The third leg of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League circuit wrapped up Sunday at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d’Athlétisme de Rabat in Morocco, with Jamaica delivering a dominant performance that stole the spotlight, starting with a full medal sweep in the women’s 100-meter sprint.
World Athletics Championship silver medalist Tina Clayton set the pace from the opening gun, exploding out of the blocks to maintain control of the race through the finish line. She crossed the line in a season’s best 10.85 seconds, falling just 0.02 seconds short of Elaine Thompson-Herah’s 2022 meeting record.
Clayton was followed across the line by two first-time Diamond League competitors, delivering a historic clean sweep for Jamaica. Lavanya Williams took silver with a new personal best of 10.95 seconds, while Jonielle Smith claimed bronze in 11.00 seconds, marking a memorable debut for both young sprinters on the elite global circuit.
Jamaica’s strong showing extended beyond the women’s 100m across multiple events. In the women’s 400-meter hurdles, Rushell Clayton secured another podium spot for the country, finishing third with a time of 53.75 seconds, while teammate Andrenette Knight placed eighth in 55.37 seconds. The race title went to Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova, who delivered a career-defining performance: her winning time of 52.82 seconds set both a new Slovakian national record and the fastest time run by any athlete in the world this season. American Anna Cockrell took second place in 53.18 seconds.
In the women’s 100-meter hurdles, another Jamaican rookie made her Diamond League debut, with Kerrica Hill running a season’s best 12.71 seconds (with a 1.2m/s wind) to finish ninth. The race was won by Nigeria’s world-class star Tobi Amusan, who broke her own previous Rabat meeting record of 12.45 seconds to claim gold with a 12.28 second finish. For the women’s high jump, Jamaica’s Lamara Distin tied for fourth place after clearing a 1.91m bar.
In men’s competition, Rajindra Campbell, who set a new Jamaican national shot put record of 22.34m during a competition in China just one week prior, placed seventh in Rabat with a throw of 21.04m. American shot put star Joe Kovacs took home the gold with a dominant performance, recording a new meeting record and world-leading throw of 22.58m. Rounding out Jamaica’s results, sprinter Bryan Levell finished ninth in the men’s 200-meter sprint with a time of 20.44 seconds in 0.4m/s wind conditions.