The 2022 Wanda Diamond League campaign hit its stride in mid-season, with some record-breaking performances which would set the tone for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in July. In part three of our season review, we take a look back at the best of the action from Paris, Stockholm and Silesia.
Paris – June 18th
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce claimed her first victory on the way to the 100m title with a breathtaking performance in Paris. The Jamaican legend clocked a meeting record of 10.67 to equal her season’s best and throw down the gauntlet to her rivals ahead of the World Championships.
Despite the sweltering heat in the French capital, there were plenty of other statement performances at the Stade Charlety. Bahrain’ss Winfred Yavi and Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh set world leads in the 3000m steeplechase and high jump respectively, while South Africa’s Luxolo Adams stormed to a personal best of 19.82 in the men’s 200m.
In the women’s discus, title holder Valarie Allman bounced back from her defeat to Sandra Perkovic in Oslo with a meeting record of 68.68m, just weeks before both she and her Croatian rival suffered a surprise World Championships defeat to China’s Feng Bin.
If there was one performance which set the tone for the weeks ahead, though, it was Tobi Amusan’s victory in the women’s 100m hurdles. The Nigerian, who would go on to break the world record in Oregon, dropped the first hint as to the kind of form she was in with an African record of 12.41 in Paris.