Shara Proctor
There were two British victories this evening at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games in Oslo, the sixth leg of the IAAF Diamond League.
Shara Proctor (coach: Rana Reider) led the women’s long jump from the very first round as she leaped to 6.89m, just two centimetres short of her season’s best. The World Indoor bronze medallist finished 21cm clear of Eloyse Lesueur of France in second place.
Tiffany Porter (Reider) was a dominant winner in the 100m hurdles as she raced away from her opponents for a clear victory in a time of 12.76, just two hundredths slower than her season’s best of 12.74 set in Doha last month.
Perri Shakes-Drayton (Chris Zah) ran a big season’s best of 54.03 for second place in the 400m hurdles. The 24 year old ran strongly throughout and was in contention coming into the final hurdle, before Olympic bronze medallist Zuzana Hejnova pulled away to take first place in 53.60.
While six-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt raced clear to win the 200m in a world leading time of 19.79, GB & NI’s James Ellington (Reider) finished third in a time of 20.55. In the same race, David Bolarinwa (Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo) was fifth with 20.62 and Danny Talbot (Daniel Cossins) was sixth with 20.72.
Anyika Onuora (Reider) made a winning start to her 400m career, clocking 52.11 on her debut over the distance. Onuora, who normally competes over 100m and 200m, was half a second clear of her closest rival.
Nigel Levine (Linford Christie) was edged out to third place in a close 400m race. Levine was leading with 50m to go but eventually crossed the line in 45.63, just three tenths behind winner Youssef Ahmed Masrahi of Saudi Arabia. Martyn Rooney (Reider) was sixth in 46.11.
World Indoor champion Yamile Aldama (Frank Attoh) was eighth in the triple jump with a best jump of 13.82m in the third round, as Caterine Ibarguen of Columbia jumped 14.81m to win her third IAAF Diamond League event of the 2013 season.
Joe Thomas (Arwyn Davies) finished in second place in heat one of the national 800m with a season’s best time of 1:47.73, whilst in the national 1500m, James Brewer (Craig Winrow) also finished second in a time of 3:43.61. In the same race, Chris Warburton (Norman Poole) was eighth in 3:47.15 and Kris Gauson (Winrow) was 11th with 3:49.38.
After losing a spike in the aforementioned national 1500m, David Bishop (James Thie) returned to the track in the prestigious Oslo Dream Mile, where he was just outside his personal best and that magical four minute barrier, clocking 4.00.43.
Claire Gibson (Derek Parker) finished sixth in a field of 21 athletes in the national 1500m race with a time of 4:20.80.
