Paris Diamond League stats

Three 20m-plus in women's shot put

THE women's shot put at the Diamond League meeting in Paris produced something of a rarity as three athletes surpassed the 20m-barrier. Olympic champion Valerie Adams took the victory with a put of 20.78m to defeat Nadzeya Ostapchuk (20.49m), who was the in-form athlete having set a world-leading mark of 20.94m in Zhukovskiy last week. In third, Jillian Camarena-Williams equalled Ramona Pagel's 23-year-old US record of 20.18m which was the 28-year-old's first put over the 20m mark.

This was just the fourth time in the past decade such a feat has been achieved and the first time outside of a major championships. Ostapchuk, who achieved her 43^rd 20m-plus competition, has been involved in all four competitions and two of those competitions took place in the Stade de France in St. Denis.

27/8/2003 – World Championships – 1. Svetlana Krivelyova (20.63m), 2. Nadzeya Ostapchuk (20.12m), 3. Vita Pavlysh (20.08m)

14/3/2010 – World Indoor Championship – 1. Nadzeya Ostapchuk (20.85m), 2. Valerie Adams (20.49m), 3. Natallia Mikhnevich (20.42m)

5/9/2010 – Continental Cup – 1. Valerie Adams (20.86m), 2. Nadzeya Ostapchuk (20.18m), 3. Gong Lijiao (20.13m)

8/7/2011 – Meeting Areva, Paris Diamond League – 1. Valerie Adams (20.78m), 2. Nadzeya Ostapchuk (20.49m), 3. Jillian Camarena-Williams (20.18m)

Defar back in form

MESERET DEFAR has competed sparingly in the past couple of years but the 27-year-old will be a definite contender for the world title in Daegu as the former Olympic champion bounced back to form with her first outdoor sub-14:30 in three years. Defar still had the company of Sentayehu Ejigu at the bell but she used her redoubtable finish to drop her compatriot and score a season's best of 14:29.52, which translates to her eighth sub-14:30 including indoor performances. She extends her ascendency in performances under this barrier ahead of Vivian Cheruiyot and Tirunesh Dibaba, who both hold three sub-14:30 performances.

Defar's sub-14:30 5000m performances

26/8/2005 – Brussels – 14:28.98

3/6/2006 – New York – 14:24.53

15/6/2007 – Oslo – 14:16.63

22/7/2008 – Stockholm – 14:12.88

5/9/2008 – Brussels – 14:25.52

18/2/2009 – Stockholm – 14:24.37i

10/2/2010 – Stockholm – 14:24.79i

8/7/2011 – Paris 14:29.52

Sub-15 minute 5000m performances

Meseret Defar – 37 (2003-2011)

Tirunesh Dibaba – 34 (2002-2010)

Berhane Adere – 23 (1996-2006)

Gabriela Szabo – 22 (1995-2003)

Paula Radcliffe – 21 (1995-2004)

Isabella Ochichi – 20 (2003-2006)

Vivian Cheruiyot – 19 (2006-2011)

Meselech Melkamu – 19 (2005-2011)

Edith Masai – 18 (2001-2006)

Priscah Jepleting – 17 (2004-2011)

Bolt's slowest 200m in more than two years

USAIN BOLT won the 200m in Paris in 20.03 (-0.6 m/s) which was his slowest time (excluding preliminary rounds) since the Jamaican Championships in June 2009, where he ran 20.25 into a biting headwind of 2.4 m/s. However, the multiple world and Olympic champion can be forgiven because not only was he weakened by a very heavy cold, the race was delayed by 15-minutes due to a technical fault.