10th June 2018

ASHER-SMITH AND UGEN WIN IN STOCKHOLM

There were many highlights at the Stockholm Diamond League on Sunday afternoon including victories for Dina Asher-Smith (coach: John Blackie) and Lorraine Ugen (Shawn Jackson), as well as a couple of Scottish record for Beth Dobbin (Leon Baptiste) and Jake Wightman (Geoff Wightman).

After her heroics in Oslo on Thursday evening, Dina Asher-Smith produced another stunning display to win the 100m race in Stockholm, and was just 0.01 seconds outside her British record with 10.93 (-0.1) in near perfect conditions.

Asher-Smith stormed out of the blocks, and this time she moved away from Murielle Ahoure at the 70m mark, winning by over a metre from the Ivorian to overturn the result from Norway.

She said afterwards: “I am really happy that I was able to reproduce that time (from Oslo) because I am an excitable person so when I do something good, I normally take a little bit of time to come down, so the big thing for me was controlling my excitement and not getting psychologically drained between races. So, I am really happy that I was able to do that.

“I was especially happy with the second half of the race,” she added, “The start wasn’t quite what I wanted but after that I was happy with how I came through as this is what my coach and my team have been working on.”

“Now I can go and recover and head home for the trials (British Athletics Championships),” she added.

Lorraine Ugen (Shawn Jackson) showed her quality in the long jump, winning with a season best of 6.85m. After injury hampered her early season programme, the 2016 world indoor silver medallist showed her top form, leaping a marvellous 6.85m in round one to take command of the competition.

It was a close competition, Malaika Mihambo (GER) equalling Ugen’s leap with 6.85m, Christabel Nettey (CAN) leaping 6.83m and Ivana Spanovic making 6.81m. But although in deadlock with the German, Ugen leapt 6.85m for a second time in round five to confirm the win.

She said afterwards: “It was really good to get my first Diamond League win.  I’m excited about that and hopefully I can get a couple more this season.  I got my first jump out quite big (6.85) and I thought I’d set myself up to put a good distance out there.  It was just a good competition and I have a couple of good jumps come out [6.85, 6.85, 6.78].”

After some impressive recent results after finishing her finals exams, Laura Muir (Andy Young) produced another one in Stockholm to finish second behind Gudaf Tsegay (ETH). The Ethiopian ran a meeting record of 3:57.64 with the Scottish athlete finishing quickly to record a season’s best of 3:58.53.

The pace fluctuated throughout but Muir maintained her composure and just ran out of track to catch Tsegay. Laura Weightman (Steve Cram) also recorded a season’s best in ninth place, stopping the clock at 4:02.90.

It was a second Scottish 200m record within a week for Beth Dobbin (Leon Baptiste), placing second in the non-Diamond Race event in a time of 22.83 (-0.2). After posting a time of 22.84 in Eton last weekend, Dobbin backed that performance up in fine style. In a race won by Ivet Lalova-Collio (BUL), Anyika Onuora (Rana Reider) was third in 23.38.

A delighted Dobbin said afterwards: “I am very happy. It is a bit of a blur. It is my first ever Diamond League so I did not put pressure on myself, so a PB is great and I cannot complain about that.

“My season is going perfectly – I really did not expect any of this so soon. I certainly did not expect to break 23 seconds so I am really, really pleased. This winter has been a bit different as my aim is to move up to 400m next year so I have been doing lots of longer stuff and it is clearly paying off as I felt strong at the end out there.”

There was a third-place finish for Jake Wightman (Geoff Wightman) over the rarely run 1000m distance, clocking 2:16.27. He finished strongly down the home straight to set a Scottish record over the distance, beating the mark set by Graham Williamson in 1984. Andrew Osagie (Mark Rowland) was seventh in 2:17.18, while the race was won by Kenya’s Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich.

There was another fifth-place finish for Netheneel Mitchell-Blake, – he placed fifth in both Doha and Eugene earlier this year – this time clocking 20.47 (+0.9) in a race won by Ramil Guliyev in 19.92.

Jack Green (June Plews) was fifth and Seb Rodger (Stephen King) sixth in the men’s 400m hurdles in times of 49.73 and 49.87 respectively. At the head of the field, Abderrahman Samba set an Asian record, Diamond League record and meeting record of 47.41, ahead of world champion Karsten Warholm who ran a PB of 47.81 – times which split the field.

In her first competition in over a month, Morgan Lake (Fuzz Caan) was eighth in the high jump, clearing 1.90m on her third attempt, but bowed out with three fouls at 1.94m.

In the non-Diamond Race women’s 800m, Shelayna Oskan-Clarke (Jon Bigg) overcame compatriot Lynsey Sharp (Terrance Mahon) in the home straight in a competitive race, placing third and fifth respectively. Sharp sat on the race leader’s shoulder on the final lap, but as they came into the home straight, Oskan-Clarke moved passed clocking 2:02.09, with Sharp in 2:02.78.

In the men’s equivalent, Jamie Webb (Adrian Webb) fought for fourth in a time of 1:46.37 – the race won by Australia’s Peter Bol in 1:44.56.

Full results can be found here: https://stockholm.diamondleague.com/en/lists-results-stockholm/

The Stockholm Diamond League will be played in full from 18:15 on Eurosport 2 on Sunday 10 June. Highlights will be available on BBC between 23:45-00:45 on Sunday, repeated on Monday 11 June from 17:50 on BBC Red Button.