ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, Jan 22- Competing at the same meeting in which college teammate Emmanuel Korir set a world indoor 600m best last year, Kenya’s Michael Saruni replicated the feat at the Martin Luther King Invitational in Albuquerque over the weekend.
The 22-year-old, who is a student at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), ran a well-judged race, covering the first 200-metre lap in 24.2 before hitting the front just before the 400-metre mark, which was reached in 49.7.
With a final lap of 25.2 seconds, Saruni continued to effortlessly pull away from the rest of the field, stopping the clock at 1:14.79.
His time took 0.12 off the world best that was previously held by Casimir Loxsom. The US runner had set the mark in January last year, just one week after Korir recorded a world indoor best of 1:14.97.
Elsewhere in Albuquerque, Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan clocked a PB of 7.89 in the heats of the women’s 60m hurdles. She went on to win the final in 7.95 from Dior Hall (7.98), who had also clocked a lifetime best of 7.94 in the preliminary rounds.
As he prepares to defend his title at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018, USA’s Marquis Dendy won the long jump with 8.13m.