Women Shine at Diamonds

Validation!
Yes, my Preview of the Women's Mile races at the 2 latest Diamond League meets was maybe a bit--um--overblown!
But the London race gave me the validation I was waiting (& hoping!) for after Lausanne!
And I will detail that historic race at the end of this post!
(Such a tease!)

NOTE: I decided midway through this report to save the London results for a 2nd post!!  I make mention of this later!

So much more went down this past week!

It maybe began with the news that Michaela Meijer had PV'ed 15-5.50, getting the National Record of Sweden!
She missed the World list by 0.75 inches!
And she would be in London!

The Peachtree 10000 meters Road Race was run in hot weather, slowing the times!
Len Korir beat Shadrack Kipchirchir by 1 second, 28:16 to 28:17!
Sam Chelanga came 3rd some 12 seconds later, followed by Chris Derrick!
But in 5th was now-42 year old Bernard Lagat, his 28:42 still a quality time!

Aliphine Tuliamuk took the Women's race in 32:48!
Sarah Pagano was a surprise 2nd in 33:00!
Jordan Hasay was 3rd 7 seconds back of Pagano!
Jess Tonn, formerly of Stanford, took 4th in her first Road 10K!!

Proving you don't need DL status to produce a good T&F meet, the Istvan Gyulai Memorial provided a slough of top marks!

Pawel Fajdek kept steady at 270+ in the HT, his 271-1 winning easily!
Shaunae Miller-Uibo upped the ante in the World 400 stakes, winning in 49.86 over Courtney Okolo's 50.41.
Justin Gatlin isn't running super fast 100's (Yet!!), but he's winning!
His latest was here in 9.98, beating Akani Simbine's 9.99--wind of 0.9!
Steven Gardiner took the Men's 400 in 44.61.
Kori Carter won the 400H in 54.22.
Rushwal Samaai LJ'ed 27-4.50!
David Rudisha returned to his winning ways, his 1:44.90 doing the job in the 800!!

But it was the pair of High Hurdle races that were the real highlights!
Kendra (No more Keni!!) Harrison ran her fastest of the year, her 12.28 falling just 0.02 seconds shy of the Age 24 Record!!
With a tiny breeze of 0.1, she easily whipped Jasmin Stowers's 12.66!
Sally Pearson finished 6th in 12.76.

Then Omar McLeod sped the 110H in 12.96 (0.3), and needing most of it to beat Russian Sergey Shubenkov's 13.01.
Aries Merritt was a good 3rd in 13.11, followed by Balazs Baji's 13.15!
The latter is the new National Record of Hungary--a treat for the home crowd!!

The final TrackTown Summer Series meet of 2017 took place in NY, and was loaded with solid performances!
The 5K Road Races got automatic Meet Records, as last year, they ran a 4 Mile race!
Tommy Curtin's 14:11 and Kim Conley's 16:08 were the winning times!

The Hammer Throws also got new MR's--
Colin Dunbar-Hatton's 238-5 nabbing the Men's, while Gwen Berry improved her own MR with her 244-3!
Devon Allen (13.36) and Queen Harrison (12.75) took the 110/100H races!
Darrell Hill (68-5.75) and Michelle Carter (61-6.75 didn't get MR's, but won their SP comps!
The HJ's saw the MR's getting broken or tied!
Inika McPherson tied her own MR with 6-2.75!
Eric Kynard's 7-6.50 is the new TTSS MR for the Men!
Quanesha Burks took the LJ with 22-5.
(Brittney Reese didn't compete!)

The distances were a mixed bag!
While Paul Chelimo did break his own MR in the 3000, his 7:47.96 was still a jogfest!
Senna Verstegen took the Women's 800 in 2:00.22!
Ce'Aira Brown's 2:00.84 in 3rd was a PR!
Stephanie Garcia ran 8:52.74 in the 3000, breaking her own MR!
Her Combined Events total for the 3000 & 3000SC became 18:12.22 (8:52.74 & 9:19.48), but she remains 3rd on the US list!
Nicole Tully was 2nd in 8:54.28.
Two more SC'ers came next with PR's--
Marisa Howard ran 8:57.15, while Megan Rolland finished in 9:00.48!
Amanda Eccleston won the Women's 1500 in 4:05.51, with Portland winner Hannah Fields 2nd in 4:05.70, while Alexa Efraimson again faded a bit at the end, finishing in 4:06.25!

The 800 saw a GREAT race produce one of the best US 800's in awhile!
At the tape, it was new Track Darling Drew Windle in front, his 1:44.63 PR becoming the TTSS Meet Record!!
And he misses the US DDD by only 0.20 seconds!!
Right behind him came Erik Sowinski's 1:44.66!
Then it was Ed Kemboi's 1:44.77, followed by a good PR by Andres Arroyo of 1:44.98!
Jake Garn's 1:45.04 just missed joining the US Sub-1:45 Club!!

Robby Andrews wanted (NEEDED!!) to run the 1500 in 3:36 to make his win at USATF a guaranteed ticket to London's WC's!
And he got it--even though Johnny Gregorek's PR of 3:35.00 beat him by 0.25 seconds!
Ben Blankenship's 3:35.29 took 3rd, while Craig Engels's 3:35.95 was 4th!

Lausanne is in Switzerland, but there was nothing cheesy about this DL!
(Don't shoot me!  I LOVE Swiss Cheese!!  LOL)
From the opening "shot", this was clearly going to be one of the best DL's of the year!!
And yes, that opening event WAS the Shot Put for Men!!

Ryan Crouser lofted the ball out 73-5.50 for the Lausanne Meet Record, and enough to easily turn back Tom Walsh's best effort of 72-1.
Tomas Stanek took 3rd with his 70-1, but it was further down the line where more Records got broken!!
In 7th came Tsanko Arnaudov's 68-3!
This became the Best 7th Place mark!!
And in 8th, getting the Best 8th Place record was Jacko Gill's 67-11.

The Field Events continued the momentum, as a great competition saw Rio Gold winner Sara Kolak come from behind to defeat veteran Barbora Spotakova in the JT, 224-6 to 221.1.
For Kolak, it's the Lausanne Meet Record!
She moves from 24th A-T World, tied with 2 others, all the way to 7th!!
Kathryn Mitchell was a good 3rd with her 216-11.

Ivana Spanovic's 22.3.50 took a Women's LJ hampered by headwinds!
Then came the Men's Pole Vault, which "featured" the 17 year old Mondo Duplantis!
How would he fare on the summer circuit--his appearance at the Prefontaine meet coming back in May?
The opening height was 18 feet-plus!
How many HS kids OPEN at that sort of height??
He made it, and he made 18-9.50, but could not go higher--not today!!
He finished 7th!
And Renaud Lavillenie didn't win either!
His 19-3 took the Bronze!
It was left to a Pole (Sic!) and an American to fight to the finish!
And both Sam Kendricks and Pawel Wojciechowski got Records!
Kendricks's 19-5.50 got the Lausanne Meet Record!
Woji (YOU spell his name TWICE!!  LOL) cleared the same height, breaking his own National Record!!

An early Track event--the Women's 400H--was supposed to be a runaway for US Champ Delilah Muhammad!
But she stopped at the 1st barrier, a DNF!
Ashley Spencer wound up winning in 53.90 over Lisa Sprunger's 54.29!

Sharika Nelvis took an almost "average" 100H, with Americans taking Places 1 through 5!!
Her 12.53 was 0.04 ahead of Jasmin Stowers's 12.57.
Next came a PR for Christina Manning, whose 12.58 makes her 21st A-T US!!
Both Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin ran 12.61's, with Ali edging her in 4th!

Matthew Centrowitz--as we all have heard, ad nauseum!--won Rio Gold with a 50.5 last 400 in a 3:50 race!
We also all know--because I've told you!--that his PR of 3:30.40 ended only TENTH in the Monaco DL of 2015--that time getting him the Best 10th Place record--a record of some dubious nature!
And here we go again!

In a rabbited race--although this time the winner, Aman Wote, ran "just" 3:32.20--Centro ended back in 7th, time of 3:34.83.
Okay, so he'd had a slight training setback a few months ago, and was happy with his time!
But WHICH Centro is the REAL Centro---the 10th & 7th Place finisher--or the Gold Medal Winner??
We will find out soon enough!

BTW, don't worry!
I've decided to do my London report in a separate post!
This is getting too long, and I want to finish with Lausanne here--EXCEPT for the Women's Mile, which I'm also saving for Post Number Two!!

Another anticipated race was the Women's 200!
While she had to struggle mightily down the home straight, Dafne Schippers finally pulled past Marie Josee Ta Lou just before the tape!!
They had a breeze of 0.5 to run against also, but their times of 22.10 and 22.16 were still good!
In fact, Ta Lou broke her own National Record of Ivory Coast!!
Kyra Jefferson ran a solid 22.34 in 3rd!

Two other Field Events produced some fireworks!
Mariya Lasitskene (formerly Kuchina) HJ'ed 6-9.
This moves her from 14th A-T World, tied with 4 others, to 5th, where she's also tied with 4 others!!
Then she made 3 attempts at the World Record height of 6-10.75, or 2.10!!
Not sure, but this might be the first time ANY Women has attempted to BREAK the WR in this century!!
Finishing in 6th was the Ageless Ruth Beitia, her 6.2.75 tying her own Age 38 Record!!

PPPP is BACK!
Christian Taylor was beating Will Claye in the TJ, 57-4.75 to 56-2--when Pedro Pablo Pichardo stepped to the runway for his final effort!
Landing 57-9 from the board, he won--and beat the presumed "ironclad" Gold winner of the upcoming WC's!!
Now that's NOT so "ironclad"!!

Justin Gatlin again won the 100 in another "okay" time of 9.96, this time defeating Ben Meite's 9.98!

For once, the Women's 800 was ALMOST a completely WOMEN's 800!!
An unnamed intruder ran 1:56.82, but the REAL winner was the On FIRE Charlene Lipsey!!
Her 1:57.38 moves her from 16th A-T US all the way up into 6th!!
She's just 0.04 slower than current US list leader (Meaning the list of currently active 800 gals!!) Alysia Montano, who we know is now carrying her 2nd child!!
And she's faster than Ajee Wilson and Brenda Martinez!!

Eunice Sum came next in 1:57.78, followed by the PR run of Sifan Hassan, her time being 1:58.13!
Laura Muir also PR'ed, her 1:58.69 being her first dip into the Sub-2:00 pool!!
Lovisa Lindh's 1:58.77 gave her the National Record of  Sweden!!
All 10 "women" finished under 2 minutes!
(Some lanes were doubled up at the start!)

Speaking of barriers being broken, the Men's 5000 finally saw a good RACE!!
It didn't appear possible after the rabbit took them through 3K about 6 seconds slower than asked!
But Muktar Edris is in top shape, and he HAD to be, as a 17 year old gave him a battle right to the end!!
Edris's 12:55.23 gave him the Lausanne Meet Record!!
But it was the teenager (Born January 20, 2000, according to the IAAF!!) Seleman Barego's 12:55.58 that turned people's heads!!
It was a PR by some 20 seconds--and missed the Age 17 Record by just 1.40 seconds!!
Joshua Jeptegei also dipped under 13--his time in 3rd being 12:59.83.

And the parade of solid events just kept on coming!!

After his WR 300 of 30.81 (See a previous post!), we all wondered what Wayde Van Niekerk might run here!!
The Meet Record was Michael Johnson's 43.66 from the 1996 version!
Not soft!
WVN took it down, however, his 43.62 looking "easy", according to everyone who watched it!
(I watched it later, and fully agree!  He put the brakes on with 10 meters to go!!)

Babaloki Thebe got a PR by 0.20 seconds, his 44.02 in 2nd making him 17th A-T World!!
And Isaac Makwala's 44.08 in 3rd wasn't exactly--Heh!--Swiss Cheese!!
Vernon Norwood finished 4th in 44.47, while Michael Cherry's 44.66 in 5th was a PR by a sliver of 0.01 seconds!!

The meet ended as it began, with another Record falling!!
The Women's 4X100 Relay was won by--Yes, Switzerland!--in 42.53!!
They got their National Record, and moved from 21st A-T Nation to 16th!!

I apologize for not including my London report in this post, but I want to try to keep my posts at "readable" lengths--not make them a TASK to get through!!

Also, the Women's Mile in LondonTown was just so very good, that I want to give it the space it deserves!!
Besides, I want to show you WHY I feel validated after my blaringly audacious Preview post of a few days ago!
As promised, I've also kept the results from the Lausanne Women's Mile for my next post!!

See you soon---a few short hours!--with all the London results!!