OSLO: Allyson Felix coasted to victory in the women’s 200m at Wednesday’s Diamond League in Oslo as French pole vault master Renaud Lavillenie (pictured) extended his winning streak in 2014 to 10 competitions.
In balmy conditions at Bislett Stadium, there was also a notable performance from Ashton Eaton, the American becoming the first decathlete to win an event in the Diamond League when he claimed victory in the 400m hurdles.
American runner Felix looked unruffled in her win, coasting home in 22.73sec ahead of Briton Jodie Williams and France’s Myriam Soumare, both of whom had earlier also run in the 100m, the Frenchwoman winning in 11.18sec.
For Felix, a four-time Olympic gold medal winner and one of the dominant figures over the distance having won three consecutive world titles, it was a further step back towards recovery after an injury-plagued 2013.
“I just wanted to work on some of the things I’ve been doing in practice,” said Felix. “The speed is not quite there, but it’s coming, and hopefully the rest of season it’ll keep progressing.
“It’s definitely been a rocky road, there’ve been ups and down, and setbacks, it’s going to take me a little bit to get back to that top form... It’s a work in progress!”
Renaud Lavillenie stretched his winning streak in 2014 to 10 events, a best of 5.77m enough to see off the opposition.
It continues a remarkable year for Lavillenie, who has also broken Sergey Bubka’s long-standing world record when he vaulted 6.16m indoors in Donetsk in February.
“I’m just taking it one competition at a time in the build-up to the European championships,” Lavillenie said.
“Zurich is in two months, that’s a lot of time for me, there’s a lot of work to do, there’s a lot of competitions to be ready for that. It’s normal for me to be in progression. I think in July I’ll be in good shape to jump high.” AFP
