GATESHEAD: Dina Asher-Smith stunned US sprint sensation Sha’Carri Richardson to win the women’s 100 metres as Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis suffered a rare defeat in the first Diamond League meet of the season on Sunday.

The northeastern English city of Gateshead stepped in to host the pre-Olympic event after Rabat pulled out because of coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions in Morocco.

There are only six Diamond League meetings after Gateshead before the Olympic Games in Japan, which start on July 23.

And after a 2020 season badly disrupted by the global Covid-19 pandemic, there is no shortage of athletes in search of top-quality competition.

The meeting took place in cold, wet and windy weather in north-eastern England, although the few thousand fans allowed to attend stayed in their places until the end and were rewarded by Asher-Smith’s morale-boosting run.

The Briton crossed the line to take gold in a time of 11.35 seconds, with Richardson second in 11.44. The Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou was third in 11.48 seconds.

Richardson is fresh from clocking 10.72 seconds at the Miramar Invitational last month, making her the sixth-fastest female sprinter ever.

The strong field for the final in Gateshead also included Jamaican 100-metre world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who finished fourth, and Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria.

It was the kind of statement Asher-Smith desired after taking a prolonged absence from the track following her 200-metre gold at the 2019 world championships in Doha.

“I was really happy to start my 100-metre season with a win,” she said. “It was far from ideal conditions [but] this is good practice for staying in the moment. It is essential to race the best. The only way to get race-fit is to race the best in the world. These are the type of races you want to be in.”

The vanquished Richardson, 21, lived up to her bold persona afterwards, insisting: “I’m happy with the execution of the performance, knowing what I have to work on, and just continuing to grow and show the world I’m here to stay.

“This won’t be the last time that I’m going to line up against these ladies and I want to let the world know and let the ladies know that I’m here to compete just as well as they’ve done for many years,” she said.

American Sam Kendricks beat Sweden’s Duplantis — who set a pole vault world record of 6.18 metres in Glasgow last year — clearing 5.74 metres. Duplantis was second with a jump of 5.55 metres.

Double European gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway justified his favourite tag in the men’s 1,500 metres, winning in a time of three minutes 36.27 seconds. Australian duo Oliver Hoare and Stewart McSweyn finished second and third, respectively.

Ingebrigtsen, 20, said he was used to the wind and the rain from racing in Norway.

In-form American Kenny Bednarek won the men’s 200 metres in 20.33 seconds, coming home ahead of Canadian pair Aaron Brown (20.79) and Andre de Grasse (20.85).

Home favourite Laura Muir destroyed her rivals in the women’s 1,500 metres, charging down the home straight to take victory in 4:03.73.

Spaniard Mohamed Katir also produced a gutsy last lap to win the 5,000 metres in a personal best 13:08.52, with Kenyan Nicholas Kimeli (13:10.11) breathing down his neck until the final metres.

Poland’s Kamila Licwinko won the women’s high jump after clearing 1.91 metres to end world champion Mariya Lasitskene’s run of 14 event wins as the Russian finished fourth.

Fellow Pole Marcin Krukowski donned a woolly hat with built-in pony tails and he might keep it on in the future after producing a series of 80 metre-plus throws, including a best of 82.61 two win the men’s javelin.

Italian Filippo Randazzo took the win in the men’s long jump with a monster leap of 8.11m in the shootout

The next round of Diamond League action is in Doha on Friday.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2021