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Shot Putter Resse Hoffa stole the spotlight from the sprinters at the Norwich Union London Grand Prix tonight.
The U.S. champion won the event with a mammoth 22.43 (73-7.25) effort in the final round to wrestle the victory and the 2007 world lead from compatriot Christian Cantwell. It was a massive personal best for the 29-year-old, his first beyond 22 meters outdoors, and an effort which lifted the reigning world indoor champion to spot No. 11 on the all-time world list. This was Hoffa's seventh win in 10 outings outdoors this season, setting him up as a strong favorite for the world title later this month in Osaka.
The pre-meet 100m world record hype turned out to be just that, but Tyson Gay did dominate the short dash with a commanding 10.02 win, well ahead of European champion and Olympic silver medallist Francis Obikwelu of Portugal who clocked 10.18.
"Winning was the main thing," Gay said, who is still nursing a sore knee. "If I had run (through) the line I would have run under 10 seconds."
There were some fleeting moments of drama in the men's 400 with Jeremey Wariner challenged by LaShawn Merritt until the final 15 meters before the world and Olympic champion pulled away to take a 44.05 win to Merritt's 44.23. Conversely, there was little drama in the women's race with Sanya Richards' commanding 49.79 victory. Allyson Felix, the world and U.S 200m champion, was impressive in the race, reaching the line in a career best 50.17.
In a fierce triple jump battle, U.S. champion Aarik Wilson had a solid outing, extending his career best to 17.58 (57-8.25), the season's second farthest leap, to edge Bahamian Leevan Sands (17.55w) by just three centimetres.
Jamaica's Olympic champion Veronica Campbell was impressive in the 200m, dominating the race en route to a 22.55 victory, more than half a second ahead of American Torri Edwards (23.19). Easing up over the final 15 meters, Campbell ran against a formidable 1.9 m/s headwind.
Russian Yelena Isinbayeva was the clear winner in the pole vault, clearing 4.82 (15-9.75). After some initial problems, former world record holder Svetlana Feofanova managed a season's best 4.76 to finish second with U.S. record holder Jenn Stuczynski (4.70) third. On the rebound from some recent back problems, this was only Stuczynski's second outing since the U.S. championships.
In the 200m, Jamaican Usain Bolt, who has clocked 19.75 this year, nailed a commanding win over American standout Wallace Spearmon in 20.06. Spearmon, second at the U.S. championships in late June, ran a snoozy curve before making up significant ground over the final 50 meters to finish second in 20.11.
Elsewhere, American Lauren Fleshman kicked to the lead with 250 meters to go to win the 3000 in a career best 8:43.92, just ahead of Briton Jo Pavey (8:44.13), who will contest the 10,000 at the world championships. Bernard Lagat powered off the final turn to win the 1500 in 3:35.71 for his first win over the distance this year. Running alone over the final three laps, Australian Craig Mottram was unpressed in the 2 mile, winning in 8:11.16, but well off of the 8:03.50 he clocked at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, in early June.
Olympic champion Stefan Holm of Sweden upped his season's best to 2.32 (7-7.25) to win the high jump, and Christopher Tomlinson won the long jump with an 8.16 (26-9.25) effort for Britain's only international win of the evening.
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