Botswana’s Nijel Amos repeated his Commonwealth Games win over Olympic champion David Rudisha in the men’s 800m at the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich on Thursday.
Amos surged down the home straight to win, while Rudisha, who tried to attack from the back, did not have the legs to catch him and finished third after being caught by Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman.
“I ran my own race, I felt very good,” said Amos, silver medalist behind Rudisha at the Olympic Games, after winning in 1 minute, 43.77 seconds.
Photo: EPA
“It is no surprise for me to win the race today… I do not think about who is in the race, whether it is Rudisha or somebody else,” he added.
Rudisha, the world-record holder, said he was glad to be nearly fully fit after an injury-hit season.
“I am at 85 or 90 percent of my shape,” the Kenyan said. “I am not at my best form. I wanted to see if I could run a tactical race from behind. I am happy now after my injury problems... Hopefully, I can come back strong next year, it was a good experiment for me, it was good to test myself.”
World champion Lashawn Merritt managed to summon enough enthusiasm to win the men’s 400m, cruising home in 44.36 seconds, more than half-a-second ahead of fellow US runner Gil Roberts, with Botswana’s Isaac Makwala in third.
“I was not that motivated for this race, because I had been home for more than a month... and I had not raced for five weeks,” he said. “But this is my job, I did it for the people waiting for me. So, I motivated myself to come out and give a great performance.”
Olympic champion Christian Taylor snatched the men’s triple jump with his final leap of 17.51m, overhauling European champion Benjamin Compaore of France, who had led with his second jump of 17.45m.
Jamaica’s Kemar Bailey-Cole won the men’s 100m ahead of the US’ Michael Rogers and Britain’s James Dasaolu, while Panama’s Alonso Edward held off Jamaica’s Nickel Ashmeade to cruise to victory in the men’s 200m.
South Africa’s Commonwealth champion Cornel Fredericks pipped his rivals in the last few metres to win the men’s 400m hurdles ahead of the US’ Michael Tinsley and Puerto Rico’s Javier Culson in 48.25 seconds.
“Next year, I would like to run under 48 seconds, this is my ultimate goal. And I would like to win an Olympic gold medal,” Fredericks said. “I learn a lot with every race.”
The US’ Reese Hoffa was too strong for European and world champion David Storl as he won the men’s shot put with a throw of 21.88m.
Croatia’s Olympic, world and European discus champion Sandra Perkovic, who threw 71.08m to claim the European title at the same venue earlier this month, won the women’s event with 68.36m, ahead of the US’ Gia Lewis-Smallwood, the only woman to beat her this year.
However, Perkovic was still not happy, saying: “I am not satisfied with my winning result. I would like to have thrown over 70m, even 71m. I really came here to show more and it did not work.”
There was a dramatic finish in the women’s 1,500m when US pair Jennifer Simpson and Shannon Rowbury fell over the line after colliding in the last few meters.
Simpson just managed to hold on for the win after Rowbury made a dramatic late charge down the inside.
“That was a more dramatic finish than normal,” Simpson said.
Jamaica’s former 200m Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown snatched the women’s 100m in a photo finish from the Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahoure as both finished in 11.04 seconds, with Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare just behind.
Dafne Schippers, who won the 100m and 200m at this month’s European championships, was fourth.
The US’ Dawn Harper-Nelson, the fastest in the world in the 100m hurdles this year, won the women’s event in 12.58 seconds, ahead of Australia’s Olympic champion Sally Pearson and Britain’s European titleholder Tiffany Porter, who was third.
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