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Ricky Petrucciani doesn’t excel at his home meeting. His idol Van Niekerk narrowly wins.
With a time of 45.76 seconds, Vice European Champion Ricky Petrucciani could not benefit from the loud support of the home crowd in Bellinzona over 400 m. At the «Gala dei Castelli», the Ticino was edged out to fourth place by the South African Zakhiti Nene.
Wayde van Niekerk (RSA) saved the best for the end of the season. The world record holder clocked his best time of 44.33 seconds since returning from a protracted injury this summer. Kirani James, World Cup runner-up from Grenada, was just 5/100 behind.
From a Swiss point of view, there were no highlights at the end of the season. Mujinga Kambundji was tired over 200m. In 22.88 seconds she missed the podium in fourth place. She lost 0.37 seconds to the winner Beatrice Masilingi from Namibia.
Ditaji Kambundji in 5th place
For the 12th time this season, her sister Ditaji Kambundji, who is 10 years her junior, stayed under the 13-second mark in the 100 m hurdles. The European Championship bronze medalist finished fifth in 12.97 seconds ahead of compatriot Noemi Zbären (13.07). Compared to “Weltklasse Zürich” it increased significantly. Victory went to Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico (12.72).
Defeat for Jackson
Marie-Josée Ta Lou, somewhat surprisingly, won the well-attended women’s 100m sprint. The Ivorian’s winning time of 10.86 seconds was 8/100ths of a meeting record set by Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce last year. Salomé Kora, the only Swiss at the start, was eighth in 10.54 s. World Championship runner-up Shericka Jackson (JAM) had to settle for 5th place.
Pascal Mancini ran an appealing time of 10.30 s for the men, which was enough for 6th place. American outsider Brandon Carnes outsmarted the competition on lane 8. He relegated Nigerian Ferdinand Omanyala and Kendal Williams (USA) to 2nd and 3rd place by 1 hundredth each.
Dos Santos strong again – Lobalu with a successful finish
Against Alison Dos Santos there was again no herb over 400 m hurdles. Like last Thursday in Zurich, the Brazilian was in a class of his own and won in 47.61 seconds (meeting record) ahead of Wilfried Happio (FRA) and Yasmani Copello (TUR). Ticino’s Mattia Tajana made it to 5th place, but remained a good 7 tenths above his personal best.
South Sudanese refugee Dominic Lobalu, who lives in Switzerland, celebrated another win at the end of the season. The 24-year-old crossed the finish line first over 3000 m in 7:38.16 minutes. In his Diamond League success in Stockholm at the end of June he was almost 9 seconds faster.