British sprinter takes 100m victory at Diamond League final while Malaika Mihambo, Christian Taylor and Noah Lyles also impress
The IAAF World Championships in Doha kicks off in three weeks’ time and Dina Asher-Smith showed in Brussels on Friday (Sept 6) that she will be a force to be reckoned with in the Qatari capital as she sped to 100m victory in 10.88.
It was a season’s best for Asher-Smith and just three hundredths outside her British record despite cool conditions and a slight headwind of -0.3m/sec.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica was left seven hundredths of a second behind (pictured above) with Marie Josée Ta Lou third and Dafne Schippers fourth.
Dina Asher-Smith reacts to her big Brussels 100m win. #BrusselsDL pic.twitter.com/MwNpn9hjwk
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) September 6, 2019
Noah Lyles enjoyed another good win as the American clocked 19.74 (0.8) to win the 200m ahead of world champion Ramil Guliyev’s 19.86 and Andre De Grasse’s 19.87. Last week Lyles won the 100m trophy at the first Diamond League final in Zurich.
Christian Taylor won the big triple jump clash against in-form fellow American Will Claye. Taylor’s winning leap was a slightly wind-assisted 17.85m (2.1m) as Claye jumped 17.22 (1.1) but his second-best effort of 17.66m (0.1) beat Jonathan Edwards’ long-standing meeting record.
Katerina Stefanidi beat a strong field to win the women’s pole vault with a first-time clearance at 4.83m as Britain’s Holly Bradshaw finished fifth with 4.70m.
Malaika Mihambo of Germany has been in great form all year and sealed the Diamond League title long jump title here with 7.03m (-0.9). Brittney Reece of the United States moved into second with a final round effort of 6.85m, just ahead of heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who leapt 6.73m (-0.2) in the first round, while fellow Brit Lorraine Ugen jumped a season’s best 6.70m (1.0) in fifth.
KJT on her third place in the long jump in Brussels with 6.73m. @JohnsonThompson @stuartweir #brusselsDL pic.twitter.com/v4iUhx4J0D
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) September 6, 2019
Sifan Hassan impressed in the 5000m as she ran a sub-60 last lap to win in 14:26.26 ahead of Letesenbet Gidey, Konstanze Klosterhalfen and world cross-country champion Hellen Obiri.
After some uneven pacing in the men’s 1500m, Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya took the win in 3:30.22 as he held off Norwegian brothers Jakob (3:31.62) and Filip Ingebrigtsen (3:33.33).
Danielle Williams clocked 12.46 for an emphatic 100m hurdles win ahead of Keni Harrison (12.73) and Nia Ali (12.74), while in the men’s sprint hurdles Orlando Ortego ran 13.22 (0.0) for victory as Andy Pozzi, on the comeback from injury, ran 13.50 in sixth.
Mike Norman powered down the home straight to win the 400m in 44.26 from Fred Kerley (44.46) and Akeem Bloomfield (44.67).
In the women’s discus, Yaime Perez of Cuba won with 68.27m from Sandra Perkovic’s 66.00m, while Daniel Stahl of Sweden took the men’s discus title with 68.68m.
Mariya Lasitskene’s winning streak continued as she posted another high jump victory with 1.99m to beat Yuliya Levchenko by two centimetres as local star Nafi Thiam, the Olympic and world heptathlon champion, was third with 1.95m.
As the meeting and Diamond League season for 2019 drew to a close, Ajee Wilson ran 2:00.24 to win the women’s 800m from fellow American Raevyn Rogers as Britain’s Lynsey Sharp was sixth in 2:01.47.