media_artricles :: 2013

Walcott, Gordon not among Shanghai medals

Olympic gold medallist, Keshorn Walcott produced yet another sixth place finish in the javelin event at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai, China, yesterday.

The Toco Secondary graduate launched a distance of 79.02m in his sixth and final attempt. Walcott’s first throw saw him produce a fair 73m flat showing. He fouled his second attempt and followed up with a 75.82m in his third.

The 20-year-old field athlete landed the spear at 70.38m on his fourth try and fouled the fifth.

His longest but sixth-placed distance would eventually come from his final throw.

Yesterday’s performance saw Walcott fall a few lengths short of his sixth place 79.79m finish in the Doha, Qatar-leg, of the Diamond League, on May 9.

Winning gold yesterday was Finnish athlete Tero Pitkaemaeki with his blistering throw of 87.60m, while Czech Republic’s Vitezslav Vesely received silver (86.67m) and Dmitri Tarabin of Russia claimed bronze (85.36m). Also getting the better of Walcott was Finnish thrower Ari Mannio (83.43m) of Finland and Chinese Zhao Qinggang (81.18m), who placed fourth and fifth respectively.

At the Olympic Games last year, Walcott won gold ahead of Vesely, who placed fourth with his distance of 83.34m; Pitkamaki, who placed fifth (82.80m) and Mannio, who was 11th with 78.60m.

In the Men’s 400m, double-Olympic bronze medallist Lalonde Gordon could only muster up a fifth place finish in the hotly contested event. The lanky Tobagonian clocked 46.39 seconds. Olympic 400m gold medallist, Grenadian Kirani James once again rose above the rest and received top honours for his blistering 44.02s showing.

America LaShawn Merritt took home silver in 44.60s while Luguelin Santons of Dominican Republic snatched bronze in 45.11s. Belgium’s Jonathan Borlee also got the better of Gordon, finishing fourth in 45.57s.

Meanwhile, national field athlete Cleopatra Borel was expected to contest the Women’s shot put event. However, according to the official IAAF Diamond League website, her distance was not measured.

The following leg of the Diamond League will take place in New York on May 25. This will be the dubbed the Adidas Grand Prix.

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