New stars: Hiltz, QuerinJean, and Laros’s surprise victories at the Brussels Diamond League Meeting

New stars; Hiltz, QuerinJean, and Laros, shone brighter tonight in Brussels. While some victories, like in Agnes Ngetich’s 5000m and Winfred Yavi’s 1 mile steeplechase races, were anticipated, there were some surprises in others, like Niki Hiltz winning the women’s 1500m, Niels Laros winning the men’s 1500m and Ruben QuerinJean in the men’s 3000m steeplechase.

Not just the championship atmosphere created by the massive crowd of fans who came to witness the Diamond League meeting in Brussels, but also the quality of the athletes who came to compete and the thrilling performances staged contributed to a successful event.

In the first lap of the women’s 1500m race, positions were a struggle, forcing Kenya’s duo of Nelly Chepchirchir and Susan Ejore to use the outer lanes and slowly move to the front.

Hiltz wins the women’s 1500m

By the time Chepchirchir found the lead in the chasing pack, Australia’s Linden Hall was already ahead as they approached the bell. The gap started to close, but it was not until the last 150m when USA’s Nikki Hiltz overtook Chepchirchir and went after Hall, overtaking her again just before the finish line.

Hiltz won the race in a season’s best time of 3:55.94. Australia’s Hall ran a personal best of 3:56.33 to finish second as she held off Chepchirchir, who finished 3rd in 3:57.35.

Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu and Portugal’s Salome Afonzo were involved in a collision earlier in the second lap of the race and did not finish the race.

In the first 1000m of the men’s 3000m steeplechase race, Kibiwott and Wale stayed just behind the pace setters as the rest followed in a single file. Girma, not the world record holder, and Simon Koech were not so far behind. Kibiwot took the lead at 1600m, and Wale took over after the 2000m mark. 

As they approached the bell, a bigger pack formed at the front, jostling for vantage positions. A trio of Wale, Ruben QuerinJean of Luxenburg, and Isaac Updike of the USA began to break away. As Updike began to lose ground towards the end, QuerinJean found an extra gear to overtake Wale at the finish line. He registered a new national record of 8:09.47 for the win. Wale came second in 8:09.62, ahead of Updike, who ran 8:10.59 for third.

The women’s 5000m race was expected to be fast. The first lap was completed in 67.40 seconds. The second 400 was even quicker, as the leaders crossed it in 67.21 seconds as Winnie Nanyondo led the trio through 1000m in 2:46.91. 

After that, Ngetich was alone as Chepngetich, who was to pace her, followed. She crossed the 2000m point in 5:35.74.

All her 400m splits were consistently at 67 seconds, up until the 6th lap, when she crossed in 1:08.61. She crossed the 3000m mark at 8:30.74. Signs of a struggle were evident as she crossed the next 400m in 1:12.32 for the 7th lap and 1:12.80 for the 8th lap.

At the 4000m mark, she crossed it in 11:31.06. Perhaps the 72-lap splits provided some recovery for her as her last three laps began to get faster, averaging 70 seconds for the third and second-last laps and 1:07.89 for her final lap.

Ngetich registered 14:24.99 for the win. Behind her was a different race altogether that ended up in a frantic sprint in the last 400m. Likina Amebaw finished second in 14:31.51, edging out fellow Ethiopian Aleshign Baweke in 14:31.88.

Niels Laros of the Netherlands produced a great sprint in a 53-second final lap to win a competitive men’s 1500m race. After the pace setters had stepped out, Kenya’s Phanuel Koech took the field through the 1200m mark in 2:51.21 up to the last 200m when Laros powered past him and went ahead to win the race at a comfortable margin in 3:30.58. Koech came second in 3:31.41 while USA’s Yared Nuguse who had won the race in Silesia finished third in 3:31.51.