Stratton second in long jump at Cup

Monday, 10 September 2018:

Australian long jumper Brooke Stratton has finished second behind Colombian superstar Caterine Ibarguen at the Continental Cup in Ostrava.

Commonwealth Games runner-up Stratton produced a best leap of 6.71m in the revised format competition where the field is culled twice.

Ibarguen - who had won the triple jump on the opening day of the meet - took the long jump title with a personal best of 6.93m.

"It was a bit of a different long jump competition that we are used to,' Stratton said.

"You couldn't exactly go for it in any of the jumps, as you had to get that safe one out.

"I would have loved to have jumped a bit further but it was all I had on the day."

Australian distance runners Stewart McSweyn and Ryan Gregson were also impressive for the Asia-Pacific team on Sunday.

With one runner being eliminated after each lap from the 1400m mark onwards in the 3000m, McSweyn stayed in contention until the final lap.

But when the pace was ramped up in the last 400 metres, McSweyn couldn't respond as he finished fourth in 8min 2.01sec behind Kenyan-born American Paul Chelimo (7:57.13).

National record holder Gregson was a close fifth in the 1500m.

Reigning world and Commonwealth champion Elijah Manangoi from Kenya won in 3:40.00 and Gregson clocked 3:40.91, as less than a second separated the top five finishers.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Nicola McDermott was fifth in the women's high jump with 1.91m.

Team Americas won the Continental Cup, for the first time, with a total of 262 points, ahead of Europe (233), Asia-Pacific (188) and Africa (142).






AAP






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