Warholm sets first 300m hurdles world record in Diamond League

Karsten Warholm has kicked off the Diamond League season by becoming the first world record holder in the men's 300m hurdles.

The seldom-run race was held at a Diamond League meet for the first time on Saturday - a month after World Athletics said it would become an official event with its own world record.

This year's 15-meet series began in Xiamen, China, where world 400m hurdles champion Warholm won in 33.05 seconds.

The former Olympic champion, who also holds the world record for the 400m hurdles, beat Brazil's Matheus Lima (33.98) and Japan's Ken Toyoda (34.22).

The Norwegian's time was an improvement on the previous world best of 33.26, which the 29-year-old ran in 2021.

Great Britain's Jeremiah Azu came third in the men's 100m with a time of 10.17, missing out to South Africa's Akani Simbine (9.99) and Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala (10.13).

Meanwhile, Sweden's Armand Duplantis won the men's pole vault with a mark of 5.92m.

The world and Olympic champion, who beat Warholm in a 100m exhibition race in September, then had three failed attempts at 6.01- way short of the 6.27 world record he set in February.

World and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon won the women's 1,000m ahead of Australian pair Abbey Caldwell and Sarah Billings.

The Kenyan's world-leading time of two minutes 29.15 seconds was just outside her personal best of 2:29.15 from 2020.

GB's Amy Hunt (23.06) was fifth in the women's 200m, which was won by USA's Anavia Battle (22.41).

Fellow Briton Morgan Lake was also fifth in the women's high jump (1.91m), with Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh victorious with a leap of 1.97.