Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers has been crowned as high-jump champion in Zürich, winning her first Diamond League title. The 28-year-old beat world record and previous Diamond League title holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh, setting a new Oceania record of 2.04m in the process.

“It’s very special,” she said after the competition.

“The height that I just jumped, I didn’t ever imagine when I was a child that I would get to this height.”

The Paris silver medallist qualified for this season’s Diamond League final in Switzerland, after finishing top of the standings with 37 points.

Australians dominated this season’s women’s high jump, with Eleanor Patterson finishing second in the league rankings, one point behind Olyslager.

Patterson failed to impress in the final though, finishing dead-last out of the six who qualified. She delivered a joint season-worst jump of 1.91m.

In the men’s pole vault, Australian Kurtis Marschall tied in fourth with a result of 5.65m alongside Dutchman, Menno Vloon. Marschall, the two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, was unable to get anywhere near his season best of 5.93m, which would’ve landed him a podium finish.

Long-jumper, Liam Adcock, dramatically finished his day with the bronze medal around his neck at the conclusion of the meet. The current Australian and Oceania long jumping champion landed his best jump of the day in his sixth and final attempt, posting a final result of 8.24m.

The Diamond League is an annual series of track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions.

Article: Cameron Burt and Matias Birkeland

Photo: by Chris Cooper found HERE and used under a Creative Commons licence. The image has been cropped.