Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson poses after winning the women’s 100m race during the AG Insurance Memorial Van Damme IAAF Diamond League athletics meeting, on September 9, 2016 in Brussels
© Belga/AFP/File Yorick Jansens
BRUSSELS, Belgium, Sep 9 – Jamaica’s double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson brought the curtain down on a spectacular season with her 12th straight 100m victory at Brussels’ Diamond League meeting on Friday.
In a thrilling night of track and field which featured a couple of botched world record attempts, the stand-out performance unexpectedly came from American pole vaulter Sandi Morris, who became only the second female in history to go over the 5m barrier outdoors after Russian Yelena Isinbayeva.
Although Morris’s compatriot Jennifer Suhr has vaulted 5.03m, that was indoors, and the current Olympic silver medallist set a packed King Baudouin stadium alight when she cleared 5.00m.
But she failed at three attempts at 5.07m, 1cm further than Isinbayeva’s world record.
On the track, Thompson scorched to victory in a new meeting record of 10.72 seconds ahead of Dutch rival Dafne Schippers.
The victory was Thompson’s 12th consecutive in the blue-riband event in 2016, coming just weeks after she wrapped up golds in the 100 and 200m at the Rio Olympics.
“Now I can finally go back home,” said the 24-year-old Jamaican, whose winning time meant she became the first woman in history to record four consecutive sub-10.8sec 100m times.
“I keep on smiling because this season was really great. If I had to summarise it in one word: Wonderful!”
European champion Schippers, who came fifth in the Rio 100m and took silver in the 200m, clocked 10.97sec for second ahead of another Jamaican in the shape of Christania Williams.
“I had a decent start in my race but when it came to accelerating at the midway stage, my hamstrings caused me some trouble,” Schippers said.
– Semenya delight –
South Africa’s Caster Semenya reacts after winning the women’s 400m race during the 2016 edition of the AG Insurance Memorial Van Damme IAAF Diamond League athletics meeting, on September 9, 2016 in Brussels.
South African Caster Semenya, Olympic 800m gold medallist, pulled off an extraordinary victory in the women’s 400m, setting a personal best of 50.40sec for the win that looked completely out of question after the first half of the race.
“It’s fantastic!” said Semenya. “This is suicide! The 800m is much better, the 400m I do for speed.”
The South African judged her finish to perfection to see off Courtney Okolo and a threatening pack of Rio finalists led by Jamaica’s Olympic bronze medallist Shericka Jackson.
