Khotso Mokoena had gone into the Oslo Diamond League with high hopes after two weeks of preparation, but things didn’t quite work out for the SA triple jump champion on Thursday night.
The 31-year-old Mokoena was hoping to find some form at the famous Bislett Games in Norway after coming second at the South African national championships in April to Menzi Mthembu.
But with the new Diamond League rule which states that only the top four competitors are able to jump the full six times, Mokoena was knocked out after the first three rounds on Thursday night.
He opened up with a 15.30 metres, followed by a 15.79m. And when he produced a 16.08m in the third round, it looked like he was gaining momentum.
But Cuba’s Alexis Copello, Frenchman Teddy Tangho, German Max Hess and American Chris Benard all jumped further, with Copello winning in 16.91m, which he achieved with his second effort of the night. Tangho finished in second position with 16.80m.
There were a number of notable performances on the night, with Yasmani Copello of Tunisia causing an upset in the men’s 400m hurdles when he beat a star-studded field in a time of 48.79, his fastest time this year.
Puerto Rican legend Javier Culson was second in 48.99, followed by Americans Michael Tinsley (49.02) and Kerron Clement (49.61).
In the men’s shot put, American world champion Joe Kovacs produced a monumental throw of 22.02m to win the competition, a distance which has only been bettered by 21 athletes. But it wasn’t even Kovacs’ personal best, which stands at 22.56m, which ranks him eighth in history, with the world record held by another American, Randy Barnes, at 23.12m.
Men’s 1 500m world champion Asbel Kiprop of Kenya was helped by a pacemaker, but still ran a strong dream mile to go well under the four-minute barrier to win in 3:51.48, a new world-leading time for 2016.
Dutch star Dafne Schippers and Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson went head-to-head in the women’s 200m, and it was world champion Schippers who blitzed the field in an astonishing 21.93 seconds, which is a new world-lead and an overall Diamond League record, surpassing American Allyson Felix’s 21.98 in Doha last year.
Thompson ended second in 22.64.
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