KINGSTON, Jamaica — Ackeem Blake and Tajay Gayle were winners on Friday’s opening day of the Diamond League final at Allianz Memorial Van Damme at the King Boudouin Stadium in Brussels as they took the Diamond trophies in the men’s 100m and long jump respectively.

Blake, the World Indoor 60m bronze medallist ran 9.93 seconds (0.1m/s) for an upset win in the men’s 100m, while Gayle had a season’s best 8.28m (0.4m/s) in the long jump to take the US$30,000 prize as well.

Blake, who was a semi-finalist at the Olympic Games in August, beat the fancied American pair of Christian Coleman -10.00 seconds and Fred Kerley- 10.01 seconds.

Rohan Watson, the Jamaican champion in 2023 was eighth in 10.25 seconds.

Gayle, the 2019 World Champion said he gambled at the beginning on account of the weather as well and his season best 8.28m (0.4m/s) held up to give him the victory.

Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer was second with 8.16m (0.4m/s) ahead of Olympic and World Champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece 8.15m (0.2m/s).

Carey McLeod was sixth with 7.85m (0.0m/s) while Wayne Pinnock who only took two jumps was seventh with 7.43m (-0.3m/s).

Olympic Games silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts was second in the women’s triple jump with 14.22m (0.0m/s) and Ackelia Smith was third with 14.11m (-0.2m/s), both coming in the final round.

Cuba’s Leyanis Perez Hernandez won with 14.37m (-0.1m/s), her only legal mark in the competition, coming in the second round.

Natoya Goule-Toppin finished third in the women’s 800m, running 1:58.94 seconds as Kenya’s Mary Moraa won with a season’s best of 1:56.56 with Great Britain’s Georgia Bell second with 1:57.50.

Danniel Thomas-Dodd was fifth in the women’s shot put with 19.24m as world leader Sarah Mitton of Canada won with 20.25m, beating American two-time World Champion Chase Jackson (19.90m) and Olympic gold medallist Yemisi Ogunleye of Germany who was third with 19.72m.

Fedrick Dacres was seventh in the men’s discus throw with a best of 61.63m as Australia’s Olympic bronze medallist Matthew Denny threw a meet and national record 69.96m to win, beating Olympic silver medallist Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania (68.86) and Luka Wesshaidinger of Austria with 68.52m.

Denny broke a 40-year-old record 69.94m set in 1984 by Bugar Imrich of the then Czechoslovakia.

Stacey-Ann Williams was second in the women’s 400m invitational in 50.53 seconds and Stephenie Ann McPherson was fourth in 51.24 seconds as American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won with 49.11 seconds while Romania’s Andrea Miklos was a third with 51.16 seconds.

Rusheen McDonald was fifth in the men’s 400m invitational in 46.71 seconds as Belgian runners took the first three spots with Daniel Segers running a personal best 45.38 seconds to win. Dylan Borlee was second with 45.59 seconds and Florent Mabille was third with 45.80 seconds.

— Paul Reid