Ackera Nugent sets new national record at Diamond League in Rome
KINGSTON, Jamaica— Ackera Nugent lowered her national record in the 100m hurdles after she ran 12.24 seconds (-0.4m/s) to win at Friday’s Diamond League event in Rome, Italy.
Nugent lowered her previous best, 12.28 seconds, when she won the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) National Championships in late June. She had established a new world lead and a meet record, overtaking the 12.25 seconds set by Masai Russell at the USA Trials.
In Rome, Russell finished second with 12.31 seconds, while Nadine Visser of the Netherlands was third with 12.52 seconds.
Nugent was the only Jamaican winner at the meet but there were second place finishes for Olympic champion Roje Stona in the men’s discus; Romaine Beckford, who set a new lifetime best in the men’s high jump and Shiann Salmon in the women’s 400m hurdles.
Stona, who was competing for the first time since he set the Olympic record 70.00m, led up to the final round with 67.85m before he was overtaken by Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh who threw 68.61m, while Olympic silver medallist Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania was third with 67.68m.
Beckford, a finalist at the Olympic Games, was second in back-to-back Diamond League meetings and improved his personal best to 2.30m after clearing 2.29m in Poland on Sunday.
It was the same height cleared by Korean winner Sanghyeok Woo, while Oleh Doroshchuk of Ukraine was third with 2.27m.
Salmon ran 53.20 seconds for the runner-up spot behind American Olympic Games silver medallist Anna Cockrell who won with 52.59 seconds. Jamaicans Janieve Russell was fourth with 54.46 seconds and Andrenette Knight fifth with 54.90 seconds.
Former Olympic, world and world indoor champion Omar McLeod was third in the 110m hurdles with 13.28 seconds (0.4m/s) and Orlando Bennett fifth in 13.33 seconds as France’s Sasha Zhoya won with 13.18 seconds with Spain’s Asier Martinez second with a season’s best 13.27 seconds.
Ackeem Blake was fourth in the men’s 100m, running 10.03 seconds (0.3m/s) as Botswana’s Olympic Games 200m champion Letsile Tebogo won in 9.87 seconds, followed by Americans Christian Coleman- 9.92 seconds and Fred Kerley- 9.95 seconds.
Olympic Games bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell was fifth in the men’s shot put with 21.52m as Olympic champion Ryan Crouser set a meeting record 22.49m; Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri was second with 21.70m and American Payton Otterdahl third with 21.63m.
—Paul A Reid
