Sunday 20 May 2018

Nigeria at Jamaica Athletics.

Heykayjones May 20, 2018 Sports

The IAAF Hammer Challenge Throw was without doubt one of the highlights of the meet with the charismatic DeAnna Price winning the hearts of the appreciative Jamaican crowd.

Deanna Price in Kingston (Elaine Thompson (c) en route to victory.

Price, who was flawless throughout, opened with 73.54m which would have won even if she fouled her next attempts. However, this was her day to shine albeit in overcast conditions. In the second round she produced a mighty swing, launching her hammer high into the evening sky and when it landed some 75.96m away, the distance improved the meeting record by more than two metres and effectively killed the competition stone dead.

Price wasn’t done yet as the small matter of world lead was still on offer. She duly obliged in the fourth round with another Herculean effort of 76.27m. Former meet record-holder Gwen Berry was the best of the rest with 71.32m.

There was almost growing disbelief among the home crowd watching Danniel Thomas-Dodd struggling to reach 18 metres in the women’s shot put. Jeneva Stevens was the only woman to manage the barrier, her last round effort of 18.17m the longest. Thomas-Dodd’s best of 17.96m was still good enough for the runner-up spot.

Elsewhere Nigeria’s Ese Brume established a new long jump meet record after cutting the sand at 6.82m.

In the men’s triple jump, Omar Craddock’s clinched the title on his last attempt to surpass teammate Donald Scott’s 16.52m by 7cm.

And in the high jump Jamal Wilson led a Bahamian sweep, topping 2.28m to equal the meet record. Trevor Barry got the nod for second ahead of Donald Thomas after both men could go no higher than 2.25m.

Noel Francis for the IAAF

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