Jessie Knight, Sam Kendricks and Imani-Lara Lansiquot are also among the winners at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial
Britain’s Jemma Reekie once again unleashed her now trademark killer kick to claim her third win in a week, this time securing 800m victory at the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial in Chorzów, Poland, on Tuesday evening.
After her 1500m win in Bydgoszcz and triumph over two laps in Stockholm, the Scot was back racing the 800m at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting and crossed the finish line in an outdoor PB and world-leading time of 1:58.63 for a clear victory ahead of Poland’s Sofia Ennaoui with 2:00.12.
Germany’s Christina Hering was third in 2:00.47 while Britain’s Shelayna Oskan-Clarke was 10th in 2:02.73.
Reekie’s previous best was the 1:59.52 she ran in Trieste at the start of August, while the double European under-23 champion’s overall PB is the British indoor record of 1:57.91 she ran in Glasgow in February.
Her time in Chorzów improves the British outdoor under-23 record which had been 1:59.05 set by Christina Boxer in 1979.
Another impressive run by @JemmaReekie over in Chorzow. She clocks an outdoor PB and world lead of 1:58.63 (previous best 1:59.52 in Trieste, indoor PB 1:57.91) to win the 800m ahead of Sofia Ennaoui with 2:00.12.
Photo from @sport_tvppl live stream: https://t.co/6xaqCtJMUu pic.twitter.com/rhnYhSm2hd
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) August 25, 2020
The men’s race was won by Kenya’s world bronze medallist Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich as he came through to pip Puerto Rico’s Wesley Vázquez, 1:45.34 to 1:45.54.
Britain’s Jake Wightman was unable to hold on to third as Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski and Adam Kszczot both came past him, running 1:45.79 and 1:46.05 respectively, as Wightman finished fifth in 1:46.11.
Over in the javelin Germany’s 2017 world champion Johannes Vetter had a superb series of throws, his best of 90.86m coming in the second round to secure victory. The 2020 world leader with 91.49m from Turku also threw 90.00m, 89.00m, 86.81m and 86.40m in Chorzów.
Vítězslav Veselý was second with a best of 82.94m.
Britain’s Jessie Knight maintained her winning streak in the 400m hurdles, claiming her fourth victory this month. After wins in Nuneaton, Szczecin and Brussels, where she clocked a PB of 55.27, this time she ran 55.44 to cross the finish line well clear ahead of Belgium’s Paulien Couckuyt who clocked 56.60 and Poland’s Joanna Linkiewicz with 56.61.
After her fine performances over 400m this summer and following the British Championships at the start of next month, Knight is set to drop down in distance and race the 300m hurdles at the Ostrava Golden Spike on September 8 when she could challenge the British best of 40.58.
55.44 and a 400H win in ?? tonight to finish a busy couple of weeks racing and travelling! Thanks so much to @CoachMarina_A for getting me in a position to race well despite all the challenges this year ??? Next up, British Champs ?? pic.twitter.com/g8MVTKIMVO
— Jessie Knight (@Jessie_Knight) August 25, 2020
There was another British win in Poland as Britain’s Imani-Lara Lansiquot ran 11.19 (+1.3m/sec) in the 100m ahead of home favourite Ewa Swoboda with 11.30, while Ghana’s Sean Safo-Antwi won the men’s race in 10.23 (-0.8m/s).
Victory in the women’s 400m was claimed by the USA’s Wadeline Jonathas as she clocked 51.23 ahead of Poland’s Justyna Święty-Ersetic with 51.64, while the men’s race was won by Poland’s Karol Zalewski in 45.47.
Spain’s Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega clocked 13.25 (+1.0m/s) to win the 110m hurdles, with Britain’s Cameron Fillery fourth in 13.63.
France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela won the 100m hurdles in a PB of 12.87 (-0.2m/s).
The USA’s two-time world champion Sam Kendricks cleared 5.82m to win the pole vault before attempting a stadium record of 5.92m, while Britain’s Harry Coppell was joint sixth after managing 5.42m on his season opener.
Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk won the long jump with a leap of 6.78m (+0.2m/s) and Romania’s Alina Rotaru was second with 6.67m (+1.0m/s).
European champion Michał Haratyk claimed a shot put win on home soil as he threw 21.88m to beat Croatia’s Filip Mihaljević with 21.59m.
Another home win was claimed by Wojciech Nowicki in the hammer as the world and Olympic medallist threw 80.09m.
Results can be found here.