US shot putter Ryan Crouser (© Getty Images)
Olympic champion Ryan Crouser continued his unbeaten run in the shot put this year by winning at the Josef Odlozil Memorial in Prague with a Czech all-comers’ record of 22.31m on Monday (4).
All four of the US thrower’s valid efforts were better than the previous meeting record of 21.26m, set 16 years ago by Spain’s Manuel Martinez. After a foul in the opening round, Crouser took the lead with 21.28m in round two and ended his series with three throws beyond the 22-metre line: 22.31m, 22.28m and 22.09m.
No other man in the competition threw beyond 21 metres as neutral athlete Aleksandr Lesnoy took second place with 20.77m, six centimetres ahead of Tomas Stanek of the Czech Republic.
World silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch wowed the home crowd when his javelin landed just shy of the 90-metre line. His second-round effort was measured at 89.02m, the second-best mark of his career, but all four of his measured attempts would have been enough to win.
Moldova’s Andrian Mardare improved his own national record to take second place with 84.43m.
Meeting records tumble
Crouser wasn’t the only athlete to break a meeting record in Prague.
Mike Rodgers produced his fastest time in almost three years to win the 100m in a world-leading 9.92 (1.7m/s), taking 0.07 off the meeting record. Britain’s Ojie Edoburun finished second in a PB of 10.04.
USA’s double Paralympic medallist Blake Leeper ran away from the field on the final stretch of the 400m to smash the meeting record. The double amputee clocked 44.42 to finish more than a second ahead of three-time world indoor champion Pavel Maslak.
Four days after winning at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome, USA’s Georganne Moline notched up another 400m hurdles victory. She stopped the clock at 54.04 to break the meeting record set by two-time world champion Zuzana Hejnova, third on this occasion in 55.40.
World U20 champion Elvira Herman set her second 100m hurdles PB of the year. The Belarusian was a clear winner in Prague, clocking 12.69 to break the meeting record. In second, Rikenette Steenkamp broke the long-standing South African record with 12.91.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s Ahmad Mohamed Al Moualed broke his own national record to win the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.36, taking him to fifth on the Asian all-time list. Morocco’s Brahim Kaazouzi won the men’s 1500m in a season’s best of 3:35.58, while the top Czech team in the men’s 4x100m clocked 38.99 – the second-fastest time by a Czech quartet after the national record of 38.82 that was set back in 1972.
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF
