Okagbare finishes seventh at IAAF Diamond League

With 11.07secs, Blessing Okagbare could only manage seventh finish at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon of the 2018 IAAF Diamond League meeting at the weekend in United States.

Despite finishing behind other top stars in the race, Okagbare still maintains her status as the third best in women’s 100m in 2018.

The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medalist’s 10.90secs in May put her in third behind Cote d’Ivoire’s Marie-Jose Ta Lou whose 10.85 and 10.88secs are still the best in 2018.

Marie-Jose Ta Lou, silver medallist in the 100 and 200m at last year’s World Championships, got into winning mode over the shorter distance in defeating a field that included the Olympic and world champions, respectively Elaine Thompson of Jamaica and home sprinter Tori Bowie.

Ta Lou won in Eugene at 10.88 in a narrowly legal time following wind of 1.9mps, with her compatriot Murielle Ahoure, who won the world 60m gold in Birmingham two months ago, second in 10.90 ahead of Thompson, who clocked 10.98.

Bowie had to settle for fifth place in 11.03, one position behind the double world 200m champion Dafne Schippers of The Netherlands, who clocked 11.01.Omar McLeod produced another flawless display in the men’s 110m hurdles, the Jamaican clocking 13.01 with the aid of a 3.1m/s tailwind. Neutral athlete Sergey Shubenkov took second with 13.08 while fan favourite Devon Allen, a graduate of the University of Oregon, took third with 13.13.

Jamaica also emerged victorious in the women’s 400m hurdles, where Janieve Russell left it late to take victory, moving from third to first after the last barrier to edge Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammmad of the US, 54.06 to 54.09.

Having challenged for the win in the home straight, Georganne Moline faded close home to finish third in 54.33.