American star Lyles wins 200m in outdoor season debut at Diamond League Monaco
Marco Arop finishes 5th in 800m, fellow Canadian Sarah Mitton places 3rd in women's shot put
American Noah Lyles made an impressive season debut in the 200 metres to beat Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on Friday, where Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi outclassed a high-class 800m field.
An injury-hampered campaign had raised doubts over three-times world 200m champion Lyles's chances of defending his title in Tokyo in September, but the 100m Olympic gold medallist responded to the doubters in style.
Lyles finished third over 200m in Paris last year but shortly after finishing the race won by Botswana's Tebogo the American said he had COVID-19, and the pair had not faced each other since then.
WATCH | Lyles beats Olympic champion in 200m:
Tebogo was quick out of the blocks and stuck with Lyles around the bend with the two side by side going into the home straight but the American pulled away in the final 50m to win in 19.88 seconds with Tebogo coming home in 19.97.
"I put myself in the fire for that one coming back against Tebogo," Lyles said.
"I didn't feel any pressure, I don't see any reason to put pressure on myself, that's what we love to do."
As defending champion, Lyles does not need to worry about qualifying from the U.S. championships at the end of July, and will head to London to compete in the 100m next week.
"I am going to go to the London Diamond League. I have been missing to compete for the last few weeks.
"I was watching Prefontaine and I wanted to be there but we wanted first to make sure that I am healthy and fully able to compete."
Arop places 5th
Canada's Marco Arop posted a season's-best time to finish fifth in a high-calibre men's 800 metres race.
The field of the Meeting Herculis EBS was comprised of all eight athletes that ran in last summer's final at the Paris Olympic Games.
Arop, who won silver at Paris 2024, lingered near the back of the pack well into the second lap of Friday's race. The Edmonton native crossed the line in one minute, 42.73 seconds for his best time of 2025.
Reigning Olympic champ Wanyonyi won with a world-leading and meet record time of 1:41.44. American Josh Hoey was second (1:42.01) while Paris bronze medallist Djamel Sedjati, of Algeria, was third (1:42.20).
Friday marked the first Diamond League appearance of the season for Arop, who was coming off a successful first season of competition in the new Grand Slam Track league. The 26-year-old from Edmonton won all three 800m races in that league before it ceased operation, and was crowned the winner of the short distance competition at the Philadelphia stop on June 1.
Mitton finishes 3rd
Sarah Mitton nabbed a third-place finish in the women's shot put in Monaco.
The 29-year-old from Brooklyn, N.S., had a top throw of 20m, which slotted her behind the winner, Netherlands' Jessica Schilder (20.39), and second-placed Chase Jackson (20.06), of the U.S.
WATCH | Mitton nabs 3rd place
Mitton, the defending world indoor and Diamond League final champ, now has finishes of fifth, fourth, third, and second place through four of five events this season. Those results give her 22 points in her bid to qualify for this year's final, which will see the top six point-getters advance to the Zurich event on Aug. 27.
Jackson sits in first place with 30 points, Schilder is in second with 27, with Mitton in third.
Olympic gold medallist Masai Russell continues to struggle since breaking the American record in early May, finishing fourth in the women's 100m hurdles won by Jamaica's Megan Tapper. Russell also finished fourth in Eugene on Saturday.
Two-times Olympic and world pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis was the only athlete to clear six metres, setting a meeting record of 6.05, but failed in his three attempts at 6.29 to break the world record for a 13th time.
In the final race of the evening, St Lucian Julien Alfred bounced back from her defeat in Eugene to win the women's 100m, with the Olympic champion posting 10.79.
With files from CBC Sports
