Mutaz Essa Barshim
DOHA/Brussels: Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim culminated a brilliant season by grabbing second position at the Diamond League Race after finishing runner-up in the season-ending meet in Brussels on Friday.
The star high jumper was edged out by Erik Kynard in the Brussels Diamond League meet.
The US high jumper also claimed top spot in the overall competition following a consistent show.
Six men attempted 2.32m in Brussels but the four-time US champion was the only one to go clear at the second time of asking, with Barshim and Great Britain’s Robbie Grabarz emulating him with their third attempts.
None of the trio could go clear at 2.35m so Barshim finished second, having been flawless up to 2.32m, and Grabarz third.
Barshim’s second position added to his accolades of a silver medal – the first for Qatar in Olympic Games, in Rio de Janero – and a top finish in Zurich (Diamond League) within a month’s time.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s 2013 world champion Bogdan Bondarenko failed to shrug off the sinus problems in Brussels that have been troubling him the past month, despite getting the bronze medal in Rio, and went no higher than 2.20m.
“This was an extremely tough competition, a real dog fight,” said Kynard.
“We knew that the one who would take this meet, would come out on top of the Diamond League,” the victorious American added.
