OSTRAVA, CZECHIA, May 28 — A clash of the Olympic sprint champions in damp, blustery conditions saw Andre De Grasse leaving Lamont Marcell Jacobs behind halfway through the 100 to claim the win in 10.10. Jamaican Rylem Forde squeezed in for 2nd in 10.17 ahead of Jacobs’ 10.19. The Canadian had no problem claiming the win in the deuce as well, taking it in 20.09 to Jamaican Andrew Hudson’s 20.59.
“It was a good training session for me,” he said. “I wanted to come out here and test my fitness… The weather was a little bit chilly for the 200, but next time I’ll get the sub-20.”
Mondo Duplantis took three attempts at a vault World Record 20-6 (6.25) after earlier making 19-8¼ (6.00). While his first two tries were nowhere near sufficient, on his final attempt, with the crowd on its feet clapping, he came close, brushing the bar with his knees and stomach on the way down.
Said Duplantis, “It was a bit more difficult for all of us in the field because of the weather. The pole vault is a very sensitive event when it is cold and windy. But I just tried to jump the best I could. I was very surprised with my third attempt on 6.25m. I knew that it would take the best jump of my life to get this and it was actually really a good one.”
Earlier in the women’s vault, World Indoor champion Molly Caudery flew over an outdoor world leader 15-10½ (4.84) with room to spare, despite the conditions. She made two attempts at 16-1¾ (4.92) before calling it quits.
Steven Gardiner nearly had his streak snapped. The Bahamian Olympic champion, unbeaten since ’17 in a 400 he has finished, charged out hard to build an impressive lead but was nearly run down at the finish by the fast close of Belgium’s World Indoor champion, Alexander Doom. Gardiner crossed in 44.39, Doom in a PR 44.44 — just 0.01 away from the Belgian Record.
In the 800, Djamel Sedjati of Algeria began kicking at 500 after the pacer moved out, and he continued accelerating all the way to the finish, leaving a top-notch field far behind. He ended up more than 2 seconds ahead of France’s Gabriel Tual (1:45.79) with his world-leading 1:43.51.
Jordan Geist may not have won the shot, but he became the eighteenth American member of the 22-meter club. His 72-5¾ (22.09) in the final round was his second lifetime best of the day, but it was not enough to overcome the 73-6 (22.40) that…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at Track & Field News…