Madrid (EFE).- The Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, in 100 meters, the Spanish Ana Peleteiro, in triple jump, the Swiss Jason Joseph in 110 hurdles and the French Gabriel Tual, in 800, were the main protagonists of the Madrid Meeting held at the Vallehermoso stadium, belonging to the World Athletics silver circuit.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, five times 100m world champion, arrived in Madrid as a star and the Vallehermoso public gave her one of the ovations of the night.
The Jamaican did not give any of her rivals an option and won with 10.83 -record of the rally- her second race of the season after the one harvested just two days ago in Lucerne (Switzerland) with 10.82. In the Spanish capital she was one hundredth slower in a race she completely dominated.
The Spanish Jael Bestué, with 11.10, personal best and third best Spanish of all time, finished second and showed that her progression is on the rise.
In the triple jump, the Spanish Ana Peleteiro, bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, claimed victory with a 14.15 mark, her best record of the season in her fourth competition after her reappearance on June 14, six months after becoming a mother.
Peleteiro, trained by the Cuban Iván Pedroso, began the contest with a jump of 13.98, followed by the best jump of 14.15, with a favorable wind of +0.6. In the third she risked and made null. In the fourth she again exceeded fourteen meters (14.01), in the fifth she resigned and in the sixth, with the victory already assured, she made a null again.
One of the most anticipated races, the men’s 800 meters, led to the triumph of Gabriel Tual, who stopped the clock in 1:44.46 and surprised the national idol, Adrián Ben, current European indoor champion, who was third with 1:44.72, the season mark.
“I am happy with the sensations of the race. The pace was good, I felt good and I was able to finish off at the end”, said Ben.
In the 110 meter hurdles, the Swiss Jason Joseph, European indoor champion in the 1960s, had the best personal best with a time of 13.10, ahead of the Frenchman Wilhelm Belocian (13.20) and the Spanish Quique Llopis (13.35), who finished third with his best mark of the season although he did not reach the 13.28 that gives him a direct ticket to the World Cup in Budapest.
“The sensations were very good. Halfway through the race I swallowed a fence, I braked, they caught me but I fixed it as best I could. I wanted to get my feeling back on the track after what happened on the indoor track but I’m very happy. I think I can give a little more, but without rushing and improving day by day”, pointed out Llopis.
The young Kenyan Brenda Chebet won the 1,500 meters without much trouble, stopping the clock in 4:01.85, less than a second ahead of the second, Ethiopian Saron Berhe (4:02.30). The Polish Sofia Ennaoui, bronze medalist in the last European Championship in Munich, finished fourth with 4:03.68.
The women’s 800 was won by the Ethiopian Worknesh Mesele with 1:58.75, best mark of the season, after a race in which the Spanish Lorea Ibarzabal demonstrated her progression, finishing third with 1:59.88, personal best.
“I’m very happy. The great barrier of two minutes has been difficult for me to lower but doing it at home, in Madrid, makes me very happy. The Spanish Championship in Torrent is the objective of the season, I want the first medal in the open air, and that is what I think about”, confessed Ibarzabal.
Jamaican Megan Tapper, bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, flew over the green track of Vallehermoso to win the 100 hurdles with 12.69, just five hundredths less than the American Tonea Marshall (12.74).
The Finnish Ella Junnila, with a mark of 1.90 meters, took the victory in the high jump, the American Anna Cockrell, with 53.79, won the 400 hurdles, and the Romanian Bianca Florentina Ghelber, with 73.80, triumphed in the hammer throw, a test in which the Spanish record holder Laura Redondo stayed at 68.95.
In shot put, veteran Carlos Tobalina, in his Vallehermoso debut at age 37, finished seventh with 20.30 meters, in a contest won by Jamaican Rajindra Campbell with 22.22, the rally record.
The Italian Claudio Stecchi won the pole vault final with a record of 5.82, a personal best, ten centimeters more than the Greek Emmanouli Karalis, while in the javelin the Moldovan Andrian Mardare won with a throw of 81.49 meters.
