Alfred ends perfect season, Duplantis reigns supreme

BRUSSELS: Olympic 100 metres champion Julien Alfred completed her perfect season at the Diamond League finals in Brussels on Friday, while Sweden’s undisputed pole vault king Armand Duplantis brought the curtain down on an unbeaten season with another fantastic victory and Jakob Ingebrigtsen secured victory in the 1,500 metres to make up for his Paris hiccup.
Alfred, the Olympic gold medallist from St Lucia, led most of the women’s 100 metres but was pushed close to the line by Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, to finish in 10.88 seconds. American Sha’Carri Richardson, the silver medallist in Paris, ended a disappointing eighth.
It had been Richardson who triumphed in Zurich last week, edging Alfred at the line.
But the Saint Lucia sprinter turned the tables when it mattered. Richardson eased off well before the line in the knowledge she had been well beaten, eventually finishing in 11.23sec.
“I am so happy, it feels amazing to finish my season on a good note and to take the win,” said Alfred.
Duplantis needed only two jumps to secure victory in the pole vault as fellow Paris medallists Sam Kendricks and Emmanouil Karalis fell short of their season’s bests by failing with the bar at 5.92 metres.
With his 15th victory of the season secure, Duplantis went on to set a new Brussels meeting record, clearing 6.11 metres with ease.
The US-born Swede was again a world apart from the competition at the King Baudouin Stadium in cold conditions.
He vaulted only three times, at 5.62, 5.92 and 6.11m. Greece’s Karalis was second with 5.82m on countback from home favourite Ben Broeders. “My legs felt terrible tonight and I’m just really tired,” admitted Duplantis, who was left ruing taking on hurdles star Karsten Warholm in a pre-event exhibition 100m race in Zurich last week.
“That took a lot more from my body than I expected. With 6.11 metre I got a good result, but the world record wasn’t meant to be tonight. Now it’s time to celebrate my beautiful season.”
Ingebrigtsen, who won the men’s 5,000 metres in Paris but came in a disappointing fourth in the 1,500 metres, led into the final lap of the middle distance race in Brussels, kicking away from his nearest rivals with 200 metres to go.
Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot was second and Olympic champion Cole Hocker just one-hundredth of a second behind in third.
WELL-PLAYED CAMEO
American star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone played her cameo to a tee.
The 25-year-old, who improved her own world record when winning back-to-back Olympic 400m hurdles golds in Paris, had not competed at a Diamond League event this season and was therefore ineligible for the finals.
But organisers managed to lure McLaughlin-Levrone, who won a second Olympic gold in Paris with the US 4x400m relay team, to Belgium to race in invitational 200 and 400m flat races as a way to “honour” her Olympic achievements.
She won her 400m race in 49.11sec, which was better than world and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino ‘s winning time of 49.45sec in the 400m final proper, from which Paris silver medal winner Salwa Eid Naser was disqualified after crossing into Paulino’s lane.
Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the women’s high jump world and Olympic champion and world record holder, notched up her eighth consecutive Diamond League win with a best of 1.97m, winning on countback from Australian Nicola Olyslagers.
But there was a rare defeat for Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali, the double Olympic gold medallist and two-time world champion, in the men’s 3000m steeplechase. Kenya’s Amos Serem claimed the win in 8:06.90, with the Moroccan coming in second in 8:08.60.
Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake strode home in the men’s 100m, winning in 9.93sec ahead of Americans Christian Coleman (10.00) and Fred Kerley (10.01), the Olympic bronze medallist and 2022 world champion.
Blake’s teammate Tajay Gayle, the world bronze medallist, won the long jump with a season’s best of 8.28m, Olympic champion Militadis Tentoglou coming in third, 1cm behind Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer (8.16m).
Olympic women’s 800 metres bronze medallist Mary Moraa of Kenya won her race in her season’s best time of 1 minutes 56.56 seconds while American Valarie Allman won the women’s discus with a best of 68.47m.
At the end of the evening, Britain’s Charles Dobson was a surprise winner in the men’s 400 metres, his late burst pushing him ahead of Grenada’s Kirani James and Zambian Olympic bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga.
Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2024