Warm conditions help produce several world-leading marks as World Athletics’ flagship series hit Qatar on Friday

Temperatures hit the mid to high 30s at the Diamond League in Doha on Friday (May 28) and the performances on the track and in the field sizzled as athletes benefited from the sultry conditions.

Yulimar Rojas led the way with a super triple jump win. The previous weekend the Venezuelan jumped 15.43m in Spain to come within 7cm of Inessa Kravets’ long-standing world record and here in Qatar she opened with 15.15m before sealing the win in the sixth round with 15.11m.

“I’m satisfied and happy with the results and the hard work,” she said. “We are in the right path so I feel good physically and it’s good for me. I’m happy to leave a footprint here in Doha.

“I enjoy this path. When it will be Tokyo’s turn I’ll be prepared I will try to win the gold medal.”

With the competition taking place in a smaller stadium than the air-conditioned arena that staged the 2019 World Championships, Jamaicans Kimberley Williams and Shanieka Ricketts finished second and third. Williams jumped 14.45m in the controversial ‘final three’ last round after having jumped 14.69m earlier, while Ricketts, who had won in rainy Gateshead five days earlier, no-jumped after having jumped 14.98m in the fifth round.

An out-of-sorts Caterine Ibarguen, the Olympic champion from Colombia, was only eighth with 13.86m.

World 1500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot opened his season with a world lead 3:30.48. The Kenyan powered away from his rivals in the closing stages as Stewart McSweyn of Australia finished runner-up in 3:31.57.

Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon stepped down in distance to win the women’s 800m in style in 1:58.26. British teenager Keely Hodgkinson was racing in her first-ever Diamond League and finished a respectable fifth in 2:00.63 in a race that saw all the runners apart from the pacemaker pass the first lap slightly outside 60 seconds.

The men’s 800m saw a similar result with another Kenyan victory as Wycliffe Kinyamal strode away from the field in the final 100m to clock 1:43.91. Runner-up Ferguson Rotich ran 1:44.45 as Britain’s Daniel Rowden achieved an Olympic qualifying standard of 1:44.60 in his first race of the year after having led into the home straight.

Kenny Bednarek has been in great form this season but the American was pushed all the way in the men’s 200m by Canadian Andre de Grasse. Bednarek clocked 19.88 (0.4) with De Grasse one hundredth of a second behind as Britain’s Adam Gemili was sixth in 20.58.

American athletes were in Doha in force as they sharpen up for their Olympic trials next month. The pole vault saw a US one-two, for example, with Katie Nageotte and Sandi Morris clearing a world lead and meet record of 4.84m as Britain’s Holly Bradshaw was third with her best-ever season’s opener of 4.74m.

Norah Jeruto of Kenya also clocked a world lead in the 3000m steeplechase with 9:00.67 after fellow Kenyan and former world champion Hyvin Kiyeng fell at the water jump on the last lap when well placed.

As the world leads kept on rolling, Beatrice Chebet clocked 8:27.49 in the 3000m as runner-up Margaret Kipkemboi and third-placed Lilian Rengeruk also broke the 8:30 barrier. Surprise of the race, though, was world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri fading to fourth.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce returned to winning ways in the 100m after finishing fourth in the wet and windy conditions in Gateshead five days earlier. The Jamaican clocked 10.84 (1.1) to beat Blessing Okagbare although Sha’Carri Richardson withdrew on the eve of the race.

It wasn’t a night for Qatari success as high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim finished second in 2.30m as the victory went to authorised neutral athlete Ilya Ivanyuk with 2.33m.

Another local Qatari star, Abderrhaman Samba, found the pace slightly too hot as well as he was fourth in the 400m hurdles in 48.26. A high-quality event saw Rai Benjamin of the United States win in a meeting record of 47.39 with Alison dos Santos of Brazil second in a South American record of 47.57 and Kyron McMaster of British Virgin Islands third in 47.82.

The men’s 400m flat also featured a highly-anticipated shoot-out although Michael Norman proved a decisive winner in a world lead 44.27. Norman powered away from Colombian Anthony Zambrano, fellow American Fred Kerley and Grenadian Kirani James to win by three tenths of a second.

Valarie Allman led the discus with 65.57m but as the competition moved into the ‘final three’ format the American threw only 58.58m and wound up runner-up to Cuban Yaime Perez, who threw 61.35m in the decisive last round after having managed 63.75m in the earlier stages.

The shot put was a similar story with Filip Mihaljević managing the biggest throw of the contest with 21.88m but in the crucial decisive round the Croatian threw 20.89m as Tom Walsh of New Zealand threw 21.63m after having earlier thrown 21.59m.

Winning his event also gave Walsh the chance to continue his hunt for a sponsor. During the Doha meeting he competed with a t-shirt emblazoned with the words “space for rent” and his latest victory will have done no harm when it comes to filling the sponsorship void.