Kenya’s Julius Yego extended his brilliant form from the Golden Spikes in Ostrava less than two weeks ago, where he threw an NR of 86.88m. This time around, he was almost evenly matched with world champion, Vítězslav Vesely throw-for-throw.
The Czech athlete won with a distance of 88.14m, which is quite close to his PB of 88.34m set in 2012, while Yego made a throw of 87.71m to finish in 2nd place. Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott also secured an NR of 86.20m to finish ahead of Doha winner, Tero Pitkamaki.
Cuba’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo has left no one in doubt that he is the man to beat in the men’s Triple Jump this year, and so the 21-year old continued his dominance, making mincemeat of Jonathan Edward’s MR of 17.60m with a new distance of 17.96m.
Even more interesting was the fact that the World Championships Silver medallist inspired a 1-2-3 finish for Cuba as his kinsmen, Alexis Copello (17.15m) and Ernesto Reve (16.89m) followed his trail, leaving European champion, Frenchman Banjamin Compaore to settle for 4th place.
Despite setting a PB (outdoor) of 6.05m in Eugene a few days ago, men’s World record holder in the Pole Vault, Renaud Lavillenie had to settle for victory with a distance of 5.91m, having failed in his attempt to go beyond that mark. Brazil’s Thiago Braz followed with an NR of 5.86m while Aleksandr Gripich of Russia placed 3rd with 5.71m.
Two-time world champion, Blanka Vlasic made a return to top-class action, finishing 2nd behind Spain’s Ruth Beitia who became the first woman to scale the 2m mark in the women’s High Jump in 2015. Blanka, who missed two jumps with the bar set at 1.94m, eventually cleared 1.95m, much to her delight, before scaling 1.97m to finish in 2nd place.
Croatia’s reigning European, Olympic and world champion in the women’s Discus throw, Sandra Perkovic continued her unbeaten streak, winning with 67.92m, while Australia’sDani Samuels and Yaimi Perez of Cuba finished 2nd and 3rd respectively with throws of 65.47m and 65.30m.
David Storl won the men’s Shot Put with 21.46m as Great Britain’s Shara Proctor had to settle for 2nd in the women’s Long Jump behind Russia’s Darya Klishina who claimed victory with 6.89m. Proctor made a jump of 6.85m while Sosthene Moguenara followed in 6.80m.
