Lapierre, continued his fantastic start to the year by recording a season's best leap of 8.30m to take out his first ever Diamond League crown ahead of Phillips (8.18m) and the Chinese representative Xiongfeng Su (8.06m). Opening his competition with a leap of 8.24m, the 26-year-old Lapierre went on to hit lengths of 8.27m and 8.02m before securing the competition with his 8.3m jump in the fourth round.
Lapierre, who took out the IAAF world indoor title in Doha earlier this year and claimed the Australian crown in Perth last month with a record books jump of 8.78m, was incredibly happy with the result. "Each of my four attempts was over eight metres so it was a great series," he said.
With this win and his record leap in Perth last month which sees only five other men having jumped further than the Australian champion, it is clear that this is a young man to look out for in the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi later this year.
While it was smooth sailing for Lapierre, Steve Hooker Australian team captain, reigning world, Olympic, world indoor and Commonwealth Games champion suffered a rare defeat in the men's pole vault, at the same tournament, finishing the competition at 5.50m, placing him sixth.
Entering the event at 5.50m, Hooker cleared the bar on his second attempt then sat out the third round before making an unsuccessful attempt at 5.70m, opening the way for the world indoor championships silver medallist Malte Mohr from Germany to take the crown with a season-high clearance of 5.70m.
Joining Hooker and Lapierre at the tournament in Shanghai were fellow Commonwealth Games-nominated athletes Ben Offereins who placed fifth in the 400m, Jeremy Roff who placed 11th in the 1,500m, long distance runner Eloise Wellings who placed 12th in the 5,000m and fellow long jumper Chris Noffke who placed sixth. The 14-meet Diamond League series now moves to Oslo, Norway, for the third round of competition on June 4.
Both Fabrice Lapierre and Steve Hooker compete in athletic events that require them to leap incredible heights and distances. Take for instance Steve Hooker's pole vault of 5.50m. An average Toyota Tarago's length is about 5m, so with only the assistance of a fibreglass pole Hooker cleared a Tarago standing on its nose with its back hatch open. Or Lapierre who leapt the length of almost two Tarago's in Perth with only the help of a good tailwind.
Everyday these two men take incredible leaps of faith. Each time they take off they need to have complete faith and trust in their preparation, in their technique and in their equipment.
Hebrews 11 reminds us of the extraordinary things that the faith of ordinary believers achieved.
"By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family...by faith Abraham, even though he was past age – and Sarah herself was barren – was enabled to become a father...by faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land...by faith the walls of Jericho fell after the people had marched around them for seven days" Hebrews 11:7-30
One moment of hesitation, one second of doubt and the results can be disastrous for athletes like Fabrice Lapierre and Steve Hooker, but when they succeed, what a success it can be!