This week marks the opening of the voting process for the 2021 World Athletes of the Year ahead of the&nbsp;World Athletics Awards 2021&nbsp;to be held in December.
World Athletics is pleased to confirm a list of 10 nominees for Female World Athlete of the Year who were selected by an international panel of athletics experts, comprising representatives from all six continental areas of World Athletics.
The nominations reflect the remarkable range of exceptional performances that the sport has witnessed this year, at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.
Commenting on the Awards, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: &ldquo;As always, the World Athletics Awards will recognise athletes who have performed at the highest level across the year, taking into account not only the Olympic Games, but the one-day meeting circuits. We do recognise that athletes in some parts of the world faced greater challenges than others in accessing international competition this year, which complicated the nomination process. However, we saw some impressive breakthroughs at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and we look forward to those athletes having more opportunities to shine next year, with five World Athletics Series events and a full schedule of one-day meetings on the calendar."
The nominees for 2021 Female World Athlete of the Year are (in alphabetical order):
Valarie Allman, USA - Olympic discus champion - Diamond League discus champion - North American discus record&nbsp;
Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, PUR - Olympic 100m hurdles champion&nbsp; - Broke the Olympic 100m hurdles record - National record 12.26 moved to equal fourth on the world all-time list
Sifan Hassan, NED - Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion - Olympic 1500m bronze medallist - Broke the world 10,000m record
Faith Kipyegon, KEN - Olympic 1500m champion - Diamond League 1500m champion - Kenyan 1500m record
Mariya Lasitskene, ANA - Olympic high jump champion - Diamond League high jump champion - Jumped world-leading 2.05m
Sydney McLaughlin, USA - Olympic 400m hurdles champion - Olympic 4x400m champion - Set two world 400m hurdles records
Shaunae Miller-Uibo, BAH - Olympic 400m champion - North American 400m record - North American indoor 400m record
Athing Mu, USA - Olympic 800m and 4x400m champion - World U20 indoor 800m record - North American U20 records at 400m and 800m
Yulimar Rojas, VEN - Olympic triple jump champion - Diamond League triple jump champion - World triple jump record
Elaine Thompson-Herah, JAM - Olympic 100m, 200m and 4x100m champion - Diamond League 100m champion - National 100m and 200m records, second fastest of all time
A three-way voting process will determine the finalists.
The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family will cast their votes by email, while fans can vote online via the World Athletics social media platforms. Individual graphics for each nominee will be posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram this week; a 'like' on Facebook and Instagram or a retweet on Twitter will count as one vote.
The World Athletics Council&rsquo;s vote will count for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family&rsquo;s votes and the public votes will each count for 25% of the final result.
Voting for the World Athletes of the Year closes at midnight on Saturday 6 November. At the conclusion of the voting process, five women and five men finalists will be announced by World Athletics.
The female and male World Athletes of the Year will be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2021 in December.&nbsp;
Further information about the World Athletics Awards 2021 will be announced in the weeks leading up to the event.
World Athletics

World Athletics is pleased to confirm a list of 10 nominees for Female World Athlete of the Year.

Nominees announced for Female World Athlete of the Year 2021

Wednesday on Sechselautenplatz must have felt like a street party for Mariya Lasitskene and Ryan Crouser as they followed their Olympic glory by becoming two of the seven Wanda Diamond League champions crowned on the first day of the Weltklasse Zurich meeting.
In another exciting women&rsquo;s high jump contest, Lasitskene flew to a world lead and meeting record of 2.05m to top the first ever Diamond League competition in which three women have cleared 2.01m. The leading three spots were filled by the Olympic medallists, with Ukraine&rsquo;s bronze medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh this time finishing second thanks to a 2.03m clearance and Australia&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Nicola McDermott placing third with a best of 2.01m.
On the eve of the competition, Lasitskene had refused to say how it would feel to cap her year with Diamond League victory. "First let the competition finish,&rdquo; she smiled, &ldquo;and after that I will answer the question.&rdquo;
But her emotion at clearing 2.05m was obvious as it secured her the fifth Diamond Trophy of her career so far, as well as the top $30,000 prize, with wildcard entries to the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 also up for grabs for winners.
All 32 Diamond League finals are taking place over two days in Zurich, with the first welcoming athletes to a temporary track and arena in one of the city&rsquo;s most famous squares on the shore of Lake Zurich.
The women&rsquo;s high jump had been highly anticipated, with each of the medallists having claimed one Diamond League win apiece since their Olympic podium places and their season&rsquo;s bests separating them by just two centimetres.
Lasitskene entered the competition at the opening height of 1.84m and cleared that, 1.87m, 1.90m and 1.93m on her first attempts. She needed all three tries to get over 1.96m but then refound her rhythm, making 1.99m on her first go before passing 2.01m and then managing 2.03m first time.
The next height would decide the winner and, after one failure, the authorised neutral athlete soared over 2.05m on her next try to take the title, roaring with delight. She then had the bar raised to a would-have-been PB of 2.07m and after asking for quiet for her second attempt she called it a day.
&ldquo;It is an unbelievable feeling,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Jumping with spectators is fantastic. The venue here is difficult and fantastic at the same time &ndash; difficult because of the track and fantastic because of the spectators. Yet for some attempts I asked them to be quiet because I needed to concentrate. This season was really fantastic.&rdquo;
Mahuchikh and McDermott both enjoyed perfect performances up to their final heights, clearing each bar first time before their respective bests of 2.03m and 2.01m. Mahuchikh also had one try at 2.07m after two 2.05m failures, while McDermott tried 2.05m twice after knocking the bar during her first go at 2.03m. 
<h2>Another crown for Crouser</h2>
World shot put record-holder Crouser also capped a sensational season&nbsp;on Sechselautenplatz by securing his first Diamond Trophy win, throwing a meeting record of 22.67m in the third round and backing it up with two other 22-metre-plus puts.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, the Olympic champion explained how a win in Zurich would &ldquo;really put the capstone&rdquo; on a year in which he broke the world record with 23.37m at the US Olympic Trials, got gold in Tokyo with an Olympic record of 23.30m and then set a Diamond League record of 23.15m in Eugene.
A fan of street athletics meets, the US thrower put on a show for the 2500 fans in the temporary stands as he opened with 21.98m before a foul in the second round, his best in the third and then another foul in the fourth. He threw 22.29m from his fifth attempt and closed his series with 22.30m. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6138e49e1e07bb6468330f10.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;This meeting record is a big one for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I am very excited about this Diamond League title. I won two Olympic gold medals and have the world record, but only today I won the Diamond League Trophy. This is the best year of my career.&rdquo;
It was his compatriot Joe Kovacs, the Olympic silver medallist and world champion, who had led until that third round thanks to a mark of 22.29m from his second throw. That remained his best and secured him the runner-up spot ahead of Armin Sinancevic of Serbia, who threw 21.86m in the fifth round.
New Zealand&rsquo;s world and Olympic bronze medallist Tom Walsh finished fourth with 21.61m following an eventful competition in which he dislodged part of the throws circle.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m feeling strong today,&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;I gave it a bit of a boot and it came loose!&rdquo;
The women&rsquo;s contest was won by the USA&rsquo;s world fourth-place finisher Maggie Ewen, as she became just the fourth athlete to win the women&rsquo;s shot put Diamond Trophy after Valerie Adams, Gong Lijiao and Christina Schwanitz.
Ewen, who missed out on making the Olympic team by just a few centimetres, achieved it with her best performance of the year. Peaking with a season&rsquo;s best of 19.41m, she was just six centimetres off her outdoor PB in the first round of the final. She then had two fouls before 18.87m and 18.98m in the fourth and fifth rounds, and ended her series with 19.11m.
As the only athlete to surpass 19 metres, her victory was secured ahead of Portugal&rsquo;s Olympic fourth-place finisher Auriol Dongmo, who threw 18.86m in the fifth round, and Sweden&rsquo;s Fanny Roos, who achieved 18.75m in the first round.
&ldquo;I think I am still in shock,&rdquo; said Ewen. &ldquo;I am super excited. For my very first throw I was very nervous, but then everything came together so well.
&ldquo;My season had ups and downs but I kept working and kept believing and then you get wonderful moments like this one.&rdquo; 
<h2>Niyonsaba takes first trophy</h2>
The intrigue of a 560m-long temporary track which saw runners race around Sechselautenplatz meant tactics came into play in the women&rsquo;s 5000m final, with Burundi&rsquo;s Francine Niyonsaba taking charge on the final lap to claim her first Diamond Trophy.
Five days after her win over the same distance in Brussels, where she clocked a national record of 14:25.34, Niyonsaba triumphed again, running 14:28.98 to hold off a fierce challenge from Kenya&rsquo;s two-time world champion Hellen Obiri, who was runner up in 14:29.68. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6138e51c1e07bb6468330f13.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 The field had followed the pacemaker through 1000m in 2:49.49, with Kenya&rsquo;s world silver medallist Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi taking over by the 2000m mark (5:46.08). Obiri was to the fore at 3000m, passed in 5:46.08, before Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ejgayehu Taye took the lead with a kilometre to go (11:44.00). Leading a surge, that front group was soon down to five, before Niyonsaba started to make her move on the last of the nine laps.
Passing the Opera House for the final time, Niyonsaba strode on to the home straight with Obiri on her shoulder, eventually crossing the finish line clear.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how I can express myself. I am very happy,&rdquo; said Niyonsaba, who had finished fifth in the 10,000m in Tokyo but was disqualified from her 5000m heat. &ldquo;I knew it was going to be tough but I tried to give it all I had. I won, the first trophy of my life. I am very proud.&rdquo;
For Obiri the race offered the ideal transition as she starts the next chapter of her career with a focus on road racing. On Sunday she will race the Great North Run half marathon in Newcastle, UK.
&ldquo;I am not disappointed, I am quite happy,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;This race was like a championship. It was a new experience and we did not know where we can start to kick and to accelerate. It was a memorable moment for me.&rdquo;
Behind them, Taye, who had finished second between Niyonsaba and Obiri in Brussels and had broken the Ethiopian 3000m record as runner up to Niyonsaba in Paris, this time ran 14:30.30 in third, while Kipkemboi was fourth (14:31.18) and Kenya&rsquo;s Eva Cherono fifth (14:36.88).
Ethiopia&rsquo;s Berihu Aregawi just missed out on a medal in Tokyo, finishing fourth in the 10,000m, but the 20-year-old took top spot in the men&rsquo;s 5000m final in Zurich as he ran 12:58.65 to claim a clear win. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6138f4318000f1faf99b1a18.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Going 10 seconds faster than his previous 5000m best, set at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi last year, he was unchallenged as he stormed away to win ahead of Bahrain&rsquo;s Olympic 5000m sixth-placer Birhanu Balew, who ran 13:01.27, and his fellow 20-year-old Jacob Krop of Kenya (13:01.81). Kenya&rsquo;s Nicholas Kimeli was fourth (13:02.43) and Ethiopia&rsquo;s two-time world indoor 3000m champion Yomif Kejelcha fifth (13:04.29).
&ldquo;The time is excellent, I did not expect such a fast time,&rdquo; said Aregawi, the 2018 world U20 10,000m bronze medallist. &ldquo;This venue in the city is good. It is the first time I have done something like this and it was wonderful, yet the curves were a bit difficult for me.&rdquo; 
<h2>Spanovic and Montler save their best for last&nbsp;</h2>
Their last leaps of the competition proved to be the best for Ivana Spanovic and Thobias Montler, with the long jump titles also decided on Sechselautenplatz.
For Sweden&rsquo;s two-time European indoor silver medallist Montler, it was a close win over the USA&rsquo;s Steffin McCarter as they were separated by just three centimetres. For Serbia&rsquo;s 2018 world indoor champion Spanovic, who finished fourth at the Olympics in Tokyo, her performance gained her a third Diamond Trophy after her wins in 2016 and 2017.
Montler opened with 7.72m but then achieved eight-metre-plus jumps in the following five rounds, taking the lead by a single centimetre in the fifth round before extending that advantage to three centimetres with his final jump.
McCarter had leapt into the lead with 8.14m in the third round but was unable to respond to Montler&rsquo;s challenge, while South Africa&rsquo;s 2017 world bronze medallist Ruswahl Samaai recorded 7.99m to finish third.
&ldquo;This victory feels amazing,&rdquo; said Montler. &ldquo;That was the goal for today.
&ldquo;The competition was really even. You know that others can always respond to you.&rdquo;
Spanovic, meanwhile, had opened with 6.80m and trailed Sweden&rsquo;s Khaddi Sagnia until the fifth round when she took the lead with 6.88m. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6138f4758000f1faf99b1a1b.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 She added another eight centimetres to that with her final jump and when Sagnia could go no farther than her first-round 6.83m leap, her victory was confirmed.
Ukraine&rsquo;s world silver medallist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk finished third with a best of 6.75m.
&ldquo;I have missed this feeling,&rdquo; said Spanovic, who has endured injury struggles over the past couple of years. &ldquo;I am happy that I managed to win the Diamond League Trophy for the third time, after all that I have been through in the last two years.
&ldquo;Finishing on this level is a good sign for next year.&rdquo;
The competition continues on Thursday, when a further 25 Diamond League titles will be won in Zurich's Letzigrund stadium.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Wednesday on Sechselautenplatz must have felt like a street party for Mariya Lasitskene and Ryan Crouser.

Street celebrations for Lasitskene and Crouser as first Diamond League champions are crowned

An already highly impressive year for Ryan Crouser and Mariya Lasitskene could go up another notch when the Olympic champions compete on the streets of Zurich on Wednesday (8).
For the first time all 32 Wanda Diamond League finals are being held at the Weltklasse Zurich meeting in Switzerland, with seven of them taking place on a temporary track and arena on Sechselautenplatz. Two-time Olympic shot put winner Crouser and Olympic high jump gold medallist Lasitskene are among the many global gold medallists in action and they are relishing the opportunity to add Diamond League victory to their list of 2021 successes.
&ldquo;It has been a great year for me,&rdquo; said Crouser, who broke the world record with a 23.37m throw at the US Olympic Trials before getting gold in Tokyo with an Olympic record of 23.30m and then setting a Diamond League record of 23.15m in Eugene.
&ldquo;Up to this point I have done everything that I could possibly have hoped to accomplish and I&rsquo;m still looking for that elusive Diamond League final victory. I&rsquo;m probably the only two-time Olympic gold medallist and world record-holder that doesn&rsquo;t have a Diamond League Trophy! So I am hoping to get out there and compete and have a chance to really put the capstone on what has been a year that I am really proud of.&rdquo;
On the prospect of achieving that in an innovative street athletics setting, which will see a 560-metre track set up alongside Lake Zurich and three separate platforms for the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s shot put, men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s long jump and women&rsquo;s high jump competitions, Crouser added: &ldquo;I have done multiple city centre meets, essentially taking the shot put to the people, and I love those events.
&ldquo;I think when people are sitting in the (stadium) stands 50 metres away watching us throw, it&rsquo;s like &lsquo;oh that&rsquo;s pretty good&rsquo;, but when you can stand right next to it and see &ndash; I&rsquo;m two metres and 145kg and I&rsquo;m not the heaviest guy, not even close, and so I feel like that perspective is something that gets lost in the stadium. If we can bring that out to the people I think it&rsquo;s great exposure for the event and the sport of track and field.&rdquo;
While Crouser has taken part in street meetings before, it will be a new experience for authorised neutral athlete Lasitskene, who cleared a world-leading height of 2.04m to win her Olympic title in Tokyo. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6137b18acf2de42df9c09813.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;I am so happy to come back to Zurich,&rdquo; said four-time Diamond Trophy winner Lasitskene, who claimed victory in the Swiss city&rsquo;s Letzigrund Stadium in 2014 and 2018.
Speaking through an interpreter, she added: &ldquo;The city event that we are doing tomorrow is new for me. I have never done this before. It will be a new opportunity and a new feeling.&rdquo;
With Diamond Trophies, top $30,000 prizes and wildcard entries to the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 up for grabs for winners, each of the finals is set to be highly competitive, and both the women&rsquo;s high jump and the men&rsquo;s shot put feature all three Olympic medallists.
For Lasitskene, it is another opportunity to go up against Australia's Nicola McDermott and Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, with the three athletes also having each secured one Diamond League win since the Games.
&ldquo;I am so happy that I can compete with this fantastic company after the Olympic Games,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Our competition, it is a big interest for all the public and it is not every season that we can see this high level of jumping.&rdquo;
Crouser is also motivated by the level of competition in his event and in Zurich he will again battle with his US compatriot Joe Kovacs, the Olympic silver medallist and world champion, and New Zealand&rsquo;s world and Olympic bronze medallist Tom Walsh.
&ldquo;I definitely can&rsquo;t take credit for the world record alone," he said. "Any time you see an event compete at the level the shot has been, the outstanding performances feed off of each other.
"You look at Doha (2019 World Championships), the greatest shot competition in history with a pair of 22.90m throws and a 22.91m. Coming off of that I was right away getting to work on 'how are we going to go further?' and I know those guys are doing it every single day so it&rsquo;s definitely not an end result of just me doing it alone.
"Without the guys that are in the event right now, I wouldn&rsquo;t see myself having the world record or having moved as far as I have been able to, simply because those guys motivate me every day to be the absolute best that I can be.&rdquo;
So which does he consider his highlight so far this year &ndash; the Olympic win or his world record?
&ldquo;I am really happy with both the Olympics and the world record," he replied. "It is tough for me to single one out. I would say the Olympics though would be the highlight. The world record was something that I have been after for a long time but each Olympics is its own individual achievement and so the chance to repeat as Olympic gold medallist for me is a once in a career opportunity. So, I would say persevering through a global pandemic and then the milestone of having the Olympics itself, athletes coming together once again after being a year apart. Having the Olympics together for me was such a special moment that I would put that above my own world record.&rdquo; 
<h2>Obiri and Niyonsaba excited for a new challenge&nbsp;</h2>
While the idea of street athletics events is not new, never before have athletes had the chance to race alongside Lake Zurich and on a track around the city&rsquo;s Opera House. Given her 11-year international career, Kenya&rsquo;s two-time world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri is greatly experienced when it comes to track racing, but even for her it is a new experience.
&ldquo;I feel so excited. It&rsquo;s a great opportunity to race in the city centre,&rdquo; said Obiri, who claimed her second Olympic 5000m silver medal behind Sifan Hassan in Tokyo. &ldquo;It is a challenge and we have to face the challenge. Everybody is watching you.&rdquo;
The race will also mark the end of an incredible chapter for the 31-year-old, who intends to turn her attention to road racing after the meeting in Zurich.
&ldquo;For now I say, let me try another career in my life,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;From next year I am going to do half marathons and 10km.&rdquo;
That journey will actually start this weekend, with Obiri explaining that she is set to race the Great North Run on Sunday.
But first up is the Zurich 5000m, where two-time Diamond Trophy winner Obiri will be joined by athletes including Burundi&rsquo;s Francine Niyonsaba, who finished fifth in the Olympic 10,000m final and is also excited for a new experience. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6137b32e3351d1470cf3c554.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;Every race is new for me,&rdquo; said Niyonsaba, who recently won the Diamond League 5000m in Brussels in a national record of 14:25.34 to lead a race of unprecedented depth ahead of Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ejgayehu Taye and Obiri. &ldquo;I think it is going to be a great race. To run with Obiri is an opportunity. I love challenges, I think we are going to have a good race.&rdquo;
There have of course been many challenges over the past 18 months due to the global pandemic and for event organisers there is great joy in being able to welcome athletes and fans back for the meeting.
&ldquo;We have the right to have a full stadium, so we are lucky to provide an atmosphere,&rdquo; said Weltklasse Zurich&rsquo;s Andreas Hediger. &ldquo;We are proud that we have already sold way more than 20,000 tickets so it will be an amazing atmosphere.&rdquo;
His meeting co-director Christoph Joho added: &ldquo;One year ago we had the Inspiration Games (exhibition event). It was the right thing at the right time but you could tell, 'we want it back' &ndash; something like what we will have on Thursday night.&rdquo;
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

An already highly impressive year for Ryan Crouser and Mariya Lasitskene could go up another notch when the Olympic champions compete on the streets of Zurich.

Olympic champions Crouser and Lasitskene look to cap seasons with success on Sechselautenplatz

Hansle Parchment, Jamaica&rsquo;s Olympic 110m hurdles champion, came down with a bump in Lausanne on Thursday as he finished last. But he has arrived in Paris ready for the season&rsquo;s next Wanda Diamond League meeting confident he will get back on track.
Reflecting on his experience on a cold and blustery night at the Stade de la Pontaise, he said: &ldquo;I was running too quickly towards the barriers. I don&rsquo;t know if the wind had something to do with that. I was unable to correct it and at the end of the race my technique broke down.&rdquo;
Parchment&rsquo;s Instagram post on the day after his Olympic final, when he found the Tokyo 2020 volunteer who had lent him the money for a taxi so he could get to his semifinal after taking the wrong bus and thanked her, repaid her and showed her his Olympic gold medal, went viral.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t expect that kind of interest,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;A lot of people have commented on it &ndash; right now it seems a lot bigger than the gold medal. When I get interviewed sometimes it seems people forget I was Olympic champion!
&ldquo;We almost had a similar thing in Lausanne. The bus broke down on a hill and stopped for more than 10 minutes. The driver was trying to start it, but it wouldn&rsquo;t work so we had to jump off and walk to the stadium. So it was chaotic evening. I have to be aware of the buses now!&rdquo;
Reflecting on his Tokyo final, the 31-year-old said: &ldquo;I had the start of a lifetime. I&rsquo;m usually coming out pretty slowly but I have been working tirelessly on getting closer to everyone on the first barrier.
&ldquo;I have been looking back at the race in Tokyo to see what I can change to get even faster. In Lausanne I had a really good start as well, so I think I&rsquo;m getting better at that. I&rsquo;m definitely looking forward to tomorrow.&rdquo;
Sitting alongside him ahead of Saturday&rsquo;s Meeting de Paris, home hurdler and European champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, who finished fifth in Tokyo, announced with a broad grin: &ldquo;I have never won in Paris! You beat me here six, seven years ago, although not in this stadium. I got second two times &ndash; I hope to beat you tomorrow! I really want to win one time in Paris!&rdquo;
Olympic pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis described as a &ldquo;wake-up call&rdquo; his defeat in Thursday's meeting in Lausanne, where he finished fourth on 5.62m in a competition where Chris Nilsen won on countback from his US colleague Sam Kendricks after both had cleared 5.82m.
&ldquo;I did a lot of things wrong,&rdquo; the 21-year-old US-based Swede said. &ldquo;There were a lot of tactical errors, jumping on wrong poles. I didn&rsquo;t have my coach, my dad, there, and I made some poor choices.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not best feeling. It&rsquo;s part of the game. You lose sometimes. It&rsquo;s a nice wake-up call." 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61292c01b632102fbc3aa5d5.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 Duplantis explained that his father, Greg, a 5.80m vaulter in his time, was the &ldquo;technical, hands-on guy I need for those numbers&rdquo;, although he added that he had had good competition without either his father or mother being present.
&ldquo;I know I can do it by myself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But sometimes when you have people like Sam and Chris jumping well you lose your brain a little bit.&rdquo;
Reflecting upon his Olympic victory, he added: &ldquo;When you have competition that you have been looking forward to for two years you come crashing down a bit. But I&rsquo;m starting to feel it now again. Getting my butt kicked by these guys, the motivation is back again.&rdquo;
In the immediate aftermath of his Tokyo win, Duplantis, who twice broke the world record last year, spoke of his relief, and on Friday he acknowledged the strength of that feeling, after the huge weight of expectation upon him.
&ldquo;It was nice to have it done with,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now I can sit back and try and compete and try and do something nice. The Olympics is something I have been working towards since I was three years old. I always felt I could get to that point to win.
&ldquo;When I did win in Tokyo it almost felt like I was just checking a box rather than enjoying the feeling. So I&rsquo;m glad I got it accomplished, let&rsquo;s just say that.&rdquo;
Sitting alongside him, France&rsquo;s former world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie explained that he had not been able to do any &ldquo;decent training&rdquo; for &ldquo;weeks and weeks&rdquo; following the ankle injury he sustained last month as he fine-tuned for the Olympics, where he eventually finished eighth.
&ldquo;Right now I am just happy to be able to jump,&rdquo; the 34-year-old London 2012 champion said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to end my season with a feeling of Tokyo.&rdquo;
He confirmed that it was still his target to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Kendricks meanwhile made no secret of his hurt and frustration at having to quarantine in a special hotel in Tokyo after giving a positive Covid-19 test even though he felt fit to compete.
&ldquo;I got yanked away from my dream and stuck in a hole,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You have to deal with it. Now I have nowhere to go but up, because I went to the very bottom.&rdquo; 
<h2>Thompson-Herah back on the track</h2>
Jamaica&rsquo;s double Olympic 100m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, beaten in Lausanne despite running 10.64 &ndash; the fastest losing time ever in the event &ndash; was upbeat about her possibilities in Saturday&rsquo;s competition.
&ldquo;We train our body and mind &ndash; that&rsquo;s what we do,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m tired, but hopefully by tomorrow I can get some more energy. I will take it race by race and see what I can do until the end of the season.
&ldquo;Last night I didn&rsquo;t get the start I wanted, but I finished strong.&rdquo;
Her 34-year-old compatriot, the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, decided she was too fatigued to compete in Paris two days after winning in Lausanne in the third fastest time ever, 10.60.
But Thompson-Herah agreed with the suggestion that she and her rival, who took silver behind her in Tokyo, had helped each other to produce special performances this season.
&ldquo;I would say that, yes. When I ran 10.54 in Eugene, I knew that once I hit that target other persons will say &lsquo;I can do that too&rsquo;,&rdquo; she said.
&ldquo;Shelly-Ann ran 10.63 earlier this year in Jamaica. I know she is a hard-working woman. And the fact that she is running so fast at 34 gives me motivation that I can do it again at the next Olympics in Paris when I am 32. She has done it so I can do it too.&rdquo;
Asked about plans to break the 1988 world record of 10.49 set by the late Florence Griffith-Joyner, she said: &ldquo;If I get a chance I will do that. This year it is not my target. I was concentrating on retaining my Olympic titles. I think next season I can put everything together and see how well I can do.&rdquo;
Olympic high jump champion Mariya Lasitskene, normally so calm in competition, showed huge emotions in the wake of her victory in Tokyo.
&ldquo;This season was very hard, and I had problems with my injury. When I became Olympic champion all these emotions come out and I could not control it. What I normally keep inside, it all came out,&rdquo; she said.
&ldquo;In Moscow when I came back with my coach everybody greeted us like heroes. So many people told me how they cried together with me in front of the TV. I&rsquo;m so happy to feel that so many people love me and shared my victory with me.
&ldquo;I did everything in my power and in my feelings to do my job 100 per cent. It was a special competition for me because it was my first time at the Olympics.&rdquo;
Speaking of her previous day&rsquo;s competition in Lausanne, where she won on countback with a clearance of 1.98m, she said: &ldquo;Yesterday was not easy because of the weather &ndash; I didn&rsquo;t like it, but I won and feel happy. I feel good. I hope the weather will be better tomorrow and I am ready to compete.&rdquo;
Allyson Felix, whose two visits to the podium at the Tokyo 2020 Games mean she now has, at 35, more Olympic medals than any other female track athlete, will be one of the most popular competitors on show at the Stade Charlety. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/612927d200794344568866f3.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;Paris holds a very special place in my heart,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I wanted to come back here.&rdquo;
Felix has earned at least one medal at each of the last five Olympics, the latest being a bronze in the women&rsquo;s 400m and gold in the women&rsquo;s 4x400m relay.
Her total of 11 medals also surpasses by one the total accrued by Carl Lewis, making her the most decorated US Olympian in track and field.
But she insists that making history in that manner was &ldquo;never a goal&rdquo;, adding: &ldquo;It was not something that I set out for. It is nice to be able to look back now and appreciate my career and what I have been able to do, but it was never a thing for me.
&ldquo;It has been an amazing journey, an amazing ride, and I feel very grateful.&rdquo;
Felix said that Tokyo would be her final Olympics, but she has not closed the book on her career and she said her thoughts were now turning towards next year&rsquo;s postponed World Athletics Championships to be held at Hayward Field in Eugene.
&ldquo;I am still kind of deciding,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Having the World Championships at home is very appealing to me. We will see in next month what my plan is.&rdquo;
Asked to reflect upon the fact that her Olympic bronze medal-winning time of 49.46 was her second-fastest ever, and only two tenths off the personal best she set in winning the 2015 world title in Beijing, Felix responded: &ldquo;That was always the goal. I didn&rsquo;t know if I would be able to get back to that form but I had some glimpses before the Games that it would be possible.&rdquo;
Home discus thrower Melina Robert Michon, who missed the Tokyo final by three places with a best of 60.88m having taken silver at the Rio 2016 Games at the age of 37, is hoping to finish her season strongly.
&ldquo;I wish to be better than I was in Tokyo, and 62 or 63 metres may be possible tomorrow,&rdquo; she said, adding that a lack of training opportunities before the Olympics meant &ldquo;something important was missing&rdquo; when it came to the Games.
After earning what she hopes will be a good result on Saturday she will compete at the Brussels Diamond League meeting on 1 September in an effort to earn enough points to qualify for the Final in Zurich.
Looking further ahead, to the Paris 2024 Olympics, the 42-year-old mother-of-two said: &ldquo;A home Olympics will be an unparalleled occasion, and it is really a motivation for me.
&ldquo;I want to be there, to be a part of a home Olympics, able to compete in front of family and friends. It was something missing in Tokyo. I want to show that age is just a number and if you work hard enough you can do it.&rdquo;
Meanwhile 21-year-old Femke Bol of the Netherlands, who won Olympic bronze in the 400m hurdles in 52.03, putting her third on the all-time list, has explained why she is still keeping her 400m flat career going.
Having earned the European indoor title in that event earlier this year she has switched back to the flat for this weekend's meeting.
&ldquo;It is important for me because I think I need to have a good 400m flat to have a good 400m hurdles,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;And we have a relay team with the girls, and a mixed team which won silver in Tokyo of course, so that&rsquo;s why it is also really important to me.&rdquo;
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

Hansle Parchment has arrived in Paris ready for the season’s next Wanda Diamond League meeting confident he will get back on track.

Olympic champions Parchment and Duplantis look to push on in Paris

With three world titles already to her credit, Mariya Lasitskene needed an Olympic gold medal to complete her resume.
The authorised neutral athlete achieved that goal on Saturday (7), clearing 2.04m to become champion in the women&rsquo;s high jump at the Tokyo Games on the final night of competition at the National Stadium.
Australia&rsquo;s Nicola McDermott won the silver with a best jump of 2.02m and Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine claimed bronze at 2.00m.
McDermott became the second Australian to win a medal in the event, matching the silver that Michele Brown won in Tokyo in 1964.
&ldquo;To see Mariya get an Olympic gold medal after all these years, I just feel so honoured to be in the same competition,&rdquo; McDermott said.
The 19-year-old Mahuchikh added to the silver medal she won at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. She&rsquo;s the youngest Olympic medallist in the event since 1980, when Poland&rsquo;s Urszula Kielan won bronze, also at the age of 19.
Lasitskene moved into first place when she cleared 2.02m on her first attempt. She had missed early attempts before clearing 1.96m, 1.98m and 2.00m.
"I don't remember anything at all. There is a fog on my mind," said&nbsp;Lasitskene. "You are making mistakes, you are telling yourself you don't have the right to be here. But then you go on and continue jumping. You tell yourself: 'I won't give it up, I don't want to. I can, I must.'"&nbsp;
McDermott was leading until she missed her first attempt at 2.02m. She cleared the height on her next attempt but missed three times at 2.04m.
&ldquo;I started today&rsquo;s warm-up jumps and thought: &lsquo;Oh, I&rsquo;m going to get a PB today',&rdquo; McDermott said. &ldquo;I knew I could sing out there and just have fun with all these women that I am so inspired by. I don&rsquo;t think this is really going to hit until I get back to my room tonight.&rdquo;
Ukraine's&nbsp;Iryna Gerashchenko finished fourth with a&nbsp;1.98m clearance, while Australia's Eleanor Patterson was fifth with 1.96m.
US champion Vashti Cunningham finished sixth, also with a best jump of 1.96m. She missed twice at 1.98m and passed on her third attempt before failing to clear 2.00m.
Placing equal sixth was Safina Sadullayeva of&nbsp;Uzbekistan.
Steve Wilson for World Athletics
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S HIGH JUMP MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Mariya Lasitskene ANA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">2.04m</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Nicola McDermott 🇦🇺 AUS</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">2.02m AR</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Yaroslava Mahuchikh 🇺🇦 UKR</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">2.00m</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/results/women/high-jump/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

With three world titles already to her credit, Mariya Lasitskene needed an Olympic gold medal to complete her resume.

Lasitskene adds Olympic high jump title to global gold collection

Norway&rsquo;s Karsten Warholm and authorised neutral athlete Mariya Lasitskene were crowned European Athletes of the Year at the annual Golden Tracks award ceremony which took place in Tallinn, Estonia on Saturday (26).
Warholm and Lasitskene both successfully defended their titles on the same evening at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019. Warholm went unbeaten in 18 races across all distances in 2019 and Lasitskene won 22 of her 24 high jump competitions this season.
Warholm, who broke the European record in the 400m hurdles three times in 2019, was shortlisted for the men&rsquo;s trophy alongside fellow world champions Pawel Fajdek from Poland and Daniel Stahl from Sweden as well as Estonia&rsquo;s Magnus Kirt, the world leader in the javelin.
&ldquo;My plan is to keep up the good work,&rdquo; said Warholm. &ldquo;I know that achievements are made in training and this is where I will put in the good work.&rdquo;
Lasitskene was part of an all-star women&rsquo;s shortlist which also included world and European champions Dina Asher-Smith from Great Britain, Malaika Mihambo from Germany and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands.
&ldquo;It is a huge honour to win this award and be recognised as the Athlete of the Year by European Athletics,&rdquo; said Lasitskene. &ldquo;It has been a great year for me and it was a thrill to become the first high jumper to win the World Championships on three occasions.&rdquo;
Warholm and Lasitskene are also past recipients of the Rising Star trophy. This year&rsquo;s winners were Germany&rsquo;s world decathlon champion Niklas Kaul and Ukraine&rsquo;s world high jump silver medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
European Athletics for the IAAF

Norway’s Karsten Warholm and authorised neutral athlete Mariya Lasitskene were crowned European Athletes of the Year at the annual Golden Tracks award ceremony which took place in Tallinn, Estonia on Saturday (26).

Warholm and Lasitskene crowned 2019 European athletes of the year

World champions Salwa Eid Naser and Mariya Laskitskene produced impressive late season victories to highlight the first two days of action at the 7th CISM Military World Games in Wuhan, China.
Naser, Bahrain&rsquo;s freshly-minted world 400m champion, dominated her specialty en route to a 50.15 championships record on Tuesday (22) while extending her unbeaten streak in the event to 14 straight finals.
Poland's Polina Miller and Justyna Swiety-Ersetic were a distant second and third, clocking 51.49 and 52.19, respectively.
Lasitskene topped 2.01m in Wednesday's (23) high jump competition to end her sensational 2019 campaign on a high, the 18th time in 24 competitions this season that she's jumped two metres or better. The three-time world champion had the victory sealed with a perfect scorecard through 1.94m, then asked that the bar be raised by seven centimetres. After a pair of jumps to get her bearings, Lasitskene sailed clear on her third try before calling it a season.
Ukraine's Yuliya Levchenko topped 1.92m before bowing out at 1.94m to finish second ahead of compatriot Iryna Gerashchenko who cleared 1.90m to finish third.
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Brazilian shot putter Darlan Romani</div>
&nbsp;
South American shot put record holder Darlan Romani of Brazil also ended his breakout campaign on a high note, throwing 22.36m on Tuesday, a Chinese all-comers record. Konrad Bukowiecki of Poland was second with 21.84m with Bob Bertemes of Luxembourg third with 20.66m.&nbsp;
Pole Paulina Guba took the women's title with a put of 18.22m.
In the women's 3000m steeplechase, 19-year-old Winfred Yavi of Bahrain, the fourth place finisher in the World Championships 24 days ago, took the title here in 9:19.24 ahead of Marusa Mismas (9:24.47) and Luiza Gega (9:26.35), the Slovenian and Albanian record holders, respectively.
Neutral athlete Sergey Shubenkov, the 2015 world champion and runner-up at the last two world championships, dominated the 110m hurdles, winning in 13.40.
Elsewhere on the track, Iran's Hassan Taftian captured the men's 100m crown in 10.24 (-0.5), ahead of Brazil's Paulo Andre Oliveira who clocked 10.32. Amaury Golitin of France clocked 10.35 for third.
The women's title went to Carrolle Zahi of France who clocked 11.36 (+0.4) to edge Brazilians Rosangela Santos (11.39) and Vitoria Rosa (11.40).
Mohamed Reda El Aaraby of Morocco took the 10,000m title in a sprint finish over Amanal Petros of Germany, 28:44.25 to 28:44.30.
Elsewhere on the infield, Hilary Kpatcha of France won the long jump with 6.54m and Alin Alexandru Firfirica of Romania won the discus with 63.88m, more than two metres clear of neutral athlete Aleksey Khudyakov (61.64m).
Neutral athlete Ilya Ivanyuk, the Doha high jump bronze medallist, won on count-back over Syria's Asian champion Majed Aldin Ghazal. Both topped 2.20m.&nbsp;
China's Wang Zheng, the world bronze medallist in the hammer throw, took top honours with a 69.34m best effort over Slovak record holder Martina Hrasnova who reached 68.89m.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

World champions Salwa Eid Naser and Mariya Laskitskene produced impressive late season victories to highlight the first two days of action at the 7th CISM Military World Games in Wuhan, China.

Naser, Lasitskene and Romani capture Military World Games titles in Wuhan

Mariya Lasitskene notched a superb three-peat in the high jump to highlight field event action on the fourth day of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.
Jumping under her maiden name Kuchina, she topped 2.01m to take the title in Beijing four years ago, and 2.03m in London in 2017. She went even higher this year, piecing together a perfect scorecard through the winning height of 2.04m to become the first three-time world champion in the event.
&ldquo;It was like in a fairy tale to get a third world title,&rdquo; said the 26-year-old authorised neutral athlete, who arrived in Doha as one of the biggest favourites of the championships. But she nonetheless had unexpected company through to the finish.
Two years ago, she was pushed by Ukraine&rsquo;s Yuliya Levchencko, who came of age in London topping a lifetime best of 2.01m while still a teenager to take silver. This time, it was her teammate Yaroslava Mahuchikh, another teenager, who turned 18 just 11 days ago but who performed like a seasoned veteran.
Fighting to find her rhythm, Mahuchikh needed second tries at 1.89m and 1.96m before moving on to the higher heights where she actually appeared more at ease. She sailed over 1.98m with her first attempt, and 2.00m on her third, just the second time she cleared that still formidable barrier.
Meanwhile, US champion Vashti Cunningham and Levchenko were also jumping well, the American a perfect six-for-six through 2.00m and the Ukrainian flawless through 1.98m before topping 2.00m on the third time of asking. That marked just the second time that four woman have topped 2.00m at a World Championships. The other was in Osaka 12 years ago.
Mahuchikh&rsquo;s streak continued with a first attempt success at 2.02m, a shock clearance that added one centimetre to the world U20 record* shared by Olga Turchak of the former Soviet Union and Heike Balck of the former East Germany, marks set in 1986 and 1989, respectively.
Cunningham and Levchenko bowed out at the height, bronze going to the American on countback. But Mahuchikh wasn&rsquo;t finished.
After Lasitskene sailed clear on her first try at 2.04m, Mahuchikh followed with a decent first attempt, close enough to suggest the teenager had more in reserve. Her second was even closer. On the third she brushed the bar on the way down, but it stayed on. Mahuchikh was ecstatic.
&ldquo;I knew I was ready to set my new PB in the final and I put some kind of the pressure on myself,&rdquo; Mahuchikh said. &ldquo;I'm feeling really happy and incredibly tired in the same time.&rdquo;
The last time two jumpers topped 2.04m at a World Championships was at the second edition in Rome 22 years ago. That battle between Stefka Kostadinova and Tamara Bykova resulted in a world record, the former's 2.09m, which still stands today.
That didn&rsquo;t come to pass this time. Knowing that 2.06m would be out of reach, Mahuchikh called it a night, content with surprise silver. Lasitskene then bowed out after three tries at 2.08m.
&ldquo;Today, we had an incredible competition,&rdquo; the winner said. &ldquo;I did not have any other choice than to jump higher and higher. Now, I feel like I left all my power and energy in the field. If Yaroslava decided to jump 2.06m, I also was ready to extend our fight.&rdquo;
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

Mariya Lasitskene notched a superb three-peat in the high jump to highlight field event action on the fourth day of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.

Report: women's high jump - IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019

It may not have been one of his most competitive IAAF Diamond League showdowns with arch-rival Will Claye, but Christian Taylor&rsquo;s triple victory at the AG Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on Friday (6) was a memorable one for many other reasons.
Not only did he break the long-standing meeting record, but he landed his seventh Diamond trophy, equalling the record haul held by French pole vault star Renaud Lavillenie.
Taylor opened with 17.30m &ndash; a mark that would have eventually been enough to win &ndash; and then went out to 17.85m with his second leap. That would have smashed Jonathan Edwards&rsquo; 17.60m meeting record had it not been for the marginally windy 2.1m/s following wind.
In the penultimate round, though, Taylor went out to a wind-legal 17.66m (0.1m/s) to add six centimetres to the meeting record that had stood for 24 years.
Claye&rsquo;s best leap on the night was 17.22m, enough for second place ahead of fellow US jumper Omar Craddock (17.17m).
Willie Banks set a meeting record of 17.58m back in 1985, the same year in which he broke the world record. It was broken by Edwards 10 years later, the same season in which he broke the world record. Taylor&rsquo;s meeting record tonight could similarly be something of a good omen ahead of the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019.
<h3>Asher-Smith and Norman avenge recent losses</h3>
The highly anticipated sprint clashes in the Belgian capital didn&rsquo;t disappoint.
After three successive 100m losses to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the IAAF Diamond League, Dina Asher-Smith finally got the better of her arch rival when it mattered most. 
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Brussels 100m winner Dina Asher-Smith</div>
&nbsp;
The Briton blasted out of the blocks and immediately put pressure on Fraser-Pryce, who is used to leading from the outset. Clearly rattled, the Jamaican didn&rsquo;t look as smooth as she usually does and struggled to get on level terms with Asher-Smith. But there was no letting up from the leader, who dashed across the finish line in 10.88 (-0.3m/s), the only athlete in the field to clock a season&rsquo;s best.
Fraser-Pryce was second in 10.95 while Marie-Josee Ta Lou finished third in 11.09.
"Today was typical British weather," said Asher-Smith. "This is the climate I'm used to training in, so I took my chance."
"Of course I'm very happy with the Diamond League win, but the World Championships will be completely different. It will be held in another climate and it will be a series of races that you can't really compare to this evening's race."
Six weeks after their clash at the US Championships, Michael Norman turned the tables on Fred Kerley in the 400m to win his first Diamond League title. 
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Michael Norman en route to a 400m victory in Brussels</div>
&nbsp;
For a brief moment it looked as though Kerley would retain his Diamond League title as he came off the final bend in the lead with Jamaica&rsquo;s Akeem Bloomfield surprisingly holding second place ahead of Norman.
But Norman dug deep and gritted his teeth and gradually made up ground on Kerley as they battled down the home straight, eventually edging in front about 25 metres before the finish. Norman crossed the line in 44.26 &ndash; a time only bettered in Brussels by Michael Johnson &ndash; with Kerley taking second place in 44.46. Bloomfield was third in 44.67.
Light rain started to fall as the athletes lined up for the men&rsquo;s 200m, but it didn&rsquo;t get in the way of Noah Lyles making history.
<h3>Lyles makes Diamond League history</h3>
Before last week&rsquo;s IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich, no man had ever won Diamond League titles at 100m and 200m. Lyles ended that by winning the 100m crown last week, adding it to his 200m titles from 2017 and 2018. And now he is the first man to win both sprint titles in the same season. 
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Noah Lyles en route to his second Diamond Trophy of 2019 after winning the Brussels 200m</div>
&nbsp;
As the field came off the bend, world champion Ramil Guliyev held a narrow lead over Lyles with Andre De Grasse close behind. Lyles kept his cool, though, and pulled away in the closing stages, as is his trademark.
Lyles won in 19.76 with Guliyev taking second place just ahead of De Grasse, 19.86 to 19.87, both recording the second-fastest times of their respective careers.
&ldquo;I was just trying not to pee myself,&rdquo; overshared Lyles after the race. &ldquo;I was trying so hard to hold it in.
"It also started raining just as we were called to our blocks, and then I noticed two pins to fix my race number weren't fixed well. It was just a bit chaotic, but I'm glad I could handle this. It gives me even more confidence for the World Championships."
Danielle Williams showed her recent 100m hurdles win over world record-holder Kendra Harrison in Birmingham was no fluke. 
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Danielle Williams on the way to her Diamond League title in Brussels</div>
&nbsp;
The 2015 world champion from Jamaica had a terrific start and already had a clear lead by the half-way point. She continued to pull away from Harrison over the final few barriers and crossed the line in 12.46, matching her winning time from Birmingham.
Harrison was second in 12.73, finishing 0.01 ahead of two-time world indoor champion Nia Ali.
&ldquo;To win against this standard of field is just fantastic,&rdquo; said Williams. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m also satisfied with the time because it was really, really cold. In Doha my ambition will be the same: first make it to the final and then get a medal.&rdquo;
Following the late withdrawal of US champion Daniel Roberts from the 110m hurdles, Orlando Ortega was relatively untroubled as he sped to victory.
The Spaniard got away well and at the half-way point had a slight lead over Sergey Shubenkov, who looked much improved compared to his recent appearances. Shubenkov faded slightly in the second half while Jamaica&rsquo;s Ronald Levy finished well, but Ortega crossed the line a comfortable winner in 13.22, taking a second Diamond trophy following his 2016 win.
<h3>Stefanidi and Lasitskene land fourth Diamond trophies</h3>
Katerina Stefanidi headed to Brussels with three Diamond trophies already in her possession. Two of them resided at her home in the USA while the other was in Greece. Naturally, the world and Olympic champion was keen to win another so that she could have two in each of her homes. 
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Katerina Stefanidi secures another Diamond Trophy in Brussels</div>
&nbsp;
In a pole vault competition that proved to be one of the greatest in terms of depth, the Greek record-holder &ndash; as she has done on many previous occasions &ndash; once again raised her game when it really mattered.
Her series was flawless: first-time clearances at 4.63m, 4.70m, 4.77m and 4.83m to equal her season&rsquo;s best. For the first time in history, 11 women cleared 4.63m with seven of them topping 4.70m, but their scorecards were punctuated with misses.
Anzhelika Sidorova was the only other vaulter to get over 4.83m, doing so on her third attempt. But she was unable to clear 4.88m to steal the victory from Stefanidi and so settled for second place. Canada&rsquo;s Alysha Newman was third with 4.77m.
World champion Mariya Lasitskene also won her fourth Diamond trophy, taking the high jump with 1.99m. And, like Stefanidi, she also had first-time clearances up to and including her winning height. 
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Mariya Lasitskene, 2019 Diamond Trophy winner in the high jump</div>
&nbsp;
The anticipated duel with world and Olympic heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam didn&rsquo;t quite materialise as the Belgian star ended the evening with a best of 1.95m for third place. World silver medallist Yuliya Levchenko was second with 1.97m.
Lasitskene ended her series with three unsuccessful tries at 2.04m.
Malaika Mihambo took just three attempts in the long jump, but any one of them would have been enough for the German to win her first Diamond League title. 
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Malaika Mihambo sailing to victory in Brussels</div>
&nbsp;
The European champion opened with 6.97m and followed it with a 6.99m leap in round two, taking off 23 centimetres behind the plasticine. She added a few more centimetres to her leading mark with 7.03m in round three &ndash; her sixth competition this year beyond seven metres.
British heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson had been sitting in second place with 6.73m, but multiple world champion Brittney Reese sprung into life in the final round with 6.85m to finish as runner-up.
&ldquo;My main focus is on training hard for Doha now, and I wanted to use as little energy as possible,&rdquo; said Mihambo. &ldquo;At my best jump I was 20 centimetres from the board, so there is still room for improvement.&rdquo;
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

It may not have been one of his most competitive IAAF Diamond League showdowns with arch-rival Will Claye, but Christian Taylor’s triple victory at the AG Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on Friday (6) was a memorable one for many other reasons.

Taylor takes record-equalling seventh trophy in Brussels – IAAF Diamond League

Polish pole vaulter Piotr Lisek climbed to a share of the 10th spot on the world all-time list at the&nbsp;IAAF Diamond League&nbsp;meeting in Lausanne on Friday (5), smashing the Athletissima meeting record with a lifetime best of 6.01m.
The world silver medallist put together a blemish-free series up to and including a meeting record height of 5.95m. But so too did world champion Sam Kendricks, leaving the two men tied for first place.
The bar moved to 6.01m and the duo recorded their first misses of the night, both failing three times. Still tied, the bar remained at 6.01m for the first jump-off attempt. Lisek finally went clear while Kendricks opted against attempting it, giving the Pole his first win at an IAAF Diamond League meeting since Monaco in 2017.
&ldquo;This is one of the best days of my life,&rdquo; said Lisek. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so happy as I work so hard for these moments. To beat Sam and Armand today is a dream.
&ldquo;I think one of the main factors today is that my body is in great shape and I was so focused on that last jump,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I have the meeting record, the world lead, the national record and a personal best. I know all my competitors will be motivated by this and are out to beat me now.&rdquo;
European champion Armand Duplantis finished third with a best of 5.81m but had a close attempt at 6.01m. World record-holder Renaud Lavillenie enjoyed a big improvement on his season&rsquo;s best, finishing in equal third place with 5.81m.
<h3>Ibarguen and Lasitskene keep their cool</h3>
IAAF Female Athlete of the Year Caterine Ibarguen came under some serious pressure in the triple jump, but pulled out a season&rsquo;s best of 14.89m in the penultimate round to take a seven-centimetre victory over world champion Yulimar Rojas. 
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Another triple jump victory for Caterine Ibarguen at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne</div>
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Jamaica&rsquo;s Shanieka Ricketts took an early lead with 14.65m, only to be surpassed by Rojas&rsquo;s second-round leap of 14.82m, taking off 14 centimetres behind the board. Cuba&rsquo;s Liadagmis Povea jumped 14.66m in round two and a lifetime best of 14.77m in round four.
Going into the fifth round, Ibarguen was down in fourth place with a best of 14.57m but then unleashed her winning leap to maintain her lead at the top of the Diamond League triple jump standings. For the first time ever outside of a major championship, eight women jumped beyond 14.35m.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy with my victory tonight and with the quality of my jumps,&rdquo; said Ibarguen. &ldquo;Even if not all were valid, they were all pretty good technically speaking.&rdquo;
Two-time world champion Mariya Lasitskene notched up another IAAF Diamond League win, this time clearing 2.02m. But she had world U20 champion Karyna Taranda for company up to and including that height.
Taranda, just 20 years old, cleared 2.00m on her first attempt to equal the Belarusian record but bowed out of the competition with three misses at 2.02m. Lasitskene managed to get over that height on her third try and then moved the bar up to 2.07m, exiting the competition with a couple of close attempts.
Despite struggling to hit the board, world indoor champion Juan Miguel Echevarria came away from the long jump victorious. 
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Juan Miguel Echevarria in the long jump at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne</div>
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The young Cuban sailed out to 8.32m in round two, taking off 30 centimetres behind the plasticine. He followed it with a leap of 8.11m, this time 42 centimetres shy of the plasticine.
His second-round leap proved sufficient to win, though, as Greece&rsquo;s Miltiadis Tentoglou finished second with 8.19m.
<h3>Hussong and Schwanitz land German throws double</h3>
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Christin Hussong, winner of the javelin at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne</div>
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Barbora Spotakova set the javelin alight in the first round with a throw of 63.79m, but the multiple world and Olympic champion didn&rsquo;t take any further throws after experiencing some discomfort in her achilles. European champion Christin Hussong capitalised in the second round with a season&rsquo;s best of 66.59m, which remained the best mark of the competition and gave the German the first Diamond League win of her career.
Australia&rsquo;s Kelsey-Lee Barber, fresh from winning the Oceanian title, moved into second place with 65.08m in round three and then set a lifetime best of 65.63m in the final round. Spotakova&rsquo;s first-round throw was ultimately good enough for third place. 
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Christina Schwanitz wins the shot put at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne</div>
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Christina Schwanitz made it a German throws double. The 2015 world champion led the shot put from the first round, opening with 18.68m and improving to 19.04m in round four. All five of her valid throws would have been enough to win.
World champion Justin Gatlin was a clear winner of the men&rsquo;s 100m, a non-scoring race, clocking 9.92 with Michael Rodgers finishing second in 10.01.
Although the women&rsquo;s 200m in Lausanne was a non-scoring event this year, Gabrielle Thomas returned to the scene of her first IAAF Diamond League triumph from 12 months ago and once again came out on top, winning in a season&rsquo;s best of 22.69.
In other non-scoring disciplines, Nelly Jepkosgei won the 800m in 1:59.54 and Luke Campbell held off a fast-finishing Rasmus Magi to win the 400m hurdles by 0.002 in 49.54.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

Polish pole vaulter Piotr Lisek climbed to a share of the 10th spot on the world all-time list at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne on Friday (5), smashing the Athletissima meeting record with a lifetime best of 6.01m.

Lisek tops six metres in Lausanne – IAAF Diamond League

The big guys took centre stage at the Prefontaine Classic and not surprisingly huge throws were the highlights of the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stanford on Sunday (30). The only surprise was who produced the fireworks.
The USA&rsquo;s Ryan Crouser and New Zealand&rsquo;s Tom Walsh have stolen the headlines this year with some early season monster heaves that have indicated that they are on target for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019. As Crouser noted at yesterday&rsquo;s press conference: &ldquo;Before 2016, there had never been a Diamond League that someone threw 22 and lost and now if you throw 22, you&rsquo;re probably gonna lose.&rdquo;
That proved to be prophetic, as not only did Crouser throw beyond 22 metres twice, he had the lead after the first two rounds. His 22.17m would normally be good enough to secure victory, but in round three, Brazil&rsquo;s Darlan Romani unleased a record-breaking toss of 22.46m, smashing his own South American record of 22.00m set in 2018.
He wasn&rsquo;t quite finished, as in round four he bettered that mark with 22.55m and finally in round five again, this time with 22.61m. He couldn&rsquo;t keep his record-breaking streak alive in round six but he once again surpassed the 22-metre line with 22.37m. The average of his six throws was 22.26m.
Crouser would not better his 22.17m and ended up second. Walsh, who also had a foul-free series, maintained third position throughout and finished with 21.76m on his final throw. He was followed by Poland&rsquo;s Michal Haratyk with 21.61m and USA&rsquo;s Joe Kovacs (21.39m) and Darrell Hill (21.35m).
In the women&rsquo;s event, Jamaica&rsquo;s Danniel Thomas-Dodd took the first-round lead, but from there on the shot ring belonged to China&rsquo;s Gong Lijiao, who took the lead in round two with 19.46m and finished her day with 19.79m in the fifth round.
Thomas-Dodd would not improve her first-round effort and finished in second , with USA&rsquo;s Chase Ealey taking third in 19.23m, while Olympic champion Michelle Carter finished a disappointing sixth with 18.21m.
<h3>Duplantis and Lasitskene on top</h3>
The men&rsquo;s pole vault provided thrills for the 8,128 in attendance. Even though Sweden&rsquo;s European champion Mondo Duplantis will for years to come be battling with the USA&rsquo;s Sam Kendricks, many US fans feel that Duplantis is one of their own, given that his father was an acclaimed US pole vaulter. 
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Armand Duplantis, winner of the pole vault at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stanford</div>
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The competition ended early for the majority of the competitors, leaving Kendricks and Duplantis to fight it out as they went on to higher heights. Both men had taken four jumps and had a clean slate going into 5.88m. But that is where Duplantis hit a road block. He would miss 5.88m while Kendricks cleared. The young Swede would pass his two remaining jumps and take his chances at 5.93m. &nbsp;
That strategy reaped rewards, as Duplantis &ndash; who missed his first attempt at 5.93m, leaving him with only one jump remaining &ndash; cleared 5.93m on his final attempt. It was then Kendricks&rsquo; game to lose, as he had two misses at 5.93m and then failed on his third after Duplantis&rsquo; clearance.
USA&rsquo;s 2016 world indoor champion Vashti Cunningham has been on the brink of high jumping greatness her entire career, but a two-metre jump had so far eluded her. She achieved that goal today, but was still shy of victory as neutral athlete Mariya Lasitskene, the world and European champion, won with a clear card all the way through 2.04m.
Cunningham and Ukrainian teen sensation Yaroslava Mahuchikh both cleared 2.00m, with the US jumper taking second place on fewer misses. Mahuchikh&rsquo;s compatriot Yuliya Levchenko finished fourth ahead of Sweden&rsquo;s Erika Kinsey in fifth after both bowed out after clearing 1.95m.
Brian Russell for the IAAF

The big guys took centre stage at the Prefontaine Classic and not surprisingly huge throws were the highlights of the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stanford on Sunday (30). The only surprise was who produced the fireworks. 

Romani takes surprise shot put win in Stanford – IAAF Diamond League

World-leading performances by Magnus Kirt and Mariya Lasitskene and a world best in the 300m by Shaunae Miller-Uibo were the among the standout performances at the 58th edition of the Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czech Republic, an IAAF World Challenge Meeting, on Thursday (20).&nbsp;
<h3>Kirt joins 90m club</h3>
Kirt produced the season's first 90-metre javelin throw in a lopsided competition the Estonian won by nearly seven metres. After a modest 81.65m opener, the 29-year-old unleashed a 90.34m bomb in the second round, sealing the victory with his first career 90-metre effort. It was a personal best by 59cm and a national record.
Pole Cyprian Mrzyglod, the European U20 champion in 2017, improved his PB to 83.88m to finish second.
<h3>Lasitskene tops 2.06 for the second time</h3>
In the high jump, authorised neutral athlete Mariya Lasitskene continued her fine momentum, topping 2.06m for the second time in her career. Only four women have ever jumped higher.
Perfect through 1.96m, Lasitskene needed a second go at 1.98m before sailing clear. She followed with first attempt success at 2.00m and 2.03m, the latter adding a centimetre to her own world lead. She then topped 2.06m cleanly with her second attempt to equal the career best she set in 2017. Nobody has jumped as high since. Lasitskene then had the bar raised to a would-be world record height of 2.10m; her first attempt suggested an eventual clearance isn't that far away.
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Mariya Lasitskene - 2.06m in Ostrava</div>
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Twenty year-old Karina Taranda of Belarus, last year's world U20 champion, improved her personal best by two centimetres to 1.98m to finish second.
<h3>Miller-Uibo 34.41</h3>
On the track, Miller-Uibo's assault on the world best over the rarely contested 300m distance went off as expected, the Bahamian entering the straight with a clear lead, one she padded through the finish to clock 34.41, smashing the previous best of 35.30 Ana Guevara set at altitude in Mexico City in 2003. This performance, coupled with an early season 49.05 world lead in the 400m, indicates the 25-year-old is probably in the best shape of her career.
Brittany Brown of the US was a distant second in 35.91.
<h3>De Grasse edges Coleman in 200m</h3>
A torrential downpour late in the meet postponed the start of the evening-capping 200m, but didn't dampen the performances that much. As expected, Christian Coleman, the 100m world leader, got off to a strong start, an early assault that caught up with him with about 50 metres to go. Over the final 10 metres, Andre De Grasse caught him as well, nipping him at the line in 19.91, a season's best, 0.06 clear of the American who was making his 2019 debut over the distance. Further back, South African Clarence Munyai was third in 20.31, also a season's best.
Just over an hour earlier, De Grasse was edged in the 100m by a scant 0.01 by Mike Rodgers who clocked 10.04. In a blanket finish, China's Xie Zhenye was third, another 0.01 back.
The 400m was anything but close, with Steven Gardiner prevailing in 44.95, nearly a second ahead of Bahrain's Abbas Abubaker, who clocked 45.86.
<h3>Meeting records for Kendricks and Walsh</h3>
World champion Sam Kendricks increased his unbeaten streak to six with a dominating victory in the pole vault. The Olympic silver medallist cleared 5.93m on his second jump, watching the bar bounce on the pegs but stay on as he fell back to earth. That added a centimetre to the meeting record set by world record holder Renaud Lavillenie in 2013.
Pole Piotr Lisek took second at 5.71m on countback over Augusto Dutra of Brazil, Pawel Wojciechowski of Poland and Frenchman Valentin Lavillenie.
Two-time world champion Tom Walsh dominated the shot put, collecting the win with a 22.27m toss in the second round to improve his season's best by nine centimetres. He underscored his improving form with a 22.19m toss in round three.
Pole Michal Haratyk was second at 21.77m with Czech Tomas Stanek third with 21.04m.
While the rain and wind that descended on the eastern Czech city impacted much of the late-meet programme, the men's long jumpers were affected the most, with the competition halted before the sixth round concluded. Juan Miguel Echevarria coped best, reaching 8.32m in the second round. Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece was second at 7.95m.&nbsp;
<h3>Another hammer throw challenge win for Wang</h3>
Asian champion Wang Zheng opened the main programme with a 75.80m season's best in the fourth round to win the women's hammer throw, part of the IAAF World Hammer Challenge. The effort elevated the 31-year-old Chinese up a notch to third on the season's world list.
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Wang Zheng spinning to victory in Ostrava</div>
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US record holder Gwen Berry, the winner in Chorzow four days ago, opened with 74.38m, a throw that held up for second. Alexandra Tavernier of France was third with 73.36m. World record holder Anita Wlodarczyk pulled out of the competition with back pain.&nbsp;
In her first competition in 22 months, Olympic javelin champion Sara Kolak of Croatia produced one decent effort of 64.45m, good enough to take the victory. Slovenia's Martina Ratej was second with 61.01m.
<h3>Middle distance wins for Gudaf and Grice</h3>
In the women's 1500m, meeting record holder Tsegay Gudaf pulled away to a big lead over the final lap and held on, winning in 4:02.95. Sarah McDonald of Great Britain closed well to finish second in 4:03.79.
Similarly, Kenyan Michael Kibet scampered off to a significant lead of his own in the men's mile, but was caught in the final strides by another Briton, 2016 Olympic 1500m finalist Charlie Da'vall Grice, who nabbed the win by 0.06 in 3:56.95.
Earlier on the programme, Amel Tuka prevailed in the 800m in a season's best 1:44.95 with Adam Kszczot second in 1:45.63.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

World-leading performances by Magnus Kirt and Mariya Lasitskene and a world best in the 300m by Shaunae Miller-Uibo were the among the standout performances at the 58th edition of the Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czech Republic, an IAAF World Challenge Meeting, on Thursday (20). 