LONDON, England, (CMC) – St. Lucian sprint sensation Julien Alfred and Jamaican Oblique Seville electrified the London Diamond League with world-class performances, while other Caribbean athletes faced tougher battles on a day of highs and lows here on Saturday.
Olympic silver medalist Julien Alfred delivered a statement run in the women’s 200m, scorching the track in a world-leading 21.71 seconds, a personal best and a new meet record.
The St. Lucian star shattered the previous mark of 21.82s set by American Gabby Thomas and left Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith 22.25s and Amy Hunt 22.31s trailing in her wake.
All eyes were on Olympic champion Noah Lyles and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo in the men’s 100m, but Jamaica’s Oblique Seville stole the show with a blistering 9.86-second victory.
Oblique Seville
Seville exploded from the blocks and never relented, leaving Lyles 10.00s well behind. Britain’s Zharnel Hughes 10.02s and Jamaican Ackeem Blake 10.08s rounded out the top four.
While Alfred and Seville soared, other regional athletes faced tougher challenges.
In the Women’s 400m Hurdles, Jamaica’s Andrenette Knight clocked 57.39s and took third, while teammate Janieve Russell 1:00.55 finished eighth as Dutch star Femke Bol dominated in 52.10s.
The Women’s 800m saw St. Vincent’s Shafiqua Maloney clocking 1:58.47 for fifth, while Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin struggled to eighth in 1:59.27. Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell won in a time of 1:56.74.
The Men’s Long Jump saw Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock edge Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou. Pinnock leapt 8.20m to beat the Greek Tentoglou, who leapt 8.19m. Jamaica’s Carey McLeod secured third following his lead of 8.10m.
Olympic champion Roje Stona, rumoured to be switching allegiance to Türkiye, placed sixth with a throw of 64.71m in the men’s discus, as Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna set a meet record following his throw of 71.70m.