25 August, 2019

Paris: What You Missed

Several meeting records, a handful of surprises and a couple of last-gasp qualification bids. The final meeting on the Road To The Final had everything we could have wished for and more. So here is a round-up of everything you missed in Paris on Saturday evening.

The IAAF Diamond League Finals are just around the corner, with the first 16 Diamond Trophies ready and waiting to be won in Zürich next Thursday.

Yet before we reached the season finale, we still had one last hurdle on the Road To The Final, and if Paris didn't get you in the mood for Zürich and Brussels, we don't know what will.

It was quite the night at the Stade Charlety, with Noah Lyles, Tom Walsh and Will Claye all ending their respective qualification journeys in explosive fashion.

Meeting records

Lyles remains the man of the moment in men's sprinting, and he soared to a meeting record of 19.65 in the men's 200m on Saturday.

"It felt fast. I blinked and all of a sudden the race was over," the ever-smiling American said after burning up the freshly laid blue track at Charlety.

Elsewhere in the sprints, there was a Jamaican double for the women as Elaine Thompson and Stephenie Ann McPherson took the 100m and 400m respectively.

More meeting records fell elsewhere, with Diamond Trophy Tom Walsh launching a huge 22.44m to pick up his first Diamond League win of the season in the men's shot put, and Will Claye springing a surprise on old rival Christian Taylor in the men's triple jump.

Having taken and then surrendered the lead already in a thrilling competition, Claye leapt a staggering 18.06m to bring the evening to a close with another meeting record.

In the women's triple jump, Yulimar Rojas also cleared the 15-metre mark to cement her status as favourite for the Diamond Trophy.

In the non-scoring men's pole vault, Sam Kendricks also broke a meeting record with his six-metre clearance.

Surprises

Aside from Claye's victory, there was also a surprise in the women's pole vault, as Canada's Alysha Newman left title favourites Kat Stefanidi and Sandi Morris in the shade with a national record of 4.82m. #

Canada also celebrated a victory in the men's high jump, as Michael Mason topped the field with 2.28m.

In the men's 110m hurdles, American Daniel Roberts pulled off a minor surprise as he beat a field which included previous Diamond Trophy winners Orlando Ortega and Sergey Shubenkov to sneak his way into the Final at the last minute.

There was no such drama in the men's 400m, though, as Karsten Warholm cruised to his third win of the season to sure up his position as a title favourite in Zürich next week.

The USA's Hanna Green, however, also managed to secure qualification at the last possible opportunity, winning the women's 800m in 1:58.39 to secure eighth place by just two points.

Elsewhere in the middle distance events, there was a win for title contender Soufiane El Bakkali in the men's 3000m steeplechase, while Ronald Musagala set a new Ugandan record with his 3:30.58 in the men's 1500m.

Finally, in the women's discus, multiple Diamond Trophy winner Sandra Perkovic once again came up just short of Cuba's Denia Caballero, who picked up her second win of the season with a thow of 66.91m.