2017 World 100m Silver medallist Christian Coleman is currently the delight of the sprinting world as he stormed to victory in the men’s 60m race in 6.46s on Saturday while competing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, Massachusetts, which is the fourth leg of the IAAF World Indoor Tour .
Coleman, who is making is World Indoor Tour debut, didn’t face any stiff competition during the race as his closest challenger, China’s Xie Zhenye, placed 2nd with a time of 6.54s. IAAF Diamond League 200m Champion, Noah Lyles finished 3rd in three hundredths of a second behind Zhenye.
Like in Düsseldorf, the women’s 60m Hurdles was a tale of tiny margins between the duo of Christina Manning and Sharika Nelvis. The race lived up to its pre-meet hype, with both of them returning a time of 7.89s. However, it was Nelvis that was given the nod for the 1st position, with Manning settling for 2nd. Jasmine Stowers placed 3rd in 7.98s.
Following their 1-2 finish in the race, Christina Manning says there’s only one aim this indoor season: “We want to go one and two in Birmingham”.
There was a huge upset in the women’s 400m, as reigning World Champion Phyllis Francis was beaten to 1st position by her compatriot Shakima Wimbley. Wimbley won the race in a time of 51.85s. Francis, who was in the lead until after the first lap, placed 2nd, with Natasha Hastings coming in 3rd.
In the men’s 3000m, Edward Cheserek was a mile apart from the rest of the field as he stunned the pre-race favourites- Dejen Gebremeskel and Hagos Gebrehiwet, to claim victory in 7:38.74. Cheserek continued his impressive winning streak in the long distance event, after he had produced the second-fastest indoor time in history, 3:49.44, to win the mile at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston on Friday.
Also, the women’s 3000m – which wasn’t a World Indoor Tour scoring event, was a sight to behold as it pitted the current world steeplechase champion Emma Coburn and 2011 World 1500m Champion, Jenny Simpson against each other. However, it was Simpson who had the last laugh as she emerged victorious in a time of 8:40.31.
It was an intriguing race in the men’s 800m as Donavan Brazier clinched victory in a time 1:45.11. Brazier whose 1:45.35 run in New York put him 3rd on the 2018 performance list, sees his current time take him a notch higher on the world rankings. Meanwhile reigning World Indoor Champion Boris Berian could only manage a 7th place finish in the race.
Furthermore, Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum beat the rest of the field to win the women’s 1500m in a time of 4:04.38, while Trinidad and Tobago’s Deon Lendore clinched victory in the men’s 400m.
On the field, Nigeria’s Doreen Amata came back to active competition at the meet, as she finished 2nd in the women’s High Jump while recording a jump of 1.88m. Sweden’s Erika Kinsey won the event with a mark of 1.91m.
The next stop of the IAAF World Indoor tours would be on the 15th of February at the Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland.
