It was another impressive Diamond League outing for African athletes in Lausanne on Friday with victories in a number of events at the Pontaise Stadium.
Africa’s fastest woman, Marie Josee Ta Lou set the pace with her commanding pace in the women’s 100m event. Ta Lou clocked a time of 10.88 seconds to beat Daryll Neita and Gina Luckenkemper to second and third respectively.
The 34-year-old African queen stepped on the track again to lead Ivory Coast women to victory in the women’s 4x100m relay race.
The Ivorian quartet of Ahoure-Demps, Gbai, Ta Lou and J.Kone set a new national record and meeting record of 42.33 seconds to finish ahead of their Netherlands and Switzerland counterparts.
Kenya’s Mary Moraa dominated the women’s 800m with a season-best of 1 minute and 57.43 seconds, to finish ahead of world leader Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain and Jamaica’s Goule Natoya.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan was the second best in the women’s 100m hurdles, clocking a season-best of 12.47 seconds behind Puero Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn’s 12.40 seconds and USA’s Tia Jones was third in 12.51 seconds.
20-year-old Botswana sprint star Letsile Tebogo held off competition from Richards Jereem to win the men’s 200m with a time of 20.01 seconds while Liberia’s Joseph Fahnbulleh came third in 20.21 seconds.
Botswana’s Scotch Leungo led the men’s 400m in 44.94 seconds while Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma who holds the world record in 3000m steeplechase, came second in the men’s 1500m with a new personal best of 3 minutes and 29.51 seconds, behind Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen who set a new meeting record of 3 minutes and 28.72 seconds.
World record holder in women’s 3000m steeplechase, Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech continued her dominance in the event with a season-best of 9 minutes and 5.98 seconds to beat Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew and Uganda’s Pertuh Chemutai who completed the podium finish.
Africa also dominated the men’s 5000m with Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi taking the first spot with a new personal best and a world-leading time of 12 minutes and 40.45 seconds, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei came second in 12 minutes and 41.61 seconds and Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet settled for the third position with a season-best of 12 minutes and 49.80 seconds.
