Marco Arop extends streak with 800m victory at Xiamen Diamond League season opener

Marco Arop saw an imme‐ diate payoff after cutting short his indoor track sea‐ son to transition to hill work and increase his mileage ahead of the out‐ door campaign.

The Edmonton middledistance runner didn't set his third Canadian record of 2024 but extended his indi‐ vidual win streak to four on Saturday, leading the men's 800 metres from start to fin‐ ish season and posting a world-leading time of one minute 43.61 seconds at the Diamond League season opener in Xiamen, China.

But not long after Arop's achievement, Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya grabbed the world lead, winning in 1:43.57 at the Kip Keino Clas‐ sic World Continental Tour Gold meet in Nairobi, Kenya.

Wyclife Kinyamal of Kenya made a valiant attempt to pass Arop, cutting the Cana‐ dian's lead with 200 metres to go and further closing the gap down the final stretch but was edged at the finish, stopping the clock in 1:43.66. Tshepiso Masalela of Botswana was third in 1:43.88.

His teammate, Kethobogile Haingura, held the previous world lead of 1:43.94 while Wanyonyi maintained the meet record of 1:43.20 from last Sept. 2.

Arop noted the time is strong early in an Olympic year. It was his fastest sea‐ son opener after going 1:46.34 at the Rabat Dia‐ mond League a year ago in

Morocco and 1:49.51 and 1:44.76 in each of the previ‐ ous two years.

"I had an idea of what sort of shape I was in and this race confirmed it," Arop, who ran a then-1:43.24 personal best last year in Xiamen, told CBC Sports. "I felt comfort‐ able and thought I did a great job staying composed at the end."

WATCH | Arop grabs ear‐ ly lead on way to seasonopening 800m victory in China:

Arop revealed he entered Saturday's race with a mustwin mentality.

"Even though it's early in the [outdoor] season, I be‐ lieve the momentum that comes from winning is cruci‐ al if I want to be successful [at the Olympics] in Paris [this summer]," he said.

The 25-year-old ran to a pair of Canadian marks in the span of a week to open his indoor season in the 800 and 1,000, finishing 54-100ths of a second shy of the world record in the latter event on Feb. 4 in Boston.

The reigning world cham‐ pion has yet to appear in an Olympic final. He was sev‐ enth (1:44.90) in the semifi‐ nals three years ago in Tokyo, finishing 16-100ths of a sec‐ ond behind Kenya's Em‐ manuel Korir - the final quali‐ fier for the final -and placed 14th overall in a field of 24.

WATCH | Arop captures 2023 world championship gold in Budapest, Hungary:

At the 2023 Diamond League Final, Arop lowered his personal best to 1:42.85, breaking Brandon McBride's 1:43:20 national mark from 2018 in a second-place finish.

Arop also took charge ear‐ ly in that race, moving to the front of the pack behind pacer and training partner Navasky Anderson. He held on until halfway down the straight at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., where Wany‐ onyi passed him to reach the finish in a meet record and then-world-leading 1:42.80.

WATCH | Arop's Canadi‐ an-record run at 2023 Dia‐ mond League Final:

Arop will race next Satur‐ day at the Adidas headquar‐ ters in Nuremburg, Germany before joining sprinters Aaron Brown, Ibrahim Ay‐ orinde, Callum Robinson and others at the World Relays in May.

In the Bahamas, he will try to help Canada qualify a men's 4x400 relay team for the Olympics for the first time in 32 years. They need a top-14 placing after earning the 32nd and final qualifying spot last month in Gainesvil‐ le, Fla., where he also won the men's 1,500.

Arop will return home for the Edmonton Athletics Invi‐ tational on June 13, two weeks before he competes at the Canadian Olympic trials in Montreal.

Shot putter Sarah Mitton and steeplechase runner Re‐ gan Yee also represented Canada at Egret Stadium in Xiamen.

Mitton, who twice broke a Canadian record on her way to women's gold at the World Athletics Indoor Champi‐ onships last month in Glas‐ gow, was fourth on Saturday with a best throw of 19.35 metres on the second of her five attempts.

The 27-year-old from Brooklyn, N.S., who is ranked second in the world, opened the competition at 19.05 and later delivered a 19.06 effort between a pair of sub-19 throws (18.89, 18.75).

Reigning Olympic champi‐ on Gong Lijiao was victorious before the home crowd with a 19.72 performance, fol‐ lowed by Maddison-Lee Wesche of New Zealand, who turned in a 19.63 PB. Topranked Chase Jackson of the United States, the 2023 world champion, was third (19.62).

Yee rebounds from '23 steeplechase opener

Yee placed eighth of 14 women in the 3,000 steeple‐ chase in 9:31.47, nearly nine seconds faster than her 2023 Diamond League opener (9:40.04) at the Golden Gala in Florence, Italy, where she was 13th.

Beatrice Chepkoech and Faith Cherotich of Kenya, who captured world silver and bronze last summer, were 1-2 on Saturday in 8:55.40 and 9:05.49, respec‐ tively. Chepkoech, who en‐ tered the race with a worldleading 9:15.61, also set the meet record. Peruth Chemu‐ tai of Uganda was third (9:12.99).

Ree, who grew up in South Hazelton, B.C., was coming off an indoor season that featured PBs in across four flat distances in the 1,500, mile, 3,000 and 5,000.

"I'm probably in the best place fitness-wise that I've [ever] been at this time of year," Yee told CBC Sports this week. Since October 2022, the second-year pro has lived in Flagstaff, Ariz., where she trains with the Un‐ der Armour-sponsored Dark Sky Mission Project running group.

Ree and Mitton are the lone Canadians entered in the second leg of the China Diamond League next Satur‐ day in Suzhou.

WATCH | Chepkoech runs to sub-9-minute meet record in Xiamen:

Duplantis raises his pole vault world mark to 6.24m

Sweden's Armand Duplan‐ tis broke his own world record in the pole vault when he cleared 6.24 metres.

He told a pre-meet news conference he never puts limits on himself and was al‐ ways capable of a record.

The Olympic and two-time world champion proved that Saturday, setting a world record for the eighth time in his career as he surpassed the mark of 6.23 he set last September at the Diamond League Final. meet in Eu‐ gene, Ore.

"This is my first time in China and it's exciting to get my season going," the 24year-old Duplantis said. "There's definitely more to give. I don't think the jump‐ ing was really perfect today even leading up to the 6.24. The 6.24 felt really nice.

"I think there's still some way to go and still more to push and some higher heights in me for sure."

WATCH | Duplantis clears 6.24m to win men's pole vault:

Known as Mondo, Duplan‐ tis entered the competition at 5.62 and also cleared 5.82 and 6 before attempting the record and clearing it at his first try.

American Sam Kendricks placed second at 5.82, fol‐ lowed by Huang Bokai of China at 5.72.

Saturday's other no‐ table results:

The night finished with Christian Coleman win‐ ning the 100 in 10.13 seconds from fellow American Fred Kerley, who was second in 10.17. Ackeem Blake of Jamaica was third in 10.20.

WATCH | Coleman grabs bragging rights from fellow American Kerley in men's 100m:

In an upset in the wom‐ en's 200, 19-year-old Australian Torrie Lewis beat 100 world champi‐ on Sha'Carri Richardson in a tight finish. Lewis, running in the outside lane, won in 22.96 sec‐ onds, holding off Richardson in 22.99. Gu‐ daf Tsegay, who holds the world record in the women's 5,000, ran the third-fastest time in the history of the women's 1,500, prevailing in 3:50.30 seconds. Fellow Ethiopians Birke Hay‐ lom and Worknesh Mesele were second and third. World champion Marileidy Paulino won the women's 400 in

50.08 seconds, holding off Natalia Kaczmarek and Britton Wilson. Olympic gold medallist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won the women's 100 hurdles in 12.45 sec‐ onds, edging Devynne Charlton and Cyrena Samba-Mayela.

Katzberg tops his Canadian hammer throw record

Elsewhere, Ethan Katzberg, who won the ham‐ mer throw at the Meeting de Paris Diamond League event last June, took the men's event at the Kip Keino Classic Saturday with a 84.38m PB.

The 2023 world champion defeated Ukraine's Mykhalo Kokhan (80.76) and Poland's Wojciech Nowicki (79.14) in his season opener at Nyayo National Stadium.

Katzberg was second (76.38) in last year's competi‐ tion, won by Wojciech (79.78), and went on to win eight times in 14 events last sea‐ son.

Last Aug. 20, the Nanaimo, B.C., won gold in his worlds debut with a Cana‐ dian record of 81.25 in Bu‐ dapest, Hungary to beat Nowicki, the 2021 Olympic champion.

Katzberg, 22, completed his standout season on Nov. 4, winning at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.