Clayton, Bennett finish 4th at Lausanne Diamond League
Jackson crashes out of 200m with suspected injury
WORLD Championships medallists Rushell Clayton and Orlando Bennett just missed places on the podium after they were fourth in their respective events during the Wanda Diamond League Athletissima Lausanne at Stade Olympique de la Pontaise on Friday.
Both athletes, along with triple jumper Jordan Scott, had already secured places in the lucrative Diamond League final set for early September.
Olympic Games and World Championship medallist Shericka Jackson failed to complete the women’s 200m after she pulled up just after coming off the curve and crashed to the track.
Clayton ran 53.65 seconds to place fourth as Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova won her fifth-straight Diamond League race, clocking 52.41. Zapletalova finished ahead of American Anna Cockrell (53.15) and Paulien Coukuyt, who was third with a Belgian record 53.28.
Bennett, the 110m hurdles silver medallist from Tokyo last year, ran 13.38 (-0.5m/s). The race was won by American Jamal Britt in 13.13. Cuba’s Kendry L Menendez was second with 13.20 and Swiss record holder Jason Joseph was third with 13.29, while world leader Ja’Kobi Tharpe hit a hurdle midway the race and finished at the back of the pack.
Scott, the 2026 Commonwealth Games champion, was fifth in the men’s triple jump with a best on the day of 16.86m (-0.5m/s). Portugal’s European Championships silver medallist Pedro Pichardo won with 17.44m (-1.0m/s). Algeria’s Mohammed Yasser Triki was second with a wind-aided 17.43m (2.7m/s) and European champion Andy Diaz Hernandez of Italy was third with 17.20m (-0.5m/s).
Orlando Bennett Photo: Observer file
Wayne Pinnock was the best-placed Jamaican in the men’s long jump with 8.01m (1.6m/s) for sixth place. Commonwealth Games gold medallist Tajay Gayle was ninth with 7.70m (0.7m/s) after three fouled attempts.
World leader and four-time European champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece won with a wind-aided 8.24m (2.1m/s). Tentoglou also had a second-best jump of 8.17m (1.2m/s) that would have also been good enough for the win.
Swiss record holder Simon Ehammer was next with 8.13m (1.3m/s) and Luka Boskovic of Serbia third with 8.07m (0.5m/s).
National champion Demisha Roswell was seventh in the 100m hurdles with 13.03 (-0.2m/s). American Masai Russell extended her season-long unbeaten run by registering a meet record 12.27, under the previous best time of 12.34 set in 2022 by Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho Quinn.
Nadine Visser of the Netherlands was second with 12.42 and American Alyasha Johnson was third with 12.49.
