Chinese high jumper Zhang blames "small apron" for Zurich Diamond League defeat

Chinese high jumper Zhang Guowei blamed a "too small apron" for his defeat in the IAAF Diamond League final here on Thursday.

Zhang, who won the silver medal at last week's Beijing World Championships, finished third by clearing 2.30 meters, behind Qatar's Essa Barshim (2.32m) and Ukraine's Bohdan Bondarenko (2.30m).

But the 24-year-old still made history by becoming the first Chinese athlete to finish top three on the Diamond League final standings.

"I don't think I have done my best," Zhang said. "I should have won the title, I have always been confident of winning the title here. But the apron is too small, which I think has affected my performance."

After easily jumping over 2.27 meters, Zhang finally cleared 2.30m in his third attempt but was stopped after the bar had been raised to 2.32m.

He said, "If the apron were big enough, I would win the title. Unlike Barshim and Bondarenko, who usually don't need a long run-up, I must use a very long distance to build up speed."

Zhang said that three days after winning the silver medal at the iconic Bird's Nest Stadium, he just could not adapt himself to the much smaller Letzigrund, which can only host 30,000 people compared with 80,000 in the Chinese National Stadium.

"Several other athletes were also critical of the small apron," he said after the competition.

Zhang amused the Swiss fans with his Gangnam Style dance moves when celebrating a successful jump. He finished second in the Diamond Standings with nine points. Barshim took the Diamond League title with 20 points.

"This is my last competition of the season," he said. "I will go back home to work harder. My goal for next Rio Olympic Games is to reach the top three."

Chinese athletes have never won the Diamond League champion. Their previous best result was a fourth finish last year from Li Jinzhe in the men's long jump.

Wang Jianan, who surprised all to take the men's long jump bronze in the Beijing World Championships, soared and landed at 7.94 meters to finish four, making him rank seventh in the Diamond League final standings.

World women's javelin throw silver medalist Lv Huihui took a distant seventh on the night with 60.36 meters to end the season on the 4th.

Britain's Greg Rutherford won the Diamond League long jump title to finish a perfect season.

The Olympic champion, 28, who won World Championships gold last week in Beijing, finished the overall competition with 29 points after previous victories in Birmingham, Oslo and Stockholm.

"I come to these competitions to win. Roll on next year," he said.

Jamaica's double world and Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce added the 100m women's sprint Diamond League title to her long list of honors. She clocked a time of 10.93 seconds.

Russia's world 110m hurdles champion Sergey Shubenkov won in 13.15. Former world champion David Oliver was second in 13.30.

Panama's Alonso Edward won the men's 200m to add to his victories in Shanghai and Stockholm, bringing home the Diamond Race.

Three-time world 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop proved dominant in his favorite event, running away with the title.

Each of the night's 16 Diamond League winners received a 40,000 US dollars cash prize and a spectacular Diamond Trophy. Endi