Athletics: Marie Ta Lou beats Elaine Thompson in the 100m at the Diamond League in Lausanne

Ta Lou takes 100m showdown and Kambudji sets Swiss National record

Marie-Josee Ta Lou, silver medallist over 100 and 200m at last year’s IAAF World Championships, has got into a winning habit this season and here she finished strongly to take victory in 10.90 against a field that included Jamaica’s Olympic 100 and 200m champion Elaine Thompson and the Dutch sprinter who beat her over the longer sprint in London, Dafne Schippers.

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Schippers had given an indication of the level of tension involved in this meeting of leading sprinters as she stood up when the field was about to get away for the first time.

When they got away at the second time of asking it was Ta Lou’s Ivorian compatriot Murielle Ahoure who showed the acceleration that earned her the IAAF world indoor 60m title in March, but the early leader was passed by Ta Lou at around 70 metres and drifted back to sixth and last in 11.30.

Thompson proved the closest challenger to Ta Lou, taking second place in 10.99, with Jenna Prandini of the United States beaten Schippers to third place, 11.00 to 11.02.

There was a mini-explosion of approval when it was confirmed that home sprinter Mujinga Kambundji, who finished fifth, had set a national record of 11.03.

“My goal today was simply to win,” said Ta Lou. “I haven’t been feeling that well psychologically and physically.”