Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Yulimar Rojas shine at Lausanne Diamond League
Fraser-Pryce runs 10.60, the third-fastest women's 100m ever; Rojas records 15.52m for second-furthest wind-legal triple jump in history. In the pole vault, Mondo Duplantis suffered a rare defeat.
Athletics
Jamaica's three women's 100m Tokyo 2020 medallists were once again the protagonists at the Athletissima Diamond League meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, but with roles reversed.
Silver medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce led from the start on a windy night in the Olympic Capital, breezing home in a personal best 10.60 seconds – the third-fastest time ever – to edge her compatriot and Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah at the line.
Aided by a healthy – but legal – 1.7 m/s tailwind, the Jamaicans were both solid out of the blocks. It looked like Thompson-Herah might catch her teammate, but she ran out of room, finishing second in 10.64.
Shericka Jackson completed the top three some way behind.
Meanwhile, in the women's triple jump, Olympic champion and new world record holder Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela jumped the second-furthest legal mark in history on her fourth attempt.
Rojas, who was leading the competition with a wind-aided 15.56m (+3.5) on her opening attempt, added a 15.52m (+0.6) – further than Inessa Kravets' old world record 15.50 – to set a new Diamond League record.
She would go on to win the competition with a 15.11m "Final 3" jump.
Duplantis surprised in pole vault
Olympic silver medallist Chris Nilsen won the men's pole vault as the windy conditions eliminated Olympic champion and world record holder Armand Duplantis in fourth position.
Nilsen's U.S. teammate Sam Kendricks, who missed Tokyo 2020 due to coronavirus, finished second with Authorised Neutral Athlete Timur Morgunov in third.
Duplantis cleared on his second attempt at his first height 5.62, then skipped 5.72m, which the two Americans and Morgunov all went over.
Nilsen was the only man over 5.82 at the first attempt, before Kendricks cleared that height on his second try. With Morgunov failing at the height, attention turned to whether Duplantis would be able to continue in the competition.
However, the Swede's final attempt again fell foul to the conditions, eliminating him with a best attempt of 5.62. Nilsen and Kendricks both missed at 5.92, with Nilsen claiming the win on count-back.
It was the first time Duplantis has finished outside the top three of a pole vault final since the Bislett Games Diamond League in Oslo in 2019.
Elsewhere, Olympic champions Ryan Crouser (men's shot put) and Mariya Lasitskene (women's high jump) backed up their good form with victories, while Olympic medallists Marileidy Paulino (women's 400m), Femke Bol (women's 400m hurdles), and Kenny Bednarek (men's 200m) took wins in their events too.
There were surprises in the men's 800m, where Kenyan Olympic gold and silver medallists Emmanuel Korir and Ferguson Rotich were beaten by Canada's Marco Arop, as well as the men's 110m hurdles, where Olympic champ Hansle Parchment was undone by a strong tailwind (+2.9 m/s) pushing him into a hurdle off stride, eventually walking home in eighth as Devon Allen of USA came home to win.
Men's 1500m Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen added to his win over the mile in Eugene, Oregon, last week with a solid, tactical win in the men's 3000m in Lausanne.