News05 Jan 2011


2010 Samsung Diamond League REVIEW – Part 2

FacebookTwitterEmail

Another Samsung Diamond League win and world leader for Jeremy Wariner, this time in Paris (© Errol Anderson)

The bold new world of the Samsung Diamond League encompassed 32 individual events staged within 14 meetings around the globe. In the second of his three-part review, IAAF correspondent Mike Rowbottom looks back at the meetings in Eugene, Lausanne, Gateshead, Paris and Monaco.


-- --


Each discipline was staged seven times, with double points on offer in the two mandatory concluding competitions in Zurich and Brussels, and the athletes who scored the most to win the Diamond Race in their respective events stood to earn a Diamond Trophy - created by Beyer, established as jewellers in Zurich in the 18th century - and $40,000 prize money.


-- --


3 July

Eugene, United States


In a meeting which produced five World leading marks, David Oliver and Walter Dix were the outstanding performers.


Oliver won the 110m Hurdles in 12.90, lowering his personal best by 0.03 and equalling Dominique Arnold’s national record. Only two men had run faster – Liu Xiang, and Dayron Robles, World record holder with 12.87.


Dix had arrived in Eugene tied with Usain Bolt at the top of the Diamond Race standings for the 200m, but left with a clear lead after passing fellow American Tyson Gay, back after a hamstring injury, to win in 19.72, with the 2007 double World champion recording 19.76.


Christian Cantwell was among the World leaders, putting the shot out to 22.41m on his sixth and last attempt.


Veronica Campbell-Brown ran 10.78 in the 100m to finish narrowly ahead of fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser and 2009 World leader Carmelita Jeter, who recorded 10.82 and 10.83 respectively. All three marks bettered the previous World leader of Kelly-Ann Baptiste, who ran 10.84.


Jeter continued to lead the Diamond Race thanks to her third-place finish, with five points ahead of Campbell-Brown's four.


In the women's 800m, Mariya Savinova held off the Kenyan duo of Nancy Jebet Langat and Diamond Race leader Janeth Jepkosgei to set a new World leading time of 1:57.56, lowering the previous meet record belonging to Maria Mutola by 0.01.


The fifth World leading mark of the afternoon came outside the Diamond League schedule, as Sudan's Abubaker Kaki won the 1000m in 2:13.62.


Lashinda Demus maintained her dominance in the 400m Hurdles, winning in 53.08, and fellow American Allyson Felix took the 200m in 50.27, with Amantle Montsho recording 50.30.


Milcah Chemos beat World champion Marta Dominguez in the 3000m Steeplechase, recording 9:26.70.


Tariku Bekele led an Ethiopian sweep in the 5000m, winning in 12:58.93, a North American all-comers record, ahead of his countrymen Dejen Gebremeskel (12:59.30) and Diamond Race leader Imane Merga (13:00.18).


Olympic 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop ran 3:49.75 to win the Bowerman Mile.


Piotr Malachowski seized the Diamond Race lead in the men's discus with a 67.66m winning mark, and Irving Saladino earned a victory over Diamond Race leader Dwight Phillips in the Long Jump with an 8.46m leap.


8 July

Lausanne, Switzerland


Usain Bolt, returning to action after six weeks out with an Achilles tendon injury, made the most of his comeback as he equalled the World leading 100m time set by fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell with a winning time of 9.82.


“It was more than I expected,” said Bolt, who produced one of eight world-leading or equalling performances on the night. “I was a little nervous before the race but after a good warm-up I felt better.”


Bolt was originally scheduled to run the 200m, but heeding doctors’ orders to avoid running a bend - even the wide curve on the Stade de la Pontaise track - he requested and was granted a late hour switch to the shorter distance. It was his first 100m race in nearly two months.


Bolt’s training partner Yohan Blake performed admirably as well, clocking 9.96 for second, a season’s best just shy of his 9.93 personal best from last year.


Gelete Burka’s late surge won her the 1500m in 3:59.28, with Morocco’s Ibtissam Lakhouad second in a national record of 3:59.28, nearly four seconds faster than her previous best, and Kenya’s Olympic champion Nancy Langat third in a personal best of 4:00.13.


But there was a Kenyan winner in the 3000m as World 5000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot set a 2010 best of 8:34.58, with Alemitu Bekele of Turkey taking second in 8:35.19 ahead of Meseret Defar, who clocked 8:36.09.


The first World lead of the night had come courtesy of two-time World Triple Jump champion Yargelis Savigne, who leapt 14.99m.


David Rudisha had announced the previous day that he would always run from the front in his career. “I learned my lesson in Berlin last year,” he said, referring to his failure to advance from the IAAF World Championship semi-finals. Front-running earned him victory here in 1:43.25 ahead of a field which included World champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.


Carmelita Jeter won her second Diamond Race victory at 100m in 10.99, and fellow American Walter Dix collected his third  Diamond League win at 200m in 19.86, with Churandy Martina clocking a 20.08 national record for the Netherlands Antilles.


10 July

Gateshead, Britain


The much anticipated 100m meeting of Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay ended in the first defeat of the season for the laid-back Jamaican. Gay moved past his Jamaican rival in the closing stages to win in 9.94, with Powell recording 9.96 on the track where he had equalled his World record of 9.77 four years earlier. Both men were contending with a -1.7mps headwind.


“I think I forgot it was Tyson Gay out there,” admitted Powell. “In the last 20-30m I should have run differently. But he’s a great sprinter and I gave him a chance. I didn’t see him coming.”


Next stop for Powell was a showdown with the World record holder Usain Bolt in Paris five days later. Gay, meanwhile, said that the hamstring problem which had delayed his start to the season still felt tight.


There were two meeting records in the field events, including a Polish record of 69.83m for Piotr Malachowski, which secured victory over Zoltan Kovago and kept him at the top of the Diamond Race.


The other meeting record went to Nadezhda Ostapchuk who defeated Valerie Vili with a best of 20.57 to draw level in the Diamond Race.


Phillips Idowu earned victory in the Triple Jump over Alexis Copello while Fabrice Lapierre long-jumped 8.20m to beat Irving Saladino.


Vincent Chepkok came out on top in a desperate sprint finish with Eliud Kipchoge to take the 5000m in 13:00.20, 14 seconds quicker than the previous meeting record by South Africa’s Shadrack Hoff, and 0.04 ahead of Kipchoge.


Linus Chumba won the Steeplechase in 8:19.72 from his Kenyan team-mate Michael Kipyego, eclipsing a meeting record of 8:27.68 that had stood since 1981.


Asbel Kiprop narrowly defeated fellow Kenyan Augustine Choge in the 1500m, recording 3:33.34, and Britain’s World Championships silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey won her 1500m in 4:03.69.


Walter Dix continued his winning form in the 200m, clocking 20.26 to hold off Wallace Spearmon by 0.03 and maintain a healthy advantage in the Diamond Race.


The performance of the women’s sprints came in the 100m heats when Kelly-Ann Baptiste took advantage of a temporary switch in the wind direction to clock 10.93 (+1.2), a meeting record. Carmelita Jeter fought back in the final, beating the Trinidadian by five hundredths in 10.95.


16 July

Paris, France


Asafa Powell may have made the early running in the 100m Diamond Race, but five days after suffering his first defeat at the hands of Tyson Gay he was beaten again by fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt on a night when David Oliver came tantalisingly close to Dayron Robles’s World 110m Hurdles record of 12.87.


Despite a mediocre start, Bolt was already a half step ahead by the midway point before extending his lead over Powell even further over the final 30 metres. His time of 9.84 – 0.02 shy of his co-World lead from Lausanne eight days earlier - wasn’t as quick as was expected, but Bolt was satisfied.


“I had a good race, but my strength still isn’t at my normal level,” he said.


Accepting defeat, Powell eased up over the final 10 metres to record 9.91, with Bolt’s training partner Yohan Blake third in 9.95, a 0.01 improvement on his career best.


Oliver’s victory in 12.89 was one of five World leading performances before a wildly enthusiastic crowd of 40,597 at the Stade de France.


The Olympic bronze medallist had a clear lead by the second hurdle, and despite hitting two barriers, including the last one, he dipped through the line to become the third fastest performer in high hurdles history.


The 29-year-old American’s run came just 13 days after equalling Dominique Arnold’s US record of 12.90.


Russia’s Anna Alminova earned a dominant victory in the 1500m as she recorded 3:57.65. Three others followed her across the line in under four minutes. There were personal bests for second-placed American Christin Wurth-Thomas, who recorded 3:59.59, and third-placed Hind Dehiba, whose 3:59.76 was a French record. Lisa Dobriskey was fourth, improving her season’s best to 3:59.79.


Vivian Cheruiyot and Brimin Kipruto, the 3000m and 3000m Steeplechase winners in Lausanne last week, produced impressive victories again to keep alive their impressive mid-summer momentum.


Jeremy Wariner improved his own World 400m lead by 0.08 to 44.49, while Renaud Lavillenie delighted home fans in winning the Pole Vault by more than 20cm with 5.91m.


Blanka Vlasic and Andreas Thorkildsen earned their fourth Diamond League victories in the High Jump and Javelin Throw respectively.


22 July

Monte Carlo, Monaco


Kenya’s 20-year-old Silas Kiplagat emerged as a new force in world athletics as he lowered his personal best by five seconds to take an unexpected 1500m victory in 3:29.27 and earn a place in the top 10 in the all-time listings.


The newcomer led five men inside the previous best time this year of 3:31.52, and there were personal or season’s bests down to eighth place, including an Australian record for Ryan Gregson in fifth in 3:31.06.


Kiplagat’s Kenyan team-mate Augustine Choge led by some 10 metres at the bell and seemed poised for victory sewn, but Kiplagat and Amine Laalou of Morocco caught him off the final bend.


“I knew I was in great shape and I knew I could run that fast,” said Kiplagat, who added that he was coached by three-times 3000m Steeplechase world champion Moses Kiptanui and trains with the current World Steeplechase champion Ezekiel Kemboi.


Laalou was rewarded with a personal best of 3:29.53 while Choge finished third in 3:30.22, his best of the year. Next came Andrew Wheating of the USA who moved to number four on the US all-time lists with 3:30.90, a personal best by almost seven seconds.


There were also PBs for his US compatriot Lopez Lomong, sixth in 3:32.20, and Algeria’s Toufik Makhloufi, eighth in 3:32.94, while Bernard Lagat’s season’s best of 3:32.51 was good enough only for seventh. Some race.


There was more outstanding middle distance running in the women’s 800m, where Alysia Johnson of the United States lowered her personal best to 1:57.34 as she led the field home by 10 metres, 0.21 inside Mariya Savinova’s World lead.


And in the 3000m, Ethiopia’s Sentayehu Ejigu bettered the year’s fastest time in the world this year by six seconds as she won in 8:28.41.


Maryam Jamal was second in 8:29.20 while Shannon Rowbury was rewarded for front running from with a huge PB of 8:31.38, taking more than 30 seconds off her previous best.


Jermaine Gonzales took Jeremy Wariner’s World lead in the men’s 400m and earned a 23-year-old Jamaican record in the process as he ran a beautifully judged race to beat his team-mate Ricardo Chambers in 44.40, nine hundredths inside Roxbert Martin’s national record from 1997 and 0.23 inside his personal best set a week earlier in Paris.


In the Triple Jump, World champion Yargelis Savigne secured her third Diamond League victory and extended her own World best to 15.09m, the year’s first 15m-plus jump.


Tyson Gay won the 200m in 19.72, his best of the year and two tenths of a second inside Maurice Greene’s stadium record.


A powerful finish brought Jamaica’s Yohan Blake second place in 19.78, a massive 0.82 inside his personal best. Wallace Searmon was third in 19.93, as three men dipped under 20 seconds for the first time this year.


In the 100m, Carmelita Jeter won revenge over Veronica Campbell-Brown for her only defeat of the year in Eugene. Jeter won in 10.82, her best time of the year.


Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF


Pages related to this article
DisciplinesCompetitions
Loading...