Grenada’s Kirani James ended his track season with victory and his fastest time of the year in the finals of the Wanda Diamond League in Eugene, Oregon.
He won the men’s 400 Meters in a highly competitive contest.
James ran a time of 44.30 edging out Americans Quency Hall, 44.44 and Vernon Norwood 44.51. His winning time, 44.30 is his personal best for 2023.
Quincy Hall was the bronze medallist in the recent World Athletics Championship in Budapest but was edged out by on the finish line by James who was disqualified for lane violation in the final of the World Championship
James said he had a little bit of a knee issue coming into the race and wanted to see how far it would take him”. However, the former World and Olympic champion, noted he didn’t feel anything much in the first 200 meters thus putting everything into the last 200.
Anderson Peters, the former two-times world javelin champion, failed to finish among the medals.
Jamaican Shericka Jackson beat World champion Sha’Carri Richardson in the Diamond League finals.The 29-year-old Jackson made up for a slow start by storming through in lane six to take victory in a time of 10.70 seconds.
She was followed home by Marie Jose Ta Lou of Côte d’Ivoire who clocked a season-best 10.75 to be second while reigning Olympic champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica, finished third in a season-best 10.79.
Richardson, who sprung a major surprise to win the World title in Budapest last month, could only end fourth in 10.80.
In the women’s 200m world champion Shericka Jackson cruised to victory in 21.57seconds. Canada’s Andre de Grasse claimed the men’s 200m title with a season’s best of 19.76
Also at the Diamond League, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay and Sweden’s Armand Duplantis set world records
World 10,000m champion Tsegay shattered the women’s 5,000m record as she won in a time of 14 minutes 00.21 seconds.Tsegay, 26, knocked almost five seconds off the previous women’s 5,000m record of 14:05.20 set by Kenyan star Faith Kipyegon, also on 9 June in Paris.
Duplantis then clinched the men’s pole vault title before clearing his first attempt at 6.23m at Hayward Field.
The Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, who also won her first individual world title in Budapest, was comfortable in the women’s 400m to win in 49.58.
