Canadians Marco Arop and Alysha Newman both earned bronze medals in their respective events Saturday at the Diamond League Final event in Brussels.
Arop, the Olympic silver medallist in Paris, got off to an early lead in the men’s 800 metres but ultimately faded en route to a time of one minute 43.25 seconds.
Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi, who captured Olympic gold, surged in the final lap to overtake both Arop and Algerian Djamel Sedjati to win in 1:42.70. Sedjati took second in 1:42.86.
“The last meters were very hard, they always are,” Wanyonyi said. “But I worked hard for it and I’m happy that I made it.”
Edmonton’s Arop arrived in Brussels brimming with confidence after lowering his national record to two minutes 13.13 seconds across 1,000 metres for the meet record at a World Athletics Continental Tour event in Zagreb, Croatia last Sunday.
But the Canadian couldn’t keep his lead on the final lap. Instead, Wanyonyi continued his winning ways and also defended his Diamond League Final title, where he defeated Arop by 5-100ths in Eugene, Ore.
WATCH | Arop loses lead on final lap:
Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop finished 3rd in the men’s 800m at the Diamond League Final in Brussels, Belgium. He finished in a time of 1:43.25, behind Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Algerian Djamel Sedjati.
Newman takes 3rd
Olympic bronze medallist Newman finished third in the women’s pole vault competition. The London, Ont., native cleared a height of 4.80 metres.
Olympic champion Nina Kennedy, of Australia, won the Diamond League title by clearing 4.88. American Sandi Morris earned the silver (4.80).
Newman, 30, was competing in her fourth Diamond League Final but first since 2019.
Last week, she cleared 4.82 for second place behind Kennedy at the Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League event.
WATCH | Newman reaches podium:
Alysha Newman continued her comeback season with a 3rd place in the Diamond League Final held in Brussels Belgium. The London, On. native cleared a height of 4.80m to finish in third place behind Australia’s Nina Kennedy and American Sandi Morris.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon padded her remarkable winning streak over 1,500m with her fifth Diamond League season title at the series finale, while compatriot Beatrice Chebet nearly crashed into a photographer en route to her 5,000.
The 30-year-old Kipyegon, who has not lost over the distance since 2021, took the lead just before the final lap and then held off a challenge from Diribe Welteji to cross the line in three minutes 54.75 seconds. Welteji clocked 3:55.25.
Kipyegon, the world record holder and three-times reigning Olympic champion in the 1,500, smiled and held up five fingers after securing the win.
Other winners included Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi, who followed up her Olympic javelin gold medal with victory on her final throw, and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos and Femke Bol of the Netherlands, who won men’s and women’s 400 hurdles respectively.
American Brittany Brown raced to victory in the women’s 200 while Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico capped her perfect Diamond League season by winning the women’s 100 hurdles.
WATCH | Brown takes 200m title:
American sprinter Brittany Brown was the class of the field winning the women’s 200m event with a time of 22.20 seconds at the Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium.
