The start-list looked like an Olympic final. This Thursday evening, the Diamond League meeting in Rome had done its utmost to make it run fast in its women’s 200m with at the start the double Olympic champion in the distance Elaine Thompson-Herah, the legend Allyson Felix, the double Olympic champion in the 400m Shaunae Miller-Uibo or even Shericka Jackson, Marie-Josée Ta Lou and Dina Asher-Smith.
Dominating in Rabat despite a sore shoulder, Thompson-Herah had the best start before seeing Shericka Jackson lay down her law. Descended from the 400m, the Jamaican finished with a bang to win in 21”91 (+1.3 m/s) ahead of Thompson-Herah (22”25), Asher-Smith (22”48) and Miller -Uibo (22”48). A way to mark its territory one month before the Eugene Worlds (July 15-24).
A clear victory which was not the case for Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, contrary to what the clock indicates. After a yellow card for an early start, the Puerto Rican fought the whole race with Britany Anderson (2nd in 12”50) before the latter missed the last hurdle. Victorious in 12”37 (+0.1 m/s), Camacho-Quinn signed the best world performance of the year.
An improvement in the results for the year also achieved by Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli in the 5,000m. Author of a big finish finished in lane 3, the Kenyan became the seventh man in history over the distance by winning in 12’46”33 to beat his compatriot Jacob Krop (12”46”79 ) and the Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha (12’52”10), who did a lot of work in the second part of the race.
The ambient humidity didn’t dampen the enthusiasm either, since over the 3,000m steeplechase, Lamecha Girma extended his crazy streak. Already the author of two times under the mythical barrier of 8′ in Ostrava (May 31) and Rabat (June 5), the Ethiopian won easily in 7’59”23, ahead of the first athlete in history to achieve such a sequence in ten days. Before him, only world record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen had clocked three times under 8′ in one season, but that was between June and August 2005.
Finally, while Kirani James dominated the 400m (44”54), as did Femke Bol the 400m hurdles (53”02) and Kristjan Ceh the discus (70.72m), we will remember the victories in the length of the Ukrainian Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (6.85 m, +1.6 m/s), Kenneth Bednarek over 200 m (20”01, -0.1 m/s) and Sandi Morris at the pole vault, with a new world best performance at stake (4.81 m).
