Wanyonyi breaks 27-year-old 1,000m world record, Alfred runs third-fastest 200m in Monaco Diamond League

World record falls in Monaco

Wanyonyi, 21, the Olympic and world 800m champion from Kenya, clocked 2:11.83 in the men's 1,000m at the Herculis Diamond League meeting in Monaco on Friday, erasing the oldest men's track world record. The previous mark of 2:11.96 had been set by his compatriot Noah Ngeny in Rieti, Italy, in September 1999, the year Wanyonyi was born. This was Wanyonyi's first competitive outing over the distance. He followed the pacemakers through 400m in 50.95 seconds and 800m in 1:45.11 before pulling away. Britain's Jake Wightman, the 2022 world 1,500m champion, finished second in 2:12.77, moving to fifth on the all-time list. Algeria's Djamel Sedjati took third in 2:13.94.

I am so excited and so happy that I could run today in Monaco. This was the first time I ran the 1,000m, and breaking the World Record makes me so happy. I want to thank the other athletes to push me to my limit.

Wightman said he had aimed to challenge Wanyonyi on the last lap. "I wanted to go really, really quick and I knew Wanyonyi would be tough over one kilometer, but I did not know how it would be in the last 200m, so I hoped I could maybe get my finish strong. I was nearly there. I am in a good spot, one of my best runs I've probably had this year."

Alfred flies to all-time third in 200m

Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred, the reigning Olympic 100m champion, stormed to a personal best of 21.51 seconds in the 200m (+0.9 m/s wind), the third-fastest performance in history. Only the world record of Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34, 1988) and Shericka Jackson's 21.41 from the 2023 World Championships are quicker. American Gabby Thomas, the Olympic 200m champion, was a distant third in 21.84, behind Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands (21.76).

I wasn't aware how fast I'd been until I crossed the line. I saw the time, that's why I started screaming like at the Olympics. I've been waiting for this, I have no limits right now.

Other notable results

Jamaican world 100m champion Oblique Seville won the men's 100m in a season's best 9.88, 0.04 seconds ahead of American Jordan Anthony (9.92). Botswana's Collen Kebinatshipi, the world 400m champion and a rising star, clocked a stunning 43.44 seconds to smash his own Diamond League record and tie Matthew Hudson-Smith for joint-sixth on the all-time list. He beat runner-up Jacory Patterson (43.96) by over half a second.

In the field, Sweden's Armand Duplantis, who recently relocated to Monaco, won the men's pole vault with a clearance of 6.07m but did not attempt a world record. Australian Nina Kennedy set an Oceanic record of 4.95m in the women's pole vault, surpassing Eliza McCartney's 2018 mark and recording the highest vault since Anzhelika Sidorova jumped 5.01m in September 2021.

What's next for Wanyonyi

Wanyonyi, who holds a personal best of 1:41.11 over 800m, plans to skip the Commonwealth Games in Scotland next month and focus on the 800m world record later this summer. He remained coy about David Rudisha's 1:40.91 world record but said, "Actions speak louder than words."

A Monaco tradition of records

Monaco's Stade Louis II has now hosted seven world records since 2015, all in middle and long-distance events. The meeting's mid-season timing, calm weather and fast track regularly produce exceptional performances. Friday's record was the first in the men's 1,000m since Ngeny's run 27 years ago.