Sha’Carri Richardson, the American world champion, exacted revenge on Julien Alfred of St. Lucia, whom she lost to in the Olympics, winning the women’s 100-meter final at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich.
After winning gold in Paris and Richardson taking silver, Alfred became her nation’s first Olympic medallist. The St. Lucian also won silver in the 200m.
However, American Richardson won on Thursday in Switzerland against a formidable competition, clocking a time of 10.84 seconds.
British competitor Dina Asher-Smith, who was not able to make it to the Olympic final, came in third place, and fellow countryman Daryll Neita placed seventh.
Letsile Tebogo, the Olympic champion from Botswana, won the men’s 200-meter final in 19.55 seconds, while American competitors Kenneth Bednarek and Erriyon Knighton placed second and third, respectively.
Men’s 1500-meter race winner Yared Nuguse, an Olympic bronze medallist, defeated Jakob Ingebrigtsen in a close finish, living up to the high expectations.
Similar to his performance in Paris, American Nuguse finished one spot ahead of Ingebrigtsen, with Olympic champion Cole Hocker placing third.
Josh Kerr, the silver medallist from the Olympics and world champion for Britain, had to settle for fifth place.
Georgia Bell, the bronze medallist from the Olympics in the 1500m, finished second in the women’s 800m, after Kenya’s Mary Moraa. Jemma Reekie of Great Britain finished fourth.
Armand Duplantis, the Olympic champion from Sweden, won the men’s pole vault, extending his stellar performance in all events.
Success for the Swede followed his triumph in a 100m exhibition race against 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm on Wednesday.
Before the two-night Diamond League final in Brussels next week, the penultimate meeting saw Kenyan double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet break a world record in the women’s 5,000m, clocking in at 14 minutes, 9.52 seconds.
Chebet wasn’t the only Parisian gold medallist to shine that evening. Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the Olympic champion and world record holder from Ukraine, won the high jump, Ryan Crouser, an American, won the shot throw, and Grant Holloway, a fellow countryman, won the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 12.99 seconds.
