Jemma Reekie grabs Diamond League glory at 800m in Rome

Scot beats compatriot Laura Muir into third place

Jemma Reekie, right, wins the women's 800m. Picture: Gregorio Borgia/AP

Jemma Reekie beat her training partner Laura Muir to surge to another 800 metres success at the Diamond League event in Rome.

Reekie rounded off a tactical battle with a winning sprint over the last 200 metres which saw her cross the line in one minute 59.76 seconds, ahead of Norway’s Hedda Hynne with Muir in third.

It was Reekie’s seventh sub-two minute 800m run of the year and maintained her dominance in the event, in which she has won all but one of her seven outings in 2020.

Andrew Pozzi was another British winner on the night as he triumphed in the men’s 110 metres hurdles in a time of 13.15 seconds, just 0.01 off his personal best.

Meanwhile, Mondo Duplantis beat Sergey Bubka’s 26-year-old outdoor pole vault world record by clearing 6.15m at his second attempt.

Duplantis, who already holds the indoor world record of 6.18m, broke the mark with apparent ease to round off an unbeaten season in style.

The highly-anticipated men’s 3,000m did not disappoint as Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda out-sprinted Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway. The pair recorded times of 7mins 26.64secs and 7:27.05 respectively – eighth and ninth 
fastest on the world all-time rankings.

Both were also national records for the athletes, who remarkably, are still teenagers although Kiplimo turns 20 in November and Ingebrigtsen hits 20 tomorrow.

Irish pacemaker Sean Tobin led the runners through the first mile in 3:59.6 before peeling off with just over three laps to go.

Australia’s Stewy McSweyn, on his way to an Oceania record, then took the lead and towed Ingebrigtsen and Kiplimo through 2,000m in 4:59. Ingebrigtsen took control just before the bell and looked strong coming into the home straight but Kiplimo kicked with 60m to go to ease past the Norwegian.

The only runners who have now gone quicker at 3000m are Daniel Komen with the world record of 7:20.67, Hicham El Guerrouj, Ali Saidi-Sief, Haile Gebrselassie, Noureddine Morceli, Kenenisa Bekele and Mohammed Mourhit.

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