Duplantis, Fraser-Pryce and Lyles shine in Zurich final

ZURICH: Mondo Duplantis, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Noah Lyles showed off all their pedigree by setting meet records en route to victories at the Diamond League final in Zurich on Thursday.

Duplantis, after a rare defeat in Brussels last week, gave a masterclass in pole vaulting at a 25,000 sell-out Letzigrund Stadium, the Swede eventually winning with 6.07 metres.

Fraser-Pryce stormed back to “remarkable” winning ways in the 100m having also suffered a rare blip in the Belgian capital.

The 35-year-old Jamaican clocked a meet record-equalising 10.65 seconds, just 0.03sec off her personal best and the seventh time this season she has gone under 10.70.

“This was remarkable, and I am very proud that I came away with a 10.65 – I started with a 10.6 and I finish with a 10.6 so there is nothing more I could ask for,” she said.

Lyles smashed Jamaican legend Usain Bolt’s 10-year-old 200m meet record by 0.14sec as he scorched through for victory in 19.52sec.

That top trio of athletes was part of 19 reigning Olympic champions, 21 world champions and 20 European champions in individual events on show for the final, a true feast of the highest-quality track and field.

Athletes were competing to bag a Diamond Trophy and prize money of $30,000 (30,300 euros), while in addition there were wildcard entries up for grabs for next year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

World 200m champion Shericka Jackson made sure of a Jamaican one-two in the women’s sprint events as she blasted to a 21.80sec victory in her preferred distance after coming second behind Fraser-Pryce in the blue riband event.

INGEBRIGTSEN ON FIRE

In the absence of 400m hurdling compatriot Karsten Warholm, Jakob Ingebrigtsen was left flying Norway’s flag and duly made no mistake in the men’s 1,500m, outsprinting the field to deprive Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot of a sixth consecutive Diamond League Final win.

Ingebrigtsen, the world 5,000m champion and Olympic and European 1,500m gold medallist, looked in electric form as he strode through the line in a world-leading 3:29.02.

“I am happy with tonight and also with the season overall. There are always things you can improve. You can always get better and I will try to do that,” the Norwegian said.

The men’s 400m hurdles were won by Brazil’s Mr Consistency, Alison Dos Santos, in 46.98sec, leaving him unbeaten this season in the event in which he was also crowned world champion in Oregon.

Femke Bol of the Netherlands, a three-tme European gold medallist in Munich, easily won the women’s one-lap hurdles.

There was a treble Kenyan middle-distance triumph as Faith Kipyegon won the women’s 1,500m and Mary Moraa claimed the 800m title.

There was followed by world champion Emmanuel Korir producing a stunning burst to win the men’s 800m in 1:43.26.

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan lived up to her billing as 100m hurdles world champion and world record holder by storming to a meet record of 12.29sec, smashing Gail Devers’ 22-year-old mark.

“While you are running against the very strong field, the only thing you really want is to win, no matter the meeting record,” Amusan said.

Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas was again a class apart in the triple jump, winning in 15.28m to retain her Diamond title, while Cuban Andy Diaz Hernandez snatched victory in the men’s jump-off from Portugal’s world and Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo.

Grenada’s three-time Olympic medallist Kirani James, in 44.26sec, and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, in a personal best of 48.99sec, won the 400m titles respectively.

The men’s 100m was taken by American Trayvon Bromell in 9.94sec, the sole sprinter to go sub-10sec, while teammate Grant Holloway raced to a 13.02sec victory in the 110m hurdles.

In the field, American Olympic gold medallist Valarie Allman defended her discus title with a best of 67.77m, while Slovenia’s world champion Kristjan Ceh took the men’s crown with 67.10m.

Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou (8.42m) and Serbia’s Ivana Vuleta (6.97) won the men and women’s long jump, while India’s Neeraj Chopra (88.44) and American Kara Winger (64.98) triumphed in the respective javelin competitions.

And Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh capped off a season in which she won the world indoor title in Belgrade back in March by triumphing in the high jump with a best of 2.03m.

“Every competition, every win, is so important for me and for Ukraine,” said Mahuchikh, who endured a three-day trip by car to Serbia after fleeing her country when Russia invaded on February 24. — AFP

Diamond League winners after Zurich finals

All 32 Diamond League event winners in 2022 after the second of the two-day finals in Zurich on Thursday (discipline: male; female):

100m: Trayvon Bromell (USA); Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)

200m: Noah Lyles (USA); Shericka Jackson (JAM)

400m: Kirani James (GRN); Marileidy Paulino (DOM)

800m: Emmanuel Korir (KEN); Mary Moraa (KEN)

1,500m: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR); Faith Kipyegon (KEN)

5,000m: Nicholas Kipkorir (KEN); Beatrice Chebet (KEN)

110/100m hurdles: Grant Holloway (USA); Tobi Amusan (NGR)

400m hurdles: Alison Dos Santos (BRA); Femke Bol (NED)

3,000m steeplechase: Soufiane El Bakkali (MAR); Werkuha Getachew (ETH)

High jump: Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA); Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR)

Pole vault: Armand Duplantis (SWE); Nina Kennedy (AUS)

Long jump: Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE); Ivana Vuleta (SRB)

Triple jump: Andy Diaz Hernandez (CUB); Yulimar Rojas (VEN)

Shot put: Joe Kovacs (USA); Chase Ealey (USA)

Discus: Kristjan Ceh (SLO); Valarie Allman (USA)

Javelin: Neeraj Chopra (IND); Kara Winger (USA)