Seville and Gayle win Diamond League trophies on opening day in Brussels

Oblique Seville and Tajay Gayle gave Jamaica two victories on the opening day of the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels. Seville won the men’s 100 metres, while Gayle captured the men’s long jump at King Baudouin Stadium.

Seville recovered from a poor start to win in 9.90 seconds, with a 0.1 metres-per-second wind reading. Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme finished second in 9.93, and Nigeria’s Kayinsola Ajayi took third in 9.97. Seville became the fourth Jamaican to win the Diamond League 100-metre title, following Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Ackeem Blake.

Gayle saved his best effort for the final round, jumping a season-best 8.46 metres to overtake series leader Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, who finished second at 8.40 metres. Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer placed third with 8.23 metres. The results extended Jamaica’s run of winning at least one Diamond League trophy for 16 consecutive years.

Jamaica also placed Roje Stona third in the men’s discus throw, while Wayne Pinnock finished fifth in the long jump. Other Jamaican results included fourth place for Ackelia Smith in the women’s triple jump, fifth for Rushell Clayton in the 400-metre hurdles, fifth for Romaine Beckford in the high jump, sixth for Orlando Bennett in the 110-metre hurdles and sixth for Danniel Thomas-Dodd in the shot put.

Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia won the discus with 71.29 metres, Anna Cockrell of the United States won the 400-metre hurdles in 53.01 seconds, and Senegal’s Saly Sarr took the triple jump with 14.96 metres. American Ja’Kobe Tharp won the 110-metre hurdles in 13.03 seconds, while Chase Jackson set an American record and a meeting record in the shot put with a world-leading 21.14 metres.