Dani Stevens edges closer to Sandra Perkovic in Shanghai

Dani Stevens has Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic in her sights after a close second in Shanghai.

Discus thrower Dani Stevens. Picture: John Feder

Former world champion discus thrower Dani Stevens (nee Samuels) has lost count of the number of times she has finished second to her Croatian nemesis, the Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic, in the past four years and the Diamond League meet on Saturday night in Shanghai extended the unwanted streak.

Stevens has now finished second to Perkovic three times in Shanghai alone but there was one crucial difference in this competition.

For the first time, Stevens was within half a metre of victory over her dominant rival and that will give her hope that she may finally turn the tables this year.

“It’s another second place, my fourth here in Shanghai, but it’s good to go near the win,” Stevens said.

Perkovic unleashed her winning throw of 66.94m in the second round, and Stevens responded in the next round with 66.47m (just short of her best this year of 66.78m) to clinch second from reigning world champion Denia Caballero of Cuba (65.76m).

In an experimental format, the men’s and women’s discus events were held simultaneously, with alternating rounds (men, women, men, women), in a bid to create a more appealing spectacle for the crowd.

Both Stevens and Perkovic approved of the concept although it made for an unusually long day in the arena.

“We were out there for a long time making for a difficult competition, but I really liked throwing alongside the men,’’ Stevens said.

“I love throwing here. It’s a good circle and always a good competition. It’s nice to be consistent at 66m now.”

In fact the leading women out-threw the men with the advantage of their lighter discus (1kg compared to 2kg). Belgium’s Philip Milanov won the men’s competition with a best of 64.94m.

Stevens, who finished an agonising fourth at the Rio Olympics, and Perkovic will not meet again until the world championships in London in August.

The Australian has elected to prepare at home in Sydney this year and will skip most of the Diamond League circuit.

Current Diamond League long jump champion Fabrice Lapierre will have to lift his game considerably to defend his title from the brilliant South African Luvo Manyonga, who has put together three jumps further than 8.60m in the past month, the biggest leaps in the world for eight years.

His first two huge leaps came at altitude at home but he proved he could do it anywhere by jumping 8.61m at sea level in Shanghai.

Lapierre’s challenge effectively ended when he fouled his first two jumps and he finished 10th with a best of 7.74m. He jumped a wind-assisted 8.50m in Texas last month.

Olympic 1500m finalists Linden Hall and Jenny Blundell were disappointed to miss the qualifying standard for the world titles (4min 7.50 sec) by a smidgen in Shanghai.

Hall finished 10th (4:07.59) and Blundell 11th (4:07.72) as Kenyan Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon registered the first sub-four minute performance of the year (3:59.22).