If last year’s Doha Diamond League Meet was for the Men’s Triple Jumpers, this year’s edition belonged to the women with Caterine Ibarguen and Yulimar Rojas producing big leaps to light up the arena.
Both Ibarguen and Rojas current world champions (outdoor and indoors respectively) made the Triple Jump very entertaining as they challenged each other for the win.
However it was the Colombian, Ibarguen who emerged tops after overcoming the pressure of needing to respond to Rojas’ Venezuelan National Record of 14.79, gotten in her fourth attempt.
Ibarguen leapt to a Meeting Record of 15.04m in her fifth attempt, but a foul in her final attempt saw Rojas not being able to match that as she settled for 2nd in a very thrilling contest that saw her set two Personal Bests (PB). Olga Rypakova finished 3rd with 14.61m.
With the win, Ibarguen stretched her dominance to 32 consecutive wins, but she will be wary of the threat Rojas poses in her bid to win the Olympic GOLD this year.
The men’s Triple Jump wasn’t as lightning as the women’s category, especially considering that last year, two athletes went past 18m.
Christain Taylor this year finally got the win at Doha having last year missed out to Cuba’s Pablo Pichardo who won in the incredible Triple Jump contest, with the latter not available this time around. Taylor won with a WL of 17.23m, and Bin Dong 2nd with 17.07m while Alexis Copello was 3rd with 16.98m. Nigeria’s Tosin Oke finished 5th with a Season’s Best of 16.73m.
Mutaz Barshim was made to still wait for his first win in four outings on home soil, bowing out of the competition having missed all three attempts at 2.29m to finish 7th, after narrowly clipping the bar with his third and final attempt. America’s Erik Kynard won the event after being the only one to scale 2.33m with Zhang Guowei who provided entertainment after any height he successfully executes, finishing 2nd clearing 2.31m. World indoor champion Fassinoti was 3rd at 2.29m.
In the women’s Shot Put, Tia Brooks is a having a season to remember as the American threw two new Personal Bests (PB) en route winning with a throw of 19.48m. In fact the win is her fifth win in five different outings this year.
Anita Marton finished 2nd with 19.22m, a new Season’s Best (SB) for the European, with Turkey’s Emel Dereli setting a new National Record (NR) to finish 3rd. Surprisingly, World indoor champion Michelle Carter didn’t progress to the last round after dropping off and finishing 5th with 17.83m. Just last week, Brooks defeated Carter at the Drake Relays and she would be happy with her own progress going into the season.
The women’s Pole Vault saw Sandi Morris scaling past 4.83m to set a WL and MR for her win. Nicole Buchler was 2nd in 4.78m as Katerina Stefanidi finished 3rd setting a new PB of 4.73m.
South Africa’s Sunette Viljoen won the women’s Javelin with her best throw of 65.14m and Kathryn Mitchell 2nd with 63.25m as China’s Lui Huihui was 3rd with 62.42m.
Meanwhile in the men’s Discus, Poland’s Piotr Malachowski opened his season with a WL of 68.03m. Philip Milanov set a new Belgian record to finish 2nd with 67.26m as Victor Hogan was 3rd with 65.59m.
Click here to read the review of track events at Doha Diamond League.
