Alysha Newman is headed to her fourth Diamond League Final, and first in five years, after nearly matching her Canadian record performance from the recent Paris Olympics.
She cleared 4.82 metres for second place behind Olympic champion Nina Kennedy of Australia to open the Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League track and field meet on Wednesday.
Newman, 30, cleared 4.73 a week ago at the Golden Gala in Rome in her first competition since a 4.85 effort for bronze at Stade de France on Aug. 7 when she became Canada’s first-ever Olympic medallist in women’s pole vault.
On Sept. 6, 2019, the native of London, Ont., jumped 4.77 at the AG Memorial Van Damme in Brussels for third in the Diamond League Final.
Newman was also third in the 2017 championship when she set a then-Canadian mark of 4.75, one year after going 4.42 in her DL Final debut, also in Brussels.
WATCH | Newman clears 4.73m for 3rd place at Golden Gala in Rome:
Alysha Newman of London, Ont., clears a height of 4.73 to earn a third place result at the Diamond League meet in Rome, Italy.
On Sept. 14 in Brussels, she will compete for the Diamond League Trophy and $30,000 top prize against Kennedy, Angelica Moser of Switzerland, Molly Caudery of Great Britain and Americans Sandi Morris and Katie Moon.
Joining Newman in Belgium will be Edmonton middle-distance runner Marco Arop in the men’s 800m and shot putter Sarah Mitton, from Brooklyn, N.S.
Last year, sprinter Andre De Grasse was the first Canadian since shot putter Dylan Armstrong to win a Diamond League Trophy, racing to a season-best 19.76 in the men’s 200m.
Former world No. 1 hurdler Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Whitby, Ont., was Canada’s first Diamond League champion in 2010 when the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist clocked 12.54 seconds in the women’s 100m event in Brussels the day after her 28th birthday.
Source Agencies
