media_artricles :: 2013

Walcott places sixth in Doha

T&T’s Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott placed sixth in the javelin with a throw of 79.79 metres in the season’s first Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, yesterday.

Walcott could not duplicate last Friday’s performance when he opened with a throw of 84.39 at the inaugural TnT Elite Twilight Games at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port-of-Spain.

Taking the event was the 2012 European champion Vitezslav Vesely of Czech Republic with an 85.09 attempt. Second was world leader Tero Pitkamaki of Finland while Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen was third. Thorkildsen, who won back-to-back Olympic men’s javelin titles in 2004 and 2008, was dethroned by Walcott last year at the London Games.

Reigning world champion German Matthias De Zordo and Ian Zaytsev of Uzbekistan, were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Also yesterday, Jamaica’s two-time Olympic 100-metre champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce sped to victory in the women’s 200m.

Fraser-Pryce clocked 22.48 seconds to lead a Jamaica domination of the top spots with Sherone Simpson securing second in 22.73.

Simpson was followed by France's Myriam Soumare while another Jamaican, Samantha Henry Robinson, was fourth in 22.97.

This was Fraser-Pryce's second win over 200 metres in six days.

In the men’s 100-metre dash, America's Justin Gatlin clocked 9.97 just ahead of Mike Rodgers and Jamaican Nesta Carter who both posted 9.99. Kim Collins from St Kitts was fourth in 10.04 seconds.

World and Olympic champion David Rudisha cruised to victory in the 800. Rudisha’s time of 1 minute 43.87 seconds was significantly slower than the 1:40.91 he ran to break the world record at the 2012 London Olympics.

After the pacemaker retired midway through the race, Rudisha surged to the front and was never threatened. He beat Mohammed Aman by more than a half second, avenging a loss to the Ethiopian at a Diamond League event in Zurich last year.

“I feel good. I was relaxing today,” Rudisha said. “It was the beginning of the season and it was first race, so there was no pressure. (Aman) defeated me in the last race of the season, and it was good to do something at least in the beginning of the season to give me more confidence.”

Gatlin started slowly out of the blocks but came home in the final 20 metres to edge out compatriot Mike Rodgers at the line with a time of 9.97. The line-up was weaker than in previous years, with Yohan Blake pulling out injured and Usain Bolt not scheduled to compete.

Countryman Tyson Gay holds the year-leading time of 9.86, while Bolt opened his season by running 10.09 in the Cayman Islands earlier this week after recovering from a minor hamstring strain.

American athletes won six of the 16 events and there were meet records for Olympic women’s long jump champion Britney Reese and Ryan Whiting in the men’s shot put. Reese leapt 7.25 metres, and Whiting threw 22.28 meters in an event in which Olympic gold medallist Tomasz Majewski finished sixth.

The only setback was Allyson Felix, whose 10-race winning streak in Doha came to an end when she came second in the 400m behind Amantle Montsho of Botswana. Felix hadn’t run the 400 since the 2011 world championships, a race she also lost to Montsho

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