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5 months ago

January 23, 2025

Ratih is optimistic that a (slightly reformulated) esports industry can make these negotiations, with a few global, multi-game teams emerging from the esports winter (into the esports spring, presumably) with strong global foundations to bear future industry shocks. After all, she says, it’s an industry that still (like so many of its players) retains its youth. “Because we are so young as an industry, we have room to structure agreements and do creative deal-making… there’s no set rules or boundaries that you see a lot in traditional sports because it’s a matured business model. They don’t have the leeway that you have in esports.Performance remains key for these clubs: while players take a chunk of tournament prize pool winnings, good results mean longer tournament runs, more viewers, better exposure for sponsors and more fame. But tournament results are far from everything. At present, for G2, sponsorships make up about 60% of revenue, payments from the publishers that make the games it plays contribute 30% and a final 10% comes from a constellation of direct-to-consumer (D2C) plays: physical merchandise, ‘skins’ and other virtual assets, as well as an app and premium membership tiers.

As one commentator put it, “There are two main winners in esports: players and publishers,” while, for example, the parent of League of Legends publisher Riot Games raked in bn in 2023, many organizations between those two poles have been struggling.

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Cast a casual eye at the esports world over the last year and it’s easy to see a jamboree of mega-events, massive viewership and increasing mainstream adoption.Behind the scenes, though, the esports industry is deep into a well-publicized slowdown. Following an investment gold rush in the 2010s (Deloitte reported a .5bn investment influx in 2018 alone) and a 2020 lockdown-based viewership boom, gamers everywhere have been lamenting an ensuing ‘esports winter’ since at least 2023.The agency will operate within G2 and build from its existing 30-strong marketing team. Its goal, Lacrouts says, is to become the world’s “leading gaming agency” and continue the diversification from there “to become one of the most renowned entertainment agencies.” Services will include creative advertising, paid media services and production.The bridge between that world and this one will be the next few years – years in which Dechelotte says to expect further consolidation while a few esports organizations grow into truly global powerhouses and others continue to fall.

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Dechelotte has big dreams for his industry and his club. A former international Rugby player, he long dreamed, he tells The Drum, of being an exec at a rugby or a football club. Now, he sees G2 gearing up for a future where it could one day own a football team. “We are the Real Madrid of esports already in terms of competition, accomplishment and brand. We’re not going to just sit on the dream and wait. We’re building the next dream for G2 – to become the G2 of sports. The future of G2 is to be a club involved in esports, sports and what I call the ‘augmented sports’ – where the worlds of virtual and physical merge with technologies such as VR and AR. How far are we away from Tron? I think a few years. G2 will be this new-generation club that bridges the gap between communities and games.”There was the League of Legends World Championship Finals in London, drawing tens of thousands of IRL fans and a peak of 7 million viewers (261 million people worldwide, apparently, watch esports at least once a month). There was the controversial 2024 Esports World Cup (its m prize pot drew hundreds of professional gamers to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). And not long after, there was the announcement that the International Olympic Committee would mint its first official Olympic Esports games, to be held later this year, also in Saudi Arabia.While it’s tempting to view esports through the lens of traditional sport, in other words, the environment is inherently different. Most conspicuously, nobody owns football or cricket; League of Legends and Counter-Strike are entirely owned by their publishers, Riot Games and Valve. “Dependency will always be there to a certain extent, especially because we lack the big bucket of media rights,” Ratih explains. “We have the necessity to get more creative and build direct-to-consumer avenues and B2B revenue streams. We can’t afford to rely purely on publisher revenues or sponsorship.”“If Twitch understands that they need to offer more targeting options and more freedom of targeting, then we’re going to see much more investment…. If people start investing on Twitch, then, they will do more than one-off media on Twitch because they can. It’s easy.”Then there’s audience diversification: to, in Ratih’s words, “attract fans that are not regular esports viewers… getting out of the esports shell is not only necessary in order to capture the full revenue potential – it’s also, audience-wise, the place to go”.AdvertisementLacrouts isn’t the only advertising veteran at G2; chief executive Alban Dechelotte is a strategist by training, with a decade at Havas under his belt (he ended up as managing director for Germany), as well as CV entries for the aforementioned Coke and Riot Games.

Dreaming big

“We just don’t have enough people in the marketing department yet who have experienced gaming and esports,” Lacrouts explains. “There are not enough gamers in key decision positions… Most brands have explored so far. That’s it. They’ve done R&D.” There are some exceptions – Coke, for example, made its big ‘Real Magic’ play in 2021 to mixed results – but gaming is struggling to shake off this one-off approach. “They don’t necessarily have the renewal budget for the next year… [And] agencies are looking for the award-winning campaign most of the time. So when you’re briefing an agency to do something in gaming, it’s just a one-off campaign”.Other diversification pushes include renegotiating terms with publishers for a “more sustainable model” for everyone. Despite the impossibility of full broadcast, Premier League-style media rights, there’s also a drive to find “equivalent media rights that you see in traditional sports.” Then there’s global expansion – for European-headquartered G2, that means further development into North America and, especially, China, an enormous gaming market “of which we’ve barely scraped the surface.”Spurred by the wider tech slowdown, layoffs in the gaming industry were so widespread that they have their own Wikipedia page. Esports companies were among the high-profile casualties: major player Faze Clan laid off a fifth of its staff and saw stocks lose 80% of their value; competitor CLG went belly-up then was bought out by a competitor; publications and tournament organizers shuttered; a planned m esports arena in Philadelphia quietly pivoted to retail. Some sponsors and advertisers were spooked – BMW announced that it would “end its esport engagement” back in 2023 (though it has continued to do some work in related spaces).

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“The paid media results on Twitch suck,” Lacrouts says. “They’re just not that good for awareness. But people want conversion, so they never consider using gaming for performance marketing, and so the industry never sees this part of the budget”. The issue is three-fold, he says. First, on Twitch, ads can only target a game or a Twitch category – but not audience groups or channels. Second, the minimum buy is ,000. Third, there’s no option to buy locally as you would, say, during the breaks in a World Cup match. In other words, “Twitch sells the masses… There are many brands out there that would love to invest in Twitch, just like they do on Meta, But it’s all made to sell big-bulk paid media. No brand who could target gamers as part of a global audience is going to go through the effort.

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G2 Esports, one of the biggest names in competitive gaming, is making a play for broader entertainment fame. The next set-piece is a media shop called 62, staffed by ad industry veterans.

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“I think it’s also fair to cut our industry a bit of slack, because we are so young still. To compare us always to traditional sports I find a bit unfair… if we want to build this industry for the long term, yes, we have to compete with revenue buckets that you see in Formula One and football, but it’s fair to give ourselves the time to get there.”

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What to expect at Haeundae Beach this summer

A new large-scale summer festival, 2025 Haeundae Festa, will launch at Busan’s Haeundae Beach from July 1 through the end of August. Organized by the University Festival Organizing Committee, the event combines performances, beach sports, interactive experiences, and local food to revive Haeundae’s signature summer energy and support nearby businesses. Under the slogan “Dreaming of […]

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9 minutes ago

June 23, 2025

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A new large-scale summer festival, 2025 Haeundae Festa, will launch at Busan’s Haeundae Beach from July 1 through the end of August.

Organized by the University Festival Organizing Committee, the event combines performances, beach sports, interactive experiences, and local food to revive Haeundae’s signature summer energy and support nearby businesses.

Under the slogan “Dreaming of Haeundae Again,” the festival aims to recreate the atmosphere of Haeundae’s past summers with a modern twist. Its featured programs include a Steel Troop Experience Zone inspired by the television survival series, a beachside DJ water party, and the return of the Haeundae University Song Festival.

The Steel Troop Experience Zone offers 10 challenge-based courses such as trench combat, tire moving, and tightrope walking. Admission is 15,000 won for elementary students and 20,000 won for older participants.

A DJ-led water party will run daily from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., followed by DJ sets from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., welcoming both domestic and international artists. Tickets for these all-ages sessions are 10,000 won per person.

In the food zone, Woongjangsanghoe, visitors can try dishes made with local ingredients, with free access to shade tents, bean bags, and tables on the beach. Central to the event grounds, a beach sports area will host volleyball, hockey, and Zumba performances against the ocean backdrop.

The opening ceremony on July 4 at 7 p.m. will feature live performances by Baek Ji-young, Jang Min-ho, Kim Soo-chan, and Nora Jo.

The Haeundae University Song Festival returns for a second year, with the final round scheduled for July 26. Composer Kim Hyung-seok will head the jury, joined by Harim and Kwon Jin-won. The event will be hosted by Oh Sang-jin and Park Jin-joo.

To strengthen ties with local commerce, the organizing committee has delivered 60 million won in community funds to the Haeundae Traditional Market Merchants Association and Gunnam-ro shop owners. Coupons will also be issued to tourists during the festival period to encourage spending in surrounding shopping areas and markets.

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South Jersey track star wins third national title, breaks Olympian’s state record

PHILADELPHIA— Natalie Dumas has pulled off another jaw-dropping triple crown. The Eastern junior won her third national championship at New Balance Nationals on Sunday, stopping the clock at 2:00.11 to rewrite the New Jersey state record set by Neptune legend Ajee Wilson in 2012. Dumas’ time is also a meet record and the fifth fastest […]

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39 minutes ago

June 23, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA— Natalie Dumas has pulled off another jaw-dropping triple crown.

The Eastern junior won her third national championship at New Balance Nationals on Sunday, stopping the clock at 2:00.11 to rewrite the New Jersey state record set by Neptune legend Ajee Wilson in 2012. Dumas’ time is also a meet record and the fifth fastest time in U.S. history.

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Time to clean up women's basektball

Laura Hollis Creators Syndicate Women’s basketball should dispel the tired platitude that the world would be a much kinder place if women ran it. I just watched yet another video of WNBA player Caitlin Clark on the receiving end of inappropriately violent behavior during a game. This time, Clark’s team, the Indiana Fever, was playing […]

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1 hour ago

June 23, 2025

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Laura Hollis

Creators Syndicate

Women’s basketball should dispel the tired platitude that the world would be a much kinder place if women ran it.

I just watched yet another video of WNBA player Caitlin Clark on the receiving end of inappropriately violent behavior during a game. This time, Clark’s team, the Indiana Fever, was playing the Connecticut Sun.

The Fever were up 10 points, and Clark was in possession of the ball when she was poked in the eye by the Sun’s Jacy Sheldon. As Clark was recoiling away from the jab, Sheldon deliberately bumped her, and then Sheldon’s teammate Marina Mabrey shoved Clark to the ground — all while Clark was still holding her painful eye. (Mabrey was apparently later given a Flagrant-2 foul, as was Clark’s teammate Sophie Cunningham, who retaliated by deliberately fouling Sheldon with only 46 seconds left in the game. “Flagrant” fouls have financial penalties attached, although the WNBA does not disclose how much players are fined.)

To her credit, Clark refused to back down. She came back from the multiple fouls and hit a series of free throws that helped the Fever clinch the win.

Still, these were hardly isolated occurrences. Other clips posted on X appear to show Sheldon gouging Clark’s arm with her fingernails. And video footage from other games shows Clark being called a “b—h” by former Chicago Sky player Chennedy Carter, getting slapped in the face (also by Mabrey) and elbowed in the throat by Atlanta Dream center Brittney Griner when Clark wasn’t even in possession of the ball.

Personal attacks against Clark have become such a regular feature of WNBA games when the Fever play that observers on X are now referring to Clark as the league’s “punching bag.” It sure looks that way.

At this point, women’s basketball is starting to resemble mud wrestling without the mud. What’s next? Pulling hair?

Yes, I get it, basketball is a contact sport. And yes, these players are fiercely competitive. That can be said of men in certain sports as well. Hockey, for example, is notorious for the slams into the wall and fights that break out. But hockey players are wearing helmets, pads and other gear.

Bad behavior is bad behavior, in any sport. But this bad behavior reflects negatively on women’s sports, and at a time when women are fighting for the integrity of those sports. The women who have opportunities to play professionally should be role models for younger women and girls in college and high school who may have their sights set on playing professional ball, instead of setting poor examples by acting like spoiled brats on the court and in the press.

Some commentators opine that other WNBA players are jealous of the attention Clark has received since she went pro and joined the Fever. If that’s true, grow up. The athletes who feel that way should be glad that players like Clark are generating even more interest in their sport.

The gratuitous nastiness directed at Clark also encourages people to draw unfavorable comparisons between men’s and women’s sports.

Sure, we’ve all seen unnecessary roughness in football (again, a sport where the players are at least partially protected by their gear) and intentional fouls in men’s basketball.

But did you ever see another player poke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan or LeBron James in the eye because they were talented players and got too much attention?

Much of the fault for this nonsense must be laid at the feet of the league and the officials, who are too slow to call out violence that is more than just “aggressive defense,” eject players who display poor sportsmanship and — if need be — sanction teams that let it happen (or, dare I say, encourage it). In fact, both the coaches for the Sun and the Fever criticized the referees who should have stepped in sooner to quell the hot tempers.

Fever coach Stephanie White said, “I started talking to the officials in the first quarter, and we knew this was going to happen. You could tell it was going to happen. So, they got to get control of it. They got to be better.”

Rashid Meziane, who coaches the Sun, said, “The ref has to do their job, to clean up the game and make sure the best team won the game and not just who is more physical.”

It truly is in the league’s longer-term best interests to get this under control. As many headlines as the temper tantrums generate, it’s like a sugar high; some people are just tuning in to see who’s going to throw the next punch.

Catfights may keep the public’s attention for a while, but they’ll eventually grow bored unless the games are about talent, exciting (and fair) competition and great play.

Ultimately, professional sports (for women and men) should be about personal development, teamwork, and victories that are the product of hard work, a positive attitude and great sportsmanship.

Female professional athletes have the potential to leave legacies that are more than just internet clicks and inflammatory headlines. They should take those opportunities as seriously as they do their season wins.

Sports

Dumas Wins 800 In NJ Record, Completes Stunning Triple At NB

There has never been anyone quite like Natalie Dumas, not in New Jersey and perhaps not in the country on the scholastic level!!! Dumas, the indefatigable junior at Eastern, showcased her breathtaking talent once again on Sunday by sending the high school track and field world into an absolute frenzy by completing probably the greatest triple […]

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2 hours ago

June 23, 2025

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There has never been anyone quite like Natalie Dumas, not in New Jersey and perhaps not in the country on the scholastic level!!!

Dumas, the indefatigable junior at Eastern, showcased her breathtaking talent once again on Sunday by sending the high school track and field world into an absolute frenzy by completing probably the greatest triple by a U.S. high school girl with yet another head-spinning victory at the New Balance National Championships at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

Dumas, who already won the 400 hurdles on Friday (a meet record 55.99 ) and the flat 400 on Saturday (a meet and NJ record 51.14), pulled off another stunning performance in the 800 when she used a quick burst right before the finish line to win in heart-pounding fashion, stopping the clock at 2:00.11, which smashed the meet and NJ records and is No. 5 in U.S. history!!!!

That’s right – Dumas went 3 for 3 with 3 meet records and 2 NJ records over the past 3 days! This is a trifecta for the ages!!!!!

Oh, and she also earned All-American honors with a fast anchor split in the SMR!! So she is a quadruple All-American!

This is the National Championships!!!!! No one is supposed to be able to do that!!!!

We will be throwing a lot of numbers and stats at you about Dumas, which almost don’t seem real. But first a look at how the 800 played out.

Dumas was locked in a great battle with national leader Emmry Ross of Michigan, who led after a 58.85 opening 400, but Dumas stayed on her heels with a 59.08 quarter.

Dumas didn’t want to sit and kick, so she took the lead with about 300 to go and opened a 5-meter lead on Ross. But Ross refused to go away, fighting back and drawing just about even with Dumas with around 50 meters left and looked like she might take the lead. But Dumas, with Ross on to her right shoulder, did what she always does, finding something deep down in her tank to make one final surge to get just a stride ahead of Ross to secure the victory. Ross was second in 2:00.25, No. 6 in U.S. history.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

No let’s get into all the numbers and stats for Dumas.

With her times of 55.99 in the 400 hurdles, No. 6 in U.S. history, 51.14 in the 400, also No. 6 in U.S. history and her 2:00.11 in the 800, Dumas is the first girl in U.S. high school history to run sub-52, sub-56 and sub-2:01!!!

In the span of less than 24 hours, Dumas broke state records held by two of the greatest athletes in U.S. history, NJ legends Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Ajee’ Wilson.

When Dumas burned her 51.14 to win the 400, she broke the NJ record of 51.87 that she shared with McLaughlin-Levrone, who ran that time as a junior at Union Catholic at the 2016 Meet of Champions. McLaughlin-Levrone is a 4-time Olympic gold medalist and the current World Record holder in the 400 hurdles.

With her 2:00.11 in the 800 on Sunday, Dumas broke the NJ record of 2:00.91 set by the great Ajee’ Wilson of Neptune when she won 2-lapper at the the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships. Wilson is a 2-time Olympian, is the current American Indoor Record holder in the 800, and she won the 800 at the World Indoor Championships in 2022.

The 2:00.11 by Dumas is also No. 8 on the all-time U.S. Under-20 list and makes her the 8th fastets NJ woman ever on any level!!! Trenton’s Athing Mu, the current American outdoor record holder in the 800 and the 2021 Olympic gold medalist in the 800, is No. 1 on the U.S. U20 list and Wilson is No. 2 at 1:58.21.

Dumas is now the second fastest junior in U.S. history in the 800. The only junior to go faster is Mary Cain of New York, who went 1:59.51 at the 2013 Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field in Oregon.

The 2:00.11 by Dumas would have placed her sixth at the NCAA Division 1 Championships!

Oh, I almost forgot, about 2 hours after she won the 400 on Saturday Dumas split 2:03.90 to rally Eastern from sixth to second in a NJ No. 4 and U.S. No. 12 all-time 3:53.15!

WHERE DOES THIS RANK?

There has already been plenty chatter about where this jaw-dropping performance by Dumas ranks all-time in U.S. high school history.

Well, I think it’s fair to say that McLaughlin-Levrone making the 2016 U.S. Olympic team in the 400 hurdles as a 16-year-old at Union Catholic is the greatest single-race performance we’ve ever seen by a girl in U.S. high school history.

I also think it’s equally fair to call this hat trick by Dumas, with the SMR anchor to go with it, the greatest all-round performance we’ve ever seen by a U.S. high school girl. There just isn’t anyone who can match the kind of range that Dumas has. She’s also run 4:55.66 for 1,600, 24.02 for 200, and she ran 20:26 for 5K at Holmdel Park last fall!!!

And she has one more year left!!!!

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2 hours ago

June 23, 2025

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Paris Diamond League Recap: Habz Drops 3:27 For 1500m Win, U.S. Women Shine In 3000m Steeple

9:42pm – Men’s Javelin In a field full of Olympians, Julian Weber and Neeraj Chopra took first and second place, as they so often have this season. This time, Chopra got the better of Weber, throwing 88.16 to Weber’s 87.88. Weber still maintains the World Lead of 91.06m, with Chopra right behind in 90.23m. The […]

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2 hours ago

June 23, 2025

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9:42pm – Men’s Javelin

In a field full of Olympians, Julian Weber and Neeraj Chopra took first and second place, as they so often have this season.

This time, Chopra got the better of Weber, throwing 88.16 to Weber’s 87.88. Weber still maintains the World Lead of 91.06m, with Chopra right behind in 90.23m. The next closest athlete is the United States’s Curtis Thompson, whose throw of 87.76m is almost three meters back from the two clear javelin favorites this year.

And while the top two had a less-than-ideal meet in terms of distance, the third place finisher, Luis Mauricio Da Silva threw an extremely strong 86.62m—a new Area Record and personal best for the Brazilian.

9:43 – Men’s 110 Hurdles Final

The semifinals set my expectations high for the finals of the men’s 110m hurdles, and they did not disappoint.

Grant Holloway, again, ran a season’s best in 13.11—finishing in fifth place. Holloway looked the fastest over the first 70m, but like in the heats, faded over the final two hurdles. The American hurdler is unbeatable over 60m, but stringing the final stretches of the race together continues to be a struggle over this season. 13.11 is still solid, and Holloway has time before USAs to put it all together. 13.16 and 13.11 as a rustbuster is pretty damn good.

Jason Joseph and Rachid Muratake, third and fourth, also ran quickly in the final—finishing in 13.07 and 13.08, respectively. Joseph’s 13.07 equals his Swiss national record set in 2023, and Muratake’s 13.08 equals his season’s best, run in the heats.

Trey Cunningham and Dylan Beard, first and second, both ran personal bests in the final—Cunningham tying his with a 13.00 clocking and Beard dropping .06 to run 13.02. Cunningham and Beard are both establishing themselves as two of the best American hurdlers, if not two of the world’s best. It’s only a matter of time before they both break the 13 second barrier.

Cunningham, Beard, Holloway and fellow Americans Cordell Tinch, Freddie Crittenden, Jamal Britt, and Jakobe Tharp are all running quick. Even if I was a betting man, I would not bet on who makes the United States team for the 110m hurdles.

9:51 – Women’s 400m

Marileidy Paulino and Salwa Eid Naser matching up against each other is, and will always be, must-see racing. They went toe-to-toe for the entire homestretch clear of the field but unable to fully separate from each other, and they crossed the line within four-hundredths of a second.

Eid Naser still holds the world lead, set back at Grand Slam Track’s first meet in Kingston, but Paulino continued her winning ways with a 48.81 to Eid Naser’s 48.85. The rest of the field fell behind but still ran well, with Martina Weil running a Chilean national record of 49.83, and Amber Anning running a season’s best 49.96. Isabella Whittaker has run race after race after race in her first Diamond League season, and while this wasn’t her best time, she still posted a 50.18 with a quick closing 100m.

9:59 – Men’s 1500m

I don’t know what I expected from this race.

I knew they were getting paced to 3:28.

I knew people ran fast on the track all evening.

I knew the runners in the field were in good form.

I knew Azeddine Habz going for the French record in front of a sell-out crowd was perfect motivation.

I knew it was going to be fast.

But when the pacer stepped off with 500m to go, and the racers stayed in front of the green wavelights, that’s when I knew it was going to be special.

Every athlete in the field improved their personal bests, except for Abel Kipsang, who was 0.35 seconds off.

The average personal best improvement was 2.2 seconds, and the average season’s best improvement was 3.29 seconds.

The average race time was 3:30.23—in a fourteen person field.

The fastest runner, Azeddine Habz, ran 3:27.49—the French National Record, World Lead, and sixth fastest 1500m of all time.

The second fastest runner, Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech, ran the World U20 Record, in 3:27.72. The 18 year old dropped 4.54 seconds off his PB, set earlier this year—he was a 1:46.93 800m runner before this season.

The third fastest runner, George Mills, ran 3:28.36 to become the second fastest British runner ever over 1500m—hurdling Mo Farah, Jake Wightman, Steve Cram, Sebastian Coe and many more in the all-time standings. The 11th fastest British runner is now the 14th fastest EVER.

I AM NOT DONE.

Three national records—Habz, Stefan Nillesen (the 22 year old) ran 3:29.23 for a Dutch National Record, and Tshepo Tshite ran a South African record of 3:31.35.

The slowest runner, Louis Gilavert, ran 3:32.25.

This race took 3:35 runners and made them 3:31 runners. I can’t attribute it to a single, specific reason—the race had it all.

Perfect pacing—yes. Runners motivated by the crowd—yes. The new shoes and nutrition improvements—yes. The track itself had everyone from hurdlers to distance runners commenting on how fast it felt, so—yes. The weather cooled down to 79 degrees, with little wind and all shade—yes.

Are Habz, Koech, Mills and company contenders now? I don’t know. Koech is a relative unknown, Habz is a contender to make finals but usually not for medals, and Mills has shown incredible gains over the 5000m and 1500m this year. I would not be surprised if they do contend for medals this summer and beyond.

Or is it that middle distance, not just the 800m, is having renaissance upon renaissance? 2024 was historically fast. 2025 looks even faster.

Two other side notes:

The math on the race times are here in this spreadsheet, for those who love data like I do.
With Breaking4 right around the corner, Nike has to be pretty happy about choosing the same stadium for their record attempt. I’m ready to see Faith Kipyegon run her fastest, and at Stade Charléty. Who knows what can happen?

10:08 – Women’s 200m

Anavia Battle is undefeated over Diamond League racing this season.

She’s also currently undefeated over the 200m distance—and is putting together a consistently solid resume that makes her a factor coming into championship season.

In this meet, Battle ran a season’s best of 22.27. The second and third place finishers, Amy Hunt and McKenzie Long, both ran season’s bests 22.45 and 22.49. Nobody else ran a season’s or personal best, but the top three got it done—and sometimes, that’s all it takes.

10:20 – Women’s 100m Hurdles

Welcome to the 12.2s, Grace Stark! The short hurdles continued to be fast, with Stark winning the overall race in 12.21, and the world record holder Tobi Amusan running second in 12.24.

Ackera Nugent also ran well, with a season’s best of 12.30.

I remember watching the Women’s 100m Hurdles in 2022, and being incredibly shocked by the 12.12 that Tobi Amusan threw down to break the World Record. Now that we’re three years out, and people are clawing their way back to that mark, I think it’s safe to say the 100m hurdle record is in danger this year. Masai Russell and Jasmine Jones went 12.17 and 12.19 in Miramar, and now Stark and Amusan are within striking distance—with only 0.7 m/s in wind.

The assumption is that contenders are trying to build in time to peak for the national and world championships. With that being the case, it’s hard not to look at these times a month out from championship racing and think the WR is not as far as it once felt like it was.

10:27 – Men’s 5000m

The men’s 5000m was paced to a world record in Paris. It didn’t go down, but Yomif Kejelcha sure as hell put up a fight.

It wasn’t until three laps to go that the lights started to pull away from the Ethiopian, who doggedly committed to the pace from the gun—sitting at the front with all intentions of crossing the finish line alone.

Nico Young and Graham Blanks rolled with Kejelcha through the 3000m mark, and both Americans did an incredible job of competing. Yes, Birhanu Balew, who represents Bahrain, kicked to an Area record of 12:48.67, beating Blanks to the line. And yes, Young faded to seventh, behind new French National Record holder Jimmy Gressier (12:51.59), Samuel Tefera (12:53.44 PB) and Souffiane Bakkali (this isn’t a 3000m steeple! 12:55.49 PB).

I left this race inspired by watching Kejelcha, Young, and Blanks commit to the insane task of running a world record in a 5000m on this random night in Paris. The tanks were more than empty after the race, but they went for it. They found their limits (somewhere around 3-4k), and it makes them all the more ready for whatever comes next.

10:50 – Women’s 1500m Final

Final race of the evening, and it’s the women’s 1500m final.

Once again, everyone ran either a season’s best or personal best (aside from 13,14, and 16th place)—it wasn’t the miracle that the men’s race was, but it was still extremely fast.

Nelly Chipchirchir took home the win in 3:57.02, with Sarah Healy right behind her in a personal best 3:57.15. 11 runners in total ran sub four minutes, which shows incredible depth in not only this race, but women’s running as a whole.

In 2022, only 16 women went under the four minute threshold for the 1500. Last year, 41 women ran under four minutes, and so far this year, 20 runners have. The stakes are getting higher and the times are getting faster, and Paris magic struck in both 1500m races.

Batten down the hatches for the Prefontaine Classic. It’s about to be a good one.

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