American teenager Cooper Lutkenhaus produced a stunning performance at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, diving over the line to win the 800m by 0.01 seconds ahead of Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi. The 17-year-old clocked a world-leading time of 1 minute 42.08 seconds, adding another remarkable achievement to his growing resume.
Race of the ages
From the gun, Wanyonyi surged after the pacemaker, with Lutkenhaus in close pursuit. They reached the halfway mark in 49.81 seconds, and it quickly became a two-man battle. Lutkenhaus, who won the world indoor title in March, showed no fear as he kicked hard at 200m and opened a five-metre lead around the bend. However, as he began to tie up, Wanyonyi fought back, forcing Lutkenhaus to launch a desperate dive at the line to secure victory.
“To beat the Olympic champion is awesome and it means a lot,” said Lutkenhaus. “I have not seen the grazes yet from my dive but I think they will hurt in the shower later.”
Caveats and praise
Wanyonyi, who recently became a father, acknowledged the performance. “This boy is in good shape,” said the Kenyan. “Can you believe that as an Olympic champion, you are trying to knock down a 17-year-old boy? But the season is still early.” When asked if the win made him the world’s number one, Lutkenhaus responded with maturity: “I don’t think so. Wanyonyi’s the Olympic champ. Just because you beat someone one time, I don’t think that means you’re better than them.”
Gout Gout learns tough lesson
Meanwhile, Australian 200m star Gout Gout, 18, had a challenging senior Diamond League debut, finishing sixth in 20.60 seconds. That was over three-quarters of a second behind Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo, who offered a blunt assessment. “After the race, I wanted to talk to Gout Gout but he is so busy with all the media,” Tebogo said. “First and foremost, he should not get comfortable racing with the seniors. He still has a long way to go. He should by all means play with his age mates where he is a bit more comfortable because the more he runs, the more he pushes and the more injuries he is going to get.”
Tebogo added: “Because there’s going to come a time where now he really has to face the big guys, and by then I’m hoping his body will be ready, because right now he’s still flexible. He doesn’t have the ankle stiffness, his ankles still twist while he’s running. So for me it’s just about letting him enjoy his junior years.”
Gout, however, focused on the positives. “The start was not my best,” he said. “The first 60m was a bit uneasy, for sure. There’s a lot more room for me to improve. I love competing against the big boys and I’ll be back for sure – I put no limits on myself.”
British success
The best British performance of the night came from Amy Hunt, who broke 11 seconds again to finish second in the 100m behind Olympic champion Julien Alfred, who won in 10.76 seconds.
But the night belonged to Lutkenhaus. Asked what might come next, he said: “I don’t know what’s possible. Every time I think I’ve reached a limit, I feel like I’m able to break it the next race I run.” For his rivals, that is the scariest thing of all.
