Idowu and Dobriskey shine through the Gateshead gloom for GB
World triple jump champion Phillips Idowu and 1500m silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey shone through the gloomy conditions at the British Grand Prix in Gateshead to help keep Great Britain’s athletics team’s strong end to the season on track.
Idowu started slowly, no doubt tired after the emotion of claiming his first outdoor world title in Berlin’s Olympic stadium just under a fortnight ago, but showed his class in the fourth round with a winning leap of 17m 32cm. Veteran fellow Brit Larry Achike finished in third place.
Dobriskey, who took second place in Berlin after a controversial women’s 1500m final, looked impressive as she eased to victory against a Brit-packed field with a time of 4:13.60, after receiving one of the biggest cheers of the day when her name was announced to the crowd before the race.
Elsewhere, Olympic and Commonwealth 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu bounced back from the disappointed of losing her world title by powering home in the final 100m to win ahead of America’s Debbie Dunn in 50.94 seconds.
The women’s one-lap also saw what was likely to be the last UK race of Donna Fraser, one of British athletics’ finest servants in recent years. Fraser finished in seventh place.
There were plenty of other Brits who put in worthy performances, in what were typically British conditions. World heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis was a respectable fifth in the 100m hurdles, while Jemma Simpson took second in the 800m – beating World bronze medallist Jenny Meadows into third place.
For the men, charismatic hurdler William Sharman came second in 110m hurdles, only a hundredth of a second behind Berlin medallist David Payne, and sprinter Craig Pickering won the 100m B race in 10.32 seconds – the second fastest overall 100m time of the meeting. The A race was won by American Tyson Gay, who clocked an impressive 10.15 into a strong headwind.
In the 1500m Andy Baddeley put his injury-plagued Berlin experience behind him by taking second place, while veteran sprinter Marlon Devonish was the fastest home athlete in the 200m, finishing third in 21.07 seconds.
The majority of events were won by Americans, with a whole host of newly-crowned world champions on show for the Gateshead crowd; LaShawn Merritt beat four Brits in the 400m, Dwight Phillips set a new stadium record of 8m 39cm to win the long jump and Allyson Felix cruised to victory in the 200m with 23.13 seconds, with Brit Emily Freeman powering to second place.
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