Kenya’s Julius Yego was the talk of the Birmingham Diamond League following his 91.39m throw in the men’s Javelin, which had to be revised before he was awarded the win. There was a bit of controversy, as he initially was not awarded the monster throw which was adjudged to land out of bounds, but he was duly credited after the officials made a resolution.
Vesely Vitezslav looked to have won it in 88.18, before Yego’s attempt that sailed past the mark. It was initially deemed as a foul, but it was overruled. Yego now has the African Record (AR) and Diamond League Record(DRL) with that achievement and has now moved up to 2nd place in the Diamond Race standings with 6 points.
Yego’s 91.39m is the best throw in the world since Andreas Thorkildsen’s 91.59m achievement since 2006, and he will now be aiming to overtake Viteslav when they line up again in New York.
The other highlight of the day came in the women’s Discus event where World and Olympic champion, Sandra Perkovic held sway. In fact, her 69.23 throw was one of the two Meeting Records of the day, which won her the Discus event. Australia’s Dani Samuels finished 2nd with 64.89 and France’s Melina Robert-Michon 3rd with 63.23. Perkovic’s win cemented her lead in the women’s Discus event, taking her to 12 points.
Olympic Champion, Greg Rutherford won the men’s Long Jump event, shaking off his disappointing showing in Shanghai. Rutherford leapt to 8.35m, which sailed him to victory; his second-best ever jump. Michael Hartfield finished 2nd with 8.23m while Dan Bramble placed 3rd with 8.17.
Christain’s Taylor as expected won the men’s Triple Jump, with the Olympic champion doing just enough to win in 17.40. European champion, Benjamin Compaore placed second with 17.01 while Nigerian champion, Tosin Oke came in 3rd at 16.71.
Kamila Licwinko won the women’s High Jump event with a Season Best of 1.97m. Justyna Kasprzycka finished 2nd with 1.94 and Mariya Kuchina 3rd, also with 1.94.
The women’s Shot Put event saw Christina Schwantiz consolidating on her top spot in the Diamond Race standings, winning her event with a 19.68 achievement. Cleopatra Borel achieved a Season Best of 18.80, while Tia Brooks finished 3rd in 18.67.
Next action in the Diamond League will take place in Oslo on June 11, 2015. Click here to read a review of all the track events that happened at the Birmingham Diamond League
Photo Credit: www.ikojoto.com
