National champion Stacey Ann Williams was the only Jamaican to achieve a podium finish on Sunday’s Meeting de Paris, the eighth stop in the Diamond League series.

Williams placed third in the women’s 400m, running 49.51 seconds.

The Jamaican, who had set a new personal best 49.48 at a meet in Croatia, on Thursday, finished behind Olympic Games and World Championships gold medallist Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic. Paulino won with a season’s best 48.48, while Lurdes Gloria Manuel of Czech Republic was second with a personal best 49.37.

Paulino’s time broke the Diamond League and meet records. She also replaced Jamaican Dejanae Oakley as the world leader.

Her time broke the Diamond League record of 48.57 set in 2024 by Jamaica’s Nickisha Pryce. It lowered Paulino’s meet record 48.81 set last year.

Diamond League debutant Demisha Roswell was seventh in the 100m hurdles, just ahead of Megan Simmonds, while Danniel Thomas-Dodd was sixth in the women’s shot put.

Roswell clocked 12.78 (0.7m/s) and Simmonds 12.92 after running 12.46 seconds (0.4m/s) and 12.53 (0.6m/s), respectively, in the preliminary round.

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan equalled her season’s best 12.28 to win, defeating the United States pair of Grace Stark (12.38) and Alaysha Johnson (12.39). Both Americans ran their season’s best times.

Thomas-Dodd’s only legal throw of 18.88m coming in the first round was good enough for sixth in the shot put. Canada’s Sarah Mitton won with 19.99m, while Germany’s Yemisi Mabry was second with 19.93m and Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands was third with 19.88m.

The meet only went ahead after organisers agreed to a series of adjustments after calls for it to be cancelled due to a heat wave affecting parts of Europe.

Days ago, the Prefecture de Police had issued a statement asking for several scheduled events, including the Diamond League, to be called off due to record-breaking high temperatures in France.

Diamond League organisers later confirmed they had reached an agreement with local police to stage an “adapted format” of the high-profile athletics series.

Only events involving professional competitors were staged, while the schedule was adjusted in a bid to safeguard the well-being of athletes, staff and spectators.