Home victories for Morgan Lake, Georgia Hunter Bell and Charlie Dobson at arguably the world’s premier one-day track and field meeting
On a day when the UK Government backed London’s bid to stage the 2029 World Athletics Championships, the Novuna London Athletics Meet gave everyone a taste of what they might expect in four years’ time. This is assuming the British capital win a bidding battle which World Athletics president Seb Coe predicts will be “competitive” and which UKA chief executive Jack Buckner admits will be far from a shoo-in.
A sold-out London Stadium on Saturday (July 19) of around 60,000 people saw a Diamond League meeting full of thrills, spills and three stirring British victories. Or make that 12 wins if you include all the relays, para and ‘national’ races.
On a typically grey and damp day in London, the meeting escaped the worst of the weekend downpours by a few hours. In the end the athletes enjoyed decent conditions with minimal winds and cooler conditions than the previous weekend’s heatwave.
Georgia Hunter Bell was among the British winners as she produced a withering sprint finish to win the women’s 800m in 1:56.74. The event was disappointed to lose its poster girl, Keely Hodgkinson, due to injury but not for the first time the event nevertheless saw a British winner in her absence. Two years ago Jemma Reekie stepped up to win here after Hodgkinson’s last minute withdrawal and now, in 2025, Hunter Bell won impressively from Addison Wiley of the United States as Reekie finished sixth this time and Laura Muir, who is returning from injury, was 10th.
“I’m part of such a special era with not just Keely and my group but Jemma and Laura who have set the standards for years,” said Hunter Bell. “With the British Champs coming up, I can’t relax. I need to bring my A-game to that event in two weeks’ time.”
She added: “In that last 100m I felt amazing so I really wanted to push to the finish line. You feel so supported in this stadium that the 2029 Worlds here would be incredible. It is so noisy and for us British girls it is incredible.”
Matt Hudson-Smith started favourite for the men’s 400m but when he faltered a little in the home straight it was fellow Brit Charlie Dobson who stormed through to take the win.
Dobson, the European silver medallist from last year, clocked 44.14 as he came from sixth place with 50m to go to win.
Hudson-Smith, the Olympic silver medallist, ran 44.27 in second as Zakithi Nene ran 44.29 in third.
“It is an incredible feeling,” said Dobson, “I love running here in front of a massive home crowd and it is just awesome to get that time.”
Morgan Lake not only took high jump victory but it was her first ever win at a Diamond League. The 28-year-old proved a popular winner with the home crowd as she jumped 1.96m on her second attempt as world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Eleanor Patterson and Christina Honsel all cleared 1.93m behind her.
“Here in London with so many friends and family here, it’s amazing,” said Lake. “Even on the call outs the crowd were so loud and today was all about enjoying it and having fun and staying in the competition as long as possible.
“I cleared 1.96m on the second attempt so I was really happy about that. It felt like a big clearance, so when I jumped that, I knew I had 2.00m in there. I had three good attempts at it, so I am really pleased with how I performed. I was nearly over it on the last attempt, I just clipped it with my feet, so I know it is in there.”
Few events produced as much drama as the men’s 1500m as George Mills and Cam Myers fell with 200m to go, leaving teenage Kenyan Phanuel Koech of Kenya to storm to victory in a meet record of 3:28.82 as Josh Kerr gamely chased him home in 3:29.37.
Amid talk of a British record, Ben Claridge led through 400m in 55.47 and 800m in 1:51.46 before Zan Rudolf assumed the pacing duties. With 550m to go, Mills took over and was leading down the back straight on the final lap before Kerr, who had sat behind him throughout, overtook him on the outside and Koech passed him on the inside simultaneously with 250m to go.
As Koech began to burst clear around the final bend, with Kerr chasing hard, Mills’ and Myers’ legs appeared to make contact accidentally, sending both runners on to the track.
Koech, who is still only 18, looked powerful as he strode clear of Kerr to set one of several UK all-comers’ records during the afternoon. Kerr was satisfied about his sub-3:30 and will now turn his attention to 5000m at the UK Championships after having raced 800m at the same meeting last year.
Mills will have been particularly annoyed as he fell in the Emsley Carr Mile at this meeting 12 months earlier and also fell in the Olympic 5000m rounds.
With Mills and Myers jogging home along with another faller, Robert Farken, it left Isaac Nader of Portugal clear to finish third in 3:31.55 with Jake Wightman, the 2022 world champion, continuing his encouraging progress as he tries to return to top form with fourth in a season’s best of 3:31.58.
“In general I really liked how I felt in the whole race,” said Kerr. “I felt like I made a solid move at 250m, I just did not have my head on straight with 200m to go and I let them go a little bit. The power was not quite there but it is not far away. But we have not ran a race like that for a while. To be running 3:29 at this point of the season is encouraging and I know I can make some jumps over the next couple of months.”
Olympic champion Noah Lyles was expected to win the men’s 100m but Oblique Seville of Jamaica hadn’t read the script and blasted to a comfortable victory in 9.86 (-0.6) as Lyles finished runner-up with 10.00.
In third, Zharnel Hughes clocked 10.02 with fellow Brit Jeremiah Azu running 10.11 in sixth. Letsile Tebogo, the Olympic 200m champion from Botswana, was seventh in 10.12 with another Brit, Louie Hinchliffe, clocking 10.21 in eighth as he regains fitness following injury.
The men’s 800m was billed as a world record attempt but Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the Olympic champion from Kenya, had to make do with a meeting record of 1:42.00 as he enjoyed another brilliant win.
Behind, Marco Arop of Canada clocked 1:42.22 with Britain’s Max Burgin enjoying a fabulous run in third with 1:42.36 to go No.3 on the UK all-time rankings behind Seb Coe’s long-standing British record of 1:41.73 and Ben Pattison’s 1:42.27.
Pattison placed 10th here in 1:46.08 but the 2023 world bronze medallist is on the comeback trail from injury. In ninth, meanwhile, Ethan Hussey clocked a PB of 1:44.30.
As for Burgin, the Olympic finalist says he’s learned to manage the lower leg issues that have been causing him problems in recent seasons. He benefited from a much cleaner race in London than in Monaco, too, where he was bumped around by rivals and jogged home disappointed.
“I knew this race had been in me, so it was great to finally get it all together after disappointing runs at Paris and Monaco Diamond Leagues,” he said. “I managed to stay with the leaders in this one without taking the lead too early and it was important to get a good, strong race in before the trials and put my stamp down.
“It was a massively strong field out there today, so to come away with a PB is very pleasing. I won’t do too much more now before the trials just a bit of sharpening. As usual, I gave it my all today but I really needed that PB and a good race after some messy ones.”
Indeed, such was the quality of the field, Donavan Brazier, the 2019 world champion, ran 1:43.08 but was only sixth.
The women’s 5000m was not so fast at the sharp end with Medina Eisa of Ethiopia winning in 14:30.57 – a relatively routine time on the world scene these days. But behind there were some great British performances.
Hannah Nuttall ran a PB of 14:39.48 while Innes FitzGerald, still only 19, clocked a British under-20 record of 14:39.56 to smash Zola Budd’s national junior mark 14:48.07 that has stood for 40 years.
When Budd ran that time it was also a world record. She did it in bare feet, too.
FitzGerald, however, has erased her name from the record books. “I still love 3000m, she said when asked which event she prefers. “The 5000m is a long way!”
The Exeter University student also now has a slightly quicker best than her mentor, Jo Pavey. As well as being a British under-20 record, FitzGerald’s time was also a European under-20 record.
Such is the quality of the Diamond League, Megan Keith finished 16th but still ran a decent time of 14:47.34.
Gudaf Tsegay led a raft of fast times in the women’s mile. The Ethiopian won in 4:11.88 – a time that is faster than the former world record held by Sifan Hassan, the latter of whom had to pull out of this meeting a couple of days earlier.
Tsegay went off hard and the early splits were 59.9 at 400m, 2:03.4 at 800m and 3:07.9 at 1200m. By the bell she had been caught by Jess Hull, but Tsegay drew away again from the Australian in the closing stages.
Runner-up Hull ran an Oceania record of 4:13.68. In third, Sara Healy ran a PB of 4:16.26 and fourth-placed Sinclair Johnson of the United States ran a North American record of 4:16.32.
First Brit home was Revee Walcott-Nolan with 4:19.16.
With world-class performances coming thick and fast, Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia ran a national record, UK all-comers’ record, meet record and world lead of 21.71 (-0.6) to win the women’s 200m in style.
Rising to the challenge in front of her home crowd, Dina Asher-Smith battled through to second place in a season’s best of 22.25, with fellow Brit Amy Hunt third in a PB of 22.31.
Mykolas Alekna, the discus world record-holder, threw a Diamond League and UK all-comers’ record of 71.70m in cooler and slightly greasier weather than he’s used to.
“Conditions were not too good but it was not slippery so I felt very confident with my throws and my technique,” he said. “It is my biggest throw ever in this stadium. People have been saying I only throw big outside of stadiums, but now I have thrown big inside one.”
It is 13 years since a young Lawrence Okoye reached the Olympic discus final in London and here he threw well for third place with 68.74m.
Molly Caudery finished fifth equal in the women’s pole vault with 4.60m as Olivia McTaggart of New Zealand took the win on count back with 4.73m.
Long jump victories went to Malaika Mihambo of Germany with 6.93m (-0.6) as Britain’s Jazmin Sawyers jumped 6.63 (-0.5) during a season that has seen her make a remarkable comeback from Achilles surgery, whereas Katarina Johnson-Thompson jumped 6.48m (-0.6).
Sawyers said: “It has been going well so I was hoping to get a better performance out of myself. But I have plenty of time to build more strength and get more competition practice.”
The men’s long jump, meanwhile, was won by Wayne Pinnock of Jamaica with 8.20m (0.2), one centimetre ahead of Miltos Tentoglou of Greece.
Femke Bol has lit up the London Stadium in recent seasons and she won again this weekend but not quite as quickly as usual, although her 52.10 left her more than a second in front of runner-up Jasmine Jones of the United States.
Earlier in the programme, Ben Sandilands ran 3:48.95 to win the men’s para 1500m while Sophie Hahn clocked 12.89 (0.0) as she pulled away from Olivia Breen in the women’s para 100m.
The men’s para 100m was closer as Zak Skinner clocked 11.01 (0.5) to beat Thomas Young by one hundredth of a second. It was so close, in fact, Young felt he’d won and celebrated as he crossed the line.
Twelve months after Sam Reardon’s 44.70 victory in the ‘national’ men’s 400m, Lewis Davey enjoyed a similar sub-44 breakthrough as he clocked a PB of 44.91 to win the 2025 edition of this race. Davey’s PB previously stood at 45.60.
Davey said: “I came into this competition hungry after a few high 45s. I really wanted to come here and smash my PB and I have done that. The whole week I have been visualising a PB.”
Victoria Ohuruogu was just outside her season’s best when winning the women’s ‘national’ 400m in 51.22.
Tyri Donovan was another Brit who rose to the occasion in front of his home crowd as he equalled his PB in the ’national’ men’s 400m hurdles with 48.46 ahead of Seamus Derbyshire. The event promises to be one of the most competitive at the UK Championships in early August.
In the 4x100m relays, Dina Asher-Smith, Amy Hunt, Desiree Henry and Daryll Neita came close to their UK record of 41.55 with 41.69 – world leading time – as Jamaica, France and Ireland followed them home, the latter in a national record of 43.73.
In the men’s 4x100m, Kishane Thompson anchored the Jamaican men home in 37.80 as the British quartet of Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe, Romell Glave and Zharnel Hughes were second in 38.08.
From the stars of 2025, there was also the chance to recognise the winners of yesteryear Roger Black, Iwan Thomas, Jamie Baulch, Mark Richardson and Mark Hylton were belatedly awarded an upgraded gold from the 4x400m at the 1997 World Championships in Athens following the disqualification of the United States.
“We got a great reception,” said Thomas. “I think we were a popular team and I’m probably more emotional now than I would have been if I’d got the medal in 1997 because I was just young and in the moment.”
Certainly, athletics fans love nostalgia and the 4x400m team from 1997 enjoyed one of the biggest cheers of the day.
Full results here
About The Author
