High Jumpers Steal the Show in New York

One Diamond League and five New York meet records as well as five world-leading times were established amid fickle winds at the adidas Grand Prix in New York Saturday as the season continued its march into summer. In addition, a host of season and personal bests were registered across all disciplines.

Early in the day, Germany’s Robert Harting began the meet record feats with a throw of 68.24 meters in the men’s discus, extending the previous distance of 66.84 set by Jared Rome in 2007. Harting now has a total of eight points and the first place ranking in the race to cop a prestigious diamond and attractive prize money.

Fans also witnessed as the men’s long jump record tumble when USA’s Jeff Henderson leaped to 8.33 meters to erase Mitchell Watt’s mark of 8.16 set in 2012.

However, it was the men’s high jump that provided the most excitement of the field events and perhaps the meet; Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko and Qatar’s Essa Mutaz Barshim battled things out at the top and in the end cleared the same height of 2.42 meters to share the meet record. The 6ft-6in tall Bonderanko, the 2013 Moscow World Champion won the competition on count back; he cleared 2.42 on his first attempt and Barshim, the runner-up to Bondarenko in Moscow and winner of the indoor world title earlier this year, took three tries to clear 2.35 before clearing 2.42.

With the competition decided, Bondarenko and Barshim made unsuccessful attempts at clearing the 2.46-meter world record.

The two men became the first jumpers in two decades to clear 2.42m. It was also the first time in history that two high jumpers soared so high in the same competition. The last man to clear 2.42 was world record-holder Javier Sotomayor with 2.46 in 1994.

Moscow World Champion LaShawn Merritt of the USA ran a controlled race to post 44.19 for the meet record ahead of South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk’s 44.38. The old mark belonged to American Xavier Carter at 44.70. Merritt stands at the top of the Diamond League ranking with 12 points.

The other meet records came in the women’s 3000m steeple chase, which Ethiopia’s Sofia Assefa won in 9mins, 18.58secs (the old mark of 9:27.29 was set by Milcah Chemos in 2011) and the women’s 1500m won by Sweden’s Abeba Aregawi in 4:00.13. The previous mark stood at 4:01.66 by Kenya’s Nancy Jebet Langat.

With consistency in her six attempts, Linda Stahl topped the field in the women’s javelin throw with a world-leading 67.32 meters. Her attempts ranged from 63.35 to her winning throw. She defeated Kathy Mitchell into second place with 66.08.

World Leads

Meanwhile, on the track, Puerto Rico’s Javier Culson clocked a world-leading 48.03secs over a highly competitive field that included the USA’s Olympic and World silver medalist Michael Tinsley (season best/SB 48.56); South Africa’s Cornel Fredricks (SB 48.58); Olympic champion Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic (SB 49.09); South Africa’s Van Zyl (49.37); American Bershawn ‘Batman’ Jackson (49.69); Trinidad and Tobago’s World champion Jehue Gordon (49.81); and Jamaica’s Leford Green (50.87).

Other world leads came from Fabiana Murer in the women’s pole vault (4.8 meters) over the USA’s Jen Suhr (4.70) and Cuba’s Yarisley Silva (4.70); Jamaica’s Warren Weir 19.82 in the man’s 200m dash ahead of compatriot Nickel Ashmeade (SB19.95). Both men are tied in first position in the Diamond League ranking with a total of 6 points.

The men’s high jump was responsible for the other world lead in which Bondarenko and Barshim cleared the same 2.42 meters. The two are locked at the top of the ranking with 6 points each.      Complete Results