Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba finished second in 400m hurdles at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday. Roshawn Clarke won the event as the Jamaican clocked a season’s best of 47.49 seconds.
Samba, who finished sixth at the Paris Olympics, also registered his season’s best time of 47.58 secs. Rasmus Magi of Estonia was third in 48.02 secs.
Olympics silver medallist and world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway did not start due to a hamstring injury, while Alison dos Santos of Brazil did not finish the race. The Olympic bronze medallist had aimed for the Diamond League trophy, but an apparent injury forced him to stop midway through the race. The conditions were not ideal as the track was wet due to heavy rain.
Meanwhile Armand Duplantis admitted to feeling “wrecked” after an exhibition 100m race, while Sha’Carri Richardson and Letsile Tebogo steamed to sprint victories. So much is now expected when Duplantis takes to the runway of the pole vault, but it was for him a relatively disappointing competition in cold and rainy conditions, albeit a victory.
The Swede won with a best clearance of 5.82m on countback from American Sam Kendricks. “Mentally, I felt good today, but my body felt wrecked after Thursday’s race,” he said in reference to the 100m showdown with 400m hurdles world record holder Karsten Warholm. Duplantis won the sprint in a “very impressive” 10.37sec to Warholm’s 10.47.
“For both of us it was a great experience,” said Duplantis.
“It was super amazing. I think we built a super event, it was very new and innovative.”
While Duplantis at least picked up another win, Warholm was an absentee after pinging his hamstring after his sprint endeavours.
But as the loser, Warholm was deigned to wear one of the Swede’s national tops in action on Thursday.
While not competing, Warholm duly made an appearance on the track dressed in Duplantis’ kit, but said it was “terrible. I need to take a really good shower after this!”
Roshawn Clarke of Jamaica, in 47.49sec, won the 400m hurdles in his absence. World champion Richardson went some way to avenging her Olympic defeat by Julien Alfred by reversing the tables in the 100m.
Richardson headed into the final 20 metres in third behind Saint Lucia’s Olympic champion Julien Alfred and Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith. But the American stayed strong and focused on the line, producing a savage dip for first place in 10.84 seconds, 0.04sec ahead of Alfred. “I am training and executing because I know the race is not going to take care of itself,” said Richardson.
Botswana’s Olympic champion Tebogo also left it late for his victory in the men’s 200m.
The 21-year-old edged Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek by 0.02sec as he won in 19.55sec.
And in a re-run of the men’s 1500m Olympic final, it was American Yared Nuguse who took the spoils, outsprinting Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen to the line in 3:29.21. Beatrice Chebet, who became double Olympic champion in Paris (5,000m and 10,000m), fell short in her tilt at a world record in the shorter event.
Chebet had pacemakers, wavelight technology and a 30,000 sell-out crowd baying her on, but the Kenyan finally timed 14:09.52, all the while smashing by 21sec the meet record set back in September 2011 by compatriot Vivian Jepkemei Cheruiyot.
There was a fifth consecutive Diamond League victory for Ukraine’s Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who managed a best of 1.96m in the high jump for victory. There were also two more dominant performances from Americans who’d struck gold in Paris.
First up, three-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser wrapped up another shot put competition with a winning 22.66m.Grant Holloway then clocked a rapid 12.99sec for victory in the 110m hurdles.