• Niels Laros edged out Yared Nuguse in a photo finish to win the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic.
• Nuguse led for nearly the entire race but faltered in the final meters.

The first 1,599.9 meters of Saturday’s Bowerman Mile belonged to Yared Nuguse.

EUGENE, Ore. — Kenyan Faith Kipyegon turned in a standing-ovation worthy performance in setting a world record in the 1,500 meters on Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic, and Aptos native Nikki Hiltz, the fifth-place finisher, was among those applauding her rival’s showing.

Kipyegon, a three-time Olympic champion in the event, finished in 3 minutes, 48.68 seconds and bested her own record of 3:49.04, set last July before the Paris Games.

“The crowd’s clapping and right as we’re all clapping, too,” said Hiltz, during a post-race interview with on-site media, after finishing in 3:55.96. “I think it speaks to how good of a person she is and how she lifts all of us up. I’m like the biggest Faith supporter/fan.”

Kipyegon, 31, sprinted alone down the stretch cheered by the sellout crowd at Hayward Field. After crossing the finish line, she wrapped herself in the Kenyan flag.

Ethiopian Diribe Welteji took second in 3:51.44, and Australian Jessica Hull, who was the silver medalist behind Kipyegon at the Olympics last year, was third in 3:52.67.

“To be honest, the ladies are pushing me too because they are running quick now and I’m happy that when I broke a world record, they are all running very fast, and that is what I wanted, to motivate the younger generation to come and do even better. For them to follow me, it feels so great that they are pushing me as well to break records,” Kipyegon said.

Last month Kipyegon failed in a bid to become the first woman to run a mile in under four minutes. She ran 4:06.42 — the fastest mile in history by a woman — at Stade Charléty in Paris.

Her time was better than her world record of 4:07.64 but won’t be recognized because the Nike-sponsored event was unofficial.

“I think the changes were that I was preparing myself for something special, which was to run under four minutes in a mile and I think I pushed myself, getting better and better toward the 1,500, so I knew it was possible to still run under 3:49,” she said.

Kipyegon also has won the 1,500 at the last three World Championships. She was second in the 5,000 at the Paris Olympics last summer.

Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell took fourth on Saturday in 3:54.76 and was followed by Hiltz and fellow American Sinclaire Johnson (3:56.93).

Hiltz, who identifies as transgender and nonbinary, and uses they/them pronouns, was happy with their race.

“It was good,” Hiltz said. “I think I kinda fell asleep a little bit, because I looked up and their was a gap. And I was like, ‘Shoot.’ But I think I lag a lot of it, which is fine. I’m happy for myself for staying on a hot pace. When Georgia went around me I was actually grateful I had a body to race. Yeah, 3:55, I can’t complain. That’s my second fastest time, ever. So, yeah, I’m pleased with that.”

Hiltz plans to return to Flagstaff, Arizona, to continue training and return to action at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene on July 31-Aug. 3.

“I’m big on training,” Hiltz said. “I love racing, but in order to run these times, you have to put in the work. So I think, get a little bit stronger and sharper, and then come back in a month.”

Writer Anne M. Peterson of the Associated Press contributed to this report.

TOP FINISHERS

Women’s 1,500 meters
1. Faith Kipyegon (KEN) — 3:48.68 (World Record)
2. Diribe Welteji (ETH) — 3:51.44
3. Jessica Hull (AUS) — 3:52.67
4. Georgia Hunter Bell (GBR) — 3:54.76
5. Nikki Hiltz (USA) — 3:55.96
6. Sinclaire Johnson (USA) — 3:56.93
7. Sarah Healy (IRL) — 3:57.20
8. Saron Berhe (ETH) — 3:57.72

Some of Team New Zealand athletes for the FISU World University Games in Germany in July 2025
Photo: Supplied / Colin McDiarmid

A team of 84 student athletes are going to represent New Zealand at the World University Games in Germany later this month.

Organised by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), it is one of the world’s largest multi-sport events.

Around 8500 student athletes and officials representing 150 countries are expected for the games, competing in 18 different sports, including archery, athletics, 3×3 basketball, beach volleyball, fencing, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, taekwondo, rowing and water polo.

Head of the New Zealand delegation Evelyn Williamson said household names such as Anthony Mosse, Hamish Kerr, Eliza McCartney, Zoe Hobbs and Lauren Boyle had used the event as a stepping stone to bigger things.

“The games are a unique opportunity for athletes to perform at an elite level and gain experience in a high-performance environment. It’s where future Olympians are forged.”

Williamson said New Zealand had been involved in the biannual event since 1983 and had won 30 medals – nine gold, 12 silver and nine bronze.

“It’s not an easy competition to be part of and be successful at,” she said. “The competition is very strong – world champions are there, Olympic champions…

“Just because they’re university age, it doesn’t mean that they’re not highly competitive. It has been something that University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand over the years has been involved with. But this is the biggest team I think we’ve seen in recent memory.”

The games will be held at the Rhine-Ruhr cities of Bochum, Duisburg and Essen from 16-27 July.

Williamson said it was a unique opportunity in multi-sport games that did not come around very often.

“There are some challenges for us because it’s a multi-city format and we spread across 11 hotels in three cities. It’s gonna be pretty unique in that way. It is going to be an awesome opportunity for our athletes.”

Williamson also encouraged New Zealanders to follow the games and athletes on social media.

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The Australian women’s water polo team have inflicted more pain on the USA with another penalty shootout win over their Olympic rivals in Perth.

With former skipper and three-time Olympian Zoe Arancini announcing her retirement, the Stingers opened the Tri Nations series in style.

Playing their first match at home since winning silver at the Paris Olympics, the Australians posted a thrilling win after the scores were locked at 8-8 at the end of regulation time.

In Paris the Stingers downed the three-time Olympic champions in the semi-finals in a dramatic penalty shoot-out after the scores were also 8-8 at fulltime.

After some huge saves in their latest shoot-out by goalkeepers Gabi Palm and Gen Longman, fellow Olympian Alice Williams slotted the winning goal.

Williams was everywhere, opening the scoring for Australia after converting a penalty, while she also found the back of the cage in the dying seconds of the first quarter to level the scores 2-2.

The Aussies added another two goals to their haul in the second quarter, courtesy of Abby Andrews and Olivia Mitchell.

In the third, a buzzer-beater goal from Dani Jackovich put the hosts back in it, trailing by one at the three-quarter time break.

Williams scored another in the fourth quarter, with Jakovich again nailing her shot in the final minutes to draw level at 8-8.

For proud veteran Bronte Halligan, it was a case of deja vu.

“An 8-8 score and then to go into penalties…the irony wasn’t lost on me. Almost 12 months ago we had the exact same score in the semi-final against them at the Olympics,” Halligan said.

“It was just a true dedication to the hard work the girls have put in all year and it was really exciting for our first official home game (this cycle) on home soil to come up with a big win in penalties.”

Meanwhile, Arancini, who isn’t playing in the series, confirmed her retirement from the international stage after a 16-year career.

Arancini made her debut for the Aussie Stingers in 2009 and went on to amass 330 international caps and played in the Rio, Tokyo and Paris Games.

Having achieved podium success at every major international competition in world water polo, Arancini said the timing felt right to step away.

“I’ve done this for 16 years now, and to finish on such an amazing note at Paris 2024 is pretty special,” Arancini said.

“I’m ready for the next chapter of my life… I know it’s the right decision because I’m happy, I’m content, and it’s my choice.

“I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved, and I’m so excited for the next generation to step in.”

The Australians next face Italy on Sunday in Perth as the teams gear up for the world aquatic championships in Singapore next month.

A NASA astronaut is in awe of what she witnessed above the clouds.

Nichole Ayers, who is aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as pilot of SpaceX Dragon’s Crew-10, captured the moment when a rare electrical phenomenon occurred above thunderstorm clouds on Thursday, July 3. 

“Just. Wow,” the 36-year-old astronaut wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of the red jellyfish-like electrical occurrence. “As we went over Mexico and the U.S. this morning, I caught this sprite.”

A sprite is “an atmospheric phenomenon associated with lightning,” according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Providing more context, Ayers wrote, “Sprites are TLEs or transient luminous events that happen above the clouds and are triggered by intense electrical activity in the thunderstorms below.”

“We have a great view above the clouds, so scientists can use these types of pictures to better understand the formation, characteristics, and relationship of TLEs to thunderstorms,” she concluded.

This red sprite, like a previous one NASA captured in June 2024, has red tendrils associated with jellyfish sprites due to “the positively charged lightning [interacting] with atmospheric nitrogen, creating an electrical breakdown that produces flashes of red light.”

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In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE in May, Ayers talked about the beauty of being in space, where she gets to fly around the world every 90 minutes, with the chance to watch a sunset or a sunrise every 45 minutes.

“I think that ‘excited’ is an understatement,” Ayers, a former collegiate volleyball player, said at the time. “I like to say the English language doesn’t have the right words to describe how amazing the experience is. The launch was amazing. And then getting to come through the hatch of the International Space Station, just awesome, amazing, ecstatic.”

”It’s been an amazing experience so far,” Ayers added.

The NASA astronaut arrived at the ISS aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule and the Falcon 9 rocket on March 14 as part of Crew-10.

While in space, Ayers and other astronauts on the mission are conducting science experiments, participating in spacewalks and working out.

They will return to Earth in the fall after their six-month mission.