National record holder Ackera Nugent was Jamaica’s only Wanda Diamond League trophy winner at the final in Zurich, Switzerland, yesterday.

Nugent won the 100m hurdles, her first major senior award, while there were podium places for Tia Clayton in the women’s 100m, Ackeem Blake in the men’s 100m and Andrenette Knight in the women’s 400m hurdles. However, Clayton’s bid for a wild card berth at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, faded.

Nugent, a World Under-20 Championships gold medallist and World Indoor Championships bronze medal winner, equalled her season’s best 12.30 seconds (-0.6m/s) to win the Wanda Diamond League trophy and the US$100,000 (roughly J$16 million) cash prize for the event, which is part of the Diamond+ discipline.

“This is showing that I am in really good shape, my strength is there and some consistency is there too,” Nugent says. “As we get closer to the World Championships, some adjustments need to be made.

“I try to focus on myself rather than controlling the race itself, hoping that I can put up my best performance I can. When I run, I just ask the Lord to help fulfilling my dreams, and lock everything out. All I can and want to hear is the sound of the start gun, nothing else.”

Ditaji Kambundji ran a Swiss national record 12.40 seconds for second place and pre-race favourite American Grace Stark was third in 12.44 seconds.

Clayton, who needed to win the Diamond League title to earn the wild card after she missed making the Jamaican team at the National Championships (Trials) in June, placed second in 10.84 seconds (0.3m/s) beaten by an impressive Julien Alfred, the Olympic champion, who made a winning return to competition after a five-week injury layoff to win in 10.76 seconds.

“Coming second at a Diamond League final means a lot to me but it is not what I wanted,” Clayton says. “I wanted to win. Coming here, my coach told me that I could win today. So I am not proud of myself. I wanted to make it to the World Championships with a wild card.”

The door might not have slammed shut in the Olympic finalist’s face as yet as the JAAA selection committee could include her in the team to replace Shericka Jackson, who was second at Trials, if Jackson opts only to run the 200m in Tokyo for which she has a wild card as the defending champion.

The Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith, who ran under protest after she was disqualified for a false start, finished third in 10.92 seconds but Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, who was fourth, was promoted.

Blake, who was seeking to make it back to back Diamond League titles, finished third in the men’s 100m in 9.99 seconds (-0.4m/s), as American Christian Coleman won a close race in 9.97 seconds, with South Africa’s Akani Simbine second in 9.98 seconds.

Knight was third in the women’s 400m hurdles final running 53.76 seconds, well placed before hitting the final hurdle as world leader Femke Bol broke her own meet record of 52.80 seconds set in 2021, when she ran 52.18 seconds.

Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova ran a national record 53.18 seconds for second place.

Jordan Scott was fourth in the men’s triple jump with 17.16m (0.6m/s), his first loss after four-straight Diamond League wins. Italy’s Andy Diaz Hernandez won with 17.56m (-0.3m/s), beating Pedro Pichardo of Portugal with a season’s best 17.47m (0.4m/s), with Algeria’s Yasser Triki taking third with 17.42m (-0.3m/s).

Shanieka Ricketts was fifth in the women’s triple jump with 14.35m (-0.6m/s) as Cubans swept the top three places. Leyanis Perez Hernandez defended her title with 14.91m (-05m/s) in the third round after after two fouls and added a 14.90m jump in the fourth round.

Liadagamis Povea was second with 14.72m (-0.6m/s), and Davisleydi Velasco jumped 14.65m (-0.6m/s).

Romaine Beckford was fourth in the men’s high jump with 2.22m; New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr won with 2.32m, ahead of Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk, 2.30m, and American JuVaughn Harrison was third with 2.25m.

Orlando Bennett placed seventh in the 110m hurdles, running 13.35 seconds (0.3m/s) as world leader Cordell Tinch of the USA equalled the meet record 12.92 seconds to win.

St Lucia’s Julien Alfred (right) wins the women’s 100m final at the Wanda Diamond League in Zurich, Switzerland, yesterday, ahead of second-placed Tia Clayton (second left) of Jamaica, third-placed Dina Asher-Smith (left) of Great Britain, and Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith. (Photo: AFP)