DOHA (Reuters) -Jamaica’s Tia Clayton edged her twin sister Tina Clayton in the women’s 100 metres at the Doha Diamond League meet on Friday while Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo nearly threw away a victory near the finish line in the men’s 200 metres.
Tia clocked a world-leading 10.92 seconds, 0.1 second faster than her sister Tina who edged Amy Hunt by one hundredth of a second after the Briton ran a personal best to deny Jamaica a podium sweep.
“I made the world leading mark, but honestly I didn’t do the best possible because I couldn’t do the start I always get,” Tia said.
“But other than that it was a great race for me. It is very special for me and my twin sister to finish first and second in this event tonight.”
The two sisters are training partners and Tina said family ties are set aside when they race.
“When we line up for a race, we are no longer sisters, we are rival competitors,” she said.
“But after the race is over, it feels really good to make the top two places.”
Twice 100m Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce had to settle for fourth on her return to Diamond League as the 38-year-old failed to defy the odds in Doha, where she won the world title six years ago.
Tebogo started the 200 metres final well out on lane seven but the Botswanan sprinter eased up towards the end and nearly paid the price for a cheeky look over at American Courtney Lindsey in the next lane as he won by a whisker.
Tebogo clocked 20.10 seconds, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Lindsey.
WEBER BEATS CHOPRA
Twice Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra of India breached the 90-metre mark in the men’s javelin for the first time in his career but his joy was short-lived when he was pipped to top spot by Germany’s Julian Weber.
Chopra warmed up with a world-leading 88.44 metres with his first throw before a monster 90.23 metres attempt in the third round for a personal best and national record.
But Weber’s final effort saw the javelin soar into the night sky and land at 91.06 metres to steal victory.
Earlier, Paris silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser got things underway when she cruised to victory in the 400 metres, tying the meet record with a time of 49.83 seconds, while Tshepiso Masalela won the men’s 800 metres.
Molly Caudery claimed her first win of the season in the pole vault when the Briton became the only woman to clear 4.75 metres.
Reynold Cheruiyot had the Kenyan fans in raptures when the 20-year-old stormed to victory in just his second career race in the men’s 5,000 metres.
Cheruiyot switched gears in the final lap and took the lead in the last 200 metres to win with a time of 13 minutes and 16.40 seconds while South Sudan’s Dominic Lobalu and Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew had a photo finish for second and third.
The Kenyan fans were on their feet once again after the final event where Faith Cherotich clinched victory in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, beating Paris gold medallist Winfred Yavi in the final few metres with a sudden burst of speed.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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