Seville takes positives from London second
DESPITE failing to retain the title he won last year, Jamaica’s World Championships gold medallist Oblique Seville said he was satisfied with his performance after finishing second in the men’s 100m at the Novuna London Athletics Meet, the 11th of 14 meetings in the Wanda Diamond League series, on Saturday.
Seville clocked 9.87 seconds (-0.7m/s) as Nigeria’s Kayinsola Ajayi won in 9.84 seconds for the third time this season. It was the second-straight meeting in which Ajayi finished ahead of the Jamaican, after also beating him at the Prefontaine Classic two weeks ago.
Jamaica also got a podium finish from Stacey Ann Williams, who was third in the women’s 400m, while Great Britain’s Josh Kerr broke the 27-year-old world record in the men’s mile after running 3:42.66, eclipsing the 3:43.13 set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in July 1999.
Kerr also broke the meet record of 3:45.96 that El Guerrouj set in 2000.
Seville said although he was satisfied with his race, he left knowing what he needed to improve.
“It was a pretty good result, and a pretty good race for me, [but] it is not the race I was wanting,” he said. “But, I come away from it knowing what I need to work on so I need to get the job done.”
Great Britain’s Romell Glave ran a personal best 9.97 seconds to finish third.
Williams ran 49.52 seconds, her fourth race under 50.00 seconds this season, to finish third in the women’s 400m, just ahead of compatriot Nickisha Pryce who clocked 50.09 seconds.
Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, the world leader, recovered from a slow start to win in 48.97 seconds. Norway’s Henriette Jaeger was second in a national record 49.15 seconds.
World Championships medallist Orlando Bennett finished sixth in the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.21 seconds (0.3m/s), ahead of national champion Demario Prince who was seventh in 13.27 seconds.
American Ja’Kobe Tharp set a meet record 12.89 seconds to win, beating Cuba’s Kendry L Menendez who ran a personal best 13.01 seconds. American Trey Cunningham was third in 13.12 seconds.
Lamara Distin, who led the women’s high jump early in the competition, finished sixth with 1.93m after clearing her first four heights on her first attempt.
Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers won with a season’s best 2.01m, beating Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh on countback, while Eleanor Patterson was third with 1.96m.