SILESIA, Poland : World champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden handed Olympic champion Julien Alfred her first defeat of the season on Sunday, winning the women’s 100 metres at the Silesia Diamond League, while Jamaica’s Oblique Seville stormed to victory in the men’s sprint.
In a high-quality field featuring the top three finishers from the last Olympic Games and World Championships, American Jefferson-Wooden made a fast start and held on to win in a season’s best 10.78 seconds.
Alfred clocked a season’s best 10.83 but had to settle for second, with Olympic silver medallist Sha’Carri Richardson third in 10.96.
“Running in a race of this quality feels amazing. I missed it a lot,” Alfred said. “But I am in second place, so great is not the right word, rather disappointed.”
Alfred had been unbeaten over 100 and 200 metres this season before Sunday’s defeat.
Seville, the world champion, won the men’s 100m in 9.83 seconds as he continued to build form ahead of next month’s World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest.
The Jamaican, runner-up in London last month, had enough time to glance across at American Kenny Bednarek before crossing the line, with Bednarek second in 9.87 and former world champion Chris Coleman third.
Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos beat world record holder Karsten Warholm in the men’s 400m hurdles, winning in 46.43 seconds.
Dos Santos and Norway’s Warholm were level approaching the home straight, but the Brazilian cleared the final hurdle ahead and held on as Warholm finished in 46.52.
Warholm arrived in Poland after retaining his European title in Birmingham last week and appeared to fade late in the race.
Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino produced another dominant display in the women’s 400m, winning in 48.87 seconds ahead of Jamaica’s Nickisha Pryce, with Bahrain’s Olympic silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser third.
Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma produced a powerful late surge to win the women’s 1,500m in a personal-best 3:55.06, overtaking Australia’s Jessica Hull in the closing metres. World silver medallist Dorcus Ewoi finished third.
HOCKER BEATS INGEBRIGTSEN, BUT DUEL FALLS SHORT
The men’s 1,500m had been billed as a showdown between Olympic champion Cole Hocker and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, competing over the distance for the first time in almost a year.
However, neither challenged for victory as American Ethan Strand won in 3:30.77, with Kenya’s Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech second. Hocker finished third, ahead of Ingebrigtsen.
In the women’s high jump, Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh was the only athlete to clear 2.00 metres, securing victory on Ukraine’s National Flag Day.
