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.

Bowie struck a pose after her world best Bowie struck a pose after her world best

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.

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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

Miller-Uibo recorded the second world best of the day in Boston Miller-Uibo recorded the second world best of the day in Boston

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.

Final results
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
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