Olympic injury scare for Merritt

An injury to Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt was the big talking point of the Diamond League meeting in Monaco last night.

Usain Bolt’s withdrawal from the 200m meant it was the men’s 400m which took centre stage, with Merritt expected to show his dominance just a week before the start of the Olympics.

However Diamond League leader Merritt pulled up with a hamstring injury and did not finish, although afterwards the American allayed fears of his participation in London by claiming it was just a twinge.

The race saw a season’s best from Jonathan Borlee as the Belgian held off the challenge of James Kirani of Grenada, beating the World Championship gold medallist by two hundredths of a second 44.74.

Borlee’s twin brother Kevin finished third in 44.94secs, while Dominican competitor was just behind him in 45.10.

In the shock of the night, two-time Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva did not attempt a height until 4.70m, before failing three times. Britain’s national record holder Holly Bleasdale cleared 4.45m and 4.62m before bowing out at 4.76m. Silke Spiegelburg won the event after clearing 4.70m.

Chris Tomlinson finished third in the long jump, with his best effort of 8.01m coming in the third round. Panama athlete Irving Saladino won the event with a season’s best 8.16m.

Britain’s Robbie Grabarz finished second in the high jump to American Jesse Williams by count back. The European champion cleared 2.33m, before registering three fails at 2.36m.

In the women’s 800m, Britain’s Marilyn Okoro finished fifth in 1:59.75, in a race won by Russian Yelena Kofanova in 1:58.41. World champion Caster Semenya of South Africa came ninth in 2:01.67.