Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Olympic long jump gold medallist Tara Davis-Woodhall dominated her signature event and added a runner-up finish in the 100m hurdles on Sunday at the Los Angeles Grand Prix athletics meeting. Davis-Woodhall won the long jump with a wind-aided leap of 7.25m, buoyed by a tailwind of 3.3m/sec, but also produced a jump of 7.20m, with an allowable wind of 1.2m/sec. That gave her the top mark in the world this season and the longest jump since Germany’s Malaika Mihambo cleared 7.30m in 2019.
Her heroics on the runway came less than an hour after the 27-year-old American finished second in the 100m hurdles in 12.47sec. Olympic gold medallist Masai Russell won the 100m hurdles in an impressive 12.26sec and now owns the top three times of the season — including a blistering 12.14 in Xiamen last month. Former world champion Sha’Carri Richardson won her first 100m of the season, clocking 10.99sec in the face of a slight headwind of -0.2m/sec. Richardson out-distanced training partner Kayla White (11.08) and Tamari Davis (11.11) and said it “felt good” for a first outing at the distance.
Related news
“I definitely am just prepared to keep training, keep running and just finish out the season stronger than before and just work on the things that are my weaknesses,” said Richardson, who was coming off back-to-back fourth-place 200m finishes in Diamond League meetings in China. The meet at the University of Southern California’s Allyson Felix Field — just a stone’s throw from the Los Angeles Coliseum that will host athletics at the 2028 LA Olympics — had Richardson and others thinking about the Games.
“Even though it’s a ways away, it’s still right around the corner,” Richardson said. “Every race, every practice it’s still in the back of our minds that is what we’re truly preparing for. Every single time I get on the track, I’m thinking about LA,” added Richardson, who won the 100m world title in 2023 but settled for silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
American Kenny Bednarek, who has two Diamond League 200m victories this season, won the men’s 100m in a quick 9.72sec, aided by a tailwind of 2.4m/sec — above the allowable limit of 2.0. US veteran Christian Coleman was second in 9.84 and Ghana’s Abdul-Rasheed Saminu third in 9.88, as Botswana’s 2024 Olympic 200m gold medallist Letsile Tebogo placed fifth in 9.95.
© 2024 AFP
