Jesse Williams to enjoy the Lime Light at Eugene Professional Classic - Samsung Diamond League
In the inaugural session of the Samsung Diamond League in Doha, Qatar, Mutaz Essa Barshim, the 19-year-old youngster who performed beyond expectations and repeated his own national record by marking an emphatic 2.31m in the first major contest of the season,
could not bag a win in the opening session as the ultimate victory went to Jesse Williams. Jesse will be enjoying the limelight when the event moves to the center stage at Eugene Professional Classic on the 4th of June.
Williams, clutching his clearance at 2.33m, was rather happy at bagging his first ever Samsung Diamond League series’ victory.
While talking to the media, he said, “I’m really excited about the next competition. The stadium’s just three kilometers from my house. Maybe I’ll ride my bike there”.
Williams’ final leap just missed his personal best outdoors, marking his formidable win. Earlier, he had cleared the bar as high as 2.36m, indoors. Interestingly, this feat earned the 27-year-old a new record by beating the 2009 World championships’ silver
medal winner, Kyriakos Ioannou’s, challenge of crossing the bar at 2.33m.
Talking about the challenge that he met, Williams said, “I think if he wouldn’t have made that height I wouldn’t have either. He pushed me over the height and helped me get the win”.
When asked about his unexpected impressive performance, Ioannou, who was competing in an event for the first time after last year’s Lausanne Samsung Diamond League, said that since he was back to the sport after a hiatus of about 11 months, it was crucial
for him to perform well. Amid his stellar performance in the opening session, he will appear prominent in the upcoming Eugene field.
Adding to his comments, he said that he was rather happy over his performance and jumping 2.33m in his first competition had boosted his morale. He was of the view that though he was quite close to bag the win, for him and for those who knew Jesse’s potential
to perform, the end results were rather expected.
Other athletes appearing in the much awaited Eugene lineup include Ivan Ukhov from Russia and last year’s Samsung Diamond Race trophy winner, the Olympic champion, Andrey Silnov.
In the presence of such stellar performers, it is not difficult to estimate how high Williams will have to jump to surpass the lineup.
Commenting on the rather demanding situation, William said that in order to bag the game, he may have to attempt for a world record and because of such a high status field, he would solely concentrate on his own performance.
However, Jesse is also hoping that the crowd will support him in displaying the required level of performance.
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