Bolt, the beginning of the end?

In the absence of Bolt, the 100-meter race of the Diamond League in Paris was brilliant: Asafa Powell won with 9.81, his best time of the season, and was followed by the Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut, who equalled the European record with 9.86 meters. The wind blew moderately in their favor: 0.3 meters per second. The American Michael Rodgers (9.99) finished third.

The same 9.86 had already been achieved by the Portuguese of Nigerian origin, Francis Obikwelu, during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where he won the silver medal, behind Justin Gatlin, the man with the fastest time in the world this year in the hundred meters (9.74), who was absent yesterday.

Vicaut is a 23-year-old athlete, born in the French city of Bondy, near Paris. He is the son of a French father and a mother from Ivory Coast. His best competitive achievement is the silver medal at the 2012 European Championships. His personal best was 9.95, repeated in 2012, 2013 and 2014. In 2015, he had already run in 9.98. His 9.86 from the Stade de France puts him in a new dimension. He has replaced Christophe Lemaitre, the first white man to break the 10-second barrier, as the leader of French sprinting.

None of the four attempts at world records succeeded yesterday: Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim finished second in high jump with 2.32 (the Russian Tsyplakov won with the same height); the Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie finished fifth with 5.71 (the Greek Filippidis won with twenty centimeters more); Ethiopian Almaz Ayana lost in the 5,000 meters to her compatriot Genzebe Dibaba (14:15.41), who, when she was left alone in the lead, did not want to relay because the owner of the record she was attempting to break is her sister Tirunesh, and the American David Oliver (12.98) did the same in the hurdles with the Cuban Orlando Ortega (12.94), who achieved the best time in the world this year.

Also reaching the top of the charts this season were Kenyan Silas Kiplagat in the 1,500 meters (3:30.12), Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser in the 100 meters (10.74), and Kenyan Eunice Jepkoech Sum, with 1:56.99 in the 800 meters.

There was a highly competitive and exciting race in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The American Evan Jager was clearly in the lead, but he stumbled on the last obstacle, fell to the ground, and was overtaken by the Kenyan Jairus Kipchoge Birech, who finished in 7:58.83, also a new world-leading time of the season. The American got up and finished second, breaking the record for his country with 8:00.45! Then he sank into desolation.

There were two Spaniards in the race: Sebastian Martos ran a time of 8:22.38 and finished thirteenth, and Roberto Alaiz finished one place behind with 8:29.69.

Eusebio Cáceres finished fourth in the long jump with 8.06 meters, in a highly competitive event: he was beaten by the American Hartfield (8.19), the Frenchman Gomis (8.13), and the Australian Lapierre (8.07), and he defeated the Russian Menkov (7.99), the current world champion.

In shot put, New Zealander Valerie Villi, the woman who held the longest winning streak in track and field (56 victories from 2010 until yesterday), was defeated in her first competition of the year after undergoing two surgeries. She finished fifth with only 18.79, an insignificant mark for her. The German Christina Schwanitz won with 20.31.

A great meeting, despite the absence of Usain Bolt...