American Justin Gatlin who is recovering from an ankle injury, stepped up his preparations for the Rio Olympics with an impressive victory in the 100 metres.
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David Rudisha set his sights on breaking the Shanghai Diamond League record as he steps up his campaign for the first back-to-back Olympic 800 metres titles in 52 years.
Gatlin led the world in both the 100 and 200 metres before Beijing but he panicked and lost both races to Jamaica’s Bolt, adding extra spice to their expected meeting in Rio.
Gatlin easily won the 100 in 9.94 seconds, several strides ahead of Qatar’s Femi Ogunode in second and Michael Rodgers of the United States in third. “Working on my start, working on my transition, just have a good finish”.
The Kenyan world-record holder’s time of 1:46.24 was his slowest for five years.
Olympic and world men’s 800m champion David Rudisha had a disappointing outing as he fell behind in the home stretch and finished fifth with Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich snatching an unlikely win in 1:45.68. “We had worked hard for it and were quite competitive in the field. There where high jumpers in the lane and they start (the race)”, an visibly upset Rudisha said.
“The IAAF says that there’s no way we could be banned from the Olympics”, he said.
“As a runner, competitor, sprinter, you know, you have to prepare yourself for a win or a loss”, Gatlin said Thursday.
“It’s more important because I want to keep improving and, of course, my ultimate aim is to be at the top in Rio, but here I’m also looking forward to improving from my last time”, said.
Kenyan steeplechaser Hyvin Kiyeng echoed Rudisha’s sentiments after winning the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:07.42, more than eight seconds better than runner-up Ruth Jebet of Bahrain, saying she believes the Kenyan government is trying to address the issue.
In the women’s field, two-time Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown lines up against a trio of Americans as she returns to Shanghai just 12 months after being beaten here by Nigeria’s multi-talented Blessing Okagbare over 100m. Americans Jordan Clarke and Ryan Whiting were sixth and eighth, throwing 20.30 and 19.34 meters, respectively.
The 22-year-old world indoor champion Omar McLeod of Jamaica won the 110m hurdles, setting a new best time for the year of 12.98sec, beating the previous best he set last week in Doha. Aries Merritt of the USA, trying to make a comeback for the Rio Games after a kidney transplant in September, was disqualified after false-starting.
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Sam Kendricks picked up his first Diamond League win in men’s pole vault, clearing 5.88 meters to best reigning Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie of France, who took second at 5.83 meters. China got a surprise victory in the men’s long jump as Gao Xinglong won with a leap of 8.14 meters over South Africa’s Rushwal Samaai and Australia’s Fabrice Lapierre.
