Tribune News Network
Doha
Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba celebrated his birthday on Thursday finishing a creditable second in the men’s 400m hurdles at the Wanda Diamond League in Zurich.
The 29-year-old Samba, who had been battling injuries for a while now, set a season-best of 47.58 seconds to secure the second place. Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke seized his first Diamond League victory, clocking a season’s best time of 47.50 seconds. Estonian Rasmus Magi was third in 48.02.
Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos experienced a disheartening end to his Zurich campaign, failing to complete the on.
The reigning Olympic bronze medalist had aimed for the Diamond League trophy, but an apparent injury forced him to stop midway through the race.
Samba, an Asian Games gold medalist and bronze winner at world championships, was delighted with his performance in what has been a struggling year. "Feeling myself and feeling myself again and improving step by step. I hope the season is going to get better (for me),” he said when asked of his injuries-riddled year.
On what his end of the season break would be like, he said: "It’s gonna be wild. I am going to go on a vacation.”
As Dos Santos failed to finish, concern grew over whether this would mark the premature end of the season for the two-time Olympic bronze medalist. His fans are undoubtedly hoping that this unfortunate incident won’t close out what has otherwise been a strong season for the Brazilian athlete. He continues to lead the leaderboard and is expected to be back at the finale in Brussels (September 13-14).
Clarke, elated after his breakthrough win, reflected on the race and the tough conditions he faced. "I came out with the mindset that this is a race anyone could win, and I wanted to come out on top, and that’s what I did today.
"The season is long, but I’ve only got two weeks left, so I just keep reminding myself of that. Afterward, we’ll probably head to the beach with the team to celebrate a successful season. The conditions were tough today; yesterday was warm, but today we faced cold rain. Still, we all had the same weather to deal with, so I did what I had to do,” Clarke shared.