Jamaicans fail to sparkle in Rome

JAMAICANS finished down the track in Friday’s Wanda Diamond League meeting at Stadio Luigi Ridolfi in Rome that was highlighted by Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon smashing the nearly eightyear-old women’s 1500m world record after running 3:49.11 seconds.

Rushell Clayton was sixth in the women’s 400m hurdles while Yohan Blake and Candice Mcleod were both seventh in the men’s 100m and women’s 400m, respectively.

Clayton, the fastest Jamaican woman so far this year in the 400m hurdles, managed 54.71 seconds as Femke Bol of the Netherlands ran a world-leading and meet record 52.43 seconds.

Bol’s time beat the 13-yearold meet record 52.82 seconds set by Lashinda Demus of the USA in 2010 as she also improved her previous world lead of 53.12 seconds.

Americans Shamir Little was second with 53.83 seconds and Anna Hall was third in 54.42 seconds.

Blake lowered his season-best to 10.15 (0.0m/s) and, after getting off to a fast start, faded to seventh as American World Champion Fred Kerley maintained his perfect season by winning with 9.94 seconds, beating Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyali’s 10.05 seconds, with Trayvon Bromell third in a season’s best 10.09 seconds.

Mcleod was never a factor in the second half of the race as she clocked 52.09 seconds while Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek won with a season’s best 50.41 seconds and Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands was second in 50.75 seconds, also her best for the season.

Kipyegon ended the meet with a bang when she broke the 3:50.07 seconds set in 2015 by Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba and also broke her own personal best 3:50.37 seconds set last year in Monaco.