Tomlinson lands new British long jump record in Paris
- Published
British long jumper Chris Tomlinson clinched a new national record with a leap of 8.35m in Paris at the latest Diamond League meeting.
Tomlinson's third-round jump secured second place behind Irving Saladino's 8.40m with fellow Brit Greg Rutherford completing the podium places in third.
In the 200m, world record holder Usain Bolt led the field from gun to tape and jogged over the line in 20.03.
He comfortably beat France's Christophe Lemaitre and American Darvis Patton.
There were rumours before the race that Bolt was suffering from flu and would not compete, but the triple Olympic champion showed few signs of illness as he powered around the bend to a comfortable lead.
The Jamaican was way ahead of the field as he slowed to a jog and glanced up at the big screen as he crossed the line.
Greg Rutherford - who saw Tomlinson break his British long jump record - simply had no reply to his fellow countryman and could only record 8.27m.
Cuba's Dayron Robles won an exciting 110m hurdles in 13.09, just ahead of David Oliver who clocked the same time.
Robles had the better start but the American fought back in the latter part of the race to put the Cuban under real pressure.
As the line neared, the two were neck and neck but a superior dipped finish from Robles gave the world record holder the narrowest of wins.
Third was Jamaican Dwight Thomas (13.18), whilst Brit Andy Turner was sixth (13.43). A false start from Frenchman Dimitri Bascou saw him disqualified.
Caster Semenya seems to have returned to form as the South African took top spot in the women's 800m in 2:00.18.
Britain's Jenny Meadows was in contention in the home straight but was run down over the final few metres to lose out on second place to Morocco's Halima Hachlaf (2:00.60). Meadows crossed the line in 2:00.74.
The women's 400m hurdles was won by Hejonva Zuzana. The Czech recorded the fastest time in the world this year of 53.29.
Britain's Perri Shakes-Drayton was beaten to the podium by Jamaica's Kaliese Spencer (53.45) and Russia's Natalya Antukha (54.41). Shakes-Drayton came through with a time of 54.79.
Kenya's Ezekiel Kemboi looked to be on course for another 3000m steeplechase victory but was overtaken by Mahiedine Benabbad Mekissi late on.
The Frenchman powered ahead on the bell and stormed to victory five seconds ahead of Kemboi in a personal-best time of 8:02.09 in front of his home crowd. Benjamin Kiplagat followed in third for Uganda.
In the men's 400m, Chris Brown of the Bahamas ran a strong bend to lead on the home straight and take the race in 44.94, his best time of the season so far.
Belgian Jonathan Borlee trailed in second in 45.05, whilst Jamaican Jermaine Gonzales came third in 45.43. Former Olympic and the US world champion Jeremy Wariner could only manage fourth and Briton's Michael Bingham was sixth in 45.84.
A blistering start from Trinidad's Kelly-Ann Baptiste left former world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown trailing from the off in the women's 100m. Baptiste powered to the line in 10.91 seconds, a season's-best time, whilst Campbell-Brown clocked 10.95. Fellow Jamaican Kerron Stewart was third in 11.04.
Britain's Goldie Sayers missed out on a podium spot in the women's javelin with a fourth-placed throw of 62.14m. Christina Obergfoll for Germany threw 68.01m, with world record holder Barbora Spotakova only managing third (67.57m).
Yargelis Savigne's 14.99m was enough to lead the field in the women's triple jump and the Cuban now boasts the longest jump in the world this year. Former world leader Olha Saladukha of the Ukraine followed with 14.81m and Kazakhstan's Olga Rypakova was third (14.48m).
New Zealand's Valerie Adams was victorious in the women's shot put with 20.78m.
Renaud Lavillenie enthused the French crowd as he won the men's pole vault in 5.73m which puts the Frenchman top of the Diamond League rankings.
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