(Photo: CGTN)

China's Gong Lijiao displayed her consistency into the 2018 season with her victory in the women's shot put at the IAAF Diamond League Monaco meeting on Thursday, while the men's shot put title went to US Olympic champion Ryan Crouser.

Gong, the defending world champion, won the event last Sunday at the Athletics World Cup in London, and she set a world-leading performance of 20.38 meters in June.

Gong positioned herself atop standings with 19.44m in the first attempt, and improved that to over 20m in the third attempt, a best among all participants.

She was never challenged throughout the competition and eventually won the event with a personal best of 20.31m. This was her second straight Diamond League title after Shanghai.

Gong ranked second at Diamond League standings with 16 points, two shy of American Raven Saunders who finished second with 19.67m in Monaco.

In men's event, Crouser shrugged off injury in last month's US Championships to win the title with a fourth attempt of 22.05m.