Women Weltklasse in Zurich

My title is easy to figure out--if you know the meaning of "weltklasse".
It's "World Class"!
And today's edition of Zurich's Weltklasse BECAME "World Class" almost solely because of the Women!!

It began yesterday with the holding of the Women's PV inside the Zurich train station--thus making it an INdoor event!!
And as has been fairly common this past year (Since Rio??), it came down to a 2-Woman battle between Ekaterina Stefanidi and Sandi Morris, the Rio Gold and Silver winners!

Opening at 14-10, Morris cleared that and her next on 1st tries!
Kat opened at 15-1.75, and made her next 2 heights on 1st try!
It took Morris all 3 tries to make 15-5.75, and that's where she lost!
Stefanidi missed just once--at 15-9.75, then made the winning height of 15-11.75 on her first!
After Morris's misses, she was clean through 15-11.75 also!

For Stefanidi she broke her own INdoor Age 27 record!
Katie Nageotte got over 15-5.75, an INdoor PR!
She moves from 7th A-T US INdoors, tied with 2 others, to 6th!
And she is now 19th A-T World INdoors, tied with 2 others!!

Five Women cleared 15-1.75, ranked in the following order--Holly Bradshaw, Nicole Buchler, Lisa Ryzih, Yarisley Silva, and Alysha Newman!

The 3000SC was supposed to be rabbited at 9:00 pace!
But the first K was only 3:01.8!
So WR holder Ruth Jebet stepped on the gas, hitting her 2nd K in just under 2:54, followed closely by Beatrice Chepkoech, trying to make up for her ignoble water jump-missing WC race!

By this time, they were way clear of the field, with Emma Coburn and Gesa Krause leading the chase pack---except they weren't really chasing!!
Falling over 2 seconds short of her WR, Jebet ran a solid 8:55.29!
This broke her own Age 20 record, and was the ONLY Meet Record broken today!!
(See below for more stats on the MR's!)

Chepkoech cut a bit off her PR, becoming the 4th Woman to go under 9 minutes!!
Her time of 8:59.84 is the Best 2nd Place mark!!
It's also the Age 26 record--breaking the recently set mark by Emma Coburn!!
On my World Combined Events list for the 3000 & 3000SC, her times of 8:28.66 & 8:59.84 adds to 17:28.50!
She remains 1st on that list!

In 3rd came Norah Tanui!
Let me explain about her name!
On the IAAF results site, she's called Norah Jeruto!
But there's no "Jeruto" listed in the Athletics Annual!
There IS a Norah Tanui--who happens to BE Ms Jeruto!!
Can't Africans create simple names like Norah Jones?/
(Oh wait, we don't want to confuse Ms Tanui with Ravi Shankar's famous singing daughter!!  LOL)

Anyway---Tanui finished 3rd in 9:05.31, a big PR!
She gets the Age 21 record, and becomes 9th A-T World!!

As for Coburn and Krause, they finished 4th and 5th, times of 9:14.81 and 9:15.85, the latter just 0.15 seconds off Krause's PR!!

Shaunae Miller-Uibo---aka SMU--was another female shining star!!
With an All-Star field (missing "only" Tori Bowie), she came off the turn in 4th, behind the faster-starting Marie Josee Ta Lou, Elaine Thompson, and Dafne Schippers!
But the tall lanky Bahaman strode smotthly and powerfully into overdrive, and won easily in 21.88!
This broke her own National Record, but she remains 21st A-T World!

ET came 2nd in 22.00, with Ta Lou hitting 22.09!
Schippers just didn't have it, and ended 4th in 22.36!

Not sure if it was the "best", but the Men's 5000 was surely the most-watched, as it was THE final track race---anywhere!!--Mo Farah intends to run!!
Yes, he won, and yes, it became yet another "gift" for Sir Mo when the pace slowed after a couple of fast opening laps!
But this "gift" came with some super-heavy tape, causing Farah to have to pull out ALL of his last lap arsenal to win!

The finish was reminiscent of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic 10K, when Mohammad Gamoudi pushed his way between Billy Mills and Ron Clarke on the last lap, forcing Mills to the outside--and his legendary kick on the final straight!!

Here, Paul Chelimo took Gamoudi's role, except that he waited until just INCHES before the finish--shoving both Farah (on the rail) and Muktar Edris aside!
Edris went into a dive, caused, it seemed, by Chelimo's move!
For that, Chelimo was later DQ'ed!!

Farah's time was 13:06.05, with Edris just 0.04 behind!
Yomif Kejelcha ended 3rd in 13:06.18!

In other Zurich events--
Sam Kendricks went over 19-3 in the PV---this one held OUTside!!.
Renaud Lavillenie--not having his finest year--No-Heighted out at 18-5.50!!
Mutaz Barshim again put on a one-man show, this time winning at 7-8.75.
NOT the "Year of the HJ"--but surely the Year of Barshim!!
Tim Cheruiyot outkicked a lot of Kenyans--NO Americans!!--in the 1500, winning in 3:33.94.
Zuzana Hejnova won the non-DL 400H in 54.13, her 2017 fastest!
Christiane Williams won a weak Women's 100--time of 11.07.

The WOMEN's 800 was won by Habitam Alemu's 1:56.87.
This is the National Record of Ethiopia!!
Sifan Hassan was next in 1:57.12, with Charlene Lipsey also dipping under 1:58--at 1:57.99.
(The "1st 3" were THOSE 3--the Unnamed!!)

The Men's 400H has 2 new names that could star for years to come!
Kyron McMaster beat Karsten Warholm, 48.07 to 48.22--the latter's time a slight PR, but breaking his own National Record of Norway!
Sally Pearson outleaned Sharika Nelvis, both timed in 12.55, with Pearson's shoulder beating Nelvis's head!
Christina Manning ended 3rd in 12.67!
Three other Americans were in the race!

Isaac Makwala powered home alone in the 400, striding to a 43.95 W, well ahead of Gil Roberts's 44.54!
Then he went to the track for 2 or 3 quick push-ups--which are becoming his trademark!!
At the start, 43.89 man Steven Gardiner slipped off his blocks, falling to the track!
But there was no recall gun--even though this happened with his very first step!!
IMHO, there SHOULD have been a recall!!

The WC winner who beat Usain Bolt in DA MAN's final race--finished just 4th in Zurich's 100!!
Justin Gatlin's 10.04 ended behind the 9.97's of Chijindu Ujah and Ben Meite, and the 10.01 of Ronnie Baker!
In other running events, 16 year old Jakob Ingebrigtsen finished 2nd in a non-DL 800, his time of 1:49.40 his first sub-1:50!
The meet-ending Women's 4X100 Relay saw Jamaica edging Great Britain, 41.85 to 41.86.
The Jam's had someone called ET on anchor!
The US team--anchored by Kaylin Whitney--was far back in 5th!!

The rest of the Field events were okay.
The Women's TJ saw another exciting battle--but relatively poor marks!--with Olga Rypakova's 47-9 beating Yulimar Rojas (47-7.75), Caterine Ibarguen (47-6.25), and Kimberly Williams (47-3.50)!
In the Women's JT, Australia's Kelsey-Lee Roberts hit her early leader of 211-8, before Barbora Spotakova nailed the W with her 215-0!
Michelle Carter was again off her game, finishing only 4th (59-11.25) behind the SP winner Lijiao Gong's 64-3.75!
South Africans went 1-2 in the Men's LJ, with Luvo Manyonga's 27-10.25 beating Ruswahl Samaal's 27-3.25!

Jakob Vadlejch pulled a bit of an upset in the Men's JT, his 290-4 beating Thomas Rohler's 284-1, and Johannes Vetter's 282-7, which gave the latter just 4th!!

Before continuing with more news, let me show you some interesting stats regarding Diamond League Meet Records!
The DL's began in 2010, but were just a slightly different concept from the Golden League, which began in 1998!
Before that, the Weltklasse and Van Damme meet in Brussels were Invitationals, with no points system, and different sets of events--including a 10000 in the Belgium meet!

Following are the Zurich MR's that PRE-date the Golden League and the Diamond League!
For the Men, Meet Records that came BEFORE 1998 include the 400, 3000, 110H, 400H, HJ, and SP!
Those that came BEFORE 2010 (but include MR's set during the GL years!!) include the 400, 800, 1500, Mile, 3000, 5000, 3000SC, 110H, 400H, HJ, LJ, PV, SP, DT, and JT!!

For the Women, the MR's that pre-date the Golden League include the  100, 200, 400, 1500, LJ, TJ, and the DT!
Those that pre-date the DL's, but include MR's set during the GL years, include the 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 100H, 400H, HJ, LJ, TJ, PV, and DT!

Conclusions?
Taking everything into consideration---rampant drug use in the 70's, 80's, and 90's, "better" athletes---there sure are a LOT of MR's dating from BEFORE this GL/DL points system was put into place!!
Keep in mind that 1997 (the final year before the GL's began!) was 20 years ago!!
To have 6 Men's, and 7 Women's MR's still on the Record Book 20 years (and more!!) later are pretty good size numbers!!

And that there are FIFTEEN Men's, and TWELVE Women's MR's dating from 2009 or earlier is also interesting!
Okay, so there are MANY Meet Records from non-DL meets that have "ancient" MR's left on the Books!
But my premise is that the DL (& GL) points system is the main cause of these many MR's surviving!
Not to mention the fact that the Van Damme meet has abandoned its once-famous 10000!!

Sorry, all you DL fans---AND fans who prefer great competitions over fast track races and amazing field event marks---but I can't help but believe that the Zurich meet has LOST some of its "Weltklasse" status, due mostly to the incursion of the GL/DL rules!!
Ditto with the old & original Van Damme Memorial!!

(BTW, do my younger readers know WHO "Van Damme" was??  He was Ivo Van Damme, still the Belgium National Record holder in the 800 and 1000, times of 1:43.86 & 2:15.5, both dating from the summer of 1976!
He died later that year at Age 22, and the Brussels meet was immediately named the Ivo Van Damme Memorial--just as the "Hayward Field Classic" became the "Steve Prefontaine Memorial Classic" after his early death!!)

I have one other mark to report--a 300 in 36.72 by Shakima Wimbley in the Sopot meet on August 16th!
She ran 36.71 INdoors earlier this year!

Some "off-track" news items of note--
Sanya Richards-Ross is a MOM!!
She gave birth to her son, Aaron Ross II!!
Anyone who names their kid Aaron is a friend of mine!!
LOL

Clayton Murphy has joined the Oregon Project, aka NOP!
Good luck, Murph!!

Following Tianna Bartoletta's revelations about her dealings with Relays coach Orin Richburg (See my earlier post!), Natasha Hastings has added HER take on why she wasn't picked for the 4X400 in London!!
It's on her blog site, and well worth a read!
(You can also access it from the T&FN website!)

Finally, there's a new video--25 minutes long--called "Gabe"--that is a MUST see!!
It's all about Gabe Grunewald, and her attempts to qualify for the USATF meet's 1500 in 4 races this past spring!
But it's MUCH more than that!!
She talks all about her battles with cancer--especially this FOURTH time around!!

One especially moving scene is when her close friend Sara Vaughn talks about Gabe, and cries!
Also shown are Vaughn, Emily Lipari, and Grunewald embracing and talking after one of the races!
Her devoted husband is also featured!
PLEASE watch this---it's 25 minutes you won't consider a waste of time!!

(Good news on the cancer front--Bobby Colantonio, the young Hammer Thrower, says his cancer is in full remission!!)

There are a few more T&F meets upcoming over the next 3 weeks!
And I'll detail the results from all of them!!

See you soon!