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Justin Gatlin sneaks Diamond League 100m win

September 11, 2015

Usain Bolt wasn't at the Diamond League season finale, and Justin Gatlni was mighty pleased about it as he sneaked a 100m win to finish the season on a high. Dafne Schippers was also a winner.

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15. Leichtathletik-Weltmeisterschaft in Peking 2015 Justin Gatlin
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kappeler

Justin Gatlin brought his season to a close with a 100m victory at Friday's season-ending Diamond League meet in Brussels, Belgium, but the American passed on a shot at a rare double after straining his thigh. In the absence of Usain Bolt, who pushed Gatlin into second place in both the 100 and 200m at the Beijing worlds but withdrew from Brussels to rest after his injury-hit season, the American labored to victory in 9.98 seconds. Gatlin dipped over the line ahead of Nigerian-born Qatari Femi Ogunode, who went on to win the 200m in an Asian record of 19.97 seconds. France's Jimmy Vicaut was third in 9.99.

"I played it safe," said Gatlin. "With 75 meters to go I felt a twinge in my thigh, a small strain. Once I felt it, subconsciously I erred on the side of caution and just made sure I dipped for the line," added the 33-year-old.

Schippers secures super season

In the women's competition, newly-crowned world champion Dafne Schippers saw off the challenge of the 'grande dame' of the 200m, American Allyson Felix. Schippers clocked 22.12 seconds to beat Felix into second by a tenth of a second. Felix, the most decorated female athlete in IAAF history, led coming off the bend, but the 23-year-old Dutch sprinter produced her trademark powerful final 50 meters to outstrip the American. "Beating the Olympic champion -- I didn't know that it feels so good," Schippers said of Felix. "It makes me especially happy to beat someone like her. There are few better," she added.

After his disappointment at the world championships, France's Olympic champion and world record holder Renaud Lavillenie claimed a convincing victory in the pole vault clearing a best of 5.95 meters. In a sad end to what has been one of the season's great battles, Cuban Pedro Pablo Pichardo had to retire early in the men's triple jump, leaving American world champion Christian Taylor to extend his dominance in the event with a winning jump of 17.59m. Colombian Caterine Ibarguen extended her phenomenal winning stretch in the women's triple jump when she pulled out a sixth and final best of 14.60m to beat Israel's Hanna Knyazheva-Minenko. Other track highlights came when Tunisian Habiba Ghribi clocked the third fastest time ever in the women's 3,000 meters steeplechase (9:05.36) and Kenyan Faith Kipyegon timed the fourth fastest time in the women's mile, an African record of 4:16.71.

jh/bw (AFP)