Thea LaFond produced the best women\u2019s triple jump performance in the world for almost four years, leaping a world-leading 15.25m (1.8m\/s) at the Boris Hanzekovic Memorial in Zagreb yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Olympic champion\u2019s performance was one of six meeting records set at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, and it came in a high-quality contest against world champion Leyanis Perez Hernandez of Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perez Hernandez had led with 14.74m before LaFond launched herself out to 15.25m in the fifth round. The mark smashed the meeting record of 14.77m, added 23 centimetres to the PB LaFond set when winning Olympic gold in 2024, and moved her to equal ninth on the world all-time list. It also lifted her to third on the North American all-time list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perez Hernandez responded with 14.76m in the sixth round but couldn\u2019t get close to LaFond\u2019s winning mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was really trying to project off the board and get a good hop, which I had been missing for most of the season,\u201d said LaFond. \u201cI\u2019m not at the weight I\u2019m normally at and I\u2019m not running as fast as I normally do, but I feel so powerful. My coach and husband told me to focus on the take-off and be patient on the hop. On that last jump, I just told myself to forget everything else and launch off the board. It was probably one of the easiest jumps of my life. 15.25m \u2013 just saying it sounds insane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alaysha Johnson won a thrilling women\u2019s 100m hurdles in 12.43, getting the verdict in a photo finish from Rayniah Jones, who was given the same time. Both athletes shared the meeting record, while Alia Armstrong completed a US sweep of the top three in 12.51.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was another meeting record in the men\u2019s 110m hurdles, where Jamal Britt equalled the 12.98 mark that had stood since 1999. Japan\u2019s Shunsuke Izumiya finished second in a PB of 13.00, with Kendry Menendez third in a PB of 13.02. World champion Cordell Tinch was fourth in 13.17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Multiple global champion Elaine Thompson-Herah broke one of the oldest meeting records on the books, winning the women\u2019s 100m in a season\u2019s best of 10.91 to improve a mark that had stood since 1988. Fellow Jamaican Brianna Lyston was second in an equal season\u2019s best of 10.94, while Poland\u2019s Ewa Swoboda was third in a season\u2019s best of 10.98.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two other Jamaican women also broke meeting records. Stacey Ann Williams won the women\u2019s 400m in 49.48, finishing ahead of Britain\u2019s Yemi Mary John, who ran 50.33. Rushell Clayton improved her own meeting record in the women\u2019s 400m hurdles, winning comfortably in 53.54 from Belgium\u2019s Paulien Couckuyt, who set a PB of 54.32. World leader Emma Zapletalova looked out of sorts and coasted to fifth in 55.82.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pawel Fajdek made a stunning return to form and produced his best throw since winning his fifth world title in 2022, launching the hammer 81.89m to win a high-quality contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Polish thrower, who was making his season debut, had been fifth heading into the fifth round. Moments earlier, Mykhaylo Kokhan had taken the lead with 81.42m, but Fajdek responded almost immediately, moving ahead with a mark that was just two centimetres shy of the meeting record set by Yann Chaussinand last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kokhan finished second with 81.42m, while Chaussinand was third with 80.92m, a mark that had led from the second round until the fifth. Bence Halasz completed a rare contest with four men beyond 80 metres, throwing 80.71m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the men\u2019s discus, Slovenia\u2019s Kristjan Ceh saved his best for last. Britain\u2019s Lawrence Okoye briefly took the lead in the fifth round with 68.24m, but Ceh responded in the final round with 70.32m to secure victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men\u2019s shot put, held on Thursday, was won by Rajindra Campbell with a Jamaican record of 22.44m. Leonardo Fabbri of Italy had taken the lead with 22.17m in the second round and improved to 22.21m in the third, before Campbell moved ahead in round five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shaunae Miller-Uibo, the two-time Olympic 400m champion, won the women\u2019s 200m convincingly in 22.19, finishing more than half a second ahead of Liberia\u2019s Thelma Davies, who clocked 22.76.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andre De Grasse \u2013 like Miller-Uibo, an Olympic gold medallist in 2021 \u2013 won the men\u2019s race in 19.95, holding off a strong challenge from breakout Moroccan sprinter Yassine Hssine, who reduced his own national record to 20.00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the women\u2019s high jump, held on Wednesday, Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared 1.97m to win from Eleanor Patterson and Angelina Topic, who both cleared 1.95m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anvar Anvarov broke his own Uzbek record to win the men\u2019s long jump with 8.29m, finishing just six centimetres ahead of Serbia\u2019s Luka Boskovic, who set a PB of 8.23m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leonie Hugli continued her breakthrough season in the women\u2019s javelin. The Swiss thrower, who started the year with a PB of 51.98m before improving to a national record of 61.94m in May, backed up that recent form with a 61.14m victory here in Zagreb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teenager Phoebe Gill led a British one-two in the women\u2019s 800m, winning in 1:59.18 from Isabelle Boffey, who ran 1:59.70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere on the track, USA\u2019s Nathan Green won the men\u2019s 1500m in 3:32.46, while France\u2019s Jordan Terrasse took the men\u2019s 800m in 1:44.77. In the women\u2019s 3000m, Ethiopian teenager Ngisti Molla stayed in the race after pacing duties and went on to win in 8:44.75.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thea LaFond produced the best women\u2019s triple jump performance in the world for almost four years, leaping a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-14276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-athletics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t