US shot putter Joe Kovacs smashed the Diamond League record on Wednesday as the first of six Wanda Diamond League champions were crowned at a city event in downtown Zurich. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kovacs launched 23.23m in the second round of the men’s shot put to claim the second Diamond Trophy of his career, having last won the title in 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the women’s shot put, Chase Ealey completed her 100 record in the Diamond League this season with a fifth win in five meetings, a third-round effort of 20.19 handing her a first career Diamond Trophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the second time in a row that the shot put titles have both been won by US athletes, after Ryan Crouser and Maggie Ewen triumphed last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet won the women’s 5000m, holding off the likes of Gudaf Tsegay and Sifan Hassan on the three-lane city track to claim her first ever series title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the women’s pole vault, World Championships bronze medallist Nina Kennedy triumphed in a thrilling battle with US rival Sandi Morris. The Australian cleared 4.81m to edge out the American and claim her first Diamond League title. For Morris, the wait for a Diamond Trophy goes on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
5000m title holder Berihu Aregawi was unable to defend his trophy, however, as Kenyan rival Nicholas Kipkorir stormed to victory in 12:59.05 in the last event of the evening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three-time Diamond League champion Mutaz Essa Barshim endured a torrid evening in the high jump, clearing only 2.18m before he crashed out with a series of failures 2.24m, 2.27m and 2.32m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barshim’s struggles cleared the way for a thrilling battle between JuVaughn Harrison and reigning champion Gianmarco Tamberi. The American held the lead until Tamberi cleared 2.34m at the last attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and claim a second successive Diamond Trophy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only athlete to have ever thrown farther is his compatriot Ryan Crouser, who recorded his 23.37m world record in Eugene last year, and the pair engaged in a spectacular showdown on Sechselautenplatz on Wednesday (7) during the first session of the Weltklasse meeting, held as a street event in one of the city\u2019s most famous squares on the shore of Lake Zurich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A total of six Diamond League champions were crowned in front of the Zurich Opera House, Kovacs winning his second Diamond Trophy ahead of Crouser and New Zealand\u2019s Tom Walsh and world champion Chase Ealey joining her US compatriot in shot put success. Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet and Nicholas Kipkorir won the 5000m finals, while Australia’s Nina Kennedy claimed the women\u2019s pole vault title and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi won the men\u2019s high jump clash.
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