World Silver medallist Dina Asher-Smith braved the odds to claim victory in the women’s 100m, upsetting American sensation Sha’Carri Richardson on a wet and windy condition at the Gateshead Diamond League.
The race was billed as the headliner of the Diamond League season, and with all the star cast making it from the heats earlier in the evening, it was Asher-Smith who showed her class, despite the huge headwind to win in 11.35s (-3.1m/s).
Richardson, who is the World Leader (WL) in the event after running 10.72 in April was almost a meter behind, finishing 2nd with 11.44s. Ivorian, Marie Jose Ta-Lou came back strong after a poor start to take 3rd in 11.48s. Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare was 5th in 11.57s.
In the men’s 200m, Kenny Bednarek destroyed the 200m field to win by a massive four meters into a strong headwind in 20.33(-3.0m/s). Aaron Brown was a distant second in 20.79, with Andre De Grasse taking 3rd in 20.85s.
Another stand-out performer on the night was Briton Laura Muir. She put up a brilliant performance in the rain to win the 1500m in 4:03.73. The European Champion was four seconds clear of her nearest challenger Rababe Arafi of Morocco who clocked 4:07.73, with Katie Snowden third in 4:08.92.
Cindy Sember provided the home crowd another victory as she took the 100m hurdles ahead of her sister Tiffany Porter. Luca Kozak placed 2nd in 13.37.
Elsewhere, double European champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen ignored the rain and wind to impressively control a 56.27 last lap of the 1500m to win in 3:36.27, with Oliver Hoare’s taking 2nd with 3:36.58 and Stewart McSweyn’s placing 3rd in 3:37.32.
Infield, American World Champion Sam Kendricks got the better of Swedish World Record-holder Armand Duplantis in the latest installment of their Pole vault rivalry. The pair took turns to hold umbrellas over each other as the rain made conditions bad in Gateshead.
Duplantis initially seemed to clear 5.80m but the wind took the bar off after he clipped it and had a best of just 5.55m. Kendricks eventually took the win with the best vault of 5.74m.
In the women’s high jump, Mariya Lasitskene saw a 14-event winning run come to an end as Poland’sKamila Licwinko emerged victorious, with Emily Borthwick finishing second with a Personal Best (PB) of 1.91m.
