Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Jamaican Elaine Thompson held the Caribbean flag high in Diamond League meets in Europe recently.
Miller-Ubio twin victories
Miller-Uibo added the 400 meters Diamond Trophy to the 200m version she had won a week earlier in Zurich at the first of two IAAF Diamond League finals, clocking a world-leading 49.46 at the AG Insurance Van Damme Memorial in Brussels on Friday.
The Olympic 400 meters champion had appeared on the brink of adding a world title at her specialist distance in London last month before faltering and dropping out of the medals 20 meters from the line.
But she has finished her season on a high with Diamond Trophies in Zurich and now Brussels. Her wins have earned her a total of US$100,000 under the revised rewards for this year’s series, which carried a prize total of US$1.6million.
In Friday’s race Miller-Uibo needed to drive all the way to the tape. She was challenged by 19-year-old Bahrain athlete Salwa Eid Naser, who beat both Allyson Felix and world 400m champion Phyllis Francis at last month’s IAAF Diamond League meet in Birmingham. Eid Naser took second place in 49.88.
Elaine Thompson redeems
Jamaica’s Olympic 100 meters and 200 meters champion Elaine Thompson, who failed to earn a medal at last month’s IAAF World Championships in London, finished her season with a victorious flourish, earning a second consecutive Diamond Trophy in the women’s 100 meters at the Brussel’s event.
Thompson admitted on the eve of this final that she’d had “a funny season” so far, having achieved the best 2017 time of 10.71 for the 100 meters in her native Kingston before her London flop.
Since then Thompson has had an encouraging turn of fortunes. She had a 100-meter victory at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Birmingham in 10.93. This was followed by second place in last week’s 200 meters at the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich in a time of 22.00 secs.
The talented sprinter won the 100 meters in Brussels in a time of in 10.92, holding off the challenge of Marie-Josee TaLou of the Ivory Coast who earned silver at 100 meters and 200 meters in London. Ta Lou, was second in 10.93, while Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor was third in 1.07.
Thompson earned $50,000 for her season’s efforts.
