adidas Boost Boston Games Day 2: Tori Bowie (16.30 150) & Shaunae Miller-Uibo (21.76 200) Set World Bests in Straight Sprints as Wayde van Niekerk Runs 19.84
By Jonathan Gault
June 4, 2017
BOSTON — Two of the world’s best sprinters put on a show at the second annual adidas Boost Boston Games street meet on Boston Common on Sunday afternoon as Tori Bowie of the U.S. (16.30) and Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas (21.76) both set world bests for the straight 150- and 200-meter runs, respectively. One week ago, Bowie and Miller-Uibo went 1-2 in a loaded 200 at the Pre Classic and once again showed that they’re in tremendous form at the moment. In his first race this year outside of South Africa, star Wayde van Niekerk won the men’s 200 handily (19.84) in a light drizzle while Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega of Spain took the men’s 110 hurdles in 13.30.
The meet, the only one of its kind in the United States, was held on a 200-meter straight track on Charles Street (20 meters longer than last year) and a parallel long jump/pole vault runway that was constructed over the course of two days.
Recap, results and interviews below.
Women’s 150: Tori Bowie blasts 16.30 world best and is “just getting warmed up”
The 150 isn’t an official world record event, but Bowie’s 16.30 today was the fastest time ever recorded, eclipsing the 16.36 by Allyson Felix at the 2013 Manchester City Games. That Bowie took down the mark today should come as no surprise as she’s just one week removed from running a personal best 21.77 to defeat one of the greatest 200 fields ever assembled at the Prefontaine Classic.
Bowie said that with the extra distance compared to a 100, she tried to stay in her drive phase longer than usual. Once fully upright, she really poured it on and destroyed the field over the final 50 to take the win.
Bowie is in incredible shape right now, but she may be even fitter by London as she has altered her approach this year. In 2016, despite earning a full set of Olympic medals — gold in the 4×100 relay, silver in the 100, bronze in the 200 — she said she felt run down by Rio.
“I was down,” Bowie said. “I lost a lot of my power, being on the road a lot, not being able to eat right, getting the right nutrients and not being able to be in the weight room. And just not resting like normally because I was on the road continuously. And I had to try to change it up this year so [so that when I get] to the World Championships this year, I can hold my power and my strength.”
In 2017, Bowie hasn’t backed off her training or lifting even after she started racing. So far, so good. The next challenge will be making the Worlds team, and though Bowie is a heavy favorite to do so in both the 100 and 200, she knows that USAs will be gruelling with six races in four days (three rounds of the 100 on days 1 and 2, followed by three rounds of the 200 on days 3 and 4).
“Oh my gosh,” Bowie said, rolling her eyes and throwing her head back. “I’m a little anxious to see what happens. Because last year at the Trials when I tried to do two events, we had almost a whole week between events. So this year is going to be a challenge. But you know, I’m ready to take on the challenge.”
WIND: 0.1 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Tori Bowie
United States
|
16.30 | 0.170 | 3 | |
2 | Shalonda Solomon
United States
|
16.81 | 0.137 | 2 | |
3 | Tiffany Townsend
United States
|
16.84 | 0.100 | 1 | |
4 | Candace Hill
United States
|
17.14 | 0.190 | 4 | |
5 | Kamaria Brown
United States
|
17.70 | 0.132 | 5 |
Women’s 200: Shaunae Miller-Uibo runs 21.76 to crush previous world best for straight 200
Less than 90 minutes after Bowie broke one of Allyson Felix’s world bests, Shaunae Miller did the exact same thing, ripping a 21.76 to crush Felix’s previous world best of 22.55 set in Manchester in 2010. Had it been run on a curve, Miller’s time would have gone down as the fastest in the world this year as she bettered Bowie’s 21.77 from last week’s Prefontaine Classic.
“It shows great fitness,” Miller-Uibo said. “We’re after the 200-400 double this year. Opened up with a 400 in 49.7, so everything’s looking really good, 49.7, 21.7 now. So we’re excited. We know it’s gonna be tough, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Running in a straight line should theoretically result in quicker times than running on a curve, but even Miller was surprised by what she ran today (she clocked 21.91 last week), though she admitted she doesn’t actually like running curves.
“I really wasn’t expecting the time,” Miller-Uibo said. “It felt really relaxed. Really, really, really relaxed. Until I saw about 20 more meters and I looked up at the clock and saw where it was 18 going on 19. I was like ‘Okay, now we go for it’ and try to dip for it. But yeah, I was really shocked by the time. I guess the crowd really got me and just being a different type of race, it was just really exciting for me.”
Natasha Hastings bettered Felix’s straight American record of 22.55 by running 22.50 for second.
Quick Take: The track appeared to be about as fast as last year. The difference was the athletes.
Eight events were contested on the track in both 2016 and 2017, with the winning times faster in five of the eight events this year. So the reason why there were two world bests today was not because the track was faster, but because two terrific athletes, Bowie and Miller-Uibo, came to the meet in fantastic shape ready to run fast.
WIND: 0.5 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Shaunae Miller-Uibo
Bahamas
|
21.76 | 0.145 | 3 | |
2 | Natasha Hastings
United States
|
22.50 | 0.133 | 4 | |
3 | Kimberlyn Duncan
United States
|
22.81 | 0.151 | 5 | |
4 | Phyllis Francis
United States
|
23.10 | 0.159 | 2 | |
DNS | Tynia Gaither
Bahamas
|
1 |
Men’s 200: Wayde van Niekerk wins comfortably in 19.84
In the final event of the afternoon, the main attraction, 400-meter world record holder Wayde van Niekerk, did exactly what was expected of him and won comfortably in 19.84, getting out well and maintaining his lead all the way to the finish line.
Van Niekerk admitted after the race that he felt rusty — this was his first race since April 29 — and that it felt like he had run 400 meters today, not 200. If that was the case, it didn’t show as he looked smooth and did not collapse on the track afterwards, as he has been known to in the past. Though van Niekerk was pleased with the result, he is not content with where he’s at right now.
“There’s still quite a lot of work to do for the rest of the season and quite a lot of areas that I need to look on to looking forward to the next competitions,” van Niekerk said. “…The blocks wasn’t too sharp…the finishing was very tough.”
Van Niekerk will travel to Jamaica next week to run the 200 at the Racers Grand Prix (Usain Bolt will make his season debut in the 100) and said he will likely run his first 400 of the summer at the Lausanne Diamond League meet on July 6.
WIND: 0.6 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Wayde Van Niekerk
South Africa
|
19.84 | 0.162 | 3 | |
2 | BeeJay Lee
United States
|
20.17 | 0.149 | 5 | |
3 | Wallace Spearmon
United States
|
20.59 | 0.155 | 1 | |
4 | Zarnel Hughes
Great Britain
|
20.77 | 0.149 | 2 | |
5 | Steven Gardiner
Bahamas
|
31.28 | 0.166 | 4 |
Men’s 150: Alonso Edward takes down Yohan Blake
After two false starts and no disqualifications, this one finally got out fairly on the third time of asking and Yohan Blake got out well to take an early lead. But Edward’s 200 strength (he was the Diamond League champ last year) won out in the end as he pulled away to win late in 15.09 as Nickel Ashmeade nipped Blake at the line for second, 15.16 to 15.17.
WIND: 1.1 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Alonso Edward
Panama
|
15.09 | 4 | ||
2 | Nickel Ashmeade
Jamaica
|
15.16 | 2 | ||
3 | Yohan Blake
Jamaica
|
15.17 | 3 | ||
4 | Jarrion Lawson
United States
|
15.25 | 1 | ||
5 | Warren Weir
Jamaica
|
16.41 | 5 |
Men’s 110 hurdles: Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega holds off Aleec Harris
Ortega, who took second at the Shanghai Diamond League, earned his second street meet win in as many weeks, clocking a very respectable 13.30 on the elevated track — .20 faster than he ran to win in Manchester last weekend.
WIND: 0.2 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Orlando Ortega
Spain
|
13.30 | 3 | ||
2 | Aleec Harris
United States
|
13.46 | 4 | ||
3 | Jeff Porter
United States
|
13.67 | 1 | ||
4 | Ronnie Ash
United States
|
13.94 | 2 | ||
5 | Jason Richardson
United States
|
14.02 | 5 |
Men’s 100: Keston Bledman edges Akani Simbine in photo finish
Simbine, who looked terrific in winning the Diamond League opener in Doha, was nipped at the line by Trinidad & Tobago’s Keston Bledman by the slimmest possible margin, losing out by one thousandth of a second, 10.208 to 10.209. It was eerily similar to last year’s race, in which Marvin Bracy beat Yohan Blake by two-thousandths of a second.
WIND: 0.1 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Keston Bledman
Trinidad and Tobago
|
10.21
10.208
|
0.151 | 2 | |
2 | Akani Simbine
South Africa
|
10.21
10.209
|
0.150 | 3 | |
3 | Jevaughn Minzie
Jamaica
|
10.30 | 0.140 | 4 | |
4 | Deondre Batson
United States
|
10.31 | 0.117 | 5 | |
5 | BeeJay Lee
United States
|
10.34 | 0.136 | 1 |
Women’s 100: Kelly-Ann Baptiste prevails in battle of Trinidad & Tobago
Normally Trinidad & Tobago compete together, but today it was Trinidadian Michelle-Lee Ahye against Tobagonian (yes, that’s the proper term) Kelly-Ann Baptiste. It was very close throughout, but Baptiste got the win today in 11.06 to Ahye’s 11.11.
With the win, Baptiste evened the series against her rival at four wins apiece. Baptiste won their first three matchups, but Ahye claimed the next four, including a pair of wins at the national championships last year. Now it’s Baptiste who’s back on the winning foot.
WIND: 0.2 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Kelly-Ann Baptiste
Trinidad and Tobago
|
11.06 | 0.148 | 2 | |
2 | Michelle-Lee Ahye
Trinidad and Tobago
|
11.11 | 0.148 | 3 | |
3 | Desiree Henry
Great Britain
|
11.41 | 0.129 | 4 | |
4 | Angela Tenorio
Ecuador
|
11.51 | 0.177 | 1 | |
5 | Jeneba Tarmoh
United States
|
11.84 | 0.149 | 5 |
Women’s 100 hurdles: Jasmin Stowers wins again
Just as in Rio, Americans went 1-2-3 in this one — though it was three different Americans (Olympic silver medallist Nia Ali was last in her heat). Jasmin Stowers, who won last week at the Pre Classic, won again today in 12.61 – .02 slower than the 12.59 she ran at Pre.
WIND: 0.6 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Jasmin Stowers
United States
|
12.61 | 0.133 | 3 | |
2 | Christina Manning
United States
|
12.69 | 0.137 | 5 | |
3 | Sharika Nelvis
United States
|
12.71 | 0.143 | 4 | |
4 | Sally Pearson
Australia
|
12.79 | 0.133 | 1 | |
5 | Tiffany Porter
Great Britain
|
12.87 | 0.152 | 2 |
Semifinal results
HEAT 1 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
WIND: 0.6 M/S | ||||
PL | ATHLETE | MARK | LN/POS | |
1 (1) | Jasmin Stowers
United States
|
12.63 Q | 3 | |
2 (2) | Danielle Williams
Jamaica
|
12.70 Q | 4 | |
3 (3) | Christina Manning
United States
|
12.74 q | 1 | |
4 (4) | Sally Pearson
Australia
|
12.74 | 2 | |
5 (6) | Nia Ali
United States
|
12.94 | 5 |
HEAT 2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
WIND: -0.5 M/S | ||||
PL | ATHLETE | MARK | LN/POS | |
1 (5) | Sharika Nelvis
United States
|
12.75 Q | 3 | |
2 (7) | Tiffany Porter
Great Britain
|
12.99 Q | 4 | |
3 (8) | Dawn Harper-Nelson
United States
|
13.22 | 2 | |
4 (9) | Shermaine Williams
Jamaica
|
13.23 | 5 | |
DNF | Cindy Ofili
Great Britain
|
1 |
Women’s 200 hurdles: Shamier Little keeps rolling
Last week, Little ran a PR of 53.44 for 400 hurdles in Eugene and followed that up with another victory this afternoon, clocking 26.00 in the rarely-contested 200 hurdles.
WIND: -0.2 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Shamier Little
United States
|
26.00 | 0.200 | 4 | |
2 | Gianna Woodruff
Panama
|
26.12 | 0.149 | 5 | |
3 | Cassandra Tate
United States
|
26.43 | 0.197 | 2 | |
4 | Kierre Beckles
BAR
|
26.48 | 0.144 | 3 | |
5 | Raven Clay
United States
|
27.59 | 0.149 | 1 |
Men’s long jump: Jarrion Lawson wins while pulling double duty
Lawson only took two jumps on the day as he was also competing in the 150 (he took 4th in that event) but two was all he needed as he got out to 8.06 meters to defeat a stacked field that included Olympic champ Jeff Henderson and Diamond League champ Fabrice Lapierre.
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | 5TH | 6TH | POS | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jarrion Lawson
United States
|
8.06
26-5 ½ 1.0
|
7.56
24-9 ¾
-0.4
2
|
8.06
26-5 ½
1.0
1
|
P
1
|
P
1
|
P
1
|
P
1
|
3 | |
2 | Fabrice Lapierre
Australia
|
8.03
26-4 ¼ -0.1
|
7.24
23-9
0.4
5
|
7.68
25-2 ½
0.7
6
|
8.03
26-4 ¼
-0.1
2
|
7.85
25-9 ¼
0.5
2
|
F
0.2
2
|
7.86
25-9 ½
0.4
2
|
2 | |
3 | Jeff Henderson
United States
|
8.02
26-3 ¾ 0.3
|
7.35
24-1 ½
-0.1
4
|
7.76
25-5 ½
1.2
5
|
7.64
25-0 ¾
0.6
6
|
P
6
|
F
0.2
6
|
8.02
26-3 ¾
0.3
3
|
6 | |
4 | Will Claye
United States
|
7.89
25-10 ¾ 0.4
|
7.87
25-10
0.4
1
|
7.87
25-10
0.3
2
|
7.84
25-8 ¾
0.3
3
|
7.61
24-11 ¾
0.4
3
|
7.87
25-10
0.2
3
|
7.89
25-10 ¾
0.4
4
|
5 | |
5 | Damar Forbes
Jamaica
|
7.86
25-9 ½ -0.2
|
F
0.1
|
7.85
25-9 ¼
0.3
3
|
7.76
25-5 ½
0.5
4
|
F
0.1
4
|
7.78
25-6 ¼
0.9
4
|
7.86
25-9 ½
-0.2
5
|
1 | |
6 | Michael Hartfield
United States
|
7.83
25-8 ¼ 0.5
|
7.49
24-7
0.3
3
|
7.83
25-8 ¼
0.5
4
|
7.69
25-2 ¾
0.3
5
|
F
0.4
5
|
7.57
24-10
0.8
5
|
7.70
25-3 ¼
0.5
6
|
4 |
Women’s pole vault: Canadian Alysha Newman upsets Jenn Suhr
Suhr suffered her first loss of the season as Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Alysha Newman cleared 4.60 meters, the only woman above 15 feet on the day.
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | 4.30 14-1 ¼ |
4.40 14-5 ¼ |
4.45 14-7 ¼ |
4.50 14-9 |
4.55 14-11 |
4.60 15-1 |
4.72 15-5 ¾ |
POS | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alysha Newman
Canada
|
4.60
15-1
|
O | XO | PPP | PPP | XO | XXO | XXX | 2 | |
2 | Jenn Suhr
United States
|
4.50
14-9
|
PPP | O | PPP | XXO | XXP | X | 4 | ||
3 | Katie Nageotte
United States
|
4.45
14-7 ¼
|
O | PPP | XO | XXX | 3 | ||||
4 | Kourtney Ross
United States
|
4.30
14-1 ¼
|
XO | PPP | XXX | 1 |
Boys’ Dream 100: Kalon Barnes wins in 10.34
Barnes, who will play football at Baylor in the fall and has run 10.22 this season, held off Anthony Schwartz to win, 10.34 to 10.41.
WIND: 0.1 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Kalon Barnes
United States
|
10.34 | 1 | ||
2 | Anthony Schwartz
United States
|
10.41 | 3 | ||
3 | Chauncey Smart
United States
|
10.57 | 4 | ||
4 | Lavonte Valentine
United States
|
10.59 | 5 | ||
5 | Caleb Jolivette
United States
|
10.82 | 2 |
Girls’ Dream 100: Symone Mason beats out 14-year-old Tamari Davis
Mason, who will attend Miami in the fall, was only fourth in the high school 200 at the Pre Classic last week but got revenge on phenom Tamari Davis (who won that race) by defeating her today, 11.61 to 11.65.
WIND: -0.8 M/S | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PLACE | ATHLETE | RESULT | REACT | LN/POS | |
1 | Symone Mason
United States
|
11.61 | 3 | ||
2 | Tamari Davis
United States
|
11.65 | 4 | ||
3 | Kalor Harris
United States
|
11.71 | 2 | ||
4 | Demi Washington
United States
|
11.77 | 5 | ||
5 | Jayla Kirkland
United States
|
13.05 | 1 |