Grenada’s World Athletics Javelin Champion, Anderson Peters had to settle for fourth place in last weekend’s Diamond League meet in Gateshead, England. In tough weather conditions, Peters’s best javelin throw was 75.65 meters, far cry from his 87.31 PANAM games record.
Poland’s Marci Krukowski won with a distance of 82.61 metres, and T&T’s two-time Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott secured the silver medal with a throw of 77.78 metres while Kim Amb of Sweden finished third with 76.96 metres.
At the same Diamond League Games, Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith stormed to a superb 100m victory over American star Sha’Carri Richardson in wet and windy conditions.
Asher-Smith powered home in 11.35 seconds, 0.11 seconds clear of in-form Richardson, the fastest woman this year.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou and Jamaican world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce were also left trailing by Asher-Smith.
According to BBC Sports, Asher-Smith hardly raced in 2020, restricting herself to three low-key outings on her home track in Bromley. Instead the 25-year-old concentrated on building her strength and technique, with recent training sessions featuring 300 reps of abdominal strengthening exercises.
That extra power was clear as she held off Richardson, who has dipped under 10.80 three times already this season, in the final 20m.
Asher-Smith, who won 100m silver as well as the 200m title at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, played down any psychological impact the result could have on her Olympic rivals. Both she and 21-year-old Richardson intend to run the 100m-200m double in Tokyo.
