Aussie Yual Reath soars in Diamond League high jump
Australian high jumper Yual Reath has bounced back superbly from an injury scare and just been pipped for what would have been a maiden Diamond League triumph in Morocco.
Star New Zealander Hamish Kerr claimed the victory on countback with 2.25m.
Reath, 25, and Italy's Marco Fasinotti cleared the same height on Sunday (Monday AEST) but were forced to share second place as the Kiwi had gone over 2.25m at the first attempt.
American duo Shelby McEwen and JuVaughn Harrison, both global medallists, finished outside the podium places in Rabat.
"I'm happy with that. It's been a long build- up, things have been delayed but I'm slowly getting better with each competition," said Ballarat-based Reath, who hit back hard following a setback at last week's Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Japan.
"Back in Tokyo, I scissored two metres; next minute I looked at my leg and I had ripped through my ankle.
"I had to get 20 plus stitches, it must have been my spikes once I landed on the bag.
"I told the first aid 'strap it up, I'm finishing this competition'. It was a lot of mental work because I could still feel it, but I had to keep going."
Rising Australian middle-distance star Jude Thomas set a personal best of three minutes 33.35 seconds to finish 10th a physical men's 1500m.
It was less than half a second outside the qualifying mark for September's world championships in Tokyo.
Sarah Billings was seventh in the women's 1500m and Stawell Gift winner Bree Rizzo (11.43) was last in the women's 100m on her Diamond League debut.
Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo's sprint double bid fell apart as he finished last in the 100m and retired from the 200m.
Botswana's Tebogo clocked 10.43, with South Africa's Akani Simbine winning the 100m race in 9.95, his third Diamond League victory of the season.
In the men's 800m, Botswana's Tshepiso Masalela celebrated his 26th birthday in style, dominating the race to win in a world-leading 1:42.70, comfortably ahead of Britain's Max Burgin and Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya.
American Jacory Patterson produced a late surge to edge South Africa's Zakithi Nene and win the men's 400m in 44.37.
Kenyan Beatrice Chebet ran almost alone to win the women's 3000m in 8:11.56 - the second fastest time in history behind Wang Junxia's 8:06.11 in 1993.
"I am so, so happy. I wasn't trying to set a world record. I just came to run my personal best, and that's what I did," Chebet said.
With Reuters.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
20 minutes ago
- West Australian
Aussie No.1 falls at first hurdle at revived Queen's
Daria Kasatkina has suffered her worst defeat since switching to represent Australia in late March, beaten 6-1 3-6 6-3 by fast-rising Brit Sonay Kartal at the revived Queen's Club women's tournament. Kasatkina was fresh off a promising run to the last 16 at Roland Garros last week, and her weekend engagement to long-term partner Natalia Zabiiako, a former Olympic skater. But her joy was soured, temporarily at least, as Kartal delighted the home crowd in the first women's tournament at Queen's in more than 50 years. In the last final, in 1973, Evonne Goolagong (now Cawley) lost to Russia's Olga Morozova, who would go on to lose that year's Wimbledon final a few weeks later. That was the fourth successive final featuring an Australian, Margaret Court having won in 1970 and 1971 and Karen Krantzcke losing to Chris Evert in 1972. Any hopes that Kasatkina would maintain the Aussie run 52 years on soon disappeared against Kartal, who has climbed from 271st in the world to 50th in a year. This was the 23-year-old's best win of her career, the world No 16 Kasatkina becoming her second top-20 victim after beating Beatriz Haddad Maia at Indian Wells. Kasatkina briefly hinted at battling back when she rallied from 0-40 at 2-4 in the final set to force deuce, but on the newly-christened Andy Murray Arena Kartal held for 5-2, then served out at 5-3, her winning forehand leaving Kasatkina flat-footed. The result left two Australians in the draw, Ajla Tomljanovic and Maddison Inglis. Later on Monday Inglis was due to face No.6 seed Karolina Muchova with the winner meeting German qualifier Tatjana Maria, who beat former US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez 7-6 6-2. On Tuesday Tomljanovic plays Alex de Minaur's fiancee Katie Boulter, who earlier teamed up with Emma Raducanu in a doubles pairing that had the British media swooning as they won their first round match. In the day's opening match Haddad Maia came from a set down to beat former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 2-6 6-4 6-4. Two-time Wimbledon winner Kvitova returned from a 17-month maternity break in February but has only won one match since. The 35-year-old took the first set comfortably but once Haddad Maia settled onto the surface the Brazilian eased to victory.
Perth Now
21 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Aussie No.1 falls at first hurdle at revived Queen's
Daria Kasatkina has suffered her worst defeat since switching to represent Australia in late March, beaten 6-1 3-6 6-3 by fast-rising Brit Sonay Kartal at the revived Queen's Club women's tournament. Kasatkina was fresh off a promising run to the last 16 at Roland Garros last week, and her weekend engagement to long-term partner Natalia Zabiiako, a former Olympic skater. But her joy was soured, temporarily at least, as Kartal delighted the home crowd in the first women's tournament at Queen's in more than 50 years. In the last final, in 1973, Evonne Goolagong (now Cawley) lost to Russia's Olga Morozova, who would go on to lose that year's Wimbledon final a few weeks later. That was the fourth successive final featuring an Australian, Margaret Court having won in 1970 and 1971 and Karen Krantzcke losing to Chris Evert in 1972. Any hopes that Kasatkina would maintain the Aussie run 52 years on soon disappeared against Kartal, who has climbed from 271st in the world to 50th in a year. This was the 23-year-old's best win of her career, the world No 16 Kasatkina becoming her second top-20 victim after beating Beatriz Haddad Maia at Indian Wells. Kasatkina briefly hinted at battling back when she rallied from 0-40 at 2-4 in the final set to force deuce, but on the newly-christened Andy Murray Arena Kartal held for 5-2, then served out at 5-3, her winning forehand leaving Kasatkina flat-footed. The result left two Australians in the draw, Ajla Tomljanovic and Maddison Inglis. Later on Monday Inglis was due to face No.6 seed Karolina Muchova with the winner meeting German qualifier Tatjana Maria, who beat former US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez 7-6 6-2. On Tuesday Tomljanovic plays Alex de Minaur's fiancee Katie Boulter, who earlier teamed up with Emma Raducanu in a doubles pairing that had the British media swooning as they won their first round match. In the day's opening match Haddad Maia came from a set down to beat former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 2-6 6-4 6-4. Two-time Wimbledon winner Kvitova returned from a 17-month maternity break in February but has only won one match since. The 35-year-old took the first set comfortably but once Haddad Maia settled onto the surface the Brazilian eased to victory.
7NEWS
4 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Pat Cummins and Jeremy Clarkson trade farming and cricket tips ahead of ICC World Test Championship finals
What's the difference between a hobby farm and a real farm? 'A (hobby farm) makes absolutely no money,' Pat Cummins said, with a laugh. 'Costs money and makes no money!' When Cummins isn't stepping out onto the pitch as the captain of the Australian cricket team, he can be found on his hobby farm in NSW's Southern Highlands. He told The Nightly it was a passion, not a profit venture, and 'a happy place' for him and his family. 'We love that whenever life gets busy to just be able to go back there. 'My uncle had a farm growing up, so we'd go there twice a tear and there are so many memories as kids, kind of running around a farm. So, I always wanted that, and especially having kids, I was like, 'Oh, that'd be awesome to have that for our kids'. But just last week, Cummins had to sell the farm's 10 cows. They had even named them. 'My wife cried. It was a long negotiation with my wife, but they were just getting so big, they were wrecking the fences and (it was) dangerous. We're going to redo some of the fences over the next six months, we're just going to have nothing on there for about a year.' Loading Instagram Post Cummins has a way to go before he's a proper pastoralist, but he got a small taste of a working farm when he went to visit Jeremy Clarkson's holdings in the Cotswolds, where the UK TV personality films his reality series, Clarkson's Farm. The confab was a promotional crossover between the show which is on Prime Video and Cummins' role as an ambassador the streaming platform, and will feature in an episode in the upcoming fifth season. Cummins threw some bowls as Clarkson's co-star, Charlie Ireland, tried, mostly in vain, to bat the ball. Clarkson, an avowed non-cricket fan, stood on the sidelines while needling his mate. Sadly, the encounter didn't convert Clarkson to the sport. 'He strikes me as someone who's going to be hard to change his mind on things,' Cummins said. 'I don't really like race cars, or I don't mind it, but I don't know anything about race car driving, So, we didn't get too deep. 'Played a game of cricket, didn't really get involved. But he asked a lot of questions about the (Indian Premier League), I think as a way in to try and sell these cricket bats into India.' In a recent episode of Clarkson's Farm, the team planted willow trees that will be harvested to craft the bats that are in high demand in India. But there's a catch, the willows won't be ready to harvest for 15 years. Cummins is in the UK prepping for the Australian side's clash with South Africa in the ICC World Test Championship finals at Lord's Cricket Ground. Australia will be defending its title in the competition, which is streaming on Prime. 'It's high pressure and we want to win,' he said. 'We've had a great couple of years, we've the final, that's a huge achievement. To win would obviously be amazing, but it's a one-off test match, things can happen, and we feel really well placed.' The competition is relatively new, having only launched in 2019 and each cycle runs over two years. 'The first time around, it felt very new. Once we saw New Zealand win it, and we just missed out, as a team, we thought, 'No, no, that's something we actually want to win and take seriously. 'You're competing against every other test play nation, so it's like a Mickey Mouse competition, you're up against everyone, just like any other ICC event. It's gaining momentum, it's got quite a bit of relevance in world cricket.' For Cummins, test cricket is still the epitome of the sport, so anything that boosts the format is right up his alley. 'No doubt the world is changing in terms of there's just more cricket than there ever has been,' he said. 'The challenge is trying to make sure test cricket stays right at the top of that because us players, we love it more than any other format, or I do. 'That's kind of real cricket and we love it. I know they're talking some ideas this week at the (Marylebone Cricket Club, based at Lord's). Anything that keeps test cricket number one for me is all excellent.'
