Manyonga suffers a shock loss

WORLD LONG-JUMP champion Luvo Manyonga’s unbeaten outdoor streak of close to two years came to an end thanks to an incredible effort by Cuban rising star Juan Miguel Echevarria at the Stockholm Diamond League.

Manyonga’s red-flag battles continued while the Cuban planted a mammoth, albeit marginally wind-aided, jump of 8.83 metres.

The South African long-jump king had to be content with third place with a best effort of 8.25m with Olympic champion Jeff Henderson bagging silver with an 8.39m jump with a tailwind.

Compatriot Ruswahl Samaai finished in fourth place with a jump of 8.20m.

Manyonga has been battling with no jumps over the last two meets, drawing only three green flags from 12 attempts.

South African women’s 100m record-holder Carina Horn battled to put all her phases together finishing sixth in a time of 11.29 seconds.

British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith took the spoils with a winning time of 10.93.

Half-lap sprinting specialist Luxolo Adams crossed the line in 20.36 for third place in the men’s 200m.

World champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey won the race in 19.92 with Canadian Aaron Brown taking silver in 20.07.

In a non-Diamond race middle-distance runner Rynhardt van Rensburg finished third in the men’s 800m in a time of 1:45.73.

Aussies Pieter Bol and Joseph Deng finished first and second with times of 1:44.56 and 1:44.61 respectively.

The next league meeting is at the end of the month in Paris.