04 June 2015 

There were six British athletes in action at the Golden Gala in Rome on the fourth stage of the IAAF Diamond League.

Shara Proctor (Rana Reider) continued her impressive start to the season with a second place finish in the long jump. The British record holder’s third round jump of 6.85m saw her finish just four centimetres off Russia’s Darya Klishina, who took maximum Diamond Race points.

It was a dramatic race in the 100m hurdles with Sharika Nelvis taking the victory with in 12.52 with GB & NI’s European champion Tiffany Porter (Reider) third in 12.69. However, it was a worrying fall for Olympic champion Sally Pearson, who was taken off the track with a wrist injury, while world champion Brianna Rollins also failed to finish in an error strewn race.

Laura Muir (Andy Young) showed she can mix it with the best as the 22 year old took an impressive fourth place in the 1500m. Muir clocked 4:00.61 just outside her lifetime best of 4:00.07 just a few weeks after recording a personal best over 3000m in Hengelo.  

9.96 100m man Chijindu Ujah (Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo) stepped up to the 200m at the Stadio Olimpico, and showed that there is plenty more to come from him clocking a new personal best of 20.47.

Eilidh Child (Malcolm Arnold) ran a season’s best of 54.84 for a third place finish in the 400m hurdles, while Bianca Williams (Lloyd Cowan) was sixth in the 200m clocking 23.32 in a race won by USA’s Jeneba Tarmoh in 22.77.  

Away from the British contingent, Justin Gatlin clocked 9.75 in the men’s 100m for a meeting record, David Storl threw out to 21.46m in the shot put, Renaud Lavillenie soared to 5.91m for maximum Diamond Race points, four men went under 1:44.00 in the men’s 800m and Pedro Pablo Prichardo leapt to a meeting record of 17.96m for a Cuban one, two, and three in the triple jump.  

Next stop on the IAAF Diamond League circuit is the Sainsbury’s Birmingham Grand Prix at the Alexander Stadium this Sunday (7th June). You can still buy tickets by visiting here