Thompson tops Diamond League earnings
ELAINE THOMPSON is the top earner from the just-concluded IAAF Diamond League. According to the Track Stats Internet website, the 24-year-old Thompson raced to a total Diamond League prize money of US$134,000 (approximately J$17.2 million). Thompson was the only Jamaican listed with earnings of over US$50,000 (J$6.4 million).
She won six Diamond League races, five at 100m and one at 200m to be the League’s number one. She opened her campaign with a 200m win in Doha and clicked off 100m triumphs in Shanghai, Rabat, Paris, Birmingham, London and Brussels. Undefeated in the League in the shorter sprint, Thompson was third in the 200m at the Eugene Diamond League meet, and second in Zurich.
Thompson, Bahamian long sprinter Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Russian high jumper Mariya Lasitskene topped the Diamond League earnings table with www.track-stats.com citing the latter pair at US$127,000 (J$16.3 million) and $110,000 (J$14.14 million). Mutaz Essa Barshim, Qatar’s high jump ace, was fourth at $100,000 (J$12.86 million). Hellen Obiri of Kenya, South African Caster Semenya, Nijel Amos of Botswana, American Sam Hendricks, Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi, Croatian Sandra Perkovic and Christian Taylor of the United States also made the top 10 listed on the website. The next Jamaicans cited were discus thrower Fedrick Dacres at US$42,000 (J$5.4 million) and veteran 400m runner Novlene Williams-Mills at US$31,000 (J$4 million). No other Jamaican was pinpointed as making over US$25,000 (J$3.2 million). In 2017, the prize money ranged from US$10,000 (J$1.28 million) to win Diamond League meets, before the circuit climaxed in finals contested in Zurich and Brussels, where winners received US$50,000 (J$6.4 million).