Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred put together one of the fastest women’s 200-metre performances in history on Friday, clocking 21.51 seconds at the Monaco Diamond League meet to claim victory and cement her place as the third-fastest woman ever over the distance.
Alfred struggled off the starting blocks but made up ground dramatically over the final 50 metres, ultimately setting a new world lead for the season. She finished 0.25 seconds ahead of Adaejah Hodge of the British Virgin Islands, with American Gabby Thomas — who beat Alfred for the gold medal at the Paris Games — finishing third in 21.84.
“It’s not about the reaction time, it’s about how you finish,” said Alfred, who is also the Olympic champion in the 100m. “I didn’t realise how fast it was until I crossed the line.”
In the men’s 100m, Jamaica’s world champion Oblique Seville looked dominant from start to finish, holding off a late challenge to win in 9.88 seconds. Seville had placed second earlier this month in Eugene but left no doubt in Monaco. American Jordan Anthony was second in 9.92, and Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme took third in 10.00.
One of the evening’s most remarkable moments came in the rarely run 1,000 metres, where Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi shattered the world record on his very first attempt at the event. The Olympic 800m champion finished in 2 minutes and 11.83 seconds, trimming 0.13 seconds off the previous mark set by fellow Kenyan Noah Ngeny 27 years ago. Britain’s Jake Wightman came in nearly a full second behind in second place, with Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati finishing third.
Botswana’s world champion Busang Collen Kebinatshipi continued his dominant 2025 campaign in the 400m, claiming his fifth consecutive Diamond League win in the event with a time of 43.44 seconds. Americans Jacory Patterson (43.96) and Rai Benjamin (44.13) rounded out the top three.
“I did not expect me to be fast like this. We are just playing around and see how fast we can go towards the end of the season,” Kebinatshipi said. “My focus now is on the 400m but maybe in the future, when I achieve what I want in this event, we can switch to 200m.”
Dominican runner Marileidy Paulino stayed perfect on the season, taking the women’s 400m in 48.67 seconds. American Aaliyah Butler was second in 48.84, and Czech athlete Lurdes Gloria Manuel placed third in 49.44.
American Olympic champion Masai Russell continued her impressive season with a 12.20-second win in the 100m hurdles, finishing 0.18 seconds ahead of fellow American Alaysha Johnson. The Netherlands’ Nadine Visser was third in 12.49.
Switzerland’s Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu edged American Graham Blanks by just six hundredths of a second in the men’s 5,000m, winning in 12:52.54 after overtaking Blanks in the final strides. Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew finished third in 12:52.91.
In the field events, Australia’s Nina Kennedy soared to a 4.95-metre clearance in the women’s pole vault, setting the new world lead and becoming just the sixth woman in history to reach that height. The Paris Olympic champion had missed nearly all of the 2025 season due to leg injuries before her return at the Rabat Diamond League in May. She made an attempt at the five-metre mark before ending her night.
Meanwhile, Mondo Duplantis — who regularly draws crowds hoping to witness another world record — won the men’s pole vault with a leap of 6.07 metres, though he was unable to clear 6.15 on three attempts.
China’s 18-year-old Yan Ziyi won the women’s javelin with a throw of 68.75 metres, while Cuba’s reigning world champion Leyanis Perez took the women’s triple jump with a mark of 15.06 metres. Greece’s two-time Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou won the men’s long jump with 8.61 metres, and Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk topped the men’s high jump at 2.32 metres.
