Silesia Diamond League: Amusan equals meet record, Richardson beats Jackson in 100m

World Record holder, Tobi Amusan has won the Silesia Diamond League Women’s 100m Hurdles,equalling the meet record after finishing the race at 12.34 seconds.

American Kendra Harrison came a close second after Amusan caught up with her in a nail-biting race to the finish line.

Newly crowned US champion Nia Ali came third in 12.38s while Jamaican champion Megan Tapper finished fourth ahead of her compatriot Danielle Williams in fifth.

It was the fastest time this season for the Nigeria sprint icon, equalling Jasmine Camacho-Quinn’s meet record.

The record catapults her to the top of the Diamond League standings where she is seven points ahead of Camacho-Quinn, who for the first time, didn’t feature in a Diamond League meet this season.

Recall Amusan recently won the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm which makes her victory in Silesia, her second consecutive Diamond League win this season as she continues her build-up to a third successful title defense.

Elsewhere, Sha’Carri Richardson edged Shericka Jackson in a 100m.

 Richardson clocked 10.76 seconds, overtaking Jackson by two hundredths.

Jackson is the world’s fastest woman this year — 10.65 seconds from last weekend’s Jamaican Championships — but is 0-2 against Richardson this year. Richardson ran a personal-best 10.71 last week at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships and is undefeated at the distance this year.

They are the favorites for August’s world championships in Budapest. Reigning world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica has yet to race a 100m this year.

Also, Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the 1500m in 3:27.14 to jump from the sixth-fastest man to the fourth-fastest in history. The world record is 3:26.00 from Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj in 1998.

South African Akani Simbine won the men’s 100m in 9.97 seconds, edging world champion Fred Kerley (9.98) and U.S. champion Cravont Charleston (9.99). Kerley had been undefeated at 100m dating to June 2022, a string of six meets snapped.

 World record holder Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa won the 400m in 44.08, his best time since tearing a meniscus and ACL in a fall 2017 celebrity tag rugby match. He ranks second in the world this year and on Sunday won over a field that included the world’s fastest man this year, Muzala Samukonga of Zambia, who did not finish.

Ryan Crouser prevailed in a meeting of the world’s top five shot putters in 2023, throwing 22.55 meters. Crouser has the world’s eight-best throws this year, topped by his world record of 23.56.

Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas remained undefeated in the triple jump dating to the Tokyo Olympics. She leaped 15.18 meters, the world’s best of 2023.