Our gold world champion Mutaz Barshim quickly recovered his form and succeeded in reclaiming the throne of world high jump in style, after winning the title of the Zurich Diamond League meeting, held over a single day in the Swiss capital with the participation of the world’s champions. Barshim managed to restore his standing just days after the 15th World Championships held in the Chinese capital Beijing, where he had failed to win any medal and slipped to a surprising fourth place, proving that what happened in Beijing was merely a stumble, as he took first place outright in the Zurich meeting after clearing a height of 2.32m, ahead of all his rivals, especially Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko, who cleared 2.30m ahead of China’s Zhang Guowei on countback, with the Chinese jumper finishing third. With his win at the Zurich meeting, Barshim officially claimed first place in the overall Diamond League standings after collecting 20 points across his appearances at the Shanghai, Eugene, Oslo, London and Stockholm meetings.
China’s Zhang took second place in the overall standings with 9 points, while Ukraine’s Bondarenko took third with 6 points, meaning Mutaz was left with no rival at all, truly confirming his worthiness of sitting atop the world high jump as the world’s best. During the day before yesterday’s competition, Mutaz appeared determined and eager to win and make up for what he had missed in Beijing, to put a smile on the faces of the Qatari people, fans of the sport, and all officials of the federation and Qatari sport. So from the start he succeeded in every attempt, starting with 2.19m on his second attempt, then 2.23m on his first attempt, before continuing his fine form with 2.30m then 2.32m, and none of the other competitors could keep up with him, giving our champion first place and the official title of the Zurich meeting and of the whole Diamond League.
It is worth noting that Barshim’s rise began in high jump competitions in 2010, when he cleared 2.31m at youth level, before continuing to develop his performance year after year. In 2011 he won the Asian Championships title with (2.35m), before setting an Asian record in Lausanne during his preparations for the London Olympics, where he went on to win bronze.
Mutaz, aged 24, succeeded in turning his London 2012 Olympic bronze into silver in Moscow 2013, and had hoped to be crowned with gold at the “Bird’s Nest” Stadium in Beijing 2015, but unfortunately luck was not on his side and he finished fourth.
A very promising future awaits Barshim, especially as he is still only 24 years old, and all the signs point clearly to the Qatari champion continuing to move towards sitting atop the world high jump throne more and more in the years to come, as he enters next year, when he turns 25, the stage of mental and physical maturity that any athletics champion needs, which will enable him more and more to achieve his ambitions.
Predictable results in the rest of the events
The results of the Zurich meeting, the thirteenth stage of the Diamond League, were ordinary, due to the fatigue of the competitors just four days after competing at the World Championships in Beijing.
The most notable result was Panama’s Alonso Edward winning the 200m, clocking 20.03, in the absence of the two giants, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and America’s Justin Gatlin, first and second at the World Championships respectively.
Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi finished second in the 800m, covering the distance in 1:45.62, behind Poland’s Adam Kszczot (1:45.55); Makhloufi had finished fourth in the 1500m at the World Championships. The most notable results were as follows:.
200m:
1- Panama’s Alonso Edward, 20.03
2- Jamaica’s Rasheed Dwyer, 20.20
3- South Africa’s Anaso Jobodwana, 20.24
400m:
1- America’s LaShawn Merritt, 44.18
2- Kirani James of Grenada, 44.28
3- South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk, 44.35
800m:
1- Poland’s Adam Kszczot, 1:45.55
2- Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi, 1:45.62
3- Ethiopia’s Mohammed Aman, 1:45.83
1500m:
1- Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop, 3:35.79
2- Kenya’s Elijah Manangoi, 3:36.01
3- Kenya’s Robert Biwott, 3:36.04
110m hurdles:
1- Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov, 13.14
2- America’s David Oliver, 13.30
3- Cuba’s Orlando Ortega, 13.30
400m hurdles:
1- Switzerland’s Kariem Hussein, 49.16
2- Estonia’s Rasmus Mägi, 49.37
3- Ireland’s Thomas Barr, 49.79
3000m steeplechase:
1- Kenya’s Paul Koech, 8:10.24
2- Kenya’s Jairus Birech, 8:15.64
3- America’s Evan Jager, 8:18.39
Long jump:
1- Britain’s Greg Rutherford, 8.32m
2- America’s Marquis Dendy, 8.32m
3- Australia’s Fabrice Lapierre, 8.27m
Discus throw:
1- Poland’s Robert Urbanek, 65.78m
2- Poland’s Piotr Malachowski, 65.04m
3- Estonia’s Gerd Kanter, 64.38m
Jamaican dominance in the sprints
As usual and without a rival, Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce dominated the women’s 100m at the Zurich Diamond League meeting, crowned champion of the whole series after taking first place in a time of 10.93 seconds, confirming she is the fastest woman on the planet.
The Jamaican had entered the 100m race through the front door after winning her third consecutive gold in the event in Beijing, clocking 10.81, with her best mark this year being 10.74 at the Paris international meeting in early July
Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare took second place in a time of 10.98 seconds, while America’s Tori Bowie finished third in 11.06 .
In the 800m, the results were as follows:
1- Kenya’s Eunice Jepkoech Sum, 1:59.14
2- Britain’s Lynsey Sharp, 1:59.37
3- Britain’s Fabian Colman, 1:59.68
3000m:
1- Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, 8:22.34
2- Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba, 8:26.54
3- Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi, 8:34.32
400m hurdles:
1- Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnová, 54.47
2- Denmark’s Sara Petersen, 54.57
3- America’s Georganne Moline, 54.89
4x100m relay:
1- Jamaica, 41.60
2- United States, 41.83
3- Trinidad and Tobago, 42.94
Long jump:
1- Serbia’s Ivana Španović, 7.02m
2- America’s Tianna Bartoletta, 6.97m
3- Britain’s Shara Proctor, 6.58m
Pole vault:
1- Greece’s Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou, 4.77m
2- Brazil’s Fabiana Murer, 4.72m
3- Cuba’s Yarisley Silva, 4.72m
Shot put:
1- Germany’s Christina Schwanitz, 19.91m
2- America’s Michelle Carter, 19.12m
3- Hungary’s Anita Márton, 18.42m
Javelin throw:
1- Czech Republic’s Barbora Špotáková, 64.31m
2- Canada’s Elizabeth Gleadle, 62.70m
3- Germany’s Katharina Molitor, 62.43m
