Tributes pour in for Nice victims

Dafne Schippers sent out a further broadside to Olympic challengers by storming to victory in the 100m at Monaco’s Diamond League meet which went ahead on Friday despite the deadly truck attack in neighbouring Nice.

At the Stade Louis II, all festivities outside the sporting arena were cancelled out of respect for at least 84 people killed in Thursday’s truck attack in Nice, just 20km away.

Flags flew at half-mast, athletes wore a square of black cloth pinned to their tops and the meeting started with a minute’s silence, with no music played on the stadium tannoys throughout the meet, as is usual.

“Given the circumstances, it’s good the meeting has gone ahead,” Sebastian Coe, president of world athletics’ governing body the IAAF, said.

New Zealand’s four-time world and two-time Olympic gold medallist Valerie Adams won the shot put with a best of 20.05m.

On the track, zless than a month away from the Rio Olympics, recently-crowned European champion Schippers was the only sprinter to dip under the 11sec mark to win the 100m in 10.94sec.