Sunday, July 2, 2017

Ostrava 6, Paris 0

Another puzzling title from Yours Truly?
Not really.
In terms of Meet Records broken, the Ostrava IWC meet shut out the Paris Diamond League, 6 to nothing!!

Here you have the Diamond League concept, supposedly established to determine the best--or at least the most consistently winning--athletes in a chosen series of events.
Seven meets have one schedule of events, while the other 7 have a different set!
This supposedly gives MOST athletes a chance to win the DL Grand Prize!
Points are given for each Win---and to some placers!

But here's the thing.
When being the "best" is based on number of victories---and not on the quality of the marks (Although I believe they give bonus dollars for WR's!)--you get what happened in Paris--and it seems, more often than not in recent years--DL's that seem more like top Collegiate dual meets than World Class meets bringing together World Class athletes performing at their best!!

Sure, the timing of the DL's (Their place on the schedule!), and bad weather, contribute to a meet's quality, or lack thereof!
Paris was the 1st DL that came after the USATF meet, aka the WC Trials!
So you had very few Americans there!
Others are waiting for more "prestigious" DL's, such as Monaco and Weltklasse.
Also, many athletes aren't there for points, but just to compete!
Yet they keep avoiding key head-to-heads, another supposed attraction of the DL's!
(At least in the initial concept!)

Well, I could rant on this forever!
(Add track 10000's to the program!)
But this blog is here to report on Records & Marks!
And in the past few days, it was Ostrava that produced!!

Wayde Van Niekerk said he wanted the WR in the 300 meters.
And he came through!
His 30.81 betters Michael Johnson's old WR of 30.85, dating from March 24, 2000!
BTW, MJ's mark was run in Pretoria, South Africa, WVN's home country!!
The old Meet Record was held by one Usain Bolt, a 30.97!!
Isaac Makwala took 2nd in 31.44!

Pawel Fajdek is on fire!
He got the Ostrava Meet Record in the HT with his 273-9!!
Wojciech Nowicki was 2nd with 263-6!
Taking third was Bence Halasz, his 258-8 breaking the Age 19 record!!

Both HT's were held on the meet's 1st day, and Anita Wlodarczyk (Who else??) threw it 261-6--actually below average for her, but good for another Meet Record!!

Another "below average" mark becoming an Ostrava Meet Record came from the flying legs of Christian Taylor!
His new MR in the TJ measured 57-7.75!

Thomas Rohler rolled another 300---um, er, I meant THREW another 300--his 300-3 setting a new MR in the Javelin Throw!

The other MR to come on the track came from Gudaf Tsegay!
Her 1500 winning time of 4:00.96 is the new mark!

Speaking of Mr Bolt--as I did earlier--he won the 100 in 10.06, defying a wind of 0.3 against him!
He left immediately to consult his doctor about some back pain!

Mo Farah had said he wanted a "fast" time in Ostrava's 10K!
Well, compared to his PR oof 26:46, I don't think you'd call 27:12.09 "fast"!!
But it was enough to defeat Matthew Kimeli, who ran 27:14.43!

Dorien Garfield, a new name in the 110H, PR'ed in 13.09 for an Ostrava win!

One who did NOT win was David Rudisha!
His 2:19.43 took just 4th in the 1000!!
Although I've heard this is the LONGEST distance he's ever raced!!
(Had to check all my lists--INdoors & OUTdoors--just to make sure!)
Yep, it was the longest he's ever raced!

Tomas Stanek's 70-11.75 took the Ostrava SP.
Pam Dutkiewicz won the 100H in 12.72, wind of 1.0.
Russian (NOT "neutral" in my eyes!!) Anzhelika Sidorova won the PV with a 15-5 clearance.
Alaysha Newman was 2nd with 15-3.

As for Paris, expectations and hopes were much more exciting than the results!
(Although, to be fair, even a DL's "average" marks are pretty good, in the larger scope of things!  It's just when we measure them against what we feel a DL's marks SHOULD be that they fall short!)

The Women's 3000SC saw WR holder Ruth Jebet take a dive, falling from the lead to a 4th place finish in 9:10.95.
Beatrice Chepkoech took advantage, winning in 9:01.69!
Hyvin Kiyeng's 9:06.00 was 2nd!
Celephine Chespol's 9:07.34 was 3rd.
Emma Coburn had said she wanted to break her AR, but she stayed back too far, and wound up 5th in 9:11.08.
However, that becomes the best-ever mark for 5th Place!!

In the Men's flat 3000, Muktis Edris took the W in 7:32.31.
He outkicked Ronald Kwemoi (7:32.88) and Yomif Kejelcha (7:33.37).
Ben True took 6th, but his 7:35.53 was a PR, moving him from 11th A-T US to 10th!

Elaine Thompson sprinted 10.91 (0.1) to take the 100, but it was her slowest winning time of the year!
In fact, I believe it was her first time outside the 10.7's (in a final) this year!!
Marie Josee Ta Lou was 2nd in 10.96.

Russian Sergey Shubenkov won a good 110H race--a HEAT!!--his 13.09 just nipping the 13.10 of Devon Allen.
Dorien Garfield was 3rd in 13.15, while Omar McLeod was 4th, also timed in 13.15!

In the final, Ronald Levy of Jamaica won it in 13.05, wind a minus 0.1!
Andrew Pozzi was 2nd in 13.14.
McLeod felt cramps behind a knee, but says he's okay!
However, it slowed him to a 13.41, and 7th place!
Devon Allen False Started!!

The Women's 1500 produced times--and a race--definitely worthy of DL standards!!
Sifan Hassan defeated Faith Kipyegon, 3:57.10 to 3:59.51.
A close 3rd went to Gudaf Tsegay's 3:59.55, a PR!

Thomas Rohler lost the JT, his 286-2 mark exactly 5 feet behind Johannes Vetter's winner!
Sam Kendricks defeated Renaud Lavillenie in the PV, his winning height 19-1.
Christian Taylor TJ'ed to a win with his 56-8.75!
Nijel Amos won the 800 in 1:44.24.
Novlene Williams-Mills took the 400 in a slow 51.03.
Lijiao Gong took an Americans-less SP with a toss of 62-9.50!
Mutaz Barshim performed well, ALMOST making 7-10!
But his winning HJ height was 7-8.50!
Ben Meite won the 100 in 9.99.
A weak 200 field saw Ramil Guliyev win in 20.15.

The Lausanne entry list (NOT finalized!) looks FAR better!!  But we'll see what the RESULTS are!!

In the 1st of 3 meets, the Track Town Summer Series kicked off at Stanford!
The HT was shown in its entirety on the livestream!
Gwen Berry led the Women (in a "mixed" event) with 239-0.
Alex Young took the Men's portion with his 236-0.
Both were TTSS Meet Records!

Paul Chelimo started fast, then slowed to a 7:48.58 MR win in the 3000.
Australian Steven Solomon wasn't a team member, but his guest appearance resulted in a win, time of 45.19--also a Meet Record!

Senne Verstagen won the 800 in 2:01.20.
Ricky Robertson won the HJ with 7-4.25.
Aaron Mallett PR'ed to take the 110H in 13.37, wind of 1.6.
Queen Harrison won the 100H in 12.73, wind of 0.8.

Quanesha Burks upset Brittney Reese in the LJ, her 22-2.25 enough to win!
But maybe the best events of the meet were the closing Men's HS Mile, and the Women's 1500.

Making yet another attempt at a sub-4, Cooper Teare instead had to do battle with a surprising Luis Grivalja, who PR'ed by 10 seconds (!!) to run 4:02.64!
Teare slowed too much in the 3rd lap, but held on to win in 4:01.92!
This became a Meet Record!

Another shocker of sorts happened in the 1500.
Alexa Efraimson was leading after the rabbit departed, but fell to 3rd when Amanda Eccleston and Hannah Fields passed her!
Fields--a Brooks Beastie--had a PR in the 4:11 range!
(But she'd recently run a 2:00.53 PR over 800!)
Using a fierce kick, she prevailed in 4:05.30--a 6 second PR!!
And it was good for a TTSS Meet Record!!
Eccleston finished in 4:05.44, while Efraimson ran a still good 4:06.16.
Emily Lipari again PR'ed with her 4:07.29!

The 2nd segment of the TTSS (in Portland) was okay, but with the usual livestream presentation problems--i.e. the longest track race interrupted several times for field event efforts!

In the opening event--the SP--we again were treated to seeing EVERY throw over the first full hour!!
If only EVERY event could be shown like that!!
It was again a "mixed" event--where each 2-person team had one woman, one man!
Ryan Whiting took the "Men's" event with 69-4.25.
After a slow start, Shot Diva Michelle Carter finally nailed a 62-3 for the "Women's" W!
Both were TTSS Meet Records!

The Women's 3000 was filled with 3000SC'ers, which made it interesting!
Stephanie Garcia won it in 9:01.05, not a PR!
In a 1st time event, it became a MR!

Phyllis Francis defeated a pretty good 400 field, her time being 50.69.
Another Meet Record!

In the final event--meant to be a WC Q standard chaser for Robby Andrews--instead became a RACE to the tape by two guys also needing the Q (although if Andrews gets it, by virtue of his USATF win, he'd be first in line to make the team!).
When Andrews DNF'ed at 1200 meters, Ben Blankenship went on to beat Kyle Merber, their 3:37.43's separated by an 0.004 margin!!

But it took a meet in Sollentuna--a town near Stockholm--to bring forth the best mark of the week--Paris DL's presence notwithstanding!!

Daniel Stahl suddenly whipped the Discus out 233-10 from the ring, breaking a most venerable National Record of Sweden!!
The old mark was held by the iconic Ricky Bruch, and dated from 1984!!
This makes Stahl 9th A-T World!!

Lausanne is on July 6th!
I will have a detailed report--whether it's an average DL, or one of the A-T best!!

The July 4th Peachtree 10K is coming also.
But Shalane Flanagan withdrew!!
Not sure why!

Also, the final TTSS meet---in NYC--is on the 6th!
This one has a full slate of events!
Hopefully the weather gods will cooperate!

See you soon with all the Records & Marks!









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