(CMC) – The Jamaican trio of Roshawn Clarke, Shiann Salmon, and Wayne Pinnock, along with Grenada’s Anderson Peters, all won gold on the opening day of the 14th Weltklasse Zurich League yesterday.
However, St. Lucia’s Olympic sprint champion Julien Alfred was forced to settle for silver behind American Sha’Carri Richardson in their highly anticipated showdown in the women’s 100 metres,
Clarke, a finalist at the Paris Olympics, won the men’s 400-metre hurdles in a season’s best time of 47.49 seconds to finish ahead of Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba (47.58) and Rasmus Magi of Estonia (48.02).
Salmon produced a lifetime best effort of 52.97 seconds to win the women’s 400-metre hurdles, with Olympic silver medallist Anna Cockrell second in 53.17 and the USA’s Shamier Little third (54.07).
Meanwhile, Pinnock was impressive in the men’s long jump, with his leap of 8.17 metres relegating World and Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglu to second (8.02), while Simon Ehammer copped bronze with his effort of 7.98 metres.
Peters, a two-time World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist, dominated the men’s javelin to win with a throw of 85.72 metres. Germany’s Julian Weber (85.33) and Japan’s Roderick Genki Dean (82.69) finished second and third, respectively.
Alfred, in her first race since competing at the Paris Olympics, was edged by archrival Richardson in a close finish in the women’s 100 metres.
Richardson atoned for her second-place finish at the Paris Olympics by sprinting to victory in 10.84 seconds, with Alfred second in 10.88 seconds and Dina Asher-Smith (10.89) a close third.
In other results, Jamaican Hansle Parchment ran a season’s best 13.18 to finish fourth in the men’s 110m hurdles, and Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic ran a respectable 19.87 for fifth in the men’s 200m.
The next stop on the Diamond League circuit will be the Diamond League Final in Brussels on September 13 and 14.