Diamond League wins for Jackson, Clayton

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson and Rushell Clayton picked up wins at yesterday’s Wanda Diamond League in Rabat, Morocco.

Jackson, the 2023 World 200 metres champion and defending Diamond League champion over the half lap, looked a bit rusty in her first 200m race of the season. She clocked a moderate 22. 82 seconds. Maboundou Kone of Cote d’Ivoire ended second in 22.96, with third going to Helen Perisot of France in a personal-best 23.02.

In a post-race interview, Jackson said she was happy for the win.

“I think it was a pretty good race for the first 200m of the season,” she said. Jackson was not too perturbed about the fairly slow time.

“Time is what it is. I tried to focus on my technique and execution. I think I did good,” she said, while adding that it is too early to talk about the events she will be competing in at the Paris Olympics.

Following her world-leading 53.72 seconds a week ago at the Jamaica Athletics Invitation meet in Jamaica, Clayton made it back-to-back wins in the women’s 400m hurdles. Clayton, who was off to a slow start, picked up early to dominate her rivals and in the end held off her fast-finishing national teammate Shian Salmon to win in 53.98. Salmon ended second in a season’s best 54.27, with third going to Anna Ryzhykova of Ukraine in 55.09. Janieve Russell was fifth in 55.74.

“I am very happy as it was a pretty good race, but there are still more things to fix in the hurdling,” Clayton said after her win. “This is my second race of the season and the second time I have gone under 54 seconds, and I am satisfied,” Clayton add, while revealing that her next race will be in Oslo.

There were fourth-place finishes for throwers Danniel Thomas-Dodd and Traves Smikle at the meet.

Thomas had a heave of 18.54 metres in the women’s shot put, while Smikle threw 66.04m in the men’s discus. Fedrick Dacres ended sixth in the discus with a distance of 65.05m.

In the men’s 100m, both Rohan Watson and Yohan Blake found the going tough. Watson was fifth in 10,26 seconds, as Blake struggled to an eighth-place finish in 10.41. Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon won the event in 10.11, ahead of Andre De Grasse of Canada, who was second in 19.18, with third going to Jeremiah Azu of Great Britain in 10.25.