Danniel Thomas-Dodd won her second shot put competition on the trot following her victory from the previous weekend.
Gardiner, the 2019 World 400m champion, won his 100m heat in a smart 10.35. He edged Antigua’s Cejhae Green who clocked 10.38 and Devin Quinn 10.41. All three ran in the final heat of four where the times were far superior to those from the previous three heats.
Meanwhile, Gaither won the Women 100m in 11.61 over Madison Flemming 12.51.
Gaither booked her spot in the final by winning her in 11.57 ahead of Jamaican triple jumper Kimberly Williams (12.06) and sprint hurdler Rushelle Burton 12.35.
In the 400m, Chris-Ann Gordon-Powell was fourth in 52.75s. US athletes took the top three spots as Courtney Okolo won in 51.86 ahead of Jessica Beard 52.40 and Shamier Little 52.68.
Following up her 19.18m throw a week ago, Thomas-Dodd, the 2019 World Championship silver medallist set a mark of 18.65m in the shot put.
Ricketts, the 2019 World Championships triple silver medalist jumped out to 14.40m to take gold. It was close thing with Portugal’s Patricia Mamoa, who jumped a season-best 14.37m for second place. Naomi Ogbeta of Great Britain got a season-best 14.29m for third.
Afterwards, Ricketts said the conditions were difficult to deal with.
“It was brutal. I am just so happy I didn't end up injured. It was really hard to focus on technical things and not very conducive to getting good jumps. I just wanted to get myself into the position to have an extra jump and then the only thing that mattered was to get the best jump,” she said while revealing that she is not yet sold on the final-three concept.
“I was a bit sceptical but it is something we need to get used to.”
There were also second-place finishes for Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott, the 2012 Olympic champion, Danniel Thomas-Dodd, and Stephenie-Ann McPherson in the javelin, shot put and 400m, respectively.
Walcott, who was also the bronze medalist at Rio 2016, threw 77.78m, to take the runner-up spot as Poland’s Marcin Krukowski defied the wind and rain to throw 82.61m. He was the only thrower over 80m.
Sweden’s Kim Amb was third with a heave of 76.96m.
Thomas-Dodd just lost out to Portugal’s Auriol Dongmo, who threw 19.08m in the shot put to advance to the final round. Thomas-Dodd, whose best effort was 18.46 also advanced along with the USA’s Maggie Ewen who put 18.54m.
However, in the final round where the previous throws were cancelled, Thomas-Dodd threw 18.12m that was bettered by 18.16m from the Cameroon transfer. Ewen threw 16.96m for third.
Thomas-Dodd, who said she expected a better showing, vented her frustrations afterwards.
“It's a little bit frustrating because I've been working on a lot of things with my technique which I'm still trying to get in competition. I had some really nice throws today but I wasn’t able to stay in the ring so that's just one of the things I need to go back to the drawing board and work on,” she declared, adding that she would use the conditions as an excuse for her performance.
“That's all I can hope for (to refine technique and to come good at the right time). I know with the time I have it's about fine-tuning those little things. I never complain about conditions because you never know what you'll get wherever you go, so you have to be mentally prepared for whatever conditions you get on the day. You have to work with what you can control and that's being in the ring and working with your technique.”
McPherson produced a strong finish but ran out of real estate to finish second in 400m won by the USA’s Kendall Ellis in 51.86. McPherson clocked 51.96 while holding off Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands was third in a season-best 52.03.
Janieve Russell was beaten into third place in the 400m hurdles by Denmark’s Sara Slott Petersen and Great Britain’s Jessica Turner, who clocked 56.32 and 56.56, respectively.
Tajay Gayle had to settle for third place in the long jump when he was unable to soar beyond 8.14m in the final round where his preliminary round jump of 8.00m was of no consequence except that it got him into the final.
There, Italy’s Phillippo Randazza leapt out to 8.11m to win over Eusebio Caceres, who got 8.04m on his final jump. Gayle could only muster 7.91m which got him third.
Thomas-Dodd who lost the World Championship gold medal to China’s Gong Lijiao in Doha by just 8cm on October 3, 2019, 19.47 to 19.55), uncorked a 19.18m throw to win at the meet held at Life University.
The mark was the fourth-best throw in the world this year.
It was a lopsided affair as he opponent was World Championship 400m silver medallist Shaunae Miller-Uibo. The Bahamian produced a best mark of 11.70m.
Meanwhile, Miller-Uibo’s former roommate at the University of Georgia, Chanice Porter jumped 6.35m in the long jump. She was the lone competitor.
In the women’s 200m former Holmwood Technical sprinter, Chrisann Gordon-Powell was second in the 200m in 24.38s. Gordon-Powell was beaten by the USA’s Jessica Beard who clocked 23.52 for the win.
The standout performance of the meet came from 18-year-old Justin Robinson, who outran a talented field to win the 400m in 44.91s. Michael Cherry, 44.98, and Matthew Hudson-Smith 45.58 were second and third, respectively.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Machel Cedenio was fifth in 46.71.
