US hurdler Aries Merritt and Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare showed that they are in prime form and real threats to the big-name favorites at the London Olympics with impressive victories in the Monaco Diamond League meeting on Friday.
In the final warmup event before the Games, which begin on Friday, Merritt roared to yet another sub-13 second victory in the 110m hurdles while Okagbare chalked up a second successive sub-11 second run to beat another clutch of Olympic hopefuls in the women’s 100m.
However, Yelena Isanbeyva, hoping for a third successive Olympic pole vault title in London, had a night to forget, as she failed three times at her opening height of 4.70m.
The London Olympic 110m hurdles has long been viewed as one of the potential highlights of the athletics program, based on another showdown between China’s Liu Xiang and Cuban Dayron Robles, but Merritt’s performances in recent weeks have ensured it will be much more than a two-man show.
After Liu pulled out injured from the final at a cold and wet Crystal Palace a week ago, Merritt won in 12.93 and he ran the same world leading time for the third time in three weeks on Friday.
Fellow-American Jason Richardson was second in 13.07, with Russia’s Sergie Shubenkov edging out another American, Beijing bronze medallist David Oliver, for third.
Okagbare is another looking to gatecrash the party at London and she underlined her potential to become Nigeria’s first Olympic 100m medalist with another personal best victory.
Having broken 11 seconds for the first time last week en route to taking the scalps of world champion Carmelita Jetter and Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in London, she improved again in more favorable conditions to post 10.96.
Tianna Madison, who will also run in London, was second in 10.99 with fellow American Jeneba Tarmoh third in 11.09.
There was a Jamaican victory in the 200m, but it was not by the man the organizers or the crowd had hoped for following the withdrawal of world record holder Usain Bolt because of a hamstring injury.
Nickel Ashmeade, one of many hugely talented athletes to miss out on London because of the cut-throat Jamaican trials where he finished fourth, blasted round the bend and held on just enough to win in 20.02 seconds.
Churandy Martina, now running for the Netherlands, was second in 20.07 and Wallace Spearmon, something of a surprise winner of the US trials, continued his timely improvement to take third in 20.09.
In the absence of another world record holder and red hot London favorite, Kenya’s David Rushida, two more talented young Kenyans, neither of whom were good enough to make their nation’s team for the Olympics, took center stage in the 800m.
In a terrific finish 19-year-old Abraham Rotich ran a personal best 1 minute, 43.13 to just pip 17-year-old Leonard Kosencha as the Rift Valley production line shows no sign of slowing down.
Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay and Ryan Bailey, the US’ three entrants in the Olympic100m, teamed up in the 4x100 relay and scorched to a season’s best 37.61 seconds on the same track where the Santa Monica Track Club, anchored by Carl Lewis, set a then-world record 37.79 21 years ago.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB