Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi has broken the 1,000m world record, which had stood for nearly 27 years, with a 2:11.83s run at the Monaco Diamond League.Wanyonyi, 21, who is the Olympic and World Champion over 800m, went 0.13s quicker than Noah Ngeny’s run from 1999. Just behind him, in second place, was Great Britain’s Jake Wightman, who won this event in Monaco four years ago and finished in 2:12.77s — putting him fifth on the all-time list.It was a bold run from Wanyonyi, who only turns 22 in August but makes a habit of front-running over two laps. He did the same here, slotting in behind the pacemakers as the field strung out behind him. They split 400m in 50.95s and 800m in 1:45.11s, before Wanyonyi’s speed showed in the final half-lap.“I am so excited and so happy that I could run today in Monaco,” he told Diamond League media. “This was the first time I ran the 1,000m, and breaking the World Record makes me so happy. I want to thank the other athletes to push me to my limit.”Wanyonyi added that he will not race much this year — he’s skipping next month’s Commonwealth Games in Scotland — as he continues to chase the 800m world record later this summer.“I wanted to go really, really quick and I knew Wanyonyi would be tough over one kilometer, but I did not know how it would be in the last 200m, so I hoped I could maybe get my finish strong,” Wightman told Diamond League Media.“I was nearly there. I am in a good spot, one of my best runs I’ve probably had this year,” the former 1,500m world champion added.This is the seventh world record set in Monaco since 2015, and all have been in middle or long-distance events, owing to it being a mid-season meet when athletes are at peak conditions, plus the reliable conditions and favourable weather.Elsewhere, Julien Alfred won the women’s 200m in storming fashion, taking more than a second off her PB with a 21.51s run which moved her up eight places to third on the all-time list. Shericka Jackson and ‘FloJo’ Florence Griffith Joyner are the only faster women in history and the 25-year-old is now quicker than former Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah.That makes it 11 wins from 12 races in 2026 for Alfred, and here she beat Adaejah Hodge (second in 21.76s), the British Virgin Islands sprinter who set a collegiate record when she won the NCAA title over this distance in June. Gabby Thomas, the Olympic 200m champion, came third in 21.84s. That run by Thomas is the fastest ever for third place, and just one hundredth of a second slower than the time she produced to win gold in Paris two summers ago.Armand Duplantis set a meet record of 6.07m in the pole vault, 32cm higher than any of his competitors. He could not, however, clear 6.15m and failed on each of his three attempts.Olympic champion Nina Kennedy won the woman’s pole vault and cleared 4.95m — a one centimeter improvement on Eliza McCartney’s Oceanic record from 2018, and the highest by any woman for five years since Anzhelika Sidorova jumped 5.01m in September 2021.Collen Kebinatshipi, the Botswana athlete who is the world champion over 400m, ran a lightning-quick 43.44s to win his primary event and better the Diamond League record he set in Paris last month. He finished over half a second quicker than runner-up Jacory Patterson (43.96s), and this performance lifted Kebinatshipi from 11th to joint-sixth on the all-time list, tied with Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith.“I did not exect to be fast like this. We are just playing around and (we will) see how fast we can go towards the end of the season,” said the 22-year-old to Diamond League media. “My focus now is on the 400m but maybe in the future, when I achieve what I want in this event, we can switch to 200m,” he added.Jul 10, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms