World discus champion Dani Samuels has made a solid start to the world’s premier international athletics series with a podium finish at the inaugural IAAF Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, overnight.

Lining up in the first event of the first-ever meet of the series, Samuels opened her account with a throw of 64.67m that saw her lead the competition all the way to the penultimate round, where she was pipped by world championships silver medallist Yarelis Barrios (CUB) with a heave of 64.90m.

Limited to just four throws in hot, dusty conditions at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium, Samuels followed her opening attempt with a foul and marks of 64.43m and 58.60m respectively.

Aiming to throw consistently above 64m in the lead-up to this year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, in October, Samuels was on song in what was a high-stakes hit-out at the Doha track.

“It was really different, you really have that feeling that it’s a big meet and it feels like the World Athletics Final every single time,” Samuels said.

“We only got four throws, which was something different, but I’m pretty happy overall with how I went, I’m a bit bummed to get pipped in the second last round but I’m very happy, I got two throws over 64m and my foul was decent too, it just went out of the sector.

“I wanted to throw 64m and I did. That’s what I’ve been trying to build on because hopefully if I can be consistent at 64m-plus every time I throw, by the time the Commonwealth Games comes around I should be in for a personal best so that’s why it’s important that I start trying to do that now.”

Samuels’ Diamond League debut follows her title win at the IAAF Osaka Grand Prix meet in Japan last weekend, where she took out the crown with a meet record heave of 63.75m to launch a short but successful overseas campaign that brought with it her third and fourth best-ever results.

“I wasn’t really happy with my series in Osaka but the overall result was pretty good and I was looking to throw 64m here and it’s happened twice so that’s pretty good. I feel like I’ve stepped up a level with my competing and my consistency so it’s been a good little trip,” she said.

Facing up to five fellow finalists from last year’s world championships in Berlin, Samuels was tested not only by the best female throwers in the world but by Doha’s harsh weather conditions – including temperatures hovering at around 35 degrees after the sun went down – that forced some quick thinking.

With the opening round of the all-new Diamond League series now complete, Samuels sits in second place in the Diamond Race standings with two points to her name, trailing only Barrios with four. S

amuels will sit out the next two rounds of Diamond League discus action, returning to the competition at the Lausanne edition of the series on July 8 before continuing on to Paris (July 16), London (August 13-14) and the discus series final in Brussels on August 27.

This weekend the athletics action moves to Chihuahua, Mexico, for the IAAF World Race Walking Cup before Commonwealth Games-nominated athletes Ben Offereins (400m), Jeremy Roff (1500m), Eloise Wellings (5000m), Steve Hooker (pole vault), Fabrice Lapierre (long jump) and Mitchell Watt (long jump) take up the Diamond League challenge in Round 2 of the series in Shanghai, China, on May 23.

Athletics Australia