by Alfonz Juck
Reece Prescod upsets the stars, photo by PhotoRun.net
In a meet with some surprises, Reece Prescod upset the entire field of 100 meter stars. In fact, the seventh place of Justin Gatlin, may be the worse placing ever for the World Champion.
Prescod beats all the stars, Manyonga 856 in rain
SHANGHAI (CHN, May 12): Second leg of 9th IAAF Diamond League produced 8 World leads and 5 meeting records in good weather, only at the end rain came. Again new names showed their potential with Prescod, Kinyamal and Balew. Two home wins was something for 25 000 spectators (more were not allowed due to technical reasons). Four reigning World champions won their events (McLeod, Manyonga, Lasitskene, Gong), but four lost (Gatlin, Edris, Kendricks, Schippers). Top results were another sub 44 by Steven Gardiner after Doha and Luvo Manyonga´s last attempt of 856 in slippery conditions.
Event by event short reviews
Men
100 m: Reece Prescod produced a storming finish from lane nine to win the last event on the track in 10.04 from Chinese sprinters Su Bingtian (10.05) and Xie Zhenye (10.17). Ramil Guliyev (10.20), Justin Gatlin (10.20) and Andre de Grasse (10.25) were sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
400 m: Another sub-44 clocking and meeting record for Steven Gardiner who stopped the clock at 43.99 from Isaac Makwala (44.23) and Abdelelah Haroun (44.51). Christian Taylor just missed his PB in fifth with 45.24.
800 m: Commonwealth champion Wycliffe Kinyamal ran negative splits to win in a meeting record and PB of 1:43.91 (started to run early 2016) from Kenyan teammate Jonathan Kitilit (1:43.95). Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski was a distant third in 1:45.41.
1500 m: Timothy Cheruiyot overhauled world indoor champion Samuel Tefera in the home straight, winning with a 3:31.48 world lead to Tefera’s 3:31.63 PB.
5000 m (non-DL): Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew outsprinted Olympic silver medallist Paul Chelimo, 13:09.64 WL to 13:09.66. World champion Muktar Edris was fifth with 13:10.98 and late finish.
110 m H: The order from the Olympics was repeated with Omar McLeod edging out Orlando Ortega, 13.16 (WL equaled) to 13.17. Former world champion Sergey Shubenkov was third in 13.27, just ahead of Ronald Levy in 13.33.
LJ: Luvo Manyonga produced a sixth round world-leading jump of 8.56m to defeat 19-year-old Yuhao Shi who improved his PB from 8.31m to 8.43m but in last jump heavily injured on wet track.
PV: Renaud Lavillenie cleared 5.81m to win on countback from Piotr Lisek. World champion Sam Kendricks was down in ninth after only clearing his opening height of 5.46m.
Women
200 m: Commonwealth champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo ran a terrific straight to set a meeting record of 22.06, just 0.02 off Blessing Okagbare’s world lead. Dafne Schippers opened with a solid 22.34 with Marie-Josee Ta Lou fourth in 22.58.
3000 m SC (non-DL): Kenyans filled the first six places. After a 2:57 opening kilometre, Beatrice Chepkoech set a 9:07.27 world lead from Norah Jeruto (9:09.30) who slipped on the wet track after clearing the final barrier.
100 m H: Olympic champion Brianna McNeal set a meeting record of 12.50 to lead a US clean sweep with reversed order from Doha ahead of Sharika Nelvis (12.52) and Kendra Harrison (12.56). Norway’s Isabelle Pedersen was the top non-US finisher in fifth with 12.76 EL.
400 m H: Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad produced a big season’s best of 53.77 to edge out Commonwealth champion Janieve Russell who improved her PB to 53.78.
HJ: Mariya Lasitskene opened her summer campaign with a 1.97m world-lead ahead of Mirela Demireva with 1.94m. She remains unbeaten since June 2016 in 39 competitions.
TJ: Olympic champion Caterine Ibarguen extended her world-lead to 14.80m in the sixth round to beat Jamaicans Shanieka Ricketts (14.55m) and world indoor champion Kimberly Williams (14.35m).
JT: Two-time world medallist Lyu Huihui produced a marvellous series, including a meeting record of 66.85m in the third round. Poland’s Marcelina Witek opened with 64.49m but retired after her second throw.
SP: Gong Lijiao produced the four longest throws of the competition: 19.27m, 19.85m, 19.87m and 19.99 (WL). Jamaica’s Danniel Thomas-Dodd was a distant second with 18.70m.
