Fraser-Pryce Beats Olympic Champion Thompson-Herah At Diamond Meet
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce led a list of upsets during the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne as she beat Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah in the women’s 100m.
Thompson-Herah was among a list of Tokyo Olympics Gold medallists who were unable to reprise their form from the Olympics as they were beaten in front a full house at La Pointaise Stadium.
The 29-year-old had run the second-fastest 100m of all-time last Saturday in a blistering 10.54s to win at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, but found herself beaten by her 34-year-old fellow Jamaican in one of the night’s many surprises.
Fraser-Pryce got out of the blocks quickest to finish in a Personal Best (PB) of 10.60s, ahead of Thompson-Herah in 10.64s. Tokyo Bronze medallist Shericka Jackson completed a Jamaican clean sweep as she finished third.
The trio are due to continue their rivalry, plus their bid to break Florence Griffith Joyner’s 33-year-old world record of 10.49, at the next Diamond League meeting in Paris on Saturday.
Olympic champions Selemon Barega, Armand Duplantis, Steven Gardiner, Emmanuel Korir, Hansle Parchment and Karsten Warholm were all beaten but Ryan Crouser in the short put event. He extended his winning streak to 21 successive meetings as he blew away the opposition.
Swede Duplantis finished fourth in the pole vault as he failed at 5.82 with Olympic Silver medallist Christopher Nilsen beating American compatriot Sam Kendricks to win the event.
Canada’s Marco Arop upset Emmanuel Korir in the 800m, holding off the Kenyan for a winning time of 1:44.50 as Ferguson Rotich finished third. Arop, 22. who did not qualify for the Olympic final, had also beaten the Kenyan duo, who were first and second in Tokyo, last Saturday in Oregon.
Norway’s 400m hurdles Olympic Gold medallist Warholm ran in the flat 400m race but faded in the home straight to finish fourth as American Wilbert London dipped first over the line to pip veteran Isaac Makwala from Botswana.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Olympic 1,500m champion, was part of an early breakaway in the 3,000m to edge Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi into second place in a season’s best 7:33.06. Barega, who won a stunning 10,000m race in Tokyo, could only finish fourth over the shorter distance.
Chidi Nwoke/Reuters.
