Usain Bolt delivered a stunning 200m victory at the Bislett Games on Thursday, but Caster Semenya was outshone by unheralded Moroccan Halima Hachlaf in the women’s 800m.
Bolt, the double world and Olympic champion and world record holder in both the 100m and 200m, was making his season’s bow in the longer discipline, which he last raced in May last year.
And the 24-year-old Jamaican did not disappoint, clocking a world lead time of 19.86 seconds in the fifth meet of the 14-leg Diamond League series.
Photo: EPA
Bolt, who set a world record time of 19.19 seconds when winning the 200m at the 2009 worlds in Berlin, showed little event rustiness, easing into the bend and hitting the back straight absolutely flying.
Starting in lane six, the Jamaican caught compatriot Mario Forsythe on his outside within the first 15m and in the final 80m there was no one to come close to the Jamaican.
Gambian-born Norwegian Jaysuma Saidy Ndure finished second in 20.43 seconds, with Forsythe taking third 0.06 seconds adrift.
In the women’s 800m, Hachlaf produced a formidable sprint finish down the home stretch to pip Semenya and second-placed Russian Mariya Savinova in a world lead time of 1 minute 58.27 seconds.
However, Semenya, who stormed to victory at the 2009 World Athletics Championships but was cast into limbo soon after until July last year because of allegations about her true gender, was happy with her performance.
Semenya started strongly, but her flagging finish saw her time 1 minute, 58.61 seconds for third place behind world indoor and European outdoor champion Savinova (1 minute, 58.44 seconds), both season’s bests.
Kenyan Paul Kipsiele Koech showed his rivals a clean pair of heels in running away with the men’s 3,000m steeplechase in a meet record and world lead time of 8 minutes, 1.83 seconds.
New Zealand’s Valerie Adams also broke a 26-year-old stadium record in wrapping up the women’s shot with a best of 20.26m, besting Belarusian Nadezhda Ostapchuk by 34cm.
Estonia’s Olympic men’s discus champion Gerd Kanter (65.14m) and Cuba’s two-time world triple jump champion Yargelis Savigne (14.81m) both notched up their second Diamond League victories of the season.
Meseret Defar led a five-strong Ethiopian sweep of the women’s 5000m, winning in a season’s best of 14 minutes, 37.32 seconds in a sprint finish.
The “Dream Mile” was won by Kenya’s Olympic 1500m champion Absel Kiprop in 3 minute, 50.86 seconds.
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