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Mary Moraa breaks 600m world record in Berlin [VIDEO]

Reading Time: 2min | Sun. 01.09.24. | 17:51

She took 0.14 seconds off the previous record held by Caster Semenya

Kenya's Mary Moraa has broken the 600m world record after cruising to victory at Germany’s biggest athletics event, the ISTAF Berlin 2024.

The 2023 World Champion clocked a winning time of 1:21.63, eclipsing the previous record held by South Africa's Caster Semenya by 0.14.

Making her debut in the rarely-run distance, Moraa, who held the quickest times in the two-lap race, holding a 1:56.03 personal best, exploded to the front after the gun, leading the rest of the field through 200m in 26.0 seconds.

It was after the bell that she showed her dominance once again, as she held off her closest challenger Shafiqua Maloney, through the 400m mark at 52.68 seconds.

The 2023 World Champion then put some distance between the pair at the homestretch, stepping on the gas pedal once again to power to the finish line in a world record time of 1:21.63, that shattered the previous record of 1:21.77 set in 2017.

Vincentian middle-distance runner Maloney came home second in a national record time of 1:22.98, with Alica Schmidt of Germany third, clocking 1:24.88.

So blistering was the final lap by Moraa, that it was timed at 56.12, and she could not hide her joy as she skipped joyfully after the strong finish, even breaking to a few dance moves with the games mascot.

The record-breaking win now adds to Moraa's National Record in the 400m (indoors), and comes just days before she goes out for another Diamond League Trophy in Brussels on 13-14 September.

The 24-year-old has already qualified to the final thanks to her victory in the Lausanne leg on 22 August.



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Mary MoraaCaster Semenya

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