10 May 2013

The 2013 IAAF Diamond League season got underway in Doha this evening with strong performances from the GB & NI representatives.

In the women’s 400m, Beijing Olympic champion and London 2012 silver medallist Christine Ohuruogu (coach: Lloyd Cowan) continued her good early season form as she followed up a performance of 50.58 in Jamaica last week by finishing quickly in Doha to finish third in a further season’s best time of 50.53.

Tiffany Porter (Rana Reider) finished fourth in a closely fought 100m hurdles as she ran 12.74 to improve on her season’s best of 12.94 set at Drake Relays two weeks ago. The top three finishers were all American as Dawn Harper-Nelson won in 12.60 from Kellie Wells and Queen Harrison.

Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz (Fayyaz Ahmed) opened his outdoor season with a fourth place finish in the high jump. The European champion’s best height was 2.24m due to three failures at 2.27m. Samson Oni (Trevor Llewelyn) was 11th with a best of 2.19m.

World record holder and Olympic champion David Rudisha of Kenya was in dominant form again as he won the 800m in a world leading 1:43.87. GB & NI’s Michael Rimmer (Norman Poole) finished sixth in his first outdoor appearance of the summer with a time of 1:44.97, two places in front of compatriot Andrew Osagie (Craig Winrow), eighth in the Olympic final last summer, who ran a time of 1:45.41.

Mukhtar Mohammed (Mustafa Mohamed / John Nuttall) finished fifth in the 800m B race with a time of 1:47.70.

Jack Green (Malcolm Arnold) started well in the 400m hurdles but fell after a stumble and was unable to finish. Olympic silver medallist Michael Tinsley held off fellow American Bershawn Jackson to win in a time of 48.92.

In the field, Shara Proctor (Rana Reider) improved her season’s best by 19cm with a leap of 6.82m to finish in sixth place in the women’s long jump. American Brittney Reese set a meeting record and world leading mark of 7.25cm.

Full results can be found on the Diamond League website.

Don’t forget you can watch some of the world’s best athletes in action this summer at the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix – Birmingham (29-30 June) and the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games (26-28 July).

Tickets are still available for the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix – Birmingham – click here for further information.