STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Jamaica’s Fedrick Dacres continues to show remarkable improvement outside of Jamaica, throwing 68.36m to capture the discus throw event at the Stockholm Diamond League yesterday.

Dacres, 23, who was second in Oslo on Thursday behind Daniel Stahl, turned the tables and relegated his opponent to second with 68.13m, despite the urging from his home crowd in Sweden.

Andrius Gudzius of Lithuania was third with 67.29m with Phillip Milanov of Belgium fourth with a season’s best 67.05. Germany’s Robert Harting also produced his season’s best of 66.20 and was fifth.

Dacres improved on his 67.10m in Oslo and produced the fourth best throw in the world for victory. With the top two throws in the world, 68.88m and 68.67m done in Kingston, he is now the first Jamaican to win a throwing event in the IAAF Diamond League since the inception in 2010. The popular Diamond League replaced the IAAF Golden League, which was held annually since 1998.

The former Calabar High star had throws of 64.90m, 67.04m, 67.00m, 68.36m, 65.78m and 67.23m. He trailed Stahl until the fourth throw, but the big Swede produced a amassive 68.13m and almost snatched victory with his last effort. The Jamaican was happy with his win.

“It was pretty windy, but it was okay. I came out and I executed my technique well. I wanted a big throw, but I was okay with 68. I was stable on 67, so I am thankful. I was given an awesome reception. The crowd was lively and I could hear the Jamaicans in the crowd — I love their vibe,” said Dacres.

“Jamaica is known for sprints and speed, so to have a big strong thrower is not really our thing but hopefully I can help. It is great to compete with the big guys and these are who I have looked up to,” added the 2011 World Youth and 2012 World Junior Champion.

“European competitions are good for me, as in the Caribbean there are not enough throwers to really push me. It is nice to be under pressure and to try and compete with the best,” he added.

Dacres now has 15 points in the Diamond League, which makes in third behind Stahl with 21 points. Phillip Milanov of Belgium, who was fourth yesterday, is second overall with 19 points.

Meanwhile, relatively unknown Ryan Shields was the second Jamaican in action, and he sped to a wind-aided 9.89 (+4.8 mps) in the 100m and was third behind Canada’s Andre DeGrasse in 9.69. Ben Youssef Meite of the Ivory Coast was second in 9.84.

The 22-year-old De Grasse, seen as the sprinting heir to Usain Bolt when the great Jamaican calls time on his career at the London World Championships in August, would have been celebrating a personal best had the wind of +4.8sec not exceeded the permitted limit.

It was a third-successive Diamond League win for De Grasse, whose personal best remains the 9.91sec he ran to win bronze at last year’s Rio Olympics.

“It’s great to sprint in such conditions; you cannot dream of any better,” said the Canadian.

“Before I came here, I was told that it might be a bit cold, but when I warmed up I realised that I could set a good time.

“I am very happy to have won despite the wind. I feel that I’m improving year after year. But these are only preparations for the big show of the worlds.”

“That’s the fastest I’ve ever run. It’s going to be a shock to the body. Tomorrow’s going to hurt a little bit, but I’m just looking forward to the next race and see what I can do legally.”

Elsewhere, Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya won the men’s 1500m in a world-leading time of 3min 30.77sec.

His compatriot and triple world champion Asbel Kiprop was fourth in 3:33.17, with Bahrain’s Alsadik Mikhou (3:31.49) and Ethiopia’s Aman Wote (3:31.63) filling the spaces in between.

“I am very happy,” said Cheruiyot. “The race went to plan — I tried to go at 300m. I’ll go back to Kenya now and prepare for the World Championships trials. I will be really happy if I can make it to London. This was good preparation for this.”

In the 110m hurdles, Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega of Spain edged 2015 world champion Sergei Shubenkov with a time of 13.09sec to 13.10sec.

Britain’s European indoor champion Andrew Pozzi and Antonio Alkana of South Africa were disqualified.

In the women’s events, Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahoure edged the 200m with a winning time of 22.68sec ahead of Canada’s Crystal Emmanuel and Rebekka Haase of Germany.

Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba, silver medallist in Rio, won the 800m, making the most of the absence of two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya who had won in Oslo on Friday.

— AFP/Observer