Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare on Monday ran her first sub-11s race of the season, clocking 10.92s (+2.6) to win the women’s 100m at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Hungary.
Although it was wind aided, Okagbare will be delighted with the progress she is making at this stage of the season, hitting form just before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIXYS0KnlI4
Cote d’Ivoire’s Marie Josee Ta Lou finished 2nd in the race with a time of 10.95s, and Tianna Bartoletta 3rd in 11.02s.
Okagbare only last week reclaimed the Nigerian 100m title, running a Season’s Best (SB) of 11.02s to win in Sapele, Delta State, and later got the double the next day after winning the 200m in 22.78s.
Last week, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) listed Okagbare to compete in the 100m/200m, Long Jump and 4x100m relay in Rio. It seems the Moscow 2013 double medallist is getting ready for all four events as she also competed in the Long Jump on Monday, finishing 5th with a mark of 6.34m.
Bartoletta won the event with a mark of 6.80m, and Shara Proctor 2nd with 6.71m, while Funmi Jimoh was 3rd with 6.61m.
Meanwhile 2015 Bronze medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown won the women’s 200m in 22.52s. Shalonda Solomon finished 2nd in 22.63s, same time as Tiffany Townsend who was 3rd. Nigeria’s Olivia Ekpone finished 7th in the race with a time of 23.86s.
Olympic Champion in the women’s Shot put, Valerie Adams improved on her SB, throwing a distance of 20.19m to signify her readiness in defending her title in Rio. European Champion Christina Schwanitz (20.14m) once again followed in 2nd, and USA’s Michelle Carter 3rd with 19.56m.
World Record (WR) holder in the women’s Hammer throw, Anita Wlodarczyk dominated her event as usual with a mark of 78.10m, with Azebaijan’s Hanna Skydan (71.69m) and Betty Heidler (71.15m) of Germany following the Polish legend.
World Champion Pawel Fajdek also continued his winning streak in the men’s event, recording a throw of 81.11m, and was followed by Qatar’s Ashraf Amgad El Seify (76.59m) and Pavel Bareisha (74.17m) of Belarus.
The men’s High Jump was won by Donald Thomas of the Bahamas with a clearance of 2.37m. Bohdan Bondarenko who was in action at the Monaco Diamond League last weekend, placed 2nd with 2.35m, and Syria’s Majed Aldin 3rd in 2.31m.
Good one girl, but make sure that you win your semi final race in Rio so that the officials won’t place you in lane 8 as they did last year in Beijing.