Lashinda Demus en route to her Diamond League win in Rome (© Giancarlo Colombo)
Powerful displays by Asafa Powell and Lashinda Demus and yet another entertaining tussle in the High Jump between Blanka Vlasic and Chaunte Lowe were just some of the highlights as Rome’s Golden Gala – the fourth stop of the IAAF Diamond League – celebrated its 30th edition.
Performances by Powell and Demus were among six world leads on an ideal late spring evening before a crowd of nearly 30,000 at Rome’s Olympic stadium.
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Powell - faster, and faster
There were no surprises in the men’s 100m, dominated by Powell. Despite a sluggish start (0.214 reaction), the former World record holder didn’t let that faze him in the slightest. Well ahead before reaching the midway point, Powell powered through the finish in 9.82 to snip 0.01 from his previous 2010 world leader.
“I got a very good time despite a very, very bad reaction time,” said Powell whose run the 63rd wind-legal sub-10 of his career, and the 70th over-all. “But I had a very good second part.”
Young Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre didn’t meet his goal of joining the sub-10 club while still a teenager, but he’ll nonetheless be pleased with his runner-up finish when he wakes up tomorrow morning as a 20-year-old. He too was slow at the gun, but made up some ground in the second half to clock 10.09 to barely edge his countryman Martial Mbandjock who was credited with the same time.
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