Egypt’s Ihab Abdelrahman El Sayed threw 87.10m with his penultimate effort of the night to win the men’s Javelin competition at the 2014 Meeting Areva – IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris, France on Saturday.
The Egyptian, who is the reigning African record-holder, edged out Finland’s Tero Pitkamaki (86.63m, SB) and Germany’s Thomas Rohler (84.74m, PB) into second and third positions respectively.
Kenya’s [link id=”260″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Julius Yego” target=”_blank”], who came fourth at the 2013 World championships in Moscow with 85.40m, finished a disappointing 10th with a second round legal throw of 71.06m.
Reigning world champion and Diamond Race leader, Vítezslav Vesely of Czech Republic, settled for fifth place with a throw of 81.43m.
Earlier in the season, [link id=”259″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Abdelrahman El Sayed” target=”_blank”], 25, set the African record with a monster throw of 89.21m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai, China in May.
Nigeria’s [link id=”158″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Blessing Okagbare”], the African 100m record-holder, took the women’s 200m win ahead of reigning Olympic champion Allyson Felix of the USA by two hundredths of a second.
The 25-year-old crossed the line in a time of 22.32 secs, with the four-time Olympic champion Felix second in a season’s best time of 22.34 secs.
Anthonique Strachan of Bahamas (22.54) and France’s Myriam Soumare (22.60) came in third and fourth respectively, with reigning world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica finishing a disappointing fifth in 22.63.
Blessing Okagbare winning the women’s 200m at the Meeting Areva – IAAF Diamond League in Paris, France / © Jiro Mochizuki / IDL
Kenya’s double world 1500m champion [link id=”207″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Asbel Kiprop” target=”_blank”] produced a standout performance and a world best time of the year in winning the men’s 800m with 1:43.34.
Botswana’s Olympic silver medallist, [link id=”424″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Nijel Amos” target=”_blank”], clocked 1:43.70 for second place with Cuba’s Yeimer Lopez third in a season’s best time of 1:43.71. Young Frenchman Pierre-Ambroise Bosse finished fourth in a season’s best 1:44.23, while Kenya’s Robert Biwott finished a lowly ninth in a time of 1:45.21.
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands produced a surprise victory in the women’s 1500m, overcoming a strong field which included Sweden’s world indoor and outdoor champion Abeba Aregawi and Kenya’s [link id=”386″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Hellen Obiri”], with a new Dutch record of 3:57.00.
The 21-year-old was followed home by American Jennifer Simpson, who ran a personal-best 3:57.22, and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri (3:58.89). Reigning world champion Abeba Aregawi of Sweden finished a disappointing 10th in 4:03.46.
Ethiopia’s [link id=”488″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Hiwot Ayalew”] clocked a fast 9:11.65 to win the women’s 3000m steeplechase, erasing the previous Meeting Areva record set by [link id=”85″ tax=”category” text=”Tunisia”]’s Habiba Ghribi in 2012.
American Emma Coburn set a lifetime best of 9:14.12 for second with Diamond Race leader and race favourite Sofia Assefa, from Ethiopia, clocking 9:18:71 in third place.
[link id=”487″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Salima El Ouali Alami”] set a new Moroccan record to finish fifth in 9:21.24, while reigning world champion [link id=”206″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Milcah Chemos”] of Kenya ran a season-best time of 9:26.49.
Kenya’s [link id=”208″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Edwin Cheruiyot Soi” target=”_blank”] clocked a world-leading 12:59.82 to win the men’s 5,000m from Ethiopia’s Yenew Alamirew, who clocked 13:00.21.
The next IAAF Diamond League meet will be held at the Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland, venue of the [link id=”286″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Glasgow 2014″] Commonwealth Games, on the weekend of July 11-12, 2014.
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