— Zürich DL: 16 Diamond Races Decided —
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Volume 12, No. 54 September 01, 2013 — Zürich DL: 16 Diamond Races Decided — by Phil Minshull Fellow Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade was arch-rival Kirani James. Zürich, Switzerland, August 29—Part 1 2nd in 9.94 while Moscow silver medalist Jus- The Grenadian star tried to come back at of the IAAF Diamond League’s season No. 4 tin Gatlin finished 3rd in 9.96 to get enough him over the second furlong but Merritt had ended, as in all previous years, at the famous points to win the Diamond Race. enough in reserve to win in 44.12 and snatch Weltklasse meeting, where half of the tour’s 400: One of the best races of the night the diamond from James’s 44.32. 32 events were decided. saw ’WC winner Merritt go out hard and 1500: After some quick pacemaking early The winners, four of whom had already by halfway he had a clear advantage over his in the race, with the leaders going through wrapped up their titles in 1:51.25, Kenya’s Silas before they got to Kiplagat came out of a Zürïch and only needed tightly-bunch pack off the to show up in the Swiss The indomitable final bend and had enough city, received a $40,000 speed in his legs to carry award plus a special di- Val Adams him home in a season’s best amond-themed trophy cranked out the of 3:30.97. worth approximately Djibouti’s Ayanleh $12,000. year’s longest Souleiman had the overall In addition, it was clinched before he went an especially lucrative put to the start line but came night for athletes like home next in 3:31.64. the ’13 WC gold med- It was a poor night for allists LaShawn Merritt U.S. runners Matthew and David Oliver be- Centrowitz and Leo Manz- cause they also won an- ano, who never featured at other $10,000 for com- the sharp end and finished ing home first in their 12th and 14th.. events on the night. Steeple: After a quick In contrast to a few opening kilo in 2:39.26 recent editions of the by rabbit Haron Lagat, Weltklasse, notably 12 nobody seemed interested months ago, the con- continuing to go for a sub- ditions were ideal for 8:00 and Stockholm win- good performances as ner Hilary Yego, who failed the night was dry and to make the Kenyan team temperatures between for Moscow, continued his 67 and 73 (19–23C). good late-season run of The second final will form with victory here in come Friday in Brus- 8:08.03. sels. Moscow silver medal- list Conseslus Kipruto Men: hung on for 3rd in 8:10.76, 100: Usain Bolt re- which was just enough to turned to action for the give him the overall title by first time since Moscow 1 point from Yego. and reeled off a routine- JIRO MOCHIZUKI/ After his DNF in for-him win in 9.90. Stockholm, 3-time world After a typically champion Ezekiel Kemboi sluggish start, he got turned in another dismal IM th into gear over the sec- AGE performance back in 10 . O 110H: Oliver put to- ond half of the race and F SP pulled away from his OR gether his third consecu- challengers. T tive DL win and skimmed -538- September 01, 2013 over the barriers in 13.12 to take the Dia- Women: her 41st consecutive victory mond Race. Just like in Moscow, Ryan Wil- She won by over a meter despite Russia’s 200: son (13.24) came home behind Oliver. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce sizzled ’12 OG silver medalist Yevgeniya Kolodko High Jump: Bohdan Bondarenko only around the bend and kept on motoring down uncorking a season’s best of 65-6½ (19.97). needed two jumps to win the contest and the the straight to win in 22.40, which added a Michelle Carter was just a centimeter away Diamond Race, and only took three in total. diamond to the Jamaican’s world title. She from Jill Camarena-Williams’ indoor AR He went cleanly over 7-5¼ (2.28) and then overtook Murielle Ahouré (22.66) both on with 65-2¾ (19.88) in 3rd. 7-7¾ (2.33). He passed 7-8½ (2.35) and, the track and in the standings. Javelin: Russia’s Mariya Abakumova has 800: with the contest won, had the bar put up to With pre-Zurich leader Francine Ni- been making up for letting her nerves get the a WR 8-¾ (2.46) at which he had one half- yonsaba unable to come to the line due to better of her in Moscow and only ending up hearted attempt to please the crowd. injury, the dash for cash was wide open and with the bronze. For the third consecutive Greece’s Konstadínos Baniótis and Qa- eventually the race ended in similar fashion meet since the Worlds she was a convincing tar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim also cleared 7-7¾ to the World Championships with Kenya’s winner over gold medalist Christina Oberg- on their first attempts but had failures earlier Eunice Sum having a better finish than Rus- föll. in the competition and once they brought sian rival Mariya Savinova to win on the On this occasion, there was more than 5 the bar down three times at 7-8½ they were night and the Diamond Race overall, the pair meters between the two other them as all five placed 2nd and 3rd. timed at 1:58.82 and 1:58.93. of Abakumova’s valid throws were better then 5000: Long Jump: South Africa’s Zarck Visser, It was the matchup that had been Obergfoll, topped by her third round 226-2 who did not even make the Moscow final, missing in Moscow after the Ethiopian feder- (68.94). was the surprise winner when he hit his sweet ation twisted the arms of Meseret Defar and spot with a leap of 27-3¾ (8.32) in the 3rd Tirunesh Dibaba to only run one event each, Non-DL Events: round, into a 0.8 mps breeze, to add 3cm to but Zürich was able to put enough money Men’s 800: Moscow silver medallist Nick on the table to make the eagerly anticipated Symmonds showed that he’s still fresh with his lifetime best. rd Gold medalist Aleksandr Menkov was head-to-head happen. a win in 1:43.56, his 3 best time ever, hit- down in 6th with 26-¾ (7.94) but under- How much? No one was saying. “But it ting the front just before the final furlong was a lot of money, it cost us a lot,” admit- and never letting go. Poland’s Marcin Lewan- ¼ standably had his thoughts elsewhere as he nd had already wrapped up the Diamond Race ted meet director Patrick Magyar. He was dowski was 2 in a PR 1:43.79 rewarded with possibly the best race of the Women’s 100: In the best of two races, ½ and had celebrated the birth of his first child just a few days before. night, featuring a climactic last 1K. designed for the relay runners to stretch their Dibaba did her best to take the sting out legs, Jamaica’s Carrie Russell sped to a PR of ¾ Shot: This was not a DL final but Ryan Whiting’s win in Zurich’s main railway sta- of Defar’s finish by cranking up the speed 10.98, with Alex Anderson close behind in tion the evening before the main meeting was from 650 meters but Defar stayed hard on 11.02. a nice warmup before he makes the trip to the heels of her rival, and looked comfort- Women’s 4 x 100: A U.S. team of Bar- Brussels next Friday. able, despite the ever-increasing tempo and bara Pierre, Anderson, Tiffany Townsend and Whiting found the form that slightly es- went past her compatriot coming off the Charonda Williams got the baton round in a caped him in Moscow with a tremendous se- bend. met record of 41.67 to beat a Jamaican quar- ries of 71-5¼, 70-9¼, 72-2, 72-3¼, 68-10¾, With the last kilo covered in a blistering tet, with Fraser-Pryce on the anchor leg. 71-10¾ (21.77, 21.57, 21.99, 22.03, 21.00, 2:40.68, Defar uncorked a 58.3 last lap en- route to winning in 14:32.83, with Dibaba 21.91); four of his efforts being better than nd th Germany’s 2-time world champion David 2 in 14:34.82. Back in 7 , Jenny Simpson — Zürich DL — Storl, who reached 69-6¼ (21.19) in the broke 15:00 for the first time with a 14:56.25 third round before finishing off with three that made her No. 10 American ever. Zürich, Switzerland, August 29 (¶ = 400H: fouls. Zuzana Hejnová had already won overall DL winner)— It doesn’t happen much in August, but the overall before she arrived but the Czech 100(-0.3): 1. Usain Bolt (Jam) 9.90; 2. Whiting (as Val Adams would on the wo- extended her unbeaten streak to 11 races as Nickel Ashmeade (Jam) 9.94; 3. ¶Justin mens side) claimed the yearly world indoor she won in 53.32, getting in front by the sec- Gatlin (US) 9.96; 4. Jimmy Vicaut (Fra) 9.98; lead. ond hurdle and never being headed. 5. Mike Rodgers (US) 10.00; 6. Nesta Pole Vault: Silke Spiegelburg has an unen- Carter (Jam) 10.01; 7.