Sasha Zhoya sets new 100m record at the Miami Grand Slam Track

Sasha Zhoya failed to achieve the double. Winner of the first leg of the Kingston Grand Slam Track a month ago, with two strong comeback performances (13.34 (-0.5 m/s) in the 110 m hurdles and 10.55 (-2 m/s) in the 100 m), the French hurdler finished 3rd in the 100 m on Sunday, after his second place in the hurdles on Saturday. Zhoya, 22, was beaten by Americans Trey Cunningham with 10.17 (+0.7 m/s) and Jamal Britt (10.20). Cunningham, who had already won on Saturday in 13.00, pockets the $100,000 promised to the winner.

Zhoya, for his part, beat his record in 10.36, his second in two days, after a time of 13.06 in the hurdles, making him the third-highest French performer in history. At the finish, the three-time French champion was both satisfied to have improved his time and disappointed not to have won. " The start was okay, the transition a little abrupt, a little off, but it's okay. I said I wanted to run a time of 10.20. Today, I ran 10.36, and a bad race. I know I have 10.20 in my legs. And 10.20 puts me on par with this guy for the next Grand Slam ," he said, tapping Trey Cunningham on the shoulder, who was just arriving in the mixed zone.

" I'm not preparing for the 100m specifically, the priority is the 110m hurdles," he continued . "I think that once I'm back at INSEP, I'll talk about it with the sprint guys, Jimmy Vicaut, Christophe Lemaitre too, to improve. 10''17, I don't know if I could do it, it's really fast. Maybe with time."

Wilhem Belocian did not start the second race, weakened by his race the day before (13''47) and by the discomfort he had earlier in the week. Ludvy Vaillant, entered in the 400m in the "low hurdles" group, suffered again, finishing 7th in 47''22.

There were still plenty of top-notch performances on this afternoon, spared by a forecast heavy thunderstorm but not light showers. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone flew through the 400m in 49.69 seconds, the 6th best time of her career, and beat combined events specialist Anna Hall (2nd in 51.68 seconds). In the same group but among the men, 2022 4H world champion Alison Dos Santos beat her record by a hundredth with 44.53 seconds. The Brazilian and the American won the maximum bonus, as in Kingston.

Kenny Bednarek also achieved a double after his resounding victory in the 200m in 19.84 seconds (+0.2 m/s), a world best. In the "long sprint" group, Dominican Marileidy Paulino broke the national 200m record in 22.30 seconds (+1 m/s), ahead of Salwa Eid Naser (22.53 seconds).

In the middle distance, the highlight was Ethiopian Hirut Meshesha's 8:22.72, the second-fastest time of the year, but it wasn't enough to give her victory. Kenyan Agnes Ngetich, 3rd in 8:23.14 but winner of the 5000m, won the Grand Slam. In the 800m, 2023 world champion Mary Moraa held on from start to finish to win in 1:59.51.