Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Femke Bol both bounced back from Olympic disappointment with meeting records at the Wanda Diamond League Lausanne on Thursday, while Botswana’s gold medallist Letsile Tebogo continued his fine form with victory in the men’s 200m.
Just two weeks after her defeat Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the Olympic final, Dutch star Bol blew away the Paris blues with an impressive 52.25 at the Athletissima meeting, claiming her fourth successive win in Lausanne and breaking her own meeting record in the process.
Distance star Ingebrigtsen also restored some wounded pride as he went up against the USA’s Cole Hocker, who had sensationally beaten him to the 1500m gold medal in Paris. In Lausanne, Ingebrigtsen reasserted himself in lordly fashion as he finished 10 metres clear in 3:27.83 – one of five meeting records set.
The 2021 Olympic 1500m champion, who earned the enormous consolation of a 5000m gold in Paris, led at the bell as the second pacemaker dropped off, with Hocker and US teammate Hobbs Kessler close behind him.
But as the trio made their way round the final bend, the Norwegian managed to create a five-metre lead that had doubled by the time he crossed the line, with Hocker coming through for second place in 3:29.85 and Kessler finishing third in 3:30.47.
“It´s been almost two weeks since Paris so there was plenty of time to recover,” Ingebrigtsen said. “Tonight´s race gave me good answers and I´m looking forward to building on this for my next race on Sunday and the rest of the season.”
Tebogo returned to action in awesome fashion, winning the 200m with apparent ease in 19.64 on the uniquely broad and gentle bend of this stadium.
He was followed home by USA’s Erriyon Knighton in 19.78, with Olympic 100m bronze medallist Fred Kerley finishing third in a season’s best of 19.86.
The day before, Tebogo had confessed with a smile that he had not trained for eight days…
“It was a great race for me here today in Lausanne, to be able to return here the following year is very cool to me,” he said.