Following her triumph at the opening meeting of the series last month, world and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Sydney McLaughlin once again achieved a perfect score of 24 points in the long hurdles category at the Grand Slam meeting in Miramar, on the outskirts of Miami.
This time, she went quicker in both disciplines, clocking a world-leading 52.07 in the 400m hurdles on Saturday (3) and following it with a dominant run of 49.69 in the 400m on Sunday (4), winning both races by two seconds. They’re also the fastest times she has ever recorded at this point of the season.
Jamaica’s Andrenette Knight finished second in the 400m hurdles (54.08) and in the category overall, while heptathlon specialist Anna Hall was second in the 400m flat (51.68).
Another world champion over one lap of the track, Marileidy Paulino, also bagged maximum points in her category. Following on from her 400m win on Friday, the sprinter from the Dominican Republic returned on Sunday to win the 200m in a national record of 22.30.
Two-time Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek was another 24-point winner. The US athlete sped to a wind-assisted 9.79 (2.4m/s) 100m win on Saturday, then clocked a world-leading 19.84 (0.2m/s) to take the 200m on Sunday.
Jamaica’s Oblique Seville (9.84 / 20.13) was second overall in that category, finishing just ahead of Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (9.87 / 20.13).
In the women’s short sprints class, Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas won her specialist event in 21.95 (1.1m/s), but Melissa Jefferson-Wooden – who had won the 100m on Friday – was confirmed the category grand slam winner, thanks to her third-place 200m finish in 22.15.
Jacory Patterson produced one of the more surprising performances on Saturday. The world indoor bronze medallist, running in the outermost lane, charged into the lead in the home straight of the 400m to stop the clock at a world-leading PB of 43.96, becoming just the 26th man in history to break 44 seconds.
Jereem Richards won the grand slam title in this category, after finishing second in 44.32, 0.05 ahead of Olympic silver medallist Matt Hudson-Smith.
Full marks for Cunningham and Dos Santos in hurdles
Trey Cunningham and Alison dos Santos impressed in the men’s hurdles to win their respective categories with the maximum possible points.
Cunningham sped to an equal PB of 13.00 in the 110m hurdles on Saturday, then followed it with a 10.17 PB in the 100m flat on Sunday, winning both races and giving him 24 points in the short hurdles category. Sasha Zhoya was second overall after clocking a 13.06 PB in the sprint hurdles and running 10.36 in the 100m.
Dos Santos, the 2022 world champion, followed his 400m hurdles win on Friday with a PB of 44.53 in the 400m flat, giving him 24 points and a category victory.
Jamaica’s world indoor bronze medallist Ackera Nugent, who placed third in the record-breaking 100m hurdles on Friday, came back to win the 100m flat in a PB of 11.09, giving her the short hurdles grand slam title by one point over Olympic champion Masai Russell.
Having finished some way off the pace in the Grand Slam season opener in Kingston last month, world 1500m champion Josh Kerr rebounded in impressive fashion in Miami to win the short distance category.
The Briton claimed 1500m victory on Friday, then followed it with a fifth-place finish in the 800m on Saturday (1:45.01) in a race won by world champion Marco Arop (1:43.69). Both world champions had claimed victories in their specialist event, but Kerr’s higher placing in his secondary event gave him a two-point advantage over Arop.
World indoor 3000m champion Freweyni Hailu showed impressive range to win the short distance title. Having won the 1500m in 4:06.96 on Saturday, she finished third in the 800m (1:59.84) behind Mary Moraa to take the grand slam in her category.
The closest contest of the weekend came in the women’s long distance category which came down to a tiebreak between 5000m winner Agnes Ngetich and 3000m winner Hirut Meshesha (8:22.72). Ngetich was declared the winner as she had the lowest combined 3000m/5000m time of the pair.
Double Olympic bronze medallist Grant Fisher claimed the grand slam in the men’s equivalent thanks to his 5000m win in 13:40.32 on Sunday.
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