Elaine Thompson further underlined her status as the reigning sprints queen, racing to a win at the Brussels Diamond League and equaling the Meeting Record (MR) of 10.72s.
It was an emphatic victory for Thompson who yet again got the better of Dafne Schippers who was 2nd with a time of 10.97s. Christina Williams finished 3rd with a time of 11.09s
The Jamaican will be happy that she has won the Diamond Race (DR) trophy having missed out to Schippers in the 200m last week in Zurich, with her Dutch rival amassing more points than her. Thompson on the back of her Rio 2016 double triumph, now three consecutive victories: two in the 100m and one in the 200m.
Meanwhile in the women’s 5000m, Almaz Ayana joined Thompson as one of only few athletes to run an MR. Coming at the back of her finishing 3rd at the Olympics where she attacked the World Record, Ayana didn’t give anything to chance as she raced a time of 14:18.89.
In fact Ayana was so good that she dragged the next five finishers behind her to either run Personal Bests(PB) or National Record(NR).
Kenya’s Hellen Obiri who finished ahead of Ayana to win Silver in Brazil, clocked a new PB of 14:25.78 to finish 2nd, while Ethiopia’s Teferi Senbere, 2015 World Silver medallist also ran a new PB of 14:29:32
There’s no denying Ayana’s prowess and the prospects of her dominance in the coming years. It could only be a matter of time before Tirunesh Dibaba’s long standing WR of 14:11.15 is gone
Despite already clinching the DR trophy, Orlando Ortega was still in dominant form as he raced to a time of 13.08s to win the men’s 110m Hurdles. Pascal Martinot-Largarde finished 2nd in 13.12s as Wilhem Belocian placed 3rd in 13.32s.
For Jasmin Stowers, she got her first Diamond League win of 2016, powering to a time of 12.78s to win the women’s 100m Hurdles.
In the men’s 200m, Alonso Edward still got the DR trophy despite finishing 6th with a time of 20.23s. It was a dramatic race that saw Julian Forte and Adam Gemili both cross the line at 19.97s to take 1st and 2nd positions respectively, as Churandy Martina placed 3rd with a time of 19.98s.
