Blessing Okagbare on her way to 100m victory in Samorin (© Pavol Uhrin)
Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare produced the first sub-11-second 100m run on Slovak soil when winning at the P-T-S Meeting – a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver competition – in Samorin on Wednesday (2).
The world and Olympic medallist dominated the race, winning by almost half a second in 10.98 (-0.1m/s) with Ireland’s Ciara Neville a distant second (11.47).
Panama’s Alonso Edward pulled off a sprint double in what was his first competition of the year. The 2009 world silver medallist won the 100m in 10.18 (0.6m/s) and the 200m in 20.22 (-0.1m/s), his fastest times since 2018.
USA’s Michael Rodgers finished second in the 100m (10.23) while Yancarlos Martinez was the 200m runner-up, clocking 20.35.
Having come within three centimetres of the mark as far back as a decade ago, Edgar Rivera finally claimed the Mexican high jump record with 2.31m. The 30-year-old, who placed fourth at the 2017 World Championships, had first-time clearances up to and including 2.26m, then got over 2.29m on his second try to equal what was his outdoor PB. He then went over 2.31m on his third try.
World champion Anderson Peters won a close javelin contest, throwing 82.81m to beat 2013 world champion Vitezslav Vesely (82.38m).
In the women’s hammer, Venezuela Rosa Rodriguez threw 73.34m to get the better of Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk, who continued her return from injury with 72.95m. World silver medallist Quentin Bigot won the men’s event with 78.95m, beating Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan (77.56m) and Hungary’s Bence Halasz (75.78m).
Britain’s Jess Turner was a comfortable winner of the women’s 400m hurdles, breaking a meeting record that had stood for 30 years. She clocked 54.89, just 0.12 shy of the PB she set last weekend.
Elsewhere, Jemma Reekie won the 800m in 1:59.60 and Hungary’s Luca Kozak won the 100m hurdles in 12.87 (0.4m/s).
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
Photo by Pavol Uhrin
