Lasitskene adds fifth Diamond League Trophy to Olympic high jump title

Olympic women’s high jump champion Mariya Lasitskene finished her season on a fresh high with victory on the opening day of the Diamond League Final in Zurich, as the destination of seven Diamond Trophies was determined on Sechseläutenplatz - one of the city’s most famous squares.

At a 560-metre temporary track and arena, Lasitskene, competing as an Authorised Neutral Athlete, won her fifth Diamond Trophy with a meeting record and 2021 world-leading mark of 2.05 metres to beat the two women who shared the podium with her in Tokyo.

Ukraine’s Olympic bronze medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh was second with 2.03m, and Australia’s silver medallist Nicola McDermott third with 2.01m.

A total of 32 champions are being decided from among those who have qualified in the course of this season’s previous 11 meetings.

The remaining 25 Diamond Trophy events will take place in tomorrow's traditional Weltklasse meeting at the Letzigrund Stadium.

Victors earn a Diamond Trophy, a $30,000 (£21,700/€25,280) prize and a wildcard entry to next year’s World Athletics Championships in Eugene in Oregon.

Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba, whose celebrations at reaching the Tokyo women’s 5,000 metres final were cut short when she was disqualified for running out of her lane, earned a big consolation prize in the form of a Diamond Trophy in that event.

The Rio 2016 800m silver medallist, who has moved up in distance in line with the World Athletics ruling on female athletes with naturally elevated testosterone levels, just held off double world champion Hellen Obiri to win in 14min 28.98sec, with the Kenyan clocking 14:29.68.

In Brussels last Thursday, Niyonsaba set a national record of 14:25.34, beating a field that included Obiri and Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye, third today in 14:30.30.

Six days earlier Niyonsaba had won the 3,000m in Paris in 8:19.08 to go fifth on the all-time list, with Taye taking up sixth place after finishing just behind her in 8:19.52.

For a couple of rounds it looked as if the double Olympic men’s shot put champion and world record-holder Ryan Crouser might not win his first Diamond Trophy as his American compatriot Joe Kovacs, who beat him to the 2019 world title by a centimetre, led with a second-round effort of 22.39 metres.