RABAT (Reuters) -Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek began the defence of his 200 metres Diamond League title with a comfortable win in Rabat on Sunday while Elaine Thompson-Herah continued her preparation for a first individual world title with another 100m victory.
American Bednarek, who made a disappointing start to his season by finishing eighth in the 100m race in Eugene, Oregon last week, showed no signs of rust in his preferred event by crossing the line in 20.21 seconds.
Assisted by the wind, the 23-year-old finished 0.14 ahead of South African Luxolo Adams while Italian Eseosa Fostine Desalu was third with a time of 20.54.
“I’m happy with today’s victory and my season best though I wanted to do a better performance and achieve a higher timing,” Bednarek said.
“Now, I’ll go back home and train harder to prepare for the world championships.”
Olympic champion Thompson-Herah overcame a shoulder injury and Achilles issues to win the women’s 100m event in last week’s dry run for July’s world championships in the United States and the Jamaican looked unstoppable again.
She exploded out of the blocks at Prince Moulay Abdellah stadium — which was hosting the Diamond League for the first time since 2019 — and sealed the victory in 10.83 seconds, improving on her own meeting record of 10.87 set in 2017.
“I feel amazing about the race,” said the 29-year-old, who is hoping to add an individual world championships title to her collection of five Olympic gold medals.
“This is my third time in Rabat and I’m super excited about the new meeting record. For the next event in Rome I’m following the same process and keeping up the same pace.”
Ivorian Marie-Josee Ta Lou was second after clocking 11.04 and Thompson-Herah’s compatriot Natasha Morrison took the bronze medal with a time of 11.22.
Norway’s Olympic 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm made a disastrous start to his season by sustaining a right hamstring injury after jumping one barrier, paving the way for American Khallifah Rosser to take the win in 48.25.
“I think it’s a tear,” Warholm said. “I’ll focus on treating it and come back stronger.”
Earlier, Ukraine’s world indoor champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh bagged her second Diamond League high jump victory of the season with an effort of 1.96m.
The Tokyo Games bronze medallist edged out compatriot Iryna Gerashchenko, who managed 1.93m.
Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou won the men’s long jump with a superb effort of 8.27m.
Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali sealed his first Diamond League 3,000m steeplechase victory at home in five years, the Olympic champion finishing with a world leading time of 7:58.28.
The Diamond League action will shift to Italy on Thursday for the fifth meeting of the season in Rome, although Olympic sprint champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs will not feature on home soil having pulled out due to a muscle injury.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge)
