Shanghai DL Recap: 19-Year-Old Noah Lyles Runs 19.9, Hellen Obiri 14:22

Shanghai DL Recap: 19-Year-Old Noah Lyles Runs 19.9, Hellen Obiri 14:22

2017 Shanghai Diamond League recap

May 13, 2017 by Dennis Young
Shanghai DL Recap: 19-Year-Old Noah Lyles Runs 19.9, Hellen Obiri 14:22
You can find full results from this morning's Shanghai Diamond League here, and we recap all the action below.

Noah Lyles Becomes The Fourth Teenager To Break 20.00




Noah Lyles, who turns 20 in two months, is having an incredible rookie pro season. He set the 300m world best indoors, and today ran an astonishing 19.90 into a headwind and destroyed a decent field. It was his Diamond League debut.


According to all-time athletics and whatever this invaluable resource is called, Lyles is only the fourth man to do so before turning 20. Usain Bolt has the world junior record at 19.93 seconds, and like Lyles, Alonso Edward and Adam Gemili broke 20 in their age-20 years. (Athletes are only juniors/U20 through the end of the year in which they turn 19.)

His decision to turn pro is looking good. 19.90 would make him the fifth fastest collegian and second fastest NCAA freshman ever, and the fastest freshman in 18 years. The current NCAA leader is 20.14 seconds, nearly a quarter second slower than what Lyles ran today. And Lyles ran that into a -0.4 headwind.

Hellen Obiri Goes 14:22


We haven't heard from Almaz Ayana yet in 2017, and Olympic gold medalist Vivian Cheruiyot hasn't run a race shorter than a half marathon this year. But the rest of the world isn't waiting. Genzebe Dibaba has said that she wants to break the 5K world record this summer, and Hellen Obiri threw her hat in the ring today as well. The Olympic silver medalist was already No. 8 on the world all-time list, and improved to No. 6 with her 14:22.47 today.

She did so with a slight negative split, coming through 3K in 8:41 (2:53/km pace) and running her last 2K in 5:41 (2:50/km pace). Cheruiyot's Kenyan national record is just 1.6 seconds faster.

Luvo Manyonga Breaks A Diamond League Record


On his sixth and final jump, Luvo Manyonga uncorked a 8.61m (28-3) Diamond League record. Manyonga has several better jumps at altitude, but this is his low-altitude PR, and the best long jump in the world in eight years. Dwight Phillips jumped 8.74 in 2009; since then, if you can believe it, the best wind-legal, low-altitude long jump in the world was Jarrion Lawson's 8.58m runner-up mark from the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials. (Jeff Henderson's winning mark was wind-aided.)

Manyonga's story is fascinating. He won world juniors in 2010 and was fifth at senior worlds in 2011. But the years after that were marked by crystal meth addiction, including a positive test and the indignity of missing his coach's funeral because he was doing meth. He came back just a year before the Olympics and won silver in Rio. If he stays healthy, he says that he can become the first man to jump nine meters. He's very far from doing that, but just got a little closer today.

Other Performances Of Note


-The best are simply the best sometimes. Olympic champions Shaunae Miller-Uibo (400m), Faith Kipyegon (1500m), Elaine Thompson (100m), and Ruth Jebet (steeplechase) dominated their events today. Miller, Kipyegon, and Thompson crushed their competition, while Jebet beat rival Hyvin Kiyeng 9:04 to 9:06. Thompson's 10.78 is tied for the third fastest time ever in May.

-2015 world champion Sergey Shubenkov competed outside of Russia for the first time since 2017, finishing fifth behind Omar McLeod in the men's 110 meter hurdles. Shubenkov was cleared last month to compete as a neutral athlete and said last year that he would "get drunk" if Russia was banned from the Olympics. The Russians were banned from the Olympics.

-David Rudisha lost by 0.66 seconds to 19-year-old Kipyegon Bett, who led three Kenyans ahead of the world record holder and Olympic gold medalist. Rudisha took several losses before winning worlds two years ago and the Olympics last year, so it's not time to panic yet. American Cas Loxsom was tenth in 1:49.

-Sam Kendricks picked up his fourth Diamond League win, beating Renaud Lavillenie, Shawn Barber, and Thiago Braz da Silva to win the pole vault.