On her second Long Jump outing this season, Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare leapt to a Season’s Best (SB) of 6.73m (1.6) to finish 4th at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene Diamond League on Saturday.
Okagbare improved from her previous SB of 6.25m which she did at the Drake Relays earlier in May, and she would be glad how she’s moved up to jumping 6.7m at this stage of the season. She opened up with 6.46m(1.2), then 6.33m(1.2) in her second attempt, before going a distance of 6.73m in her third try.
Olympic Champion, Brittney Reese won the event with a mark of 6.92m (1.1), a jump she did in her very first attempt, with Serbia’s National Record holder, Ivana Spanovic 2nd leaping her best of 6.88m (1.1). Great Britain’s Lorraine Ugen finished 3rd with 6.76m (1.4)
Interestingly, after Okagbare fouled in her fourth attempt, she passed in the last two jumps bowing out then to finish 4th. Although the reason for her withdrawal after her fourth attempt could be because she would be competing in the women’s 100m later on Saturday. With the Olympics barely two months away, Okagbare could not be taking chances as she hopes to get a podium placement in Rio.
In other events at the Eugene Diamond League, Sandra Perkovic extended her winning streak, throwing 68.57m to win the women’s Discus. Nadine Muller finished 2nd with a mark of 65.31m and Melina Robert-Michon 3rd throwing her best mark of 63.69m.
World champion Joe Kovacs showed that he is the man to beat in the men’s Shot Put in Rio, throwing 22.13m to win the event. While World indoor champion Tom Walsh finished 2nd with 20.84m and Reese Hoffa 3rd with a mark of 20.54m.
One of the other highlights of the first day of Prefontaine Classics came in the last event, the men’s 10000m which Olympic and world champion, Mo Farah won in a breathtaking 26:53.71. Kenya’s Malel Sitonik Williams finished 2nd in 26:54.66 and Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola 3rd in 26:57.33
The 10,000m was so fast that all the top five finishers in the race ran under 27.00 minutes to the finish line.
