Allyson Felix, Tyson Gay and Jeremy Wariner set the stadium alight with sensational performances at last weekend’s Aviva London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace, despite intermittent rain and wind. The GB team showed glimmers of brilliance and signs of fatigue after appearing at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona last month, but still managed to make it onto the podium.
Mo takes silver
Mo Farah produced a performance deserving of silver in the 3000m, Lisa Dobriskey took bronze in a solid performance in the women’s 1500m and Dai Greene took the bronze in the 400m hurdles.
The young Briton Perri Shakes-Drayton produced a notable performance as she recorded a PB of 51.48 in the 400m hurdles, and Darren St Clair ran a PB of 1:45.74, closely followed by compatriot Gareth Warburton in the men’s 800m.
Jenny Meadows was unable to finish on a high after a tough season; she’ll look to work herself back to full fitness for next year.
Croydon club athlete Martyn Rooney was disappointed with his performance in the 400m; neither Rooney nor Bingham got their tactics right, both falling short of a place on the podium.
Americans dominate the medals
The main event was undoubtedly the men’s 100m. It seemed inevitable that Tyson Gay would take gold without the likes of Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell to compete with, and Gay produced a stellar performance with a meeting record of 9.78.
Fellow Americans Wariner, Spearmon, Felix and Myers all took gold on the track with David Oliver producing a meet record in the 110m hurdles in 13.06, a time that will send shivers through the world of athletics.
Weather makes it hard work on the field
In the field, the weather took its toll and made conditions extremely hard for the athletes. Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic took the gold but was unable to break the world record, British triple jumper Philips Idowu could not reproduce his form from Barcelona and came in in sixth position, but the charismatic Chris Tomlinson took the bronze in the long jump.
American Resse Hoffa put on a tantalising display in the shot put, entertaining the Crystal Palace crowd and went on to win their hearts.
“I tend to throw really well in Britain! Here, Birmingham, Gateshead, wherever – if you’d have me I’d be British tomorrow!” he said.
The Crystal Palace crowd would have rushed at the opportunity then and there!
Team GB will go away disappointed but will look for positives to improve on for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Crystal Palace once again defied the weather, with a sold-out stadium, electric atmosphere and record-breaking performances; another unforgettable meet from the Samsung Diamond League.