2024 Diamond League Final: Enekwechi finishes fifth in Brussels, earns $2,500 for effort as Fabbri stuns Olympic champion, Crouser
Reigning African Shot Put champion, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi did not, expectedly, make history as the first Nigerian field eventer to win a Diamond League title.
The 31-year-old finished fifth in the seven man-field with his 21.29m fourth round throw, one of his two throws above 21m in the event.
Enekwechi showed there would not be any miracle for him in Brussels after opening with 20.60m, an effort that was only better than the 20.34m Jamaican Rajindra Campbell opened with and Joe Kovac’s no throw.
The Nigerian improved by one centimeter to 21.29m in the fifth round but it still was not enough to lift him above his fifth position after two-time world champion and three-time Olympics silver medalist, Kovac retired after his opening round no throw.
The real miracle happened in the opening throw of the event when Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri hit a massive 22.98m lifetime best, national record and meeting record to stun reigning world and Olympic champion, Ryan Crouser who could not respond as his 22.79m fifth round effort was his best of the evening at the King Baudouin Stadium.
Enekwechi was rewarded with $2,500 for his effort while Fabbri, the surprise winner, is awarded a prestigious “Diamond Trophy”, US$ 30,000 prize money and a wild card for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan next September.
