Sprinter Zoe Hobbs (Ngāruahine) has shaved 0.02 seconds off her previous best time this season to clock 11.15 seconds for the women’s 100m in Monaco this morning (NZT), just days after her fifth-place finish in Hungary on Wednesday (NZT).
The 26-year-old was sixth at the Monaco Diamond League event on Saturday (NZT) won by Saint Lucian sprinter Julien Alfred in 10.85 seconds into a -1.0 m/s headwind.
American Tamari Davis was second in 10.99 seconds in a photo-finish from Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith who had an identical time.
Patrizia van der Weken of Luxembourg was fourth in 11.02 seconds and Côte d’Ivoire’s Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith claimed fifth place in 11.08 seconds.
10.85!
— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) July 12, 2024
Julien Alfred takes her first ever #DiamondLeague victory in the women's 100m! 🇱🇨#MonacoDL🇲🇨#DiamondLeague
📷 @chiaramontesan2 pic.twitter.com/na7WcGLcXl
Going into the race, six of the athletes in the final had gone under 11 seconds this season. As well as the top three finishers today, this included Ta Lou-Smith and US athletes Tamara Clark and Aleia Hobbs.
The Kiwi finished ahead of Americans Clark (11.25) and Hobbs (11.26) today who filled the seventh and eighth spots.
On Wednesday, at the Gyulai István Memorial in Hungary, Hobbs recorded 11.20 seconds for the 100m. Until today, her best time this season had been 11.17 seconds achieved last month in Poland and in May in Japan.
Earlier in the day, Hobbs shared a photo with New Zealand javelin athlete Tori Peeters, who will also make her Olympic debut in Paris, saying the “Girls [are] ready” and that it was a “dream” for her to have secured a spot in today’s race.
“Let’s go!!!” Hobbs said, enthusiastically.
New Zealand’s fastest-ever woman, who has a career-best time of 10.96 seconds, is next in action at Spitzen Leichtathletik in Switzerland on Wednesday (NZT).
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is on Saturday, 27 July (NZT).