Little more than a month before the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015, a host of leading French athletes will head to the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco on 17 July with high ambitions.Pole vault world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie&rsquo;s participation at the Herculis meeting has already been confirmed, but he will be joined by seven other French athletes at the Stade Louis II one month from today.European under-23 champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse will return to the scene of the French 800m record of 1:42.53 that he set last year. His previous PB of 1:43.76 was also set at the Herculis meeting, so he will be hoping for another top performance this year.Jimmy Vicaut also has fond memories of the Herculis meeting. He finished third in Monaco in 2013 in 9.99, which was his best performance in the 100m at an IAAF Diamond League meeting until his 9.98 second-place finish in Rome earlier this month. This year he aims to better his PB of 9.95 and perhaps even challenge the French record of 9.92.Several medallists from the 2014 European Championships will also be in Monaco, including European triple jump champion Benjamin Compaore, French 100m hurdles record-holder Cindy Billaud, world discus silver medallist Melina Robert-Michon, 400m runner Floria Guei and pole vault Kevin Menaldo.Organisers for the IAAF2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar Doha, QAT &ndash; 15 May Shanghai, CHN &ndash; 17 May Eugene, USA &ndash; 30 May Rome, ITA &ndash; 4 June Birmingham, GBR &ndash; 7 June Oslo, NOR &ndash; 11 June New York, USA &ndash; 13 June Paris, FRA &ndash; 4 July Lausanne, SUI &ndash; 9 July Monaco, MON &ndash; 17 July London, GBR &ndash; 24-25 July Stockholm, SWE &ndash; 30 July Zurich, SUI &ndash; 3 September Brussels, BEL &ndash; 11 September

Little more than a month before the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015, a host of leading French athletes will head to the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco on 17 July with high ambitions.

Top French athletes set to compete in Monaco – IAAF Diamond League

Pole vault world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie will start his 2015 IAAF Diamond League campaign at the Doha 2015 meeting on Friday 15 May, organisers announced on Sunday (15).Lavillenie will be hoping to keep up his unbeaten streak in the Diamond Race, having won the trophy in each of the first five seasons of the competition.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really looking forward to competing in Doha. The conditions at the Qatar Sports Club can be very good for pole vaulting so I&rsquo;ll certainly try to win and beat the meeting record,&rdquo; said the 28-year-old Frenchman.Lavillenie cleared six metres or better five times this winter, topped by a 6.04m clearance in Prague last weekend to win his fourth straight European indoor title. He has won 33 of his 34 competitions since the 2013 IAAF World Championships, when he was beaten into second place by Germany&rsquo;s Raphael Holzdeppe. The German will also be in the Doha field as will Greece&rsquo;s world indoor champion Konstantinos Filippidis, who raised the Doha meeting record to 5.82m in 2013, a national record.&nbsp; &ldquo;We have set high standards in organising such an important and prestigious sporting event in previous years and we aim to continue in 2015 as well, at the highest possible level,&rdquo; commented the president of the Qatar Athletics Federation, Dahlan Al Hamad. &ldquo;We have proved on numerous occasions that we have the expertise and the know-how to successfully deliver what we pledge; we have the means to justify our role as a key and trusted partner of the IAAF, especially since we were recently honoured to stage the 2019 IAAF World Championships,&rdquo; he added.Lavillenie will be joined in Doha by fellow Olympic champions Sally Pearson, Sanya Richards-Ross and Christian Taylor. Pearson, at 12.28 the fifth-fastest ever in the 10m hurdles, faces Brianna Rollins, history&rsquo;s third fastest courtesy of her 12.26 winning performance at the 2013 US Championships, and 2008 Olympic champion Dawn Harper Nelson, the defending Diamond Race champion and fastest hurdler in 2014.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be the perfect early season test as I prepare to defend my world title,&rdquo; said Rollins, who won at the 2013 IAAF World Championships. Another quick US entrant is Queen Harrison and Great Britain&rsquo;s Tiffany Porter, the European champion, is also in the field. <h3>Richards-Ross chasing first Diamond Race </h3> In the women&rsquo;s 400m, Sanya Richards-Ross will be chasing her first Diamond Race, the only major accolade missing from the Olympic champion&rsquo;s trophy cabinet. The US record-holder at 48.70 since 2006, Richards-Ross sped to 49.66 last year and ended 2014 as the season&rsquo;s second-fastest woman over one lap of the track. She only trailed compatriot Francena McCorory who ran a 49.48 and who will also be in Doha. McCorory also took the 2014 world indoor title in the event. They&rsquo;ll face Novlene Williams-Mills of Jamaica, whose consistency last season won her the Diamond Race. After winning his third straight Diamond Race last season, Taylor will start as the slight favourite in the men&rsquo;s triple jump, but in Doha he&rsquo;ll face a formidable French duo. Benjamin Compaore produced a strong campaign in 2014, taking the European title in August and then victory at the Continental Cup three weeks later, where he improved his best to 17.48m. Teddy Tamgho meanwhile returns to action this outdoor season hoping to pick up where he left off after winning the 2013 world title with a 18.04m personal best to become one of just three men to have sailed beyond the 18-metre barrier. The field also includes Cuba&rsquo;s Pablo Pichardo, the world silver medallist behind Tamgho. The men&rsquo;s 100m features another Olympic champion of an earlier vintage, Justin Gatlin, the winner in 2004. Last season the 33-year-old US athlete re-emerged as the world&rsquo;s top sprinter by going undefeated through the year producing the year&rsquo;s fastest times in both the 100m and 200m, clocking 9.77 and 19.68 respectively. The field will include the evergreen Kim Collins, the 2003 world champion, who was unbeaten in nine 60m races this winter and improved his career best to 9.96 last season. Jamaica will be represented by Nesta Carter, a two-time Olympic and World Championships 4x100m gold medallist with a 9.78 best to his credit. Local attention will fall on Asian record-holder Femi Ogunode, will celebrate his 24th birthday on the day of the Doha meeting. The Qatari ran 9.93 for victory at the Asian Games in Incheon last September. Organisers for the IAAF2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar Doha, QAT &ndash; 15 May Shanghai, CHN &ndash; 17 May Eugene, USA &ndash; 30 May Rome, ITA &ndash; 4 June Birmingham, GBR &ndash; 7 June Oslo, NOR &ndash; 11 June New York, USA &ndash; 13 June Paris, FRA &ndash; 4 July Lausanne, SUI &ndash; 9 July Monaco, MON &ndash; 17 July London, GBR &ndash; 24-25 July Stockholm, SWE &ndash; 30 July Zurich, SUI &ndash; 3 September Brussels, BEL &ndash; 11 September

Pole vault world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie will start his 2015 IAAF Diamond League campaign at the Doha 2015 meeting on Friday 15 May, organisers announced on Sunday (15).

Lavillenie to open 2015 IAAF Diamond League campaign in Doha

Statisticians Mirko Jalava and A Lennart Julin look back on the best jumps performances of the year.<h3>Men&rsquo;s high jump</h3><h3></h3>&nbsp; This year was easily the best season in modern athletics history for this event, the only thing missing was a world record. Mutaz Essa Barshim ended the season as the world leader with a 2.43m Asian record in Brussels at the IAAF Diamond League final. The 23-year-old Qatari set a total of three Asian outdoor records and one indoors, clearing 2.38m when winning the world indoor title in Sopot. Barshim won 10 out of his 15 competitions during the season but, in most people&rsquo;s opinion, the number one jumper was still Bogdan Bondarenko. The 25-year-old from Ukraine passed the indoor season and went on to win 10 out of his 13 starts, jumping at least 2.40m on five occasions while Barshim did it four times.Bondarenko also won the European Championships and the IAAF Continental Cup, while Barshim retained his Asian Games title from 2010. In addition to the top duo, there were four more athletes over 2.40m during the year, three coming outdoors. Before 2014, only two athletes had cleared this height during the same outdoor season. To give more perspective, there are only 14 athletes in the history over 2.40m and six of them cleared that height in 2014.Russia&rsquo;s Ivan Ukhov equalled the European record of 2.42m indoors in Prague in February and also cleared 2.41m outdoors in Doha for a total of four competitions at 2.40m or better during the season. Canada&rsquo;s Derek Drouin equalled the North American record with a 2.40m clearance in Des Moines in April, Ukraine&rsquo;s Andrey Protsenko jumped the same height at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne in July and Russia&rsquo;s Aleksey Dmitrik was the sixth man over 2.40m, indoors in Arnstadt in February.<h3>Men&rsquo;s pole vault </h3> An era came to a close in February with Renaud Lavillenie finally beating Sergey Bubka&rsquo;s world records with a 6.16m clearance indoors in Donetsk. The 28-year-old Frenchman first beat six metres in 2009 and has had several attempts at the world record before finally succeeding in Bubka&rsquo;s home city at a meeting promoted by the man himself. Bubka had held the world record since August 31, 1984, when he cleared 5.94m in Rome and the Ukrainian held on to the record for almost 30 years.The Frenchman had an almost perfect season with 22 wins in 23 starts, with the only failure coming in Stockholm in August, where he couldn&rsquo;t clear his opening height. He added a third straight European gold in Zurich to his collection and also won the Continental Cup in Marrakech as well as six Diamond League meets. Otherwise, only six athletes cleared 5.80m during the season with the number two outdoor best at 5.83m, from USA&rsquo;s Mark Hollis, which is the worst second best result in the world list in 31 years, since 1983, when Thierry Vigneron was the world leader with 5.83m and fellow Frenchman Pierre Quinon second with 5.82m!<h3>Men&rsquo;s long jump </h3> Five athletes reached 8.30m but only a handful of them were consistent during the season. Greg Rutherford opened his season in style in the US in April with a 8.51m national record and world leader, which stood until the end of the season. The 28-year-old Briton had a good season winning the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July and then the European Championships in Zurich in August, but didn&rsquo;t get near his record during the rest of the season.USA's Jeffery Henderson was the most consistent jumper in 2014. The 25-year-old won three IAAF Diamond League meets and the US Championships, and also set a 8.43m personal best in that competition with the addition of a windy 8.52m. China&rsquo;s Li Jinzhe narrowly lost the IAAF World Indoor Championships title when Brazil&rsquo;s Mauro da Silva jumped 8.28m for the gold with his last attempt. The 25-year-old had led that competition with a 8.23m indoor personal best prior to last round Li got the national record outdoors jumping 8.47m in Bad Langensalza, Germany, in July and also won the Asian Games in September.Greece&rsquo;s Louis Tsatoumas jumped 8.25m in 2014, his best since 2011 and won the silver medal at the European Championships behind Rutherford. Germany&rsquo;s Christian Reif added two centimetres personal best on home soil in Weinheim in May, with a leap of 8.49m, but was unable to perform at the same level later in the season, only finishing eighth at the European Championships.<h3>Men&rsquo;s triple jump</h3>&nbsp; This event did not reach the same levels it had done in the previous few season. Yes, there were a couple of good results, with Cuba&rsquo;s Pedro Pablo Pichardo jumping a 17.76m in February, which remained the best mark in the world in 2014, and USA&rsquo;s Will Claye jumped a 17.75m personal best to win at the US Championships, but the level of competition overall in the IAAF Diamond League meetings was relatively modest.France&rsquo;s Benjamin Compaore was the number one jumper of the 2014 season in many people&rsquo;s eyes, producing the two best results of his career when it mattered. The 27-year-old won the European Championships with a 17.46m personal best before finishing in second place at the same Letzigrund stadium at the IAAF Diamond League final with 17.45m, losing out to Christian Taylor&rsquo;s 17.51m, a season&rsquo;s best for the American. The Strasbourg athlete then continued with another big win at the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech with a second round effort of 17.48m for another personal best, while a surprisingly strong Godrey Mokoena set a South African record of 17.35m for the second place.Mokoena, now 29, had only come back to the elite level in triple jumping at the beginning of August, when he jumped 17.20m for the Commonwealth title in Glasgow, his first 17-metre jump since April 2005. He then went on to win the African title with a 17.03m result in August before his feat in the same stadium in at the IAAF Continental Cup the following month.Taylor, the reigning Olympic champion in this event, had en eventful season. Before any jumping, he set a 400m personal best 45.17 in April and then was a part of the USA&rsquo;s IAAF World Relays 4x400m winning team. In addition to his season&rsquo;s best 17.51m in Zurich, he also won the IAAF Diamond League meet in Glasgow in July and placed second in three more Diamond League competitions, which was good enough to win him the Diamond Race.<h3>Women&rsquo;s high jump</h3> Three of the four podium athletes from the 2013 World Championships took 2014 more-or-less off. Moscow champion Svetlana Shkolina didn&rsquo;t compete at all while Brigetta Barrett and Anna Chicherova had to cut their seasons short due to injury. Only Spanish veteran Ruth Beitia carried on and also peaked perfectly to grab the European title with a 2.01m clearance.However, overall this year belonged not to Beitia but to Russia&rsquo;s 21-years old Mariya Kuchina who has long been recognised as a great talent after her performances in the junior ranks but who still was a newcomer on the global senior stage. Kuchina won all her five indoor meets, including a tie for first at the IAAF World Indoor Championships and outdoors won eight of her 11 meetings, only once finishing outside the top two, and recording seven meetings at 1.97m-2.00m.The second best season belonged to Ana Simic who at age 24 emerged out of the shadow of fellow Croatian, Blanka Vlasic. Simic finished 1-5-3-3-3-3-2 in the IAAF Diamond League, added a bronze medal at the European Championships and a second place at the IAAF Continental Cup. The only thing missing was an elusive two-metre jump.Vlasic had another year struggling to return to her &lsquo;two-metre-machine&rsquo; form. She opened her summer well, including winning the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris at 2.00m; but, just like in 2013, she had to give the major championship in August a miss.<h3>Women&rsquo;s pole vault </h3> In July 2005, Yelena Isinbayeva became the first woman to clear 5.00m but although that happened almost a decade ago, when the event was regarded as still very young, no one else has yet managed that feat outdoors and progress seems to have levelled off.A comparison between the outdoor year lists for 2006 and 2014 (years in a similar position in the championship cycle) shows almost identical performances e.g. fifth place: 4.70m/4.70m, 10th place: 4.62m/4.65m, and 25th place 4.50m/4.50m. Consequently, the women&rsquo;s pole vault now should be viewed as a fully mature event and even though the 2013 world champion Isinbayeva took maternity leave in 2014, it was still her generation in the driver&rsquo;s seat thanks to Brazil&rsquo;s 33-year-old Fabiana Murer and USA&rsquo;s 32-year-old Jenn Suhr. Murer won four of the IAAF Diamond League events and the Diamond Race while Suhr collected three second places, a third and a fourth; but Murer&rsquo;s world lead of 4.80m, cleared in rom New York, was the lowest since 2002.From the new generation born in the 1990s, Greece&rsquo;s Ekaterini Stefanidi demonstrated the greatest improvement and was consistently in the 4.55m-4.70m range throughout the summer. Stefanidi won the world youth title at the age of 15 in 2005 but didn&rsquo;t find success at senior level until this year. She was also very close to taking the European title but, at the very last moment, Russia&rsquo;s Anzhelika Sidorova moved from fourth to first with her third-attempt clearnace at 4.65m.Russia had the winner also at the IAAF World Junior Championships where Alayna Lutkovskaya, who is still only 18, was the class act in what was also a very strong field.<h3>Women&rsquo;s long jump</h3> Before she had turned 21, Tianna Madison (now Bartoletta) was the reigning world champion both outdoors and indoors but then injuries made her disappear from the international scene only to re-emerge in 2012 - as a brilliant sprinter. However, in 2014 she returned to the long jump and immediately reclaimed a position at the top.Bartoletta actually produced the only seven-metre jump of the year, 7.02m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Oslo, but had four more meets beyond 6.90m and won the Diamond Race. However, she was hard pressed right to the end in the Diamond Race by Serbia&rsquo;s Ivana Spanovic who ended up scoring the same 16 points only to loose on the tie-break rule of the number of wins: two v three.France&rsquo;s Eloyse Lesueur was the third main contender in this event and actually had a positive win-loss record against both Bartoletta and Spanovic. Highlights for Lesueur were the wins at the Europeans, with Spanovic second, and at the IAAF Continental Cup, with Spanovic second again and Bartoletta third. Nigeria&rsquo;s Blessing Okagbare who won the event&rsquo;s Diamond League opener in Shanghai but after that competed only in the sprints.For multiple world and Olympic champion Brittney Reese, 2014 was a year of technical transition with a new run-up. Also having a year of transition was Russia&rsquo;s Darya Klishina, who moved to the US and started working with a new coach. Reese and Klishina were expectedly somewhat inconsistent in 2014 but could be, once again, forces to be reckoned with in the coming year Also watch out for Malaika Mihambo. Tthe 20-year-old German won the European Team Championships ahead of Lesueur. Great Britain&rsquo;s Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the IAAF World Indoor Championships silver medallist, is more focussed on multi-events but is still an outstanding long jumper.<h3>Women&rsquo;s triple jump </h3> Making the triple jump her priority in 2011 has been a decision Caterine Ibarguen certainly isn&rsquo;t regretting.In 2011, the Colombian won 11 out of 13 meetings; in 2012, she was 7-for-10; in 2013 and 2014 she made it 9-for-9 and then 11-for-11. In these 43 competitions, she has only had five losses, the last one being at the London 2012 Olympics Games where she got the silver medal.Despite this competitive success, going beyond 15 metres had eluded Ibarguen until the last round of the IAAF Diamond League in Monaco this summer. She had numerous marks in the high 14s, but her best had stood at 14.99m since August 2011. However, on her last jump in Monaco, everything clicked and she bounded all the way to 15.31m.It&rsquo;s a distance previously surpassed by only four athletes and last it happened was six years ago. However, a 32cm improvement isn&rsquo;t easy to follow up and in her remaining meets she was back to the high 14s, although that was still was good enough to win two more IAAF Diamond League meeting, the IAAF Continental Cup and the Central American and Caribbean Games title.The only other athlete consistently jumping beyond 14.50m this year was Russia&rsquo;s Yekaterina Koneva, but she lost to Ukraine&rsquo;s Olha Saladukha - 14.69m v 14.73m - at the Europeans. In late summer, the London 2012 Olympic champion Olga Rypakova returned to action after being on maternity leave and having her last competition at the end of 2012 and showed some of her old form when winning at the Asian Games.Historically, it seems that this is an event where it is quite hard to transform success as junior into medals as a senior, but Rouguy Diallo of France certainly showed great promise with some impressive jumping which carried her to 14.44w and the gold medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships in July.Mirko Jalava (men&rsquo;s events) and A Lennart Julin (women&rsquo;s events) for the IAAF

Statisticians A Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava look back on the best jumps performances of the year.

2014 end-of-year reviews – jumps

It may not be the last fixture of the 2014 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, but the Decastar meeting in Talence on 20-21 September will be the last opportunity to score points for those in contention of finishing in the top three in the series.As such, all eyes will be on European silver medallist Kevin Mayer. Not just because he will be competing on home soil, but because if he scores 8138 or higher, he could win the Combined Events Challenge and bag an extra US $30,000 in the process.At the end of the season, with the Asian Games being the last fixture in the series, the top eight athletes in the standings will be awarded prize money.Other athletes in Talence who could move up the standings into a top-eight position include Cuba’s former world junior silver medallist Yordani Garcia, Ukraine’s 2012 world indoor silver medallist Oleksiy Kasyanov and 2008 world junior silver medallist Eduard Mikhan of Belarus.Mayer has competed in Talence just once before, finishing fifth in 2012. But this year he leads the entries in the decathlon after posting a personal best of 8521 at the European Championships.He won’t have it all his own way, though. Aside from Garcia, Kasyanov and Mikhan, the field also includes European indoor champion Eelco Sintnicolaas of the Netherlands and two-time Decastar winner Hans van Alphen of Belgium.If Sintnicolaas scores more than 8343 points and finishes 205 points ahead of Mayer, then he too could take the overall challenge title. He will be highly motivated too, after finishing just 20 points shy of a medal position at last month’s European Championships.Van Alphen will be contesting his first decathlon since winning here two years ago. Since then, the Belgian record-holder has been out of action through injury but is keen to recapture the kind of form that took him to fourth place at the London 2012 Olympics.Another interesting entrant is European triple jump champion Benjamin Compaore. The Continental Cup winner competed in Talence two years ago, scoring 6704 to finish 10th, so improving on that will be his primary target this weekend.Nana Djimou looks to regain heptathlon titleOnly once before have both contests in Talence been won by French athletes, and that was way back in 1977. But Mayer and compatriot Antoinette Nana Djimou could achieve that feat this weekend.Nana Djimou will be looking to regain the Decastar heptathlon title she won in 2012, having returned to top form when successfully defending her European title in Zurich with 6551, the second-best score of her career.World indoor champion Nadine Broersen won’t be in Talence and the Dutch all-rounder already has a near-unassailable lead in the Combined Events Challenge. But a second-place finish in the standings is a realistic goal for Nana Djimou, who would need to score 6210 or more to achieve that.Germany’s Carolin Schafer could also make an impact in the final standings if she performs as well in Talence as she has been all season. World champion Hanna Melnychenko will be defending the Decastar title she won last year, although the Ukrainian hasn’t been at her best this year and is yet to score higher than 6000 points.Others in the field include Cuba’s former world junior champion Yorgelis Rodriguez, 2012 world junior silver medallist Xenia Krizsan of Hungary, European indoor silver medallist Yana Maksimava of Belarus and Poland’s Karolina Tyminska.Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

It may not be the last fixture of the 2014 IAAF Combined Events Challenge, but the Decastar meeting in Talence on 20-21 September will be the last opportunity to score points for those in contention of finishing in the top three in the series.

Valuable IAAF Combined Events Challenge points at stake in Talence

They won the first and last events of the weekend, but in between those victories hosts Africa could not hold off the might of the two strongest teams in the IAAF Continental Cup as Europe lifted the team trophy at the end of two days of competition in Marrakech.Europe had a comfortable lead overnight, which they extended on the second day after winning half of the 20 events.But the best event of the day was arguably the women’s 100m hurdles.Having recently won the Diamond Race, Dawn Harper Nelson of the Americas lined up in Marrakech as the big favourite. European champion Tiffany Porter pushed her all the way, but the 2008 Olympic champion had the edge at the end, winning in a championship record and African all-comers’ record of 12.47.In second, Porter also dipped below both of the previous records with her time of 12.51, breaking Jessica Ennis-Hill’s British record in the process.Europe’s Cindy Roleder placed third in 13.02 with Lavonne Idlette of the Americas in fourth as the top two teams both bagged 13 points.That set the tone for much of the rest of the day as Europe extended their lead with Americas in second, always a safe distance ahead of Africa.European champions Shubenkov, Schippers and Schwanitz all victoriousThe European team bagged the full eight points in several events on the second day thanks to a handful of their continental champions.Sergey Shubenkov held off a strong challenge from Americas’ Ronnie Ash and Europe’s William Sharman to win the 110m hurdles in 13.23. Both Ash and Sharman were given 13.25 with the former given second place.Double European sprint champion Dafne Schippers rebounded after finishing third at the IAAF Diamond League final. This time the Dutch heptathlete had a lead off the bend and maintained it until the end, winning in 22.28, her second-fastest time ever.Joanna Atkins of the Americas was second with 22.53 and Schippers’ team-mate Myriam Soumare was third in 22.58.European champion Christina Schwanitz benefitted from the non-appearance of defending champion Valerie Adams in the shot put, winning with 20.02m. All of the German’s attempts would have been enough to win after Adams withdrew, having suffered an adverse reaction from a pain-killer injection earlier in the day.Michelle Carter, representing the Americas, was second with a season’s best of 19.84m as Gong Lijiao was 61cm further back in third.African all-comers’ record for CompaoreBy the end of the first round, it was clear that the men’s triple jump was going to be an exciting contest.African and Commonwealth champion Godfrey Mokoena took an early lead with 17.13m as Will Claye responded with 16.87m. But European champion Benjamin Compaore usurped both with his first-round leap of 17.26m.Mokoena regained the lead in the second round with an African record of 17.35m, only for Compaore to retaliate with a PB of 17.48m, the best ever triple jump mark on African soil. Claye, representing the Americas, also improved with 17.20m.Compaore and Mokoena didn’t improve with their final two jumps, but Claye rounded out a consistent series with leaps of 17.21m and 17.18m.Win but no world record for WlodarczykAfter breaking the hammer world record in Berlin two weeks ago, European champion Anita Wlodarczyk said she was in shape to break the 80-metre barrier. But in the absence of some of her toughest rivals to push her to such distances, the Pole settled for a comfortable 75.21m victory.Her winning throw was just eight centimetres shy of the championship record and her winning margin of 2.83m was the biggest ever in the history of the event.North American record-holder Amanda Bingson took second place with 72.38m while Wlodarczyk’s European team-mate Martina Hrasnova threw 70.47m for third.Fellow world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie was similarly successful in the pole vault without needing to produce one of his best ever marks. The European champion went straight into the lead with his opening height of 5.65m as just two of his opponents were left.Xue Changrui of Asia-Pacific got over that height on his third attempt while Mark Hollis of the Americas bowed out. Xue failed three times at 5.70m as Lavillenie went clear on his third attempt at 5.80m before ending his series with three unsuccessful tries at 5.90m.Ndiku caps superb season with another big winAfrican 5000m champion Caleb Ndiku won a competitive 3000m. After taking up the lead at half way, he went through 2000m in 5:29.68 and covered the final kilometre in 2:22.96 to hold off Europe’s Hayle Ibrahimov, winning by half a second in 7:52.64.In third, defending champion Bernard Lagat, competing 12 years after making his debut in this competition, secured six points for the Americas with 7:53.95.Ndiku now ends the year as the only athlete in the world to have won titles at the World Indoor Championships, a continental championships, the Diamond Race and the Continental Cup.Africa gained the maximum 15 points in the women’s 5000m. Competing on the same track on which she destroyed a quality field to win the African title, Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana took off after 3000m to win by the huge margin of 25 seconds, stopping the clock at 15:33.32.Joyce Chepkirui was second, holding off a late surge from European 10,000m champion Jo Pavey.European champion Sifan Hassan broke up the African dominance of the distance events, winning the 1500m. Ethiopia’s world junior champion Dawit Seyaum darted to the front with 250 metres remaining, but Hassan had enough left in the tank to overtake her coming off the final bend, kicking on to win in 4:05.99.Seyaum faded to third as Shannon Rowbury came through to take second place for the Americas in 4:07.21.Having never finished in the top three before in the women’s 3000m steeplechase in this competition, the Americas took top points thanks to US record-holder Emma Coburn. World leader and African champion Hiwot Ayalew had a slight lead approaching the final barrier, but a slight stumble proved costly as Coburn capitalised, crossing the line in 9:50.67.Ayalew held on for second with world junior champion Ruth Jebet third for Asia-Pacific.The same teams filled the top three spots in the men’s event, albeit in a slightly different order as African champion Jairus Birech sprinted away from Evan Jager of the Americas to win in 8:13.18. Jager, who led at the bell, settled for second place in 8:14.08, three seconds ahead of Asia-Pacific’s Abubaker Ali Kamal.Another sprint 1-2 for the AmericasHaving filled the top two spots in the women’s 100m and 400m yesterday, Americas did so once again in the men’s 200m.Diamond Race winner Alonso Edward was neck-and-neck with Americas team-mate Rasheed Dwyer and both were almost inseparable as they crossed the line. Both were given the same time of 19.98, a PB for Dwyer, as Edward was given the win.Europe gained a full 15 points in the women’s long jump, narrowly averting a disaster. European champion Eloyse Lesueur opened her campaign with three fouls, but on her final attempt she flew out to 6.66m to go into the lead.Team-mate Ivana Spanovic was second with 6.56m. The American duo were third and fourth, placing ahead of the two Africans, with the Asia-Pacific representatives taking seventh and eighth.Europe also picked up valuable points in the women’s high jump and men’s discus.World indoor champion Mariya Kuchina enjoyed a clean card up to and including 1.97m and then popped over 1.99m at the second time of asking to win from Chaunte Lowe of the Americas, who cleared 1.97m.Former Olympic champion Gerd Kanter became Europe’s sixth successive winner of the discus. He took an early lead with 62.91m, increased it to 63.86m in the second round and then ended his season with his winning distance of 64.46m.Hosts Africa end on a highThey were out of contention for the overall title, but Africa enjoyed a late rush by taking victories in the final field event, the final individual track event, and the final race of the weekend.World leader Ihab Abdelrahman El Sayed, representing Africa, made history by becoming the first non-European winner of the men’s javelin at the World or Continental Cup.He led from the outset, opening with 81.77m before unleashing his winning throw of 85.44m in the second round. World champion Vitezslav Vesely placed second with his third-round throw of 83.77m and Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott was third, just 25cm behind.African champion Nijel Amos underlined his status as the world’s top 800m runner this season, taking another victory over African team-mate and world champion Mohammed Aman.Duane Solomon of the Americas led at the bell in 51.55, but Amos came through strong with 200m remaining, kicking away to win in 1:44.88. Aman was almost half a second behind with European champion Adam Kszczot taking third.For the fourth time in a row, the Americas women won the 4x400m. With individual 400m winner Francena McCorory on second leg and Diamond Race winner Novlene Williams-Mills on anchor, their winning time of 3:20.93 was a world-leading mark and African all-comers’ record.Europe finished more than three seconds behind in 3:24.12, with Africa taking third.There was more excitement in the men’s race though. Europe and the Americas, with 400m hurdler Javier Culson, were about level after the first exchange, but Isaac Makwala ran a storming second leg to give Africa the lead at half way.Kim Collins then, somewhat surprisingly, ran third leg for the Americas as he chased Saviour Kombe of Africa hard, but the 38-year-old suffered on the home straight, dropping to third.Wayde van Niekerk and Martyn Rooney received the baton almost level on the last leg, but Van Niekerk held off the European champion to win in 3:00.02, just 0.08 ahead of Europe.World 400m champion LaShawn Merritt and Japan’s Julian Jrummi Walsh both ran sterling final legs, but were too far behind to make an impact as Americas and Asia-Pacific finished third and fourth respectively.Europe had already done enough to win by this point, but their 13 points in the relay brought their overall tally to 447.5. Americas finished second with 390 points with Africa third (339) and Asia-Pacific fourth (257.5).Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

They won the first and last events of the weekend, but in between those victories hosts Africa could not hold off the might of the two strongest teams in the IAAF Continental Cup as Europe lifted the team trophy at the end of two days of competition in Marrakech.

Europe victorious at IAAF Continental Cup, Marrakech 2014

Will Claye went into the competition with IAAF Continental Cup points already on the board, having finished second to Ignisous Gaisah in the long jump on Saturday. The world bronze medallist also started as favourite in this discipline, as the only man in the field to have ventured beyond 17.50m this year. Not that the 23-year-old US athlete was in anything like the shape that took him to his season’s best of 17.75m at the US Championships in Sacramento back in June. Indeed, Claye found himself eclipsed by a couple of record breakers in the shape of the rapidly emerging European champion Benjamin Compaore of France and South Africa’s Godfrey Khotso Mokoena.Claye’s best of 17.21m, in the third round, was ultimately only good enough for third place. Mokoena had taken the lead with 17.35m in the second round, a South African record, but the 2008 world indoor long jump champion soon found himself trumped in the same round.Having opened with 17.26m, Compaore improved to 17.48m, a two-centimetre improvement on the lifetime best that earned him European Championships gold in Zurich last month and the winning distance on Sunday.It was also an African all-comers’ record, bettering the 17.42m jumped by Germany’s Charles Friedeck of Germany at the 1998 World Cup in Johannesburg.Simon Turnbull for the IAAF

Will Claye went into the competition with IAAF Continental Cup points already on the board, having finished second to Ignisous Gaisah in the long jump on Saturday. The world bronze medallist also started as favourite in this discipline, as the only man in the field to have ventured beyond 17.50m this year. 

Report: men's triple jump – IAAF Continental Cup, Marrakech 2014

Three victories for Russia, a pair for France and a long-awaited gold for Barbora Spotakova were the highlights on a chilly but dry third day of action at the European Championships in Zurich on Thursday (14).After taking back-to-back Olympic titles, collecting World Championship silver and gold, and claiming a world record which has stood for nearly six years, Spotakova arrived in Zurich to claim the one title missing from her illustrious collection; the one title that had also eluded her coach, the legendary Jan Zelezny. It didn’t come easily – for a time it looked as though it wouldn’t – but in the end it finally did.A modest competition from the outset, it didn’t come alive until Tatjana Jelaca threw a 64.21m Serbian record in the fifth round, dropping Spotakova into third, who at that point had just a 62.86m best to her name. In the early rounds the Czech was clearly frustrated.“My throws seemed really poor and I tried to do many things to improve, even changing my spikes,” she said. “But nothing helped.” Until Jelaca’s throw.“I was thinking, ‘Hey, this is maybe the last European championships in your life – it cannot end like this, with such a bad performance.’ Then, Jelaca achieved the national record and I told myself I have to push it harder.”Spotakova found something in reserve and responded with a 64.41m effort, a throw that proved to be enough to secure the lone jewel missing from her crown. German Linda Stahl, the winner in 2010, took bronze with 63.91m.Shubenkov prevails in hurdles showdownSergey Shubenkov successfully defended his title in the 110m hurdles, one of three gold medals on the day for Russia.The world bronze medallist started best and never faltered, adding bit by bit to his margin over the final three hurdles en route to his decisive victory in 13.19.Behind him was a mad scramble for the remaining two medals with just 0.02 separating the next four finishers. William Sharman of Great Britain, the Commonwealth silver medallist, got out quickly with Shubenkov and recovered well after hitting a pair of hurdles to out-lean Frenchman Dimitri Bascou 13.27 to 13.28 to apparently settle spots two and three.Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, who clocked a 12.95 French record in Monaco last month, struggled from the gun, never quite found his rhythm, and finished a disappointing fourth clocking 13.29, the same time credited to Balazs Baji, a national record for Hungary.Bascou, however, was later disqualified for interference, elevating his team-mate to the bronze position.Compaore sails 17.46m to take first senior titleIn the men’s triple jump, the best quality field event of the evening, Benjamin Compaore laid down the gauntlet early as he bound out to 17.46m; the best this season by a European, and a jump that would ultimately put the competition well out of reach.Only the Frenchman himself, with his 17.18m follow-up, would come close to his opener in a competition where three others barely breached the 17-metre line.“After the 17.46m in the first attempt, I still had to wait and be attentive, always ready to attack again if some athlete would jump further than that,” said Compaore, whose victory was his first international accolade of any sort at the senior level, coming eight years after jumping to the world junior title in 2006. His winning leap finally eclipsed his 17.31m personal best set in 2011.World indoor champion Lyukman Adams was a distant second with a 17.09m best, just ahead of his Russian team-mate Aleksey Fyodorov, who sailed 17.04m. Both came in the first round.Clutch performance gives Sidorova pole vault goldAnzhelika Sidorova became the fifth Russian woman to win a European title in the pole vault thanks to a clutch third-attempt clearance at 4.65m.After topping 4.55m, the 23-year-old passed at 4.60m, a height three others had cleared, putting her in a make-or-break position after her first two misses at what would turn out to be the winning height.The victory by the 23-year-old was a notch better than her second-place tie at the World indoor Championships in March and solidified her position as the current Russian No.1.Count=back at 4.60m determined the other two medallists, with Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece taking silver and Angelina Zhuk-Krasnova of Russia the bronze.Alembekova collects first senior winThe first gold of the day went to Elmira Alembekova who decisively won the 20km race walk.Breaking from Ukrainian Lyudmyla Olyanovskaya and Czech Anezka Drahotova with about two kilometres to go, Alembekova crossed the finish line unchallenged in 1:27:56 to keep the title in Russian hands.“Two kilometres before the finish, I felt that the pace had slowed down a bit so it was the right moment to speed up and attack the front position,” said Alembekova, who earlier this year was third at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup. “I had enough strength to accelerate and when I saw Drahotova 70 metres behind me, it gave me some confidence and I was almost sure I will win.”Olyanovskaya overtook the 19-year-old Drahotova on the final one-kilometre circuit to claim the silver in 1:28:07, just one second ahead of the world junior champion.DQ foils Mekhissi-Benabbad’s three-peatMahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad dominated the proceedings in the 3000m steeplechase, seemingly gliding to a third successive continental title; until he got a little carried away with his celebration.The Frenchman, who has two Olympic silver medals and a pair of world bronze medals to his credit, was the picture of confidence from the gun, biding his time until taking to the front for good with about 1000 metres to go. Never threatened, he cushioned his lead over the penultimate lap before running away from the would-be challengers over the last to reach the line in 8:25.30. To underscore the dominance he exhibited, he took off his vest as he entered the home straight, motioning to the crowd to make some noise.That first earned him a warning from an official, which would annul his victory if he repeated the gesture in his next race, the 1500m. Then the Spanish federation lodged a protest on behalf of Angel Mullera, who was fourth across the finish line. It was accepted, disqualifying Mekhissi-Benabbad, and elevating his team-mate Yoann Kowal (8:26.66) to the gold medal position, Pole Krystian Zalewski (8:27.11) to silver, and Mullera (8:29.16) to bronze. A French counter-protest was rejected.Thiam the overnight heptathlon leaderPropelled by a sensational 1.97m clearance in the high jump, the best ever in championship combined-events competition, Belgian Naftissatou Thiam carries a narrow six-point lead into the second day in the heptathlon.The 19-year-old tallied 3851 points, just six ahead of German Carolin Schafer who collected 3845, thanks largely to a solid 13.20 in the 100m hurdles and her 23.84 victory in the 200m.In a tantalisingly close competition, world indoor champion Nadine Broersen – who has a slightly stronger second day than Thiam – is third with 3841, just ten points behind the leader, while Antoinette Nana Djimou of France, the defending champion, is fourth with 3793, 58 points back.Elsewhere in qualifying and semi-final actionSetting up a rematch of their 100m showdown, Dutchwoman Dafne Schippers and Myriam Soumare, the 2010 champion, looked best and ran fastest in the 200m semis, clocking 22.48 and 22.56 respectively, with plenty in reserve. World junior 100m champion Dina Asher-Smith broke the British junior record with 22.61 to book her place in the final.In the men’s contest, Briton Adam Gemili (20.23) and Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre (20.26) emerged as clearly the men to beat. Both finals are scheduled for Friday night.Renaud Lavillenie made his first appearance relatively short and sweet, needing two attempts at 5.60m before calling it a day. 14 pole vaulters topped 5.50m to move on to Saturday’s final.World champion Pawel Fajdek of Poland led qualifiers in the hammer throw with a 77.45m effort., while Antti Ruuskanen of Finland led the men’s javelin qualifiers with 83.76m.Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

Three victories for Russia, a pair for France and a long-awaited gold for Barbora Spotakova were the highlights on a chilly but dry third day of action at the European Championships in Zurich on Thursday (14).

Spotakova completes her gold collection with European title

The injury and illness trials and tribulations of former world champion Blanka Vlasic are well documented and so it was no surprise that she got one of the biggest cheers of the night when she won the women’s high jump at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris on Saturday night (5).When she flew clear with her first attempt at 2.00m, the crowd roared, she squeezed out a tear or two before breaking into a smile, and it was no secret that everyone felt genuinely pleased for the woman who dominated the event for several years at the end of the last decade before the start of her problems.In the end, it was enough to triumph in the French capital.Russia’s world indoor champion Mariya Kuchina, almost 10 years younger than Vlasic, cleared an outdoor personal best of 2.00m on her third attempt but after both women brought the bar down three times at 2.02m, the night belonged to Vlasic.The statistics books say that it was Vlasic’s 104th competition over 2.00m or better, and her 173rd jump at 2.00m or better, but, notwithstanding her many successes on the global stage, few will have felt better to Vlasic.Several hours earlier, her compatriot Sandra Perkovic was facing her first defeat of the year in the women’s discus, lying fourth going into the last round, but she showed that she has nerves of steel by flinging her implement out to a meeting and stadium record of 68.48m with her sixth and final effort.It was a distance that no one but her has exceeded this year and so it was, perhaps, no surprise that the remaining three women throwers could not respond.Throwing well for second place was Australia’s 2009 world champion Dani Samuels, whose 67.40m was the third-best competition of her career.Perkovic’s fourth IAAF Diamond League win of the summer gives her a commanding lead in the Diamond Race with 16 points. Storl retains shot supremacyThe men’s shot saw supremacy remain on this side of the Atlantic, despite the presence of four top-class US throwers.Reigning world champion David Storl opened with 21.17m but one of his predecessors, USA’s Reese Hoffa, came back at him with 21.38m in the second round.The lead came back into the German’s hand after his third attempt, which reached 21.41m, and the positions stayed the same for the next three rounds.US champion Joe Kovacs remains on top of the Diamond Race with eight points but was in nothing like the form that he showed in Sacramento a week ago when he reached 22.03m. In Paris he was more than two metres below that distance and finished eighth and last with 19.46m, getting zero points on this occasion.The men’s triple jump made the home crowd happy by throwing up a surprise winner in the shape of French international Benjamin Compaore, whose 17.12m effort in the fifth round snatched the lead from Olympic champion Christian Taylor.Taylor had bounded out to 17.03m with his first effort and, having been knocked off pole position, he immediately tried to respond in the fifth round but fell one centimetre short and neither man could improve with their final jumps.“Nobody was expecting me, which is often the case,” said Compaore, a former world junior champion. “I had surgery on my left ankle so I had only done two previous competitions this summer.”Down in seventh with 16.79m was Will Claye, who had barely a week ago bounded out to a world-leading 17.75m at the US Championships.A predictable French win was notched up by pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie, who acquired his fifth IAAF Diamond League win of the year and extended his 2014 unbeaten streak to 16 competitions.Disappointingly for all concerned, certainly for Lavillenie himself and the crowd, his only successful vault of the competition, which was at 5.70m, was sufficient to take maximum Diamond Race points.Battling with swirling winds and cooling conditions, Lavillenie cleared that height at the first time of asking. Augusto Dutra and Kevin Menaldo cleared that height on their third attempts and none of the remaining trio could go any higher; Lavillenie having three failures at 5.83m.Nevertheless, Lavillenie became the first person this summer to secure a Diamond Trophy subject to him competing in his event final in Brussels on 5 September, and for the fifth successive year, as he has an unassailable lead of 16 points in the Diamond Race.Lesueur leaps into French fans’ heartsFrance’s world indoor long jump champion Eloyse Lesueur also gave the 42,000-strong crowd plenty to cheer.She still pulled out a fine personal best of 6.92m to beat a classy field, getting her big jump in the third round.Three-time world champion Brittney Reese had taken an early lead with 6.82m in the opening round and then gone out to 6.87m in round two but the US champion, who has a well-deserved reputation for pulling out big efforts under pressure, couldn’t quite overhaul the local hero.Lesueur had three fouls to finish her competition, struggling to keep her energy levels high after two days of illness earlier tin the week, but was biting her nails to the end as Reese flew out to 6.87m in round six.Ihab Abdelrahman El Sayed recaptured some of the form he showed in May when he threw an African record and world-leading distance of 89.21m. In Paris, the Egyptian bounced back in style after some indifferent performances to win with a fifth-round throw of 87.10m.Finland’s former world champion Tero Pitkamaki had set the standard for the others to chase when he hurled his spear out to a season’s best of 86.63m with his opening throw. He couldn’t improve and finished second, once El Sayed had displaced him from the top spot.Germany’s Thomas Rohler finished third with a personal best of 84.74m with world champion Vitezslav Vesely down in fifth with 81.43m.El Sayed edges into the lead in the Diamond Race as well with eight points but with three meetings still to go.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

The injury and illness trials and tribulations of former world champion Blanka Vlasic are well documented and so it was no surprise that she got one of the biggest cheers of the night when she won the women’s high jump at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris on Saturday night (5).

Vlasic proves she’s not past it in Paris – IAAF Diamond League

The Herculis meeting, the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco on 19 July, will have the cream of the current generation of French athletes competing in the Stade Louis II once again.In addition to the previously announced 2012 Olympic and European Pole Vault champion Renaud Lavillenie being present, the 2010 double European champion Christophe Lemaitre will be face the 2013 European indoor 60m champion Jimmy Vicaut in the 100m.In their six previous confrontations at the distance, Lemaitre has always come home in front of Vicaut, but their most recent encounter was over 60m at the French Indoor Championships in February and Vicaut triumphed.They are expected to do battle first at the French outdoor championships and, a week later, Herculis will offer them a second occasion to shine.Impressive new middle-distance talent Pierre-Ambroise Bosse will come to Monaco for the first time and will run the 800m. Still only 21, the 2011 European junior champion has lowered his personal best in two Diamond League outings this year, in Doha and Rome, and there is no doubt that Bosse will have ambitions of going even faster in Monaco.Benjamin Compaore and Teddy Tamgho are expected fight for the national Triple Jump supremacy. Compaore is second in the Diamond Race in their event, with a win in New York and second place in Doha, but the World indoor record-holder Tamgho showed he is returning to form after missing all of last year and the second half of 2011 through injury and jumped 17.30m on Saturday.The 1500m will offer a chance to several young domestic talents to show off their prowess. Florian Carvalho took the European silver medal over the distance in Helsinki last summer and is returning to where he set his personal best two years ago.The 2013 European Athletics Indoor Championships bronze medallist Simon Denissel will be running in Monaco for the first time, and has similar goals as Carvalho in aiming to improve on his personal best.The 2010 European 200m champion Myriam Soumare, who took a bronze medal in Helsinki in the defence of her title, will compete in the longer sprint while the 2012 European Long Jump champion Eloyse Lesueur is coming back to Monaco, after having a training camp there last month. After taking third in New York and second in Oslo at this year’s Diamond League meetings, she will be aiming for a big jump at Stade Louis II Stadium, in front of a crowd which will be certainly be cheering for her.Organisers for the IAAF2013 IAAF Diamond League calendar Doha, QAT – 10 May Shanghai, CHN – 18 May New York, USA – 25 May Eugene, USA – 1 Jun Rome, ITA – 6 Jun Oslo, NOR – 13 Jun Birmingham, GBR – 30 Jun Lausanne, SUI – 4 Jul Paris, FRA – 6 Jul Monaco, MON – 19 Jul London, GBR – 26-27 Jul Stockholm, SWE – 22 Aug Zürich, SUI – 29 Aug Brussels, BEL – 6 Sep

The top French athletes return to Monaco - IAAF Diamond League

The top French athletes return to Monaco – IAAF Diamond League

The Herculis meeting, the IAAF Diamond league meeting in Monaco on 19 July, will have the cream of the current generation of French athletes competing in the Stade Louis II once again.