Keely Hodgkinson lowered her personal best and British record with a brilliant performance in the 800 metres at the Diamond League meeting in Paris.
Hodgkinson followed the pacemaker before striking for home 300m from the line, eventually clocking a time of one minute 55.77 seconds, taking 0.11secs off her previous best set in winning Olympic silver in Tokyo.
“I am a little bit shocked that I ran so fast,” the 21-year-old said. “Paris next year, I will definitely be back.
“The weather was really nice, so warm. I had heard good things about the track. With this full stadium and the great crowd, it was amazing. I am so happy.
“Now the aim is to stay healthy, we still have to see, I want to keep running fast. The focus is on the summer, on Budapest (the World Championships).
“What is next with such a fast time early in the season? Well, I do not know. Hopefully I will run even faster.”
Hodgkinson’s record-breaking run came just half an hour after Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen smashed the two-mile world record by more than four seconds.
Ingebrigtsen left the field trailing in his wake as he recorded a time of seven minutes, 54.10 seconds.
The previous mark was set by Daniel Komen in 1997, three years before Olympic 1,500 metre champion Ingebrigtsen was born.
Records continued to tumble as Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon set a new world’s best for the 5,000m, just a week after doing the same in the 1,500m in Florence.
Kipyegon produced a blistering last lap to pull away from Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey and clock a time of 14:05.20, taking almost a second and a half off Gidey’s previous mark.
Shericka Jackson on the verge of becoming the greatest women combined sprinter of all time
Two-time world 200m champion Shericka Jackson is now the second-best female combined sprinter of all time and could soon to become the greatest of all time if she runs faster in the 100m, 200m or 400m in the coming season.
As at the end of the 2022/2023 season when she won her second 200m world title in championship record time of 21.41 at the World Championships, Jackson now boasts personal best time of 10.65 in the 200m, 21.41 in the 200m and 49.47 in the 400m.
The super-talented Jamaican, who is also the only athlete to win global medals in all three events, has amassed ranking points of 1277 for her lifetime best of 10.65 in the 100m, 1301 for her national record time of 21.41 in the 200m and 1227 for her personal best 49.47 in the 400m for a tally of 3805 points.
Only one woman has more points and that is Germany’s Marita Koch, who ran times of 10.83 for the 100m, 21.71 for the 200m and a remarkable 47.60, the world record, for the 400m for a total of 3809 points.
It was not that long ago that Jackson was further down the list behind the likes of Florence Griffith-Joyner (3), Marion Jones (4), Shaunae Miller-Uibo (5), Allyson Felix (6), Gwen Torrence (7) and Marie Jose Perec, (8) all of whom are ranked among the top 10 best combined sprinters in history.
She is the highest-ranked Jamaican with the iconic Merlene Ottey (10.74/21.64/51.12) ranked 13th, Grace Jackson (11.08/21.72/49.57) ranked 16th and Veronica Campbell-Brown (10.76/21.74/52.24) ranked 22nd.
In fact, in 2021, Jackson was 21st in the list before her outstanding performances over the last three seasons saw her rocket up the list to the number two slot. In 2021, Jackson has lifetimes bests of 10.76/21.81/49.47 for the 100m, 200m and 400m, respectively.
Breaking the world record of 21.34 in the 200m, a goal that is well within her reach, dipping under 10.60 for the 100m or running 48 seconds over the 400m and she will take her rightful place of Greatest Of All Time among women combined sprinters.
Dafne Schippers' race 'stops here': Two-time world champion, hampered by injury, hangs up her spikes
Two-time 200m world champion Dafne Schippers, who famously chased down and beat Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah at the line in the finals at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China, has retired.
The 31-year-old Dutchwoman, who won a silver medal in the 100m final behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce that year, has been plagued by injury over the past few years, impairing her ability to compete at the highest level.
On Tuesday, she announced on Instagram that her race has been run.
“The race stops here,” she announced.
“As an athlete, you always know this day will come, that at one point, your career will be a moment in time—a collection of memories and hopefully medals. Today, I have decided to take my life off track to pursue and embrace whatever comes next, but not without saying a massive thank you for all the endless support. It has been a journey without regret.”
She expressed gratitude to all who have supported in a career that did not quite materialize in the way she would have liked.
“My family, my team, my fans, and my sponsors, you made it all worthwhile.”
At her peak, Schippers was among the greatest ever short sprinters.
She set a championship record of 21.63 in Beijing after chasing down Thompson-Herah and nipping the Jamaican, who ran a then personal best of 21.66, at the line. Veronica Campbell-Brown was third in 21.97.
At the time, Schippers’ time was the third-fastest ever run over the half-lap sprint. Only Florence Griffith-Joyner (21.34) and Marion Jones (21.62) had run faster. The Dutchwoman had earlier run a lifetime best 10.81 to win the silver medal behind Fraser-Pryce in the 100m final.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Schippers won the silver medal behind Thompson-Herah in the 200m, running a time of 21.88. She was a disappointing fifth in the 100m final due to injury. She won the 200m world title at the 2017 World Championships and was third in the 100m.
An adductor injury forced her to withdraw from the 2019 World Championships in Doha and persistent back injuries limited her ability to compete internationally for more than a year. She last raced in the 100m in Belgium in July 2022 finishing second in her heat in 11.37.
Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan in ‘perfect’ condition for rest of World Cup
First-choice Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan is raring to go for the remainder of the Rugby World Cup after declaring his body is in “perfect” condition.
Question marks initially surrounded Sheehan’s participation in the tournament after he limped off with a foot issue during his country’s warm-up win over England on August 19.
The 25-year-old sat out bonus-point wins over Romania and Tonga before making his World Cup debut as a second-half replacement during Saturday evening’s memorable Pool B triumph over South Africa in Paris.
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Fit-again Sheehan is targeting further action when Ireland return to Stade de France on October 7 seeking to secure progression to the knockout stages in a “massive” clash with Scotland.
“For a first experience of a World Cup game, it doesn’t get much better, I don’t think, especially in a crowd like that,” he said, after his side were backed by tens of thousands of Irish fans against the Springboks.
“It’s definitely the best atmosphere I’ve played in. We fed off that a good bit.
“My body’s perfect now. I had a few weeks there where the medical staff did a great job to get me back in this time but I’ve no complaints at all now so I’ll be looking to get back into the squad.”
Victory over South Africa put Ireland in control of Pool B and propelled them to the cusp of the quarter-finals.
Yet Andy Farrell’s men, who are due to reconvene on Wednesday following a few days off, still have work to do to prevent a pool-stage exit.
Asked how much pressure beating the reigning champions takes off the Scotland match, Sheehan replied: “None. The job’s not done.
“We have a bit of luxury now that we have two weeks to lead up into the Scotland game but we can’t afford to take the foot off the gas at all.
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“The Scotland game is going to be massive. That’s obviously a massive win for us but nothing’s guaranteed at all so all eyes on Scotland now.”
The world’s number one team have won 16 matches in a row and suffered just two defeats in their last 30 outings.
Sheehan believes the remarkable run of results have helped enhance the unity in Ireland’s camp but insists Farrell’s squad must remain grounded.
“I think all of these big games bring you closer,” said the Leinster player, who is competing with provincial team-mate Ronan Kelleher and Ulster’s Rob Herring for a starting spot. “They add to the trust within the group.
“It definitely brings you tighter but you need to make sure you don’t get ahead of yourself and there’s a job to be done now against Scotland.
“We’ve huge confidence in our game plan and our approach to the games is really good. Our week’s prep has been on point for every game that we’ve won.
“We just double down on what we’re good at. We’re in a good place now and we just need to keep going.”
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