Yaime Pérez of Cuba receives her gold medal after winning the Discus with a 56.01m throw (© Getty Images)
Yaime Perez of Cuba won the women's discus final with a third-round toss of 56.01m, in relatively chilly conditions.
The discus throwers were fortunate enough to begin after the heavy rain which characterized the morning and most of the afternoon in Moncton. Many of the throwers had unimpressive first-round marks, with the lead going to Erin Pendleton of the USA at 53.57m. (One notable throw in the first round was that of Samoa's Margaret Satupai, who posted a national junior record of 51.31m.)
Pendleton held the lead through the second round, until Perez's winning fling of 56.01m in the third round. Yuliya Kurylo of the Ukraine bumped Pendleton down to third in the fourth round, throwing 53.96m.
In the fifth round Pendleton improved to 54.15m to return to second place, and in the sixth improved again to 54.96m, the closest to a challenge Perez's winning mark would see but not enough to get Pendleton any better than silver. Kurylo won bronze with her 53.96m throw; fourth went to Australia's Kimberly Mulhall, who had a 53.16m throw in the second round and 53.77m in the sixth.
