Just four days after his victory in Stockholm Cooper Lutkenhaus was racing again. In Oslo he was up against the currently undisputed king of the 800m, World and Olympic Champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi. Who was supposed to have run in Stockholm as well, but had to speed home due to a happy event. Having become father of a daughter Wanyonyi was ready to race in Oslo.

Pacemaker Sieradzki did an excellent job and guided the pack to the bell in 49.81. Wanyonyi was right behind him, followed by Lutkenhaus and Arop. On the back straight Wanyonyi tried to get away, but Lutkenhaus overtook him and was into the lead as they reached the final straight.

It was here that Wanyonyi launched his famous final dash, and he did get onto the shoulder of Lutkenhaus, but the 17-year-old found an extra gear and threw himself to the line. And although he collapsed over the line he did so just ahead of Wanyonyi. And ran a new World Under 20 record as well.

So having already beaten the 2023 World Champion, Lutkenhaus has now beaten the reigning World and Olympic Champion as well. Are there no limits to what this young man can do?

    Result:
 1  Cooper Lutkenhaus      USA   1:42.08
 2  Emmanuel Wanyonyi      KEN   1:42.09
 3  Marco Arop             CAN   1:43.33
 4  Tobias Grønstad        NOR   1:43.61
 5  Peter Bol              AUS   1:43.64
 6  Eliott Crestan         BEL   1:43.85
 7  Gabriel Tual           FRA   1:44.79
 8  Mohamed Attaoui        ESP   1:45.66

Last year Cooper Lutkenhaus announced himself to the world at the US championships. Earlier this year he confirmed his talent by winning the World Indoor Championships. But it is in the Diamond League that runners can cement their reputation.

The field was awfully strong, no fewer than eight runners had run 1:42 or faster. And when the first lap was completed in 49.99 a strong time was on the cards. Marco Arop was leading, while Lutkenhaus was already following, with Slimane Moula and Gabriel Tual in hot pursuit.

But on the home straight the race came down to a duel between Arop and Lutkenhaus. And it was the young American who ran away and took a comprehensive victory. Another 1:42 mark and a new world lead gave Lutkenhaus his first Diamond League victory. It seems very unlikely it will be his last one.

    Result:
 1  Cooper Lutkenhaus      USA   1:42.70
 2  Marco Arop             CAN   1:43.11
 3  Slimane Moula          ALG   1:43.41
 4  Ben Pattison           GBR   1:43.70
 5  Peter Bol              AUS   1:43.70
 6  Gabriel Tual           FRA   1:43.72
 7  Jake Wightman          GBR   1:44.39
 8  Bryce Hoppel           USA   1:44.66
 9  Kethobogile Haingura   BOT   1:45.58
10  Mohamed Attaoui        ESP   1:46.92

A strong field was assembled in Rabat, where Emmanuel Wanyonyi was to run his first 800m of the season. With half the field already having broken 1:43 this was bound to be fast. Pacemaker Sieradzki completed the first lap in just under 50 seconds, but only Burgin was in close contention, with Haingura and Wanyonyi a bit further behind.

As the pacemaker dropped out Burgin was left on his own. Behind him Wanyonyi was moving up, but he was unable to close the gap. And as the runners were approaching the finish line Burgin threw his head back in joy, well aware he would not be caught. Wanyonyi had to settle for second, a late run from Moula enabled him to claim third.

It's a brilliant start of he season for Max Burgin. Wanyonyi will be aware that this rival will not be beaten so easily. Then again, the Kenyan lost a few races last season, but ended up winning all the important ones.

    Result:
 1  Max Burgin             GBR   1:42.98
 2  Emmanuel Wanyonyi      KEN   1:43.56
 3  Slimane Moula          ALG   1:43.73
 4  Gabriel Tual           FRA   1:44.03
 5  Donavan Brazier        USA   1:44.03
 6  Eliott Crestan         BEL   1:44.08
 7  Kethobogile Haingura   BOT   1:44.21
 8  Yanis Meziane          FRA   1:44.38
 9  Francesco Pernici      ITA   1:44.40
10  Abdellatif El Guesse   MAR   1:44.62
11  Mark English           IRL   1:45.00
12  Imad Bouchajda         MAR   1:45.15

As the outdoor season is starting up the first Diamond League meeting featured several strong 800m runners. Stars such as Marco Arop, Djamel Sedjati and in particular World Champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi were not in Shanghai, but with Ben Pattison, Brandon Miller, Wyclife Kinyamal, Mark English, Adrián Ben and Yanis Meziane the entry list still featured no fewer than six athletes who had broken 1"44 already.

With no clear favourite this race was always going to be a close one. After a moderately fast first lap (51.12) many athletes were still bunched together going into the final straight. Boyes and Miller were leading, with Meziane and Haingura close behind. English at this point was way back in seventh position. But he kept his form and moved steadily forward. Up front Boyes was losing ground and Haingura took over from the inside. But English kept sprinting, and as Haingura already raised his hand to celebrate English dipped for the line and beat the Botswanan by just 0.04 seconds.

At thirty three years old Mark English was easily the oldest man in the field, and yet he beat all his younger rivals. Last year he ran several PB's, and now he has won a Diamond League race for the first time in his life. Mark certainly seems to be getting better with age!

    Result:
 1  Mark English           IRL   1:43.85
 2  Kethobogile Haingura   BOT   1:43.89
 3  Brandon Miller         USA   1:44.00
 4  Luke Boyes             AUS   1:44.16
 5  Yanis Meziane          FRA   1:44.17
 6  Ben Pattison           GBR   1:44.19
 7  Adrián Ben             ESP   1:44.45
 8  Wyclife Kinyamal       KEN   1:44.61
 9  Marino Bloudek         CRO   1:45.02
10  Xi Xiaoheng            CHN   1:45.62
11  Liu Dezhu              CHN   1:45.79

This was alway going to be a fiercely contested final. Could Elliott Crestan, after winning bronze in 2024 and silver last year get gold this time around? Or would Mohamed Attaoui strike with his stunning acceleration, keeping in mind that passing people is harder indoors and his tactics had to be just right? Or could young Cooper Lutkenhaus live up to the expectations - at only seventeen did he already have the stamina for three races in just over two days?

As expected Crestan took the lead with Bol following, while Attaoui was way off the pace - a bit too far perhaps. After two laps they clocked 51.91, quite fast, with Crestan leading, Lutkenhaus now at his shoulder and Attaoui at the back. During lap three Lutkenhaus took over the lead while Attaoui moved into fourth. Final lap, and Bol tried to get past Crestan, but couldn't do it, and Attaoui sneaked into third on the inside. On the final straight Lutkenhaus held off a final dash by Crestan, while Attaoui had no more accelerations left and had to settle for bronze.

And so at seventeen years and three months Cooper Lutkenhaus has become the youngest World Indoor Champion ever. Not just on the 800m, but on any discipline. What will we see next from this amazing youngster?

    Result:
 1  Cooper Lutkenhaus      USA   1:44.24 
 2  Eliott Crestan         BEL   1:44.38 
 3  Mohamed Attaoui        ESP   1:44.66 
 4  Peter Bol              AUS   1:45.14 
 5  Marino Bloudek         CRO   1:45.31 
 6  Allon Tatsunami Clay   JPN   1:45.42 

Last indoor season Josh Hoey had improved himself to 1:43.24, the second fastest indoor time behind Wilson Kipketer's World Record of 1:42.67. Kipketer ran that stunning record in the World Indoor Championship final, all the way back in 1997. For 29 years it had never been seriously under threat.

A few weeks ago in Boston Josh had ran a World Best on the rarely run 600m indoor, and felt in great shape. He had announced that beating Wilson's mark was his next goal. And so he returned to Boston and paced by his older brother Jaxson the first 400m was covered in 50.21, right on schedule. Josh was on his own from there on, but mentioned afterwards that the support from the public had urged him on.

And he did it! The new World Indoor Record now stands at 1:42.50. Josh said that he felt he was closer to the beginning rather than the end of the journey. It's only January and the season already promises to be very exciting.

    Result:
 1  Josh Hoey               USA   1:42.50
 2  Filip Ostrowski         POL   1:44.68
 3  Ryan Clarke             NED   1:44.72
 4  Hiroki Minamoto         JPN   1:52.08
 -  Jaxson Hoey             USA   DNF