2 months ago
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Jamaicans Shanieka Ricketts and Andrenette Knight registered wins at yesterday’s Rome Diamond League meeting in Italy.
Ricketts earned her second Diamond League victory of the season in the women’s triple jump, while Knight secured her first-ever Diamond League win by capturing the women’s 400m hurdles.
Also, there were top-three finishes for Jamaicans Rushell Clayton, Rajindra Campbell and Romaine Beckford.
The highlight of the meet was the performance of the United States Trayvon Bromell. He raced to a world leading 9.84 seconds in the men’s 100m. Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon was second in 9.99, with third going to Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya in 10.01.
Ricketts, the Olympic Games silver medallist in the women’s triple jump, took the lead early in the event, doing so from her first attempt after producing a season best 14.64 metres, which eventually sealed her victory.
“The competition felt really good,” Ricketts shared. “Achieving a season’s best on the first attempt – I am grateful for that. Leading from the beginning puts you in a relaxed mood.
“Unfortunately, I could not use that to jump further. Now I can build on this going forward,” she added.
Leyanis Hernandez Perez of Cuba was second with 14.46m, with Olympic champion Thea Lafond of Dominica third at 14.30m.
Knight, who has been in good form at the Grand Slam Track meets, extended that form to capturing the women’s 400m hurdles in a season-best 53.67 seconds.
Ayomide Folorunso of Italy also produced a season best for second, 54.21, and Jamaica’s Clayton, third in 54.31.
The other Jamaican in the event, Shiann Salmon, was seventh in 55.47.
CONFIDENT
“This season has been going well. I just kind of had that number in mind, for no reason. I came so confident to Rome, like, each race that I have run, it just has been improvement on improvement,” Knight said.
“I am happy to come out with a win here in a season best. I know I am pretty strong. I have the speed, so it’s just a matter of tweaking a few things to bring the time down,” added an elated Knight.
Campbell bounced back from his average performance a week ago in Bydgoscz, Poland, where he finished a disappointing eighth in the men’s shot put. He placed third yesterday with a 21.64-metre heave in the men’s shot put. Tom Walsh of New Zealand won the event with a season-best 21.89m, ahead of Zane Weir of Italy, with 21.67m.
High jumper Beckford closed out the top-three finishes for Jamaica after placing third in the men’s high jump, soaring to 2.26 metres.
Sanghyeok Woo of Korea won with 2.32m, with second going to Oleh Doroshchuk of Ukraine at 2.26m.
Jamaica’s other high jumper, Raymond Richards, ended 11th with 2.12m.
Other Jamaicans competing yesterday included Orlando Bennett, who finished fourth in the men’s 110m hurdles in a season-best 13.29 seconds, while Omar McLeod ended seventh in 13.58.
In a blanket finish, Jason Joseph of Switzerland won in 13.14 – the same time given to the United States’ Cordell Tinch for second place.
Carey McLeod was fifth in the men’s long jump with a distance of 8.01 metres, as Liam Adcock of Australia won with a personal best 8.34m.
English (US) ·