Michael Mason and Alysha Newman win Diamond League gold medals in Paris

Alysha Newman (Barry Myles, Wikimedia Commons)

Michael Mason of New Westminster, British Columbia and Alysha Newman of London, Ontario each won the gold medal in men’s high jump and women’s pole vault respectively at the 2019 International Association of Athletics Federations Diamond League event in Paris, France on Saturday. The medals by Mason and Newman were two of the three medals won by Canadians in events that counted toward the Diamond League standings as Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Aaron Brown of Toronto, Ontario won the bronze medal in the men’s 200 metres.

Mason had a gold medal winning jump of 2.28 metres. Andriy Protsenko of the Ukraine won the silver medal and Ilya Ivanyuk of the Authorised Neutral Athletes (Russia) won the bronze medal. Both Protsenko and Ivanyuk also had 2.28 metres, but Mason won the gold medal because he had zero knockdowns in reaching 2.28 metres, while Protsenko had three knockdowns and Ivanyuk had four knockdowns. Mason reached the podium by .02 metres as Mateusz Przybylko of Germany was in fourth place with 2.26 metres.

With the gold medal, Mason is in 10th place in the Diamond League standings in the men’s high jump with nine points. Ivanyuk leads with 34 points.

Newman set a Canadian record in winning the women’s pole vault with a jump of 4.82 metres. Katerina Stefanidi of Greece won the silver medal with a jump of 4.75 metres. Sandi Morris of the United States won the bronze medal with a jump of 4.75 metres. Newman reached the podium by .07 metres as Anzhelika Sidorova of the Authorised Neutral Athletes finished in fourth place with a score of 4.75 metres.

With the gold medal, Newman is in third in the Diamond League standings in the women’s pole vault with 22 points. Stefanidi leads with 39 points and Morris is in second with 26 points.

Brown won the bronze medal in the men’s 200 metres with a time of 20.13 seconds. Noah Lyles of the United States won the gold medal with a time of 19.65 seconds and Ramil Guliyev of Turkey won the silver medal with a time of 20.01 seconds. Brown, who won the bronze medal in the men’s 4×100 metres at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, reached the podium by 0.12 seconds over Alex Quinonez of Ecuador, who had a fourth place time of 20.25 seconds.

With the bronze medal, Brown is in third place in the Diamond League standings in the men’s 200 metres with 25 points. Guliyev leads with 38 points and Quinonez is second with 36 points. The medals for Mason, Newman and Brown will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. 

 

 

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