Bolingo shines in Track Lap, Verheyden beats 27-year-old Belgian Record

Cynthia Bolingo had a lot of track left to catch up with Lieke Klaver in the last straight of the 400 metres, but in an last-ditch attempt, she overtook the Dutchwoman just before the finish. 50.09 for Bolingo, 50.16 for Klaver. "My first Diamond League and an instant victory. And in front of a home crowd. This is just unbelievable," Bolingo beamed.
 
In the semi-finals of the World Championships in Budapest, Bolingo improved her BR of 50.19 of last year’s Memorial to 49.96. In the final, she finished fifth in 50.33. And now 50.09. Bolingo continues to pile up the fast times. Helena Ponette also got to compete at the Memorial in the 400 metres WDL race. She finished seventh in 51.87.
 
The programme also included a second 400 metres race featuring three other Belgian Cheetahs. In that race, Imke Vervaet took second place in 52.00. Camille Laus was sixth in 53.31 and Kylie Lambert eighth in 54.84. Hanne Claes, also a Belgian Cheetah, got to compete in the 400-metre hurdles WDL race. She finished seventh in 54.95.
 
The Men’s programme also featured two 400-metres races. In the WDL race, Dylan Borlée finished sixth in 45.39 and Alexander Doom seventh in 45.77. In the second 400-metres race, Robin Vanderbemden finished second. He set a new personal record of 45.51. Julien Watrin (45.60) was third, Florent Mabille (46.11) seventh and Jonathan Sacoor (46.18) eighth.
 
BR for Verheyden, Disappointment for Abdi
 
In the 2000m, Ruben Verheyden ran himself into the history books. He finished ninth in 4:52.37, a new Belgian Record. The previous one of 4:52.37 had been held by Christophe Impens since 1996. Jochem Vermeulen finished eleventh in 5:03.24. Ismael Debjani dropped out of the race.
 
"This is fantastic!" was Verheyden's first reaction. "After the World Championships, I said I would go for the BR. My parents were not thrilled with that statement. They were afraid I was putting too much pressure on myself. But I knew I could go faster than 4:55. The only question was whether I could beat the other Belgians in the race. The last 600 metres were tough. I was dead, but I knew I was on track."
 
Bashir Abdi had set his sights on a Belgian - and who knows even European - Record in the 10,000 metres, but that turned into a disappointment. The man from Ghent, just back in the country after intensive altitude training in the Pyrenees, quit the race after 3km.
 
"This is dreadful," spoke a disappointed Abdi afterwards. "This was a unique opportunity to showcase myself in front of my home crowd, but it didn't turn out well. I never trained on spikes and on the hard track the feeling just wasn't there. I couldn't find the right rhythm. It wasn't easy to make the decision to drop out of the race, but there was no point in continuing to run. The training sessions went very well, and I feel fine. But the spikes and the heat made it too tough for me. During the warm-up, I got a headache. I had hoped to build up my rhythm here for the Chicago marathon on 8 October, but it didn't work out."
 
Top time for Belgian Falcons
 
In the 100 metres, Rani Rosius finished seventh in 11.31. Delphine Nkansa, European Champion in the U23s, also finished seventh in the 200 metres. Her time: 23.43. There was also a seventh-place finish for Merel Maes in the high jump. Maes hopped over 1m84. In the pole vault, Ben Broeders took ninth place with a jump over 5m72. Elise Vanderelst finished 15th in the 1500 metres in 4:10.65.
 
There was a nice third place for Noor Vidts in the long jump, although that was not a WDL event on Friday night. The heptathlete jumped 6m38. Early in the evening there was also a duel of the Low Countries in the men's 4x100 metres. The Belgian team - consisting of Kobe Vleminckx, Ward Merckx, Antoine Snyders and Valentijn Hoornaert - narrowly lost to the Dutch quartet: 38.77 versus 38.49. The Belgian Falcons' time was only 4 hundredths above the Belgian Record.