Olympic champion Omar McLeod was on Saturday well-beaten in the 110m hurdles as the Paris Diamond League meeting produced a night of upsets.
McLeod, who clocked a Jamaican record of 12.90 seconds in winning his national title one week ago, trailed in seventh in a race that was won by his lesser-known compatriot Ronald Levy in 13.05, a personal best.
“It’s my first time in Europe so it is an important victory,” Levy said. “I will definitely have strong memories of Paris. Things are looking good before the [world] championships. I know what to do at the championships now.”
Photo: Reuters
Another Olympic champion Ruth Jebet, who smashed the world record for the women’s 3,000m steeplechase at the same event last year, finished fourth this time after the Kenyan-born Bahrain runner fell in the penultimate lap.
Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech took advantage as she led round the final lap to win ahead of world champion and compatriot Hyvin Kiyeng.
Germany’s Thomas Roehler, who has managed four 90m-plus throws this season including two in Ostrava on Wednesday, produced a more modest 87.23m as the Olympic champion finished third in the javelin.
Fellow German Johannes Vetter won with 88.74, ahead of Jakub Vadlejch.
Faith Kipyegon was another Olympic champion to lose as she was beaten by Sifan Hassan in a thrilling women’s 1500m.
The Kenyan trailed going into the final lap, tried to overtake on the outside, but could not get past and Hassan held on to win by one-100th of a second in 3:57.10.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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