Meet Record Fall in Paris Diamond League Meeting

By Adam Kopet

Will Claye and Christian Taylor dueled each other Saturday in the men's triple jump at the Paris Diamond League Meeting, pushing each other to longer distances.

RESULTS

Claye once again bettered 18 meters this year to win the triple jump over his former Florida teammate, Taylor, in one of the most entertaining jump sequences we have seen in recent years.

Claye opened his competition with a jump of 56-11.50 (17.36m). He followed that in the second round with a mark of 57-0.75 (17.39m), cementing himself as the leader in the early going.

Taylor, on the other hand, got a slow start to the competition. He opened with a jump of 54-2 (16.51m). He followed that with a much improved 56-0.50 (17.08m) to put him into second.

The competition got interesting in the third round when Taylor jumped 57-0.25 (17.38m), just shy of Claye's leading mark. Claye fouled his third attempt.

After the reorder for the final three rounds, Taylor went into the lead with a mark of 57-4.75 (17.49m). That lead, however, was short lived. Claye immediately responded by jumping 58-1.25 (17.71m).

The fifth round was where the fireworks started to come out. Omar Craddock made his presence known with a jump of 56-8.50 (17.28m) to move into third. Then Taylor jumped. He leapt out to 58-5.75 (17.82m) to equal his season's best and break the meet record.

Once again, Claye responded immediately. He jumped big through all three phases to get out to 59-3 (18.06m). That again broke the meet record and is the second-farthest jump in the world this year, behind Claye's own 59-6.25 (18.14m).

Taylor went for it on his final jump. It was a big one that could have taken the lead, but he fouled on the board by more than two inches. With the competition won, Claye tried for another big jump, but his technique fell apart in the middle of the jump and he was unable to improve.

All three Americans, as well as USATF Outdoor Championships winner Donald Scott, have qualified for the Diamond League Final in Brussels and will represent Team USATF at the IAAF World Outdoor Championships.

Another meet record fell in the men's 200 meters. Noah Lyles ran away from the field to win by several meters in 19.65, breaking Usain Bolt's meet record from 2013. Turkey's Ramil Guliyev finished second in 20.01.

Hanna Green won the women's 800 meters with a big surge in the final 50 meters, running 1:58.39. Raevyn Rogers followed the fast early pace and looked comfortable with 200 meters to go. But as the field moved around the final bend, Roger's lead began to shrink. Jamaica's Natoya Goule went by a fading Rogers and appeared set to win, but Green glided by her in the final meters to earn her first Diamond League win.

Goule finished second in 1:58.59 with Winnie Nanyondo of Uganda finishing third in 1:58.83. Kate Grace finished fifth in 1:59.33 and Rogers faded to sixth in 1:59.50.

Paris saw both men's and women's pole vault contested, although only the women's event counted for Diamond League points. Canada's Alysha Newman continued her impressive season, once again bettering her Canadian national record with a winning clearance of 15-9.75 (4.82m). Greece's Katerina Stefanidi finished second and Sandi Morris was third. Both women cleared a best of 15-7 (4.75m).

The men's competition saw Sam Kendricks reign supreme with a clearance of 19-8.25 (6.00m), equaling the meet record. Brazil's Augusto Dutra finished second with a clearance of 19-0.25 (5.80m).

Saturday marked the first time two men had cleared six meters in two different cities on the same day. Competing in Stockholm, Mondo Duplantis also cleared 19-8.25.

It is indeed. 24 August 2019 shall go down in history as the first day on which 6.00m was vaulted in two different cities.https://t.co/v2Rm5norPJ

— Jon Mulkeen (@Statman_Jon) August 24, 2019

Sticking with the field events, the women's triple jump once again saw Venezuela's Yulimar Rojas bettering 15 meters. She finished with a best of 49-4.50 (15.05m). Keturah Orji finished third with a personal best 48-3.50 (14.72m).

Rojas became the fourth female athlete in history to produce at least three 15-meter jumps in the same year, including the first since Cuba's Yargeris Savigne in 2008.

The men's hurdles proved interesting with Karsten Warholm of Norway winning the 400-meter hurdles in 47.26. It was his fourth time running under 47.50 this year.

In the 110-meter hurdles, Daniel Roberts came away the winner in 13.08. He and Grant Holloway had led early in the race, but Holloway faded over the final hurdles to finish sixth in 13.25. Spain's Orlando Ortega finished second in 13.14 and Freddie Crittenden III was third in a personal-best 13.17.

The men's 1,500 meters displayed Monaco-like depth as 10 men broke 3:32. The winner was Uganda's Ronald Musagala, who used a well-timed sprint finish to edge Djibouti's Ayanleh Souleiman in 3:30.58. That equaled Musagala's Ugandan national record. Filip and Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway finished third and fourth.

The women's 100 meters featured several of the top sprinters in the world in recent years. However, the race belonged to Jamaica's Elaine Thompson, who ran away from the field to win in 10.98. Marie-Josee' Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast finished second in 11.13.

A special series of three events were held as a triathlon to highlight France's Kevin Mayer, the reigning world champion and world record holder in the decathlon. If any of Mayer's competitors were hoping to see weakness from him this year, they would be disappointed, as he finished with personal bests in the shot put and 110-meter hurdles, winning both, in addition to the long jump. He earned a mark of 56-0.50 (17.08m) in the shot put and he ran 13.55 in the hurdles. He jumped 24-7.25 (7.50m) in the long jump.