File image of Neeraj Chopra.© AFP

Plucked out of his comfort zone and training without a partner for a mixed event in what is to be his debut Olympics, race walker Suraj Panwar is gearing up for quite a roller-coaster ride in Paris this month. But he is quite used to upheaval. He was born into it. The 23-year-old was an infant when his forest guard father Udai Singh Panwar was killed in the line of duty while trying to prevent illegal logging of trees. He was raised single-handedly by his mother Poonam, who worked at the forest department’s nursery in a village near Dehradun and supported his sporting ambitions.

“I have never competed in marathon race walk mixed relay in my career, this is going to be my first time. So, I don’t even have a target timing in my mind. But, it’s a matter of representing my country and I will give my 100 per cent,” Panwar told PTI in an interview.

The event was first introduced in a major championship at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya, Turkiye in April. It will make its Olympics debut in Paris.

Panwar, who is a 20km race walker, will pair with Priyanka Goswami in the new event which will cover the marathon distance of 42.195km. The first 12.195km will be covered by the male race walker before his female team-mate takes over for the next 10km.

After that, the male race walker will cover another 10km before his female counterpart takes over for the final 10km up to the finish line. The combined time of the two athletes will be taken into consideration to decide the result.

“I will cover a little over 20km (22.195km in total in two legs) but the difference (from 20km race) is that I will do it with a break in between after completing 12.195km,” he explained.

“At that time, Priyanka will be running her first 10km. I can do my recovery with the help of a masseur or physiotherapist and get ready for my next 10km,” said Panwar, who won a 5000m race walk silver in 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.

There will be change zones where the male and female race walkers will exchange wristbands, similar to change of batons in relay races.

But, interestingly, Panwar is not practising with Priyanka, who is currently training abroad. She will reach Paris on July 28 or 29.

National record holder Priyanka will also be competing in the women’s individual 20km race walk event in Paris.

“I am doing simulation practice (at SAI Bengaluru). After doing 12.195km, I will take a break of around 45 minutes. Then I resume again,” said Panwar, who is currently training under Russian coach Tatiana Sibileva.

Olympic dream almost broken

Panwar breached the Olympic qualifying standard (of 1:20.10) in 20km race walk event during the National Championships in Chandigarh in January by clocking 1 hour 19 minutes 44 seconds but World Athletics invalidated that result citing some technical issues.

He still made the grade through the world ranking quota in the 20km event. But the Athletics Federation of India selected him for the marathon race walk mixed relay event.

“It (selection for Olympics) was a bit of a surprise. I was very disappointed after the National Championships timing was cancelled. I was thinking whether I will be picked for Olympics or not. I was very anxious,” Panwar said.

“But I continued my training thinking it’s alright if I don’t go to Paris. But, the federation picked me after checking my overall results. It is a dream come true to be an Olympian,” he added.

Focus on your game: Mom’s advice

Panwar’s stoic mother has been his inspiration growing up and she doesn’t yet have a clear idea about his achievements. He had won a silver in the Youth Olympics in 2018, competing in a pair of second-hand shoes gifted to him by Olympian Manish Singh Rawat.

“I am focussing on my training routine. My mom told me to focus on my game and not on other things. So, I don’t even talk to her too often on phone,” he said.

Recently, Mission Olympic Cell included Panwar in the Target Olympics Podium Scheme’s (TOPS) core group.

The inclusion will ensure that his training and other expenses are taken care of by the government. He will also get a monthly allowance of Rs 50,000.

“I have kept it a secret from my mother till I begin to get the allowance. I will give her a surprise and tell her once I start getting the money. She will be very happy,” he said.

India will be represented by 117 athletes at this month’s Paris Olympics after the sports ministry cleared the final contingent that also features 140 support staff and officials, of which 72 have been approved at “cost to the government” to meet the “requirements” of the travelling sportspersons. The only qualified athlete missing from the list is shot-putter Abha Khatua. The Games will run from July 26 to August 11. Khatua, who made the cut through world rankings quota, has been dropped without any explanation after her name was found missing from the World Athletics’ list of Olympic participants a few days ago.

There is no word yet on whether her name has been knocked off owing to injury, a doping violation or any other technical issue.

The rest of the contingent that has been cleared is on expected lines with London Olympics bronze medal-winning former shooter Gagan Narang as chef-de-mission. Narang is also a vice president in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

“The permissible limit for stay of support personnel in the Games Village against accreditation as per norms of the Paris Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic Games is 67 including 11 1OA Contingent Officials, which includes five Medical Team Members,” stated a letter from the ministry to IOA President P T Usha, explaining the ratio of support staff allowed as per the size of the contingent.

“For catering to the requirements of the athletes, additional coaches and other support staff numbering 72 have been approved at cost to the Government and arrangements for their stay have been made in Hotels/in locations outside the Games Village,” it added.

Despite Khatua’s absence, athletics will make for the biggest group in the contingent with 29 names (11 women and 18 men), followed by shooting (21) and hockey (19).

Table tennis will be represented by eight players, while badminton (7) will feature seven competitors, including two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu.

Wrestling (6), archery (6), and boxing (6) will have six representatives each, followed by golf (4), tennis (3), swimming (2), sailing (2), and one each for equestrian, judo, rowing and weightlifting.

The shooting contingent, which is the second biggest, consists of 11 women and 10 men, while table tennis will have four players each in both categories.

Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu is the lone weightlifter in the contingent and will compete in women’s 49kg category.

In Tokyo Olympics, India were represented by a 119-member contingent, and the country logged its best-ever performance of seven medals, including the historic javelin throw gold by Neeraj Chopra. Chopra will be there in Paris to defend his medal.

Besides, there will 21 contingent officials of which 11 will be accommodated at the Games Village, including Narang, two Deputy Chef de Mission, Press Attache, two Headquarter Officials and five medical team members.

The remaining 10 officials (eight medical team members, social media attache and a team official) will be accommodated in hotels outside the Games Village, the cost of which will be borne by the government.

Shooting (18) will have the highest number of support staff, which includes one High Performance Director and six coaches, who will stay at the Games Village while the remaining 11 (four coaches, four physios, two psychologists, one strength and conditioning expert) will stay in hotels.

Athletics will have 17 support staff members, followed by wrestling (12), boxing (11), hockey (10), table tennis (9), badminton (9), golf (7), equestrian (5), archery (4), sailing (4), weightlifting (4) tennis (3), swimming (2) and judo (1).

The ministry letter further stated that Air Commodore Prashant Arya, Air Attache in Embassy of India at Paris will be Olympic Attache, who will have accreditation, and will be visiting the Games Village and competition venues to take care of any issues requiring assistance and intervention of the Embassy.

The golf competition will be conducted at the Le Golf National in Guyancourt, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, which is around 42km from Paris. To ensure hassle-free travel and practice arrangements, the Indian golf contingent will stay at a hotel near the venue instead of the Games Village.

“…accordingly arrangements for accommodation for members of the Golf Team, including players, coaches, physio and caddy at the request of the Golf players and Indian Golf Union have been made in a Hotel near the competition venue,” the ministry said in its letter.

In a bid to avoid doping embarrassment in Paris, the government has asked the IOA and concerned federations to take appropriate measures.

“The IOA, SAI, National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and concerned National Sports Federations may take appropriate measures for conducting the dope tests. IOA may also ensure fitness of the team/individual sportsperson prior to their departure,” it said.

Besides, the Paris Organising Committee will provide three cars for the Indian contingent without drivers.

“Embassy of India at Paris has been requested to assist in identification and temporary employment for these drivers,” the ministry letter stated. 

Representational Image.© X (formerly Twitter)

Just a few days to go before the Olympic Games in Paris, some of the top stars of track and field will gather at the Stade Louis II in Fontvieille in Monaco for the ninth meet of the 2024 Diamond League on Friday, hoping to test their skills before the mega event. With the elite track and field event featuring several Paris 2024-bound athletes, competing in 14 Diamond disciplines, fans can expect some tough competitions before the year’s biggest sports extravaganza.

The focus will be on the men’s 400-metre hurdles event, which is expected to give viewers a taste of the Olympics finals, as it will see the three fastest runners in the discipline’s history compete in Monaco.

World record holder Karsten Warholm (Norway), 2022 Diamond League 400m hurdles champion Alison dos Santos (Brazil), and 2023 Diamond League 400m hurdles champion Rai Benjamin (United States) are set to battle it out in an eight-man field. The three have clocked the 15 fastest times in the discipline’s history and will meet for the first time since the 2023 Diamond League final where Benjamin emerged victorious.

Other track and field stars in action across disciplines feature Tokyo 2020 men’s 1500m gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway), Tokyo 2020 men’s 110m hurdles gold medallist Hansle Parchment (Jamaica), and 2019 Diamond League women’s 100m winner Dina Asher-Smith (Great Britain) in a packed slate.

Diamond Disciplines at Monaco 2024:

Men: High jump, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles

Women: Javelin throw, Pole vault, Triple jump, 100m, 400m, 2000m, 5000m

The Diamond League 2024 will be held on Friday (July 12) at the Stade Louis II, Fontvieille, Monaco from 11:30 PM IST onwards.

The event will be live streamed in India on JioCinema and broadcast on TV by Sports18 – 1 (HD), Sports18 – 3.

File photo of Neeraj Chopra.© AFP

The highly anticipated Olympics 2024 are all set to kick-start from July 26 and will conclude on August 11. The Olympics will be hosted in Paris and a total of 206 countries will be participating from all over the world. The 2024 Paris Olympics will feature 45 different sports, including 41 that are considered mainstay Olympic sports. Four new sports like breaking, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing have also been included in this edition’ roster. India will be sending close to 120 athletes to Paris for the upcoming Olympic games in French capital.

India will look to outdo its tally of seven medals from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which included a gold, two silver, and four bronze medals.

Ahead of the marquee event, here’s a list of all the Indian athletes who have secured a spot in Olympics 2024.

Archery:

Dhiraj Bommadevara: Men’s team

Tarundeep Rai: Men’s team

Pravin Jadhav: Men’s team

Bhajan Kaur: Women’s team

Deepika Kumari: Women’s team

Ankita Bhakat: Women’s team

Athletics:

Akshdeep Singh: Men’s 20km race walk

Vikash Singh: Men’s 20km race walk

Paramjeet Singh Bisht: Men’s 20km race walk

Priyanka Goswami: Women’s 20km race walk

Avinash Sable: Men’s 3000m steeplechase

Parul Chaudhary: Women’s 3000m steeplechase, women’s 5000m steeplechase

Jyothi Yarraji: Women’s 100m hurdles

Kiran Pahal: Women’s 400m

Tajinderpal Singh Toor: Men’s shot put

Abha Khatua: Women’s shot put

Neeraj Chopra: Men’s javelin throw

Kishore Jena: Men’s javelin throw

Annu Rani: Women’s javelin throw

Sarvesh Kushare: Men’s high jump

Praveen Chithravel: Men’s triple jump

Abdulla Aboobacker: Men’s triple jump

Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Muhammed Ajmal, Amoj Jacob, Santhosh Tamilarasan, and Rajesh Ramesh: Men’s 4x400m relay

Mijo Chaco Kurian: 4x400m relay and 4x400m mixed relay

Vidhya Ramaraj, Jyothika Sri Dandi, MR Poovamma, Subha Venkatesan, and Prachi: Women’s 4x400m relay

Prachi: 4x400m mixed relay

Priyanka Goswami/Suraj Panwar: Race walk mixed marathon

Badminton:

H.S Prannoy: Men’s singles

Lakshya Sen: Men’s singles

P.V Sindhu: Women’s singles

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty: Men’s doubles

Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto: Women’s doubles

Boxing:

Nikhat Zareen: Women’s 50kg

Amit Phangal: Men’s 51kg

Nishant Dev: Men’s 71kg

Preeti Pawar: Women’s 54kg

Lovlina Borgohain: Women’s 75kg

Jaismine Lamboria: Women’s 57kg

Equestrian:

Anush Agarwalla: Dressage

Golf:

Subhankar Sharma: Men’s golf

Gaganjeet Bhullar: Men’s golf

Aditi Ashok: Women’s golf

Diksha Dagar: Women’s golf

Hockey:

P.R Sreejesh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rogidas, Harmanpreet Singh(c), Sumit, Sanjay, Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh: Men’s hockey team

Judo:

Tulika Mann: Women’s 78kg

Rowing:

Balraj Panwar: M1x

Sailing:

Vishnu Saravanan: Men’s one person dinghy

Nethra Kumanan: Women’s one person dinghy

Shooting:

Prithviraj Tondaiman: Men’s trap

Rajeshwari Kumari: Women’s trap

Shreyasi Singh: Women’s trap

Anantjeet Singh Naruka: Men’s skeet

Raiza Dhillon: Women’s skeet

Maheshwari Chauhan: Women’s skeet

Anantjeet Singh Naruka/Maheshwari Chauhan: Skeet mixed team

Sandeep Singh: Men’s 10m air rifle

Arjun Babuta: Men’s 10m air rifle

Elavenil Valarivan: Women’s 10m air rifle

Ramita Jindal: Women’s 10m air rifle

Swapnil Kusale: Men’s 50m rifle 3 position

Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar: Men’s 50m rifle 3 position

Sift Kaur Samra: Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions

Anjum Moudgil: Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions

Sandeep Singh/Elavenil Valarivan: 10m air rifle mixed team

Arjun Babuta/Ramita Jindal: 10m air rifle mixed team

Arjun Cheema: Men’s 10m air pistol

Sarabjot Singh: Men’s 10m air pistol

Manu Bhaker: Women’s 10m air pistol

Rhythm Sangwam: Women’s 10m air pistol

Vijayveer Sidhu: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol

Anish Bhanwala: Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol

Manu Bhaker: Women’s 25m pistol

Esha Singh: Women’s 25m pistol

Sarabjot Singh/Manu Bhaker: 10m air pistol mixed team

Arjun Cheema/Rhythm Sangwam: 10m air pistol mixed team

Swimming:

Dhinidhi Desinghu: Women’s 200m freestyle

Srihari Nataraj: Men’s 100m backstroke

Table Tennis:

Sharath Kamal: Men’s singles and men’s team

Harmeet Desai: Men’s singles and men’s team

Manav Thakkar: Men’s team

Manika Batra: Women’s singles and women’s team

Sreeja Akula: Women’s singles and women’s team

Archana Kamath: Women’s team

Tennis:

Sumit Nagal: Men’s singles

Rohan Bopanna and Sriram Balaji: Men’s doubles

Weightlifting:

Mirabai Chanu: Women’s 49kg

Wrestling:

Aman Sehrawat: Men’s freestyle 57kg

Vinesh Phogat: Women’s 50kg

Anshu Malik: Women’s 57kg

Nisha Dahiya: Women’s 68kg

Reetika Hooda: Women’s 76kg

Antim Phangal: Women’s 53kg

Avinash Sable showed that he’s peaking at the right time before the Paris Olympics as he broke his own 3000m steeplechase national record while finishing sixth at the prestigious Diamond League meet, clocking 8 minute and 9.91 seconds in Paris on Sunday. The 29-year-old Sable bettered his earlier mark of 8:11.20, which he had clocked in 2022, by around one and a half seconds. Abrham Sime of Ethiopia finished first with a personal time of 8:02.36 after a photo finish with Amos Serem (8:02.36) of Kenya.

Another Kenyan, Abraham Kibiwot, the 2023 World Championships bronze medallist and gold winner at the 2022 Commonwealth Games where Sable had won a silver, was third with a time of 8:06.70. With this performance, Sable returned to his record-breaking ways after he smashed his own national mark two years ago while winning a silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

This was the 10th national record-breaking performance from Sable, who hails from a humble farmer’s family at Mandwa village in Beed district of Maharashtra.

He was seemingly struggling this season having run just two 3000m steeplechase races, clocking 8:21.85 at Portland and 8:31.75 in Panchkula (National Inter-State Championships), both in June.

Sable, the reigning Asian Games gold medallist, thus improved by around 12 seconds from his best effort of the season.

He had, however, run at the National Inter-State Championships (June 27-30) just like a practice race.

After winning the gold at Panchkula, Sable had vowed to make amends for the mistakes he committed in the last few years and deliver a memorable show at the Paris Olympics with a different approach.

“I committed mistakes in the last two years. I had gone with good fitness in the two world championships (2022 and 2023) but could not do well at both. I want to make amends, hope that this Olympics will be my best,” he had said.

“I am starting my competition season late this time. I am doing something different this time. I will start peaking only this month.” In the men’s javelin throw, Olympics-bound Kishore Jena continued his struggles as he finished eighth with an effort of 78.10m. He has a personal best of 87.54m and season best of 80.84m while winning a bronze medal at the National Inter-State Championships.

Jena, who had won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, has had a forgettable season so far with efforts of 76.31m in Doha Diamond League and 75.49m in the Federation Cup, both in May.

Jena had said at the National Inter-State Championships that he was coping with a minor left ankle pain, which he felt after the Federation Cup (May 15-19) in Bhubaneswar, though the pain has reduced and he was feeling “almost all right now”.

Reigning Olympic and world champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has opted out of this meet apparently due to an adductor niggle that has been troubling him for the past couple of months.

Julian Weber of Germany won the top position with a throw of 85.91m while former world champion Anderson Peters (85.19m) of Grenada and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch (85.04m) of Czech Republic were second and third respectively.

India on Thursday named a 28-member athletics team for the upcoming Paris Olympics, headlined by superstar javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, but one more athlete — long jumper Jeswin Aldrin — is expected to be included by the national federation later. The 26-year-old Tokyo Games gold medallist and reigning world champion in javelin throw has decided to skip the last Diamond League this weekend in Paris in order to prepare for the quadrennial extravaganza as almost all the selected names are on expected lines.

The squad comprises 17 men and 11 women athletes with some of the other prominent names being Asian Games champions Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh Toor along with sprint hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, to name a few.

Top Indian long jumper Jeswin Aldrin is expected to be added to the team later after the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) formally notifies the world governing body about the pulling out of M Sreeshankar, who had breached the automatic qualifying mark but later ruled out of the Olympics due to an injury.

Aldrin is just one spot outside the qualification bracket as he is at 33rd place in the World Athletics (WA) ranking quota list. There will be 32 athletes competing in the men’s long jump event in the Paris Olympics.

All the countries must inform WA by Thursday (July 4) midnight regarding any pullout of their athletes. During the period from July 4-6, WA will reallocate the declined quota places to the next best-ranked athlete in the same event. It will then publish the final list on July 7.

“It was decided in the selection committee meeting today that whoever gets quota place (through world ranking) later on will be added in the team,” Indian athletics chief coach Radhakrishnan Nair told PTI.

“So, once we inform WA that Sreeshankar is not participating, Aldrin will get the quota place and he should be added in the team,” he added.

Jyothi Yarraji will become the first Indian 100m hurdler to compete in the Olympics while shot putter Abha Khatua also made a surprise cut through world rankings.

High jumper Sarvesh Anil Kushare, who won gold at the National Inter-State Championships with an effort of 2.25m, also made it to the team.

Javelin thrower DP Manu, who made the cut, was expectedly not named in the team after his dope flunk last week. Olympic champion Chopra and Kishore Jena had made direct qualification.

Four Indian male 20km race walkers had breached the qualifying mark of 1 hour 20 minute and 10 seconds but Ram Baboo has been dropped for “lack of consistency” as a country can name only three athletes in an event.

Baboo was not also considered for the marathon race walk mixed relay and Suraj Panwar, who also made the grade through world ranking, was named instead to pair with Priyanka Goswami, the lone Indian in the women’s 20km event.

He was sixth at the National Race Walk Championships in January and did not finish at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya in April.

The 4x400m men’s relay team, featuring Muhammed Anas, Muhammed Ajmal, Amoj Jacob and Rajesh Ramesh, which had created quite a stir by leaving behind the USA team in one of the heats at the last World Championships, will also be followed with keen interest.

Ramesh has not run any individual 400m race this season and he pulled out of the race injured during the men’s 4x400m relay event at the World Relays Championships in Bahamas in May.

But, the AFI had said ahead of the National Inter-State Championships that his recovery has been satisfactory and he should be alright before the Olympics.

In the women’s 4x400m relay, Vithya Ramraj, MR Poovamma and Prachi got the nod on the basis of the trial held on the final day of the National Inter-State Championships. Ramraj, Poovamma and Prachi had finished first, second and third in the trial. Kiran Pahal, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan had more or less picked themselves in the team.

The track and field competition will be conducted at the Stade de France between August 1 to August 11.

The Team: Men: Avinash Sable (3,000m steeplechase), Neeraj Chopra, Kishore Kumar Jena (javelin throw), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Praveen Chithravel, Abulla Aboobacker (triple jump), Akshdeep Singh, Vikash Singh, Paramjeet Singh Bisht (20km race walk), Muhammed Anas, Muhammed Ajmal, Amoj Jacob, Santhosh Tamilarasan, Rajesh Ramesh (4x400m relay), Mijo Chacko Kurian (4x400m relay), Suraj Panwar (race walk mixed marathon), Sarvesh Anil Kushare (High Jump).

Women: Kiran Pahal (400m), Parul Chaudhary (3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m), Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles), Annu Rani (javelin throw), Abha Khatua (shot put), Jyothika Sri Dandi, Subha Venkatesan, Vithya Ramraj, Poovamma MR (4x400m relay), Prachi (4x400m), Priyanka Goswami (20km race walk/race walk mixed marathon).

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone smashed her own 400m hurdles world record on Sunday to book her place at the Paris Olympics in sensational style at the US trials in Eugene, Oregon. McLaughlin-Levrone obliterated her rivals to power home in an astonishing 50.65sec, bettering her previous best of 50.68, also set at Hayward Field, during the 2022 World Championships. McLaughlin-Levrone, the reigning Olympic champion, was out of the blocks quickly and then produced a devastating burst of speed down the stretch to finish ahead of Anna Cockrell (52.64sec) and Jasmine Jones (52.77sec).

“Honestly, praise god,” McLaughlin-Levrone said after her jaw-dropping performance. 

“I was not expecting that, but he can do anything — anything’s possible in Christ. I’m just amazed, baffled and shocked.”

The 24-year-old’s victory sees her safely through to her third Olympic Games after appearances at the 2016 Rio Games and pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games.

On Sunday’s evidence, McLaughlin-Levrone will once again be the overwhelming favourite to add to her collection of major championship victories following gold medals in Tokyo three years ago and world championships two years ago.

In the men’s 400m hurdles, meanwhile, Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Rai Benjamin sealed his place in Paris with a commanding victory in a world-leading 46.47sec.

Benjamin hammered down the back straight to build an early lead and then flew out of the final bend with an injection of pace to torch the field, crossing around 10m ahead of his nearest rivals, C.J. Allen (47.81sec) and Trevor Bassitt (47.82sec).

The 26-year-old is hoping to emerge from the shadow of Norwegian hurdling king Karsten Warholm, the reigning Olympic and world champion over the discipline.

In the women’s 100m hurdles, Masai Russell produced the race of her life to book her ticket to Paris, winning in a world-leading 12.25sec ahead of Alaysha Johnson, second in 12.31sec. Grace Stark was third in 12.31sec.

“I can’t even talk right now, I’ve got so many emotions because this has been the hardest season of my life,” the 24-year-old Russell said after her victory.

“People were doubting me, saying all these things about me. But I just stayed true to myself, stayed true to my work and my craft.”

But there was disappointment for two veterans of US sprint hurdling, with 2019 world champion Nia Ali missing out after finishing fourth, and Keni Harrison, the 2020 Olympic silver medallist, finishing sixth.

Elsewhere on Sunday, two-time Olympic champion Christian Taylor failed to roll back time in the triple jump, while Will Claye, silver medallist behind Taylor in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, also failed to qualify.

The event was won by Salif Mane with a leap of 17.52m, with Russell Robinson second and Donald Scott third.