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Canadians fared well in the Paris Diamond League meet on Saturday topped by London, ON Alysha Newman’s national record in the pole vault. She not only won the event, but she also cleared 4.75-metres on her very first attempt. That would have got her onto the podium if she stopped there. On her third attempt, she took her own national record clearing 4.82m. The second and third-place finishers were Katerina Stafanidi of Greece and Sani Morris of the US. Both cleared 4.75m.
Newman is the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist from the 2018 Gold Coast Games. She has bettered the national record at least four times. She is a three-time national champion and a silver medallist from the NCAA for the University of Miami and holds the school record at 4.60m. The former gymnast is a six-time All-American.
Brandon McBride, the national record holder in the 800m (1:43.20), ran his best performance of the season with a clocking of 1:43.78. This was his first Diamond League win. Wesley Vazquez of Puerto Rico finished second in the time of 1:43.83 and Michael Saruni of Kenya crossed the line in third position in the time of 1:44.41. McBride of Toronto is a four-time national champion and won the NCAAs in 2014.
Canada’s Michael Mason took a first-place position too, in the high jump, clearing 2.28m. Andriy Protsenko from Ukraine and Ilya Ivanyuk a Russian neutral athlete finished second and third, respectively. Ivanyuk’s personal best is 2.33m. Protsenko has leapt as high as 2.4m and finished fourth in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Mason finished eighth in the 2012 London Olympics and is a bronze medallist from the 2015 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
There are two more Diamond League meets before the season series wraps up in Zurich (Aug. 28) and Brussels (Sept. 6).
The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships will begin on Saturday, Sept. 28.
Paris result available here>>
