Barshim scales 2.36 to claim Diamond League world lead at Chorzow

Mutaz Barshim

Mutaz Essa Barshim was back to his jumping best on Sunday as the Qatari three-time men’s high jump world and Olympic champion scaled 2.36m to claim world lead at the Wanda Diamond League Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial athletics meeting in Chorzow, Poland.

Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, with whom Barshim shared the Olympic gold in Tokyo, was second on countback from German Tobias Potye after both jumpers cleared 2.32m.

“I think I still have a 2.40 jump in me, hopefully this year,” said Barshim, whose personal best of 2.43m is second only to Cuban Javier Sotomayor’s best ever mark of 2.45m .

The 32-year-old Barshim’s win is more significant since he hadn’t competed since his 2.24m third-place finish in Doha at the start of May, but in Silesia he looked back to his best as he cleared every height on his first try up to and including 2.32m.

Fellow Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi also got over that bar, albeit with a few misses along the way, but the big surprise came from Germany’s Tobias Potye, who was the first to get over 2.34m.

Tamberi soon joined him in clearing that height, but Barshim registered two failures.

With one jump remaining, Barshim moved the bar to 2.36m and got over it on his first attempt to regain the lead with a meeting record, while his two opponents missed.

Richardson outsprints Jackson in 100m

US sprint star Sha’Carri Richardson reeled in Jamaican Shericka Jackson to claim a morale-boosting victory in the women’s 100m.

Richardson and Jackson went into the race as their countries’ recently-crowned national champions, the Jamaican having run 10.65 seconds in Kingston to go fifth in the all-time list.

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen earlier set a sensational European record of 3:27.14 in the men’s 1500m, edging ever closer to Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record of 3:26.00.

South Africa’s Akani Simbine held his form perfectly to claim a memorable win in the men’s 100m in 9.97sec.

Simbine beat world champion Fred Kerley into second, on 9.98sec in a photo finish with third-placed Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon.

Van Niekerk tops 400m

Simbine’s teammate Wayde van Niekerk confirmed his early-season form by scorching to an impressive victory in the men’s 400m, the world record holder clocking 44.08sec.

Nigeria’s world record holder Tobi Amusan set a new meeting record of 12.34sec when winning a loaded 100m hurdles race.

Olympic and world champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco won the men’s 3000m steeplechase in 8:03.16 for his ninth consecutive victory and third Diamond League win of the season.

Venezuela’s Olympic champion and three-time world gold medallist Yulimar Rojas leaped a world leading distance of 15.18m when winning the women’s triple jump.

Duplantis soars 6.01m

Pole vault king Mondo Duplantis cleared 6.01m to win after he failed three times at 6.13m. The Swede soared over the bar twice, at 5.61 and 5.81m, only Americans Sam Henricks and Christopher Nilsen were left in the competition, the rest of the field having failed.

TNN/Agencies