy of a major championships contest.
<h2>Martin, Bonfim and Ikeda in wide open men&rsquo;s event</h2>
The large 73-strong men&rsquo;s 20km event features a mouth-watering line-up that includes the double world champion Alvaro Martin. The 29-year-old Spaniard kicked off his campaign at the Spanish Championships in February when he had to settle for the silver medal behind the emerging Paul McGrath, but his 1:18:35 clocking on that occasion suggests he is on the right path to fight for an Olympic medal at the Paris Olympics. That is his big target this season after confirming he will not defend his two European titles in Rome next month.&nbsp;
At last month&rsquo;s World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya, Martin &ndash; who won the 20km and 35km events at the World Championships in Budapest &ndash; also led one of the Spanish teams that qualified for Paris by placing third alongside Laura Garcia-Caro in the marathon race walk mixed relay. The Olympic fourth-place finisher is a two-time victor in La Coruna, having won in 2017 and 2022.
Yet Martin will face tough opposition, headed by last year&rsquo;s winner in Cantones, world bronze medallist Caio Bonfim, and Japan&rsquo;s Koki Ikeda. The latter is the Olympic silver medallist who set an outstanding career best and world-leading performance of 1:16:51 to win the national title in Kobe in February, while the Brazilian Bonfim is having a busy 2024 and has completed four 20km race walking contests so far, in addition to his presence in Antalya where he secured an Olympic mixed relay berth for his country in the company of Viviane Lyra.&nbsp;
Individually, Bonfim opened 2024 with a national record of 1:17:44 in Taicang where he placed third and then he enjoyed a comfortable 1:22:49 win at the South American Championships in Recife. He followed that with third place in Podebrady last month and then a runner-up finish in Warsaw a couple of weeks ago timed at 1:19:17.&nbsp;
Bonfim will clash again with the athletes who joined him on the podium in the Polish capital: China&rsquo;s Qian Haifeng and Japan&rsquo;s Toshikazu Yamanishi. The 23-year-old Qian holds a 1:18:51 lifetime best set in Taicang in March while the Japanese athlete, who clocked 1:19:37 in Warsaw, is an accomplished major championships performer having two world titles &ndash; from Doha 2019 and Oregon 2022 &ndash; to his name in addition to Olympic bronze. He will be joined by his compatriot Ryo Hamanishi, who was runner-up in Kobe in a PB of 1:17:42 but failed to place in the top spots in Antalya.
Spain&rsquo;s two-time European medallist Diego Garcia Carrera should also be a factor on Saturday as Cantones is one of his favourite events, having won here in 2021 and set his career best of 1:18:58 in 2019. The 28-year-old is fresh from a brilliant third place in Antalya (1:19:51) and heads to La Coruna after a training stint in the altitude of Navacerrada.&nbsp;
Miguel Angel Lopez, Marc Tur and Alvaro Lopez complete a strong Spanish team. Watch out too for Ecuador&rsquo;s world 35km silver medallist Brian Pintado as he dominated the Rio Maior meeting last Saturday in 1:19:57, while the Chinese entry also includes Zhang Jun, who recently set a PB of 1:17:26 in Taicang, plus Li Yandong (1:17:47), Wang Zhaozhao (1:17:48), Cui Lihong (1:18:03) and Zhao Xiangfei (1:18:15).
<h2>Who can stop Garcia?</h2>
The women&rsquo;s 20km contest will be held two hours before the men&rsquo;s and the cast is also of the highest calibre. It is headed by the double world champion Maria Perez, however the 28-year-old Spaniard got injured &ndash; a stress fracture in the sacrum &ndash; shortly after her success in Budapest and underwent surgery last November. After her recovery, Perez returned to competition at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya where she competed in the mixed relay event alongside the 2015 world champion Miguel Angel Lopez. Apart from a 5000m track contest at a low-key national league event a fortnight ago when she took an easy win in 22:09.10, Saturday will mark Perez&rsquo;s first individual appearance since 24 August when the world 35km record-holder followed her 20km title with a 35km win at the World Championships.
Yet Perez is still rounding into form &ndash; and she has confirmed her absence at the European Championships next month &ndash; so the status of favourite in La Coruna should go to Peru&rsquo;s world 35km silver medallist Kimberly Garcia. The 30-year-old is the defending champion at this event and achieved a brilliant double at the 2022 World Championships.&nbsp;
Due to illness, Garcia could not finish in Dudince but she then bounced back strongly with commanding victories in Podebrady with a 1:27:08 time and also in Antalya two weeks later thanks to a 1:27:12 performance. As recently as last Saturday, Garcia also won the Rio Maior meeting, her 1:30:35 clocking suggesting she had this weekend&rsquo;s event on her radar.&nbsp;
The whole Antalya 20km podium will be on show over the flat 1km circuit with China&rsquo;s Ma Zhenxia and Brazil&rsquo;s Erica Sena also lining up. Ma finished seventh in Budapest over 20km and improved her lifetime best to 1:26:07 when winning in Taicang. As for Sena, the evergreen 39-year-old will tackle her third 20km event in less than a month as she also competed in Rio Maior last week, coming third in 1:31:17 just behind Mexico&rsquo;s Alejandra Ortega, also in contention on Saturday. Ortega will race walk in the company of her more illustrious compatriot Alegna Gonz&aacute;lez, who has placed in the top eight at the last three major championships and holds a 1:26:59 lifetime best set last year in Cantones when she finished third.
The never-ending list of top race walkers in contention also includes the first three athletes from the Warsaw meeting: the Chinese pair of former world record-holder Liu Hong and Qieyang Shijie, plus Australia&rsquo;s world silver medallist Jemima Montag. Liu broke the world record here back in 2015 with a 1:24:38 performance and boasts a season&rsquo;s best of 1:26:47 set in Taicang, while Montag clocked an Oceanian record of 1:27:09 in Adelaide in February. As for Qieyang, the London Olympic champion boasts an impressive 1:24:45 PB and she triumphed here in 2018 and has a season&rsquo;s best of 1:27:05. The always mighty Chinese squad also comprises Yang Jiayu, who finished runner-up in Taicang (1:26:07), plus Ji Haiying (1:27:19), Peng Li (1:27:26), Yin Lamei (1:27:36) and Shi Yuxia (1:27:44).
Holder of a season&rsquo;s best of 1:27:21 to come second in Podebrady, Ecuador&rsquo;s Glenda Morejon will want to rebound from her Antalya performance when she was disqualified. The 24-year-old set the world U20 best in Cantones back in 2019 with a superb 1:25:29 and finished a fine sixth at last year&rsquo;s Budapest World Championships thanks to her third ever quickest time of 1:27:40. She was also three places ahead of Brazil&rsquo;s Viviane Lyra, who set a PB of 1:28:25, in Podebrady last month.&nbsp;
Perez aside, the Spanish hopes also rest on Laura Garcia-Caro, who has a season&rsquo;s best of 1:29:03, as well as European 35km silver medallist Raquel Gonzalez (1:29:07) and two top-10 finishers in Antalya: Lidia Sanchez-Puebla and Antia Chamosa.
Weather forecasters predict temperatures in the 14-16&deg;C range by the time of the competition, with a high likelihood of rain and some gusts of wind.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics

A vast array of talent will gather at the Gran Premio Cantones de Marcha – one of the two Spanish legs of this season’s World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold – on Saturday

World's best feature in stacked race walk fields for La Coruna

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is always expected to be seen on the biggest stages in athletics. Yet outside of global championships, that is not a common occurrence as she and her coach, Bobby Kersee, carefully select when, where and why she competes. That rarity is why the USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix, held on Friday (17) and Saturday (18) at UCLA&rsquo;s Drake Stadium, is so notable.
McLaughlin-Levrone, the record-shattering Olympic and 2022 world gold medallist in the 400m hurdles, will run on Saturday at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting. It will mark McLaughlin-Levrone&rsquo;s second individual competition of the season, as she joins a number of other stars in beginning to ramp up toward qualifying for the Paris Olympics.&nbsp;
<div><a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-continental-tour/where-to-watch" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/662266efeb1fe998c3e66ae7.png" alt="CTG live stream - Inside Track" /></a>
&nbsp;
</div>
As a way to test her speed, she will be racing a different distance than is typical &ndash; and she is far from guaranteed to leave with a victory. Even amid a meeting where star power includes fellow Olympic gold medallists such as Sifan Hassan and Joshua Cheptegei, the intrigue will centre on McLaughlin-Levrone.
Prior to her season opener in April, the 24-year-old had not competed since last July&rsquo;s USA Championships because of an injury that led her to withdraw from the World Championships in Budapest. Her success in 2023 switching to the 400m &ndash; her 48.74 PB putting her at No.10 all time &ndash; has opened the possibilities for her upcoming season, including the Olympics.&nbsp;
At the Los Angeles Grand Prix, at least, her intent is clear: McLaughlin-Levrone will race the 200m. She joins a decorated field that includes Gabby Thomas, Abby Steiner and Jenna Prandini. The competition comes two weeks after McLaughlin-Levrone clocked a wind-assisted 22.38 (2.9m/s) at the Occidental Invitational, as well as 12.71 in the 100m hurdles. The 200m in Los Angeles will be highly anticipated because of how rarely she overlaps with Thomas, who won bronze in the event at the Tokyo Olympics and silver at last year&rsquo;s World Championships.&nbsp;
The race will be Thomas&rsquo;s second of the hour. Only 20 minutes before the 200m start, she will run the 100m in a field including Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith and Twanisha Terry. Letsile Tebogo will run his first 100m of the season to headline the men&rsquo;s sprint, with Kenny Bednarek &ndash; fresh off his world-leading 19.67 in the 200m at Doha &ndash; and Ackeem Blake representing his top challengers.
In the women&rsquo;s 400m, world champion Marileidy Paulino will go up against world 800m gold medallist Mary Moraa. Paulino opened her Diamond League title defence at April&rsquo;s stops in Xiamen and Suzhou, running 50.08 in Xiamen. Moraa, meanwhile, opened her season in March by running 50.57, and has since captured the Doha title at 800m.
While McLaughlin-Levrone races the 200m, the 400m hurdles in Los Angeles features her predecessor as world record-holder &ndash; Dalilah Muhammad &ndash; plus Anna Cockrell.
<h2>Distance night</h2>
The meeting begins on Friday with a distance festival headlined by a deep men&rsquo;s 5000m that is expected to be paced to go well under the Olympic standard of 13:05, and features several competitors who have regularly dipped into sub-13 territory. Cheptegei, the Ugandan Tokyo Olympics champion, three-time world champion and world record-holder, will make his season debut on the track. His competition will include Selemon Barega, the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist at 10,000m, as well as Jacob Kiplimo, Edwin Kurgat, Cooper Teare, Mo Ahmed, Cole Hocker and Abdihamid Nur. Barega, Nur, Kurgat, Ahmed and Kiplimo have already reached the Olympic standard.
Top US athletes dominate the fields of the pole vault. Two-time world indoor champion Sandi Morris leads the women&rsquo;s competition on Friday, with KC Lightfoot and Sam Kendricks &ndash; the No.4 and No.5 all time vaulters &ndash; joining Chris Nilsen in the men&rsquo;s field on Saturday.&nbsp;
This meeting was the site of Ryan Crouser&rsquo;s world record in the men&rsquo;s shot put last year, when his heave stretched the physical limits of the landing area. Though Crouser is not in the field this year, a showdown could still be expected between two-time world champion Joe Kovacs and 2017 world gold medallist Tom Walsh, as they attempt to eclipse Leonardo Fabbri&rsquo;s world-leading mark of 22.95m. Kovacs owns the third-farthest throw this season of 22.01m.
Though Hassan, the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist at 5000m and 10,000m, had initially been scheduled to contest the 5000m, she will run her first 1500m of the season in the meeting&rsquo;s final event in a showdown against Diribe Welteji, the world silver medallist in Budapest last year, with Elise Cranny and Kate Snowden also in the running. The race comes only six days after Hassan ran 14:58 unchallenged, essentially all by herself, in a 5000m at Occidental College in Los Angeles in what was her first race since the Tokyo Marathon.&nbsp;
The men&rsquo;s 1500m includes members of distance running&rsquo;s old guard and emerging talents. Matthew Centrowitz, the Rio Olympic 1500m gold medallist, said in March this will be his last season. In this race he will face 17-year-old Cameron Myers, who ran 3:33 in February, and 19-year-old Reynold Cheruiyot, whose already owns a personal best of 3:30.30 from last year. Also entered is Ollie Hoare, who has run sub-3:30.
The men&rsquo;s 400 will see Michael Norman return to a familiar discipline after he focused last year on the 100m, only for his season to be shortened by injury. Norman, the 2022 world champion at 400m, will face Kirani James and Vernon Norwood.
Andrew Greif for World Athletics

Global gold medallists and thrilling showdowns set to highlight the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event

McLaughlin-Levrone, Hassan and Cheptegei among stars in Los Angeles

A world U20 long jump record of 8.36m* by Mattia Furlani and a 22.95m shot put performance by Leonardo Fabbri were the standout results at the Savona International Meeting, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger event, on Wednesday (15).
Furlani soared a marginally wind-assisted 8.44m (2.2m/s) in Savona last year before jumping 8.34m indoors in Ancona in February, missing the world U20 record by a single centimetre.
But he has made history three months on, jumping 8.36m (1.4m/s) on his second attempt in Savona to add one centimetre to the previous world U20 record of 8.35m set by Russia&rsquo;s Sergey Morgunov in 2012.
The Italian 19-year-old opened his campaign with a leap of 8.25m and decided to pass his remaining four attempts after breaking the record.
&ldquo;Finally! I have been looking for this result for a long time and it means a lot,&rdquo; Furlani told the Italian athletics federation. &ldquo;It means that we are working well and on the right path, on the threshold of two very important events such as the European Championships in Rome and the Paris Olympics.&rdquo;
Fabbri was another athlete to make a big statement ahead of the continental event on home soil and the Olympic Games in Paris.&nbsp;
The world silver medallist, who also claimed world indoor bronze in March, added 7cm to his shot put PB with a 22.95m throw that improved the almost 37-year-old Italian record of 22.91m set by Alessandro Andrei.
Fabbri surpassed 22 metres with four of his attempts, also throwing 22.67m, 22.47m and 22.45m before his record-breaking 22.95m in the final round.
As well as it being a world lead and an Italian record, Fabbri&rsquo;s performance sees him replace Andrei at No.5 on the world all-time list behind only Ryan Crouser, Joe Kovacs, Randy Barnes and Ulf Timmermann.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
💪 IL VIDEO DEL 22.95 DI FABBRI L&rsquo;abbraccio pi&ugrave; bello, quello tra Leonardo Fabbri e Paolo Dal Soglio! 22,95 a Savona nel peso, battuto Andrei dopo 37 anni, Leo diventa il quinto al mondo di ogni epoca, il secondo di sempre in Europa 🔴🎥 Atletica Italiana<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/atleticaitaliana?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#atleticaitaliana</a> <a href="https://t.co/fU3cUiulG4">pic.twitter.com/fU3cUiulG4</a>
&mdash; Atletica Italiana (@atleticaitalia) <a href="https://twitter.com/atleticaitalia/status/1790816523373740088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
Another Italian record fell in the women&rsquo;s 100m and it fell twice. First Zaynab Dosso clocked 11.12 (1.4m/s) in the heats to take 0.02 off the national record she had jointly held with Manuela Levorato, before the world indoor 60m bronze medallist improved again to 11.02 (0.9m/s) to win the final.
In the men&rsquo;s 400m, Great Britain&rsquo;s Charlie Dobson followed his strong mixed 4x400m performances at the World Athletics Relays Bahamas 24 with an individual season opener of 44.46 to improve his PB by more than half a second.
In the women&rsquo;s race, Ireland&rsquo;s Sharlene Mawdsley ran 51.43 to win just ahead of Great Britain&rsquo;s world and Olympic 800m silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson, who ran a PB of 51.61 on her season debut.
Her compatriot Jeremiah Azu won the men&rsquo;s 100m final in 10.08, while Jamaica&rsquo;s Omar McLeod took the 110m hurdles in 13.37 and Britany Anderson won the 100m hurdles in 12.88.
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7205385?eventId=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure

A world U20 long jump record of 8.36m by Mattia Furlani and a 22.95m shot put performance by Leonardo Fabbri were the standout results at the Continental Tour Challenger event

Furlani jumps world U20 record, Fabbri throws 22.95m in Savona

Global gold medallists Molly Caudery and Andre De Grasse are among the athletes announced for the Ostrava Golden Spike, with less than two weeks to go to the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting.
A top javelin clash has also been confirmed for the event on 28 May, with Neeraj Chopra, Jakub Vadlejch and Anderson Peters renewing their rivalry in Czechia.
After winning world indoor pole vault gold in Glasgow in March, Great Britain&rsquo;s Caudery enjoyed a successful start to her outdoor campaign as she won on her season opener in Doha.
At that Diamond League meeting the 24-year-old cleared 4.73m and won on countback from world champion Nina Kennedy. In Ostrava her competition will include Czech record-holder Amalie Svabikova, last year&rsquo;s Golden Spike winner Tina Sutej and 2016 Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi.
Canada&rsquo;s De Grasse is the Olympic 200m champion who most recently helped his nation qualify for the men&rsquo;s 4x100m at the Paris Olympics with their performance at the World Athletics Relays Bahamas 24.
In Ostrava he will race the 100m, going up against another Olympic gold medallist &ndash; the already announced Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs.
Also named for the field are Trayvon Bromell, Ryiem Forde and Reece Prescod.
After taking the top three spots at the Doha Diamond League, the global gold medal trio of Vadlejch, Chopra and Peters will clash again at the Ostrava Golden Spike.
In Doha, Czechia&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Vadlejch prevailed, throwing 88.38m to win by just 2cm ahead of India&rsquo;s Olympic and world champion Chopra. Grenada's two-time world gold medallist Peters was third with a 86.62m throw.
In Ostrava, they will join the already announced Mondo Duplantis, Gianmarco Tamberi, Haruka Kitaguchi, Steven Gardiner and Ewa Swoboda.

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