Yavi narrowly misses world record in Diamond League victory

ROME : Olympic champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain won the 3,000 metres women's steeplechase in impressive fashion at the Rome Diamond League meeting on Friday, coming agonisingly close to breaking the world record with the second-fastest ever time.

Yavi, who won gold in Paris earlier this month, sprinted for the line to finish with a time of 8 minutes 44.39 seconds, seven hundredths of a second off the record set by Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech in 2018.

The race became a re-run of the Olympic final, with Yavi again getting the better of Ugandan Peruth Chemutai, who lost her Olympic title in Paris and had to settle for silver, and Kenya's bronze medallist Faith Cherotich coming in third.

Yavi and Chemutai left the rest of the field behind and were neck-and-neck on the final lap before Yavi powered away. She pushed all the way to the line, coming so close to setting a new record.

"I looked at the time after the race and I went 'oh, no!'. I was really expecting that record and I was going for it," Yavi said.

"I definitely feel I should break it and I believe it will happen. I need to work even harder. And I am planning to have another go at it before the end of the season."

Jamaica's Ackera Nugent held off Olympic champion Masai Russell to win the women's 100 metres hurdles, running a personal best of 12.24 seconds to beat the American.

"This victory is not like a revenge for the Olympics for me. I am just in really good shape. I was injured before and this is a new experience for me," Nugent said.

Nugent, who failed to finish the Olympic final in Paris after hitting multiple hurdles before pulling up, impressed on a balmy night at Rome's Stadio Olimpico, matching the fourth-fastest ever time.

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