Usain Bolt comfortably won the 200m at the Paris Diamond League meeting on Friday despite Christophe Lemaitre running a season’s best of 20.21 seconds.
On a newly laid Stade de France track based on the 2008 Beijing Olympic version where the Jamaican first took the world by storm, Bolt triumphed in 20.03 seconds to deny his French rival and boost his preparations for next month’s world championships.
Showman Bolt, hiding his face behind his hands like a Paris mime artist, was welcomed into the stadium like a rock star with a string of pumping tunes warming up the crowd and putting his opponents, including Lemaitre, in the shade.
Photo: EPA
The 100m and 200m world record holder then asked for silence as he began to focus, but was forced to wait for several minutes for the high jump and technical issues before blasting off.
Jeremy Wariner’s preparations for the Aug. 27 to Sept. 4 world championships in Daegu, South Korea, took a blow when the American former Olympic champion could finish only fourth in the men’s 400m won by Chris Brown of the Bahamas in 44.94 seconds.
Wariner had never lost in Paris.
Photo: Reuters
“Blade runner” Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee still searching for a qualifying time for Daegu, was fifth in 45.84 seconds and is some way off the 45.25 seconds he needs with two races left.
Bespectacled world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba just edged the 100m hurdles from American rival David Oliver after a false start in the northern outskirts of Paris, while Amine Laalou of Morocco prevailed in the 1,500m.
Caster Semenya showed she was finding form just in time for the defense of her world title by winning the 800m ahead of Halima Hachlaf of Morocco in an albeit modest time of 2 minutes, 0.18 seconds.
At the eighth Diamond League meeting of the season, Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnova won the women’s 400m hurdles after edging out Jamaican Kaliese Spencer.
A stiff breeze did not stop home favorite Mahiedine Mekhissi from surging up the pack to take glory in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase, to the delight of the crowd.
As hordes of children in the two-thirds full stands banged their clapper boards, Trinidad’s Kelly-Ann Baptiste powered to victory in the women’s 100m sprint with a season’s best of 10.91 seconds to deny former world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown.
Meseret Defar ran the fastest time this year (14 minutes, 29.52 seconds) in the 5,000m and had enough energy for a lap of honor.
In the women’s field events, Germany’s Christina Obergfoell and Cuban Yargelis Savigne managed the best distances so far this year in the javelin and the triple jump respectively, while New Zealand’s Valerie Adams triumphed in the shot put.
France’s Renaud Lavillenie had the expected success in the men’s pole vault, leaping 5.73m.
Twelve days after winning her second Grand Slam title at the French Open, Coco Gauff fell at the first hurdle on grass in Berlin on Thursday as beaten Paris finalist Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the quarter-finals. Recipient of a first round bye, American Gauff lost 6-3, 6-3 to Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu as world number one Sabalenka beat Rebeka Masarova 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) in her second round tie. Winner of 10 main tour titles, including the US Open in 2023 and the WTA Finals last year, Gauff has yet to lift a trophy in a grass-court tournament. “After I won the first
Sergio Ramos on Tuesday outfoxed two Inter players and artfully headed home the first goal for Monterrey at the FIFA Club World Cup. The 39-year-old Ramos slipped through the penalty area for the score just as he did for so many years in the shirts of Real Madrid and Spain’s national team, with whom he combined smarts, timing and physicality. Ramos’ clever goal and his overall defensive play at the Rose Bowl were major factors in Monterrey’s impressive 1-1 draw against the UEFA Champions League finalists in the clubs’ first match of the tournament. “There is always a joy to contribute to the
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka staged a “crazy comeback,” saving four match points before beating Elena Rybakina 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (6) in the quarter-finals of the Berlin Open on Friday. Sabalenka was 6-2 down in the final-set tie-breaker, but won six straight points to reach her eighth semi-final of the season. “Elena is a great player and we’ve had a lot of tough battles,” Sabalenka said. “I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky.” “I remember a long time ago when I was just starting, I won a lot of matches being down
While British star Jack Draper spent the past week trying to find rhythm and comfort in his first grass tournament of the season at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, Jiri Lehecka on Saturday bulldozed everything in his path. After more than two furious hours of battle, their form was reflected in the final scoreline as Lehecka toppled a frustrated Draper, the second seed, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the biggest final of his career, against Carlos Alcaraz. Lehecka is also the first Czech to reach the men’s title match at Queen’s since Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in 1990. Draper, who
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