Bengaluru, August 25: Mutaz Essa Barshim won the high jump gold at Zurich Diamond League with an effort of 2.36M to to reclaim the Diamond Trophy which he had lost to American Erik Kynard last summer.
The Zurich meet is the first of the two 2017 IAAF Diamond League finals.
At Zurich's Letzigrund Stadium, the world chmpion from Qatar was in a class of his own. Syria's Majed Ghazal took silver (2.31M) while Ukraine's former champion Bohdan Bondarenko had to settle for bronze with an effort of 2.31.
The 26-year-old has been in rollicking form since the start of the Diamond League opener in Doha in May. In all, he won six events.
Four days ago at the Birmingham Diamond League meet, the world champion cleared 2.40 to win the title, which was a week before claiming the world crown in London.
Talking about his performance in Zurich, Barshim said,""I was thinking about going higher.
But the weather was not good. It was too cold, it had rained. The ground was wet.
"But I think 2.36 is the second best effort in the world this year. On Sunday I will do my last competition for this season in Eberstadt in Germany. Perhaps there the weather is better and probably my result."
Barshim's twitter handle was flooded with Zurich accomplishments in Zurich.
💎💎💎🇶🇦🇶🇦🇶🇦 @Diamond_League @WeltklasseZH #whatgravity #يلا_قطر #تميم_المجد pic.twitter.com/YZVFNXK3g5
— معتز برشم ♕Barshim (@mutazbarshim) August 25, 2017
🇶🇦🇶🇦💎🙏🏽💯😁#يلا_قطر #تميم_المجد #whatgravity#clicklac pic.twitter.com/s7A4sRF8Tm
— معتز برشم ♕Barshim (@mutazbarshim) August 24, 2017
حمدلله المركز الاول ، وفزت في ثالث كأس ماسي لي في زيورخ 💎💎💎🇶🇦🇶🇦🇶🇦 #يلا_قطر #تميم_المجد pic.twitter.com/goAJTsLibD
— معتز برشم ♕Barshim (@mutazbarshim) August 24, 2017
Athletes competing in Zurich --and those who will compete in the remaining 16 Diamond disciplines in Brussels on September 1 earned their spots in the finals by accumulating points at the 12 IAAF Diamond League meetings leading up to the two finals where the winners of each Diamond discipline were crowned the 2017 series' champions.
Barshim the favourite at Zurich