Patterson's chase for diamond ends with ninth place finish in Zurich...

ZURICH, Switzerland--Vancouver's Kara Patterson (left/photo by Paul Merca), who entered the meet in position to possibly win the Samsung Diamond League trophy in her event with a win, finished a disappointing ninth in the women's javelin at the Weltklasse meet at Letzigrund Stadium Thursday night.

With Samsung Diamond League javelin leader Barbora Spotakova leading the season long series with 16 points, Patterson, who entered the day in second place with 10 points, needed to win, and hope the reigning Olympic champ and world record holder, already nursing a sore elbow, would finish out of the top three.

Neither scenarios happened, as the Skyview High School graduate threw 187-11 (57.29m) on her first attempt, then followed with a second round throw of 177-6 (57.88m).

Needing a throw of 59.78 meters (196-1) or better to advance to the finals and get three more throws and an opportunity to try and wrest the Diamond Trophy from Spotakova, Patterson fell just short of the mark, getting her best toss of 195-2 (59.50m).

Meanwhile, Spotakova safely ensured herself a spot in the finals with a third round throw of 202-8 (61.79m) to enter the final three throws in third.

Germany's Christina Obergfoll dominated the competition, winning with a fourth round throw of 220-10 (67.31m), setting a new meet record.

Spotakova made a late push in round six, throwing 214-4 (65.34m) to finish second.

In a tweet after the meet to paulmerca.blogspot.com, Patterson, who had a season long goal of throwing 61 meters (200-1) in every meet entered, said, "I'm pretty upset but that's way farther than I've ever thrown at a major 'championship' meet. Everyone brought their 'A' game for the final!"

Patterson placed second overall in the season-long Samsung Diamond League trophy race in the javelin with 10 points, as Spotakova picked up 4 points for second to take her season long total to 20. Obergfoll's win leapfrogged her to third with a season total of 8 points.

Patterson tentatively has three meets left this season--Berlin on the 22nd, Rovereto, Italy on the 31st, and the IAAF Continental Cup on September 4th in Split, Croatia.

In other events, former Washington Husky Märt Israel finished ninth in the discus with a toss of 205-6 (62.64m).

Germany's Robert Harting won the competition with a throw of 225-2 (68.64m), while Poland's Piotr Malachowski's second place finish earned him the season-long Samsung Diamond League trophy and the $40000 check, as he finished the season with 18 points.

Complete results from the Zurich Weltklasse meet are available here.