Julien Alfred pulls ahead of Amy Hunt in women’s 200m Diamond League final

Britain’s Amy Hunt received a stark reminder of the gap separating her from the world’s elite female sprinters, finishing nearly half a second behind Julien Alfred in the Diamond League 200m final.

Despite this, Hunt maintained that securing third place in a season’s best 22.16sec, on tired legs in cold Brussels conditions, ranked among the strongest performances of her career.

“I’ve shown in recent 200m races that I’m growing stronger, and tonight I came close to my personal best,” said Hunt, a four-time European gold medallist from Birmingham. “Competing on a freezing northern European night in September at 10pm makes this one of the best 200m races I’ve run.”

There were reasons for encouragement, as Hunt started quickly and stayed near Alfred through the curve. However, the St Lucian, who claimed 100m gold at the Paris Olympics, pulled away decisively to win in 21.79, with American Kyla White second in 22.00 as Hunt slowed.

“Julien was closer than ever before on the bend, and I thought if I had fully fresh legs, I could genuinely challenge her,” Hunt explained. “That’s motivating because she’s an outstanding athlete — fierce yet gracious. Knowing this was likely my strongest opening half gives me real optimism for next season.”

The men’s 1500m provided the evening’s highlight, as Australia’s Cameron Myers navigated through traffic on the home straight, moved between Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Phanuel Koech, and edged ahead to win in 3:30.14.

This offered some redemption for Myers, whose Commonwealth Games silver behind Josh Kerr in Glasgow had been underwhelming. Ingebrigtsen also found positives, finishing in 3:30.52 — his fastest since returning from an 11-month absence caused by an achilles injury — despite fading in the final 30 metres.

The meeting marked the 50th memorial event honouring Ivo Van Damme, the Belgian athlete who earned 800m and 1500m silver medals at the 1976 Olympics before his death in a car accident that same year at 22.

Following a tribute to Van Damme, legendary athletes who competed at the venue — including nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis — were introduced to spectators and Belgium’s King Philippe.

Lewis watched as Jamaica’s world champion Oblique Seville claimed the men’s 100m in 9.90sec, recovering from a slow start to defeat Commonwealth champion Emmanuel Eseme by three-hundredths of a second.

World champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi then thrilled the crowd by setting a meeting record of 1:41.80 in the men’s 800m, finishing nearly a second ahead of Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, with Britain’s Ben Pattison fifth in 1:44.29.

“Winning required running 1:41 and I achieved it,” said Wanyonyi. “The conditions weren’t perfect tonight. The wind didn’t affect me much and I was pleased the rain stopped.”

In other events, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi won the men’s 400m in 43.40, improving his own Diamond League record, while Emmanouil Karalis cleared 6.12m in pole vault to surpass Mondo Duplantis’s meeting record. Duplantis withdrew earlier due to leg tightness, casting doubt on his participation at next week’s Ultimate Championships in Budapest.

“Pulling out of a competition is the worst feeling,” Duplantis said. “My mind is scattered. It’s challenging but that’s an athlete’s life. I’ll remain calm and positive and see if I can compete in Budapest.”

The two-day meeting concludes Saturday, featuring Audrey Werro’s women’s 800m world record attempt and Georgia Hunter Bell as favourite in the women’s 1500m.