London Diamond League 2026: Keely Hodgkinson returns to winning ways on home soil

Matthew Hudson-Smith had to settle for second in the men’s 400m behind Rai Benjamin, the Olympic and world 400m hurdles champion.

American Benjamin held off his rivals in a personal best 44.05 seconds, ahead of Olympic and world 400m silver medallist Hudson-Smith in 44.18.

Max Burgin (1:43:30) finished third in a men’s 800m race which began at world record pace, as requested by Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi.

Kenya’s Wanyonyi, beaten by Burgin at the Monaco Diamond League in May, broke the rarely contested men’s 1,000m record in Monaco last week.

Both athletes followed the pacemaker – tasked with keeping them on course for David Rudisha’s 2012 time of 1:40.91 – but faded in the closing stages, as American Brandon Miller took victory ahead of Ireland’s Mark English in 1:42.19.

Dina Asher-Smith was the first Briton across the line in the women’s 200m, as St Lucia’s Olympic 100m champion Julian Alfred won in 21.66 seconds – ahead of American Gabby Thomas, the Olympic champion in that event.

Asher-Smith, who had earlier competed in the women’s 4x100m relay, finished fourth in 22.88, behind Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, with Amy Hunt (22.30) and Success Eduan (22.53) following in fifth and sixth respectively.

“I was hoping for 21 seconds today, but it wasn’t to be today. I k currentlyI am in good shape and deep in training,” statedAsher-Smith, who will seek to become the most successful athlete in European Championship history next month.

Hannah Nuttall ran a personal best 8:26.48 for fourth in a women’s 3,000m race won by Australian Jessica Hull (8:24.69).

In the men’s 100m, Nigeria’s Kanyinsola Ajayi stunned Jamaica’s world champion Oblique Seville with a time of 9.84 seconds, as Briton Romell Glave finished third in a personal best 9.97.

There was an injury concern for Swedish pole vault star Armand Duplantis, who withdrew from the men’s pole vault mid-competition after appearing to struggle with a thigh issue.

Sweden’s two-time Olympic champion, who improved his pole vault world record for the 15th time with a jump of 6.31 metres in March, decided not to take any risk before next month’s European Championships after he had cleared 5.95m – which was still enough for second place.

“It wasn’t my best day, I need to go back, reassess and maybe get a scan. I am sorry to the fans for not putting a good performance together,” Duplantis said.