BRUSSELS, Sept 13 (Askume) – Olympic 100 metres champion Julian Alfred completed his best season yet at the Diamond League series finale in Brussels on Friday while Jakob Inge Jakobrigtsen overcame a Paris defeat to win the 1500 metres.
St Lucia’s Olympic gold medallist Alfred led for much of the women’s 100m but was held off by Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, finishing in 10.88 seconds. Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States won silver in Paris but finished a disappointing eighth.
Ingebritsen, who won the men’s 5000m in Paris but finished a disappointing fourth in the 1500m, went past the best with 200m remaining in the final leg of the middle-distance race in Brussels.
Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot was second and Olympic champion Cole Hawke was third, just one-hundredth of a second behind.
On a cool September night in Brussels, in conditions less than favorable for records, the winners of the 16 sports were awarded the Diamond League trophy and $30,000. Sixteen other events will take place on Saturday.
Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis needed just two jumps to win the pole vault, while Paris medallists Sam Kendricks and Emmanuelle Karalis missed their season’s bests after failing to clear the 5.92m bar.
Duplantis set a new record with a distance of 6.11 m in Brussels and took his 15th victory of the season.
Other winners included women’s 400m Olympic champion Maryledy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who finished the race in 49.45 seconds, while silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser of Paris was disqualified for running in Paulino’s lane.
Olympic women’s 800 metres bronze medallist Mary Moraa of Kenya won the championship with a season-best time of 1 minute 56.56 seconds.
In the men’s 100m, Jamaica’s Akeem Blake clocked the fastest time of 9.93 seconds, ahead of American Christian Coleman. His compatriot Fred Kerley finished third, equal with Paris.
The night ended with a surprise win in the men’s 400m by Great Britain’s Charles Dobson, producing a late performance to overtake Kirani James of Grenada and Olympic bronze medallist Muzaala Samukonga of Zambia.
