Matan Ivri Sets New Israeli 1500m Record in Belgium Meet

At the Kortrijk athletics competition in Belgium on July 11, Israeli middle-distance runner Matan Ivri set a new national record in the 1500 meters with a time of 3:34.51 minutes. Ivri, representing Hapoel Emek Hefer and coached by Amir Ramon and his college coach, improved his previous record by over three seconds, which was 3:37.41 minutes set at the US collegiate finals. He finished third overall in the race and plans to compete again soon in Liège to attempt further improvement.

In the same race, Arbel Henzel from Lider Jerusalem, also coached by Amir Ramon, broke the Israeli U20 national record with a time of 3:47.68 minutes, surpassing the longstanding record of 3:47.86 set by Itay Magidi in 2000. Other notable performances at Kortrijk included Noam Mamo equaling the Israeli U23 400m record with 46.80 seconds, Blessing Afrifa running 20.84 seconds in the 200m, and a strong showing by Israeli women in the 800m with personal bests by Rachel Perez Martinez (2:05.05), Kharwan Halabi Kablan (2:06.00), and Shani Zakai (2:06.31).

In hurdles, new record holder Sagi Lamdiel (Lider Netanya) and Eyal Uziel (Maccabi Tel Aviv) clocked 14.17 and 14.30 seconds respectively in the 110m hurdles, with Lamdiel improving to 14.06 seconds in the B final. Other performances included Jonathan Drozninov (3:48.29) and Tal Avidan (3:50.43) in the 1500m, Leah Arviv winning gold in discus with a personal best of 47.30 meters, and strong showings in triple jump and shot put by Itamar Baylin and Ido Mor. In the 110m hurdles final, Alan Dvornik set a personal best of 14.10 seconds in the heats, while Liam Aqua finished fifth in 13.96 seconds.

These results highlight a significant breakthrough for Israeli middle-distance running and promising talent across multiple track and field events, with several athletes setting personal and national records at the Kortrijk meet.