Men’s Shot Put produced a thrilling contest and finale as Tom Walsh snatched victory with his last attempt to beat Ryan Crouser at the Paris Diamond League on Saturday.
Both Crouser and Walsh landed Meeting Records (MR), but it was Walsh who produced another MR in his sixth attempt, throwing a distance of 22.00m to marginally take the win, and it was an Area Record (AR).
Crouser who won at the Olympics felt he had the win in the bag after throwing a distance of 21.99m to take the lead from Walsh who had earlier surpassed Werner Gunthor’s MR that has stood since 1992 with a throw of 21.86m.
With Joe Kovacs finishing a disappointing 8th, it was Walsh who provided the challenge for Crouser, and winning the event with his very last throw. Kurt Roberts was 3rd with 20.76m
In women’s Discus, Sandra Perkovic continued her winning streak, overcoming a scare from Melina Robert-Michon to win with a mark of 67.62m. Robert-Michon went into the lead with 64.36m, biut Perkovic who is yet to lose in 2016 bounced back and reclaimed the lead.
2015 World Champion, Denia Cabellero finished 3rd throwing a distance of 61.96m.
Meanwhile in men’s Pole Vault, former Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie was motivated competing in front of his home crowd as he scaled 5.93m to win at the Stade De France.
It was a position swap from the Lausanne Diamond League, with Lavillenie taking the win and Sam Kendricks who won on Thursday, finishing 2nd with a mark of 5.81m. Jan Kudlicka was 3rd scaling a height of 5.71m.
Ruth Beitia continued to display that age is no barrier as she won the women’s High Jump, equaling her Season’s Best (SB) of 1.98m. Levern Spencer also jumped an SB of 1.96m to finish 2nd, and Alessia Troost 3rd scaling 1.93m.
Meanwhile in the men’s Javelin, it was back to back wins for Czech’s Jakub Vadlejch who threw a Personal Best of 88.02m to win. Julian Weber finished 2nd with a mark of 87.39m, and Olympic champion, Thomas Rohler surprisingly finishing 3rd with 84.16m.
In the women’s Long Jump, Ivana Spanovic consolidated on her Diamond Race standings, winning after leaping 6.90m. Great Britain’s Lorraine Ugen jumped an SB of 6.80m to finish 2nd, with Ksenija Balta 2nd 3rd with 6.75m. Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare finished 8th going a distance of 6.26m.
Men’s Triple Jump was won by Chris Carter with his best distance of 16.92m, and Alexis Copello 2nd with 16.90m, same mark as John Murillo who was 3rd. Nigeria’s Tosin Oke finished 10th going a distance of 16.07m
