Bahamian 400m Olympic Champion Steven Gardiner, and Jamaica’s World Championships long jump finalist Carey McLeod, stood out among the Caribbean performances as they topped their respective events at the Wanda Diamond League in Doha, Qatar on Friday.

McLeod, who was fourth at the Xiamen meet, displayed mark improvement on this occasion to top the event with a wind-aided leap of 8.52m. He recovered from a failed attempt at the start to cut the sand at 8.14m, before achieving the winning leap on his fourth attempt in a positive 5.2 metres per second wind reading.

The 26-year-old topped a stacked field which included Greece’s Olympic and World champion Miltiadis Tentoglou, who had to settle for second on this occasion with a season’s best leap of 8.36m. Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer (8.30m), was third, while Jamaica’s 2019 World champion Tajay Gayle (8.01m) was fifth, and Bahamian LaQuan Nairn (7.59m) eighth.

For Gardiner, it was a case of picking up where he left off, as he continued his rich early season form in the 400m with another classy display. He went out hard from lane five and quickly covered rivals on the outside at the 250m mark, before pulling away in the latter stages to win in 44.76s.

Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga, closed fast for second in a season’s best 45.07s, while Botswana’s Leungo Scotch (45.29s) was third.