Rohler dominates Diamond League meet; Semenya, Harrison win

Athletics

Olympic champion Thomas Rohler threw the javelin further than anyone else has done for more than 20 years at the Diamond League opener in Doha, while Akani Simbine was the surprise winner of the 100 metres on Friday.

Other winners on the night included Caster Semenya, Kendra Harrison and Elaine Thompson.

Rohler moved up to second in the all-time list of longest javelin throwers, with the sixth best-ever throw. The 25-year-old German recorded a world-leading distance of 93.90 metres to win, leaving him behind only Czech double Olympic champion Jan Zelezny, who holds the top five throws, including the world record of 98.48 in 1996.

Simbine, who ran 9.92 earlier in the year, was the only runner under 10 seconds in windy conditions in the men’s 100. The 23year-old South African’s 9.99 was almost one-tenth of a second better than Asafa Powell’s 10.08, while Justin Gatlin was fourth with 10.14. Femi Ogunode was third on 10.13.

The much anticipated battle between Semenya, the two-time Olympic champion, and Genzebe Dibaba never materialised in the 800 as the South African convincingly won.

Semenya, who was unbeaten over the distance in 2016, posted a world-leading time of 1:56.61, ahead of Kenya’s Rio 2016 bronze medallist Margaret Nyairera Wambui, who clocked 1:57.03.

Ethiopia’s Dibaba, the reigning 1500 world champion who has decided to focus on 800 this season, finished fifth in a disappointing 1:59.37.

Semenya said “the race was fantastic and the field was great.”

World record-holder Harrison won the 100 hurdles in 12.59, ahead of Germany’s Cindy Roleder in 12.90.

In the women’s 200, Olympic champion Thompson won in 22.19, with world champion Dafne Schippers coming in 0.26 behind.