Cute title, eh?
But that's the gist of what's to come!
The London Diamond League was the last DL before the European Championships, due to start in 2 weeks!
The Birmingham DL isn't until after the Euros.
But more on all that later!
Seems the distances decided to set the sprints and field events aside--for the most part!--and take control of the energy and thrills blanketing this NOT-so-off year!!
And few races--maybe in the whole history of the sport!--saw such a mass rush to PR's, and records of all sorts--than the Women's Mile that ended the 2-day meet!
Nowhere did this rush do more damage than in the Place Records Dept, where EVERY Place between 2nd & 12th was changed!!
Brenda Martinez was charged with pacing duties, and did her job to perfection!
Hitting 63.3 and 2:06.9, the entire field followed--unlike some recent pacing jobs, where the rabbit ran solo!
After hitting 1200 (1320?) in 3:11.8, we were down to a quintet of Gudaf Tsegay, Sifan Hassan, Helen Obiri, Jenny Simpson, and Laura Muir, making yet another attempt at the British Mile record of 4:17.57, held by Zola Budd!
Alas, she came up short again!
But Hassan hit the pedal hardest, and came through the victor, time of 4:14.71.
She set the Meet Record, and broke her own National Record of the Netherlands!!
She moves from 14th A-T World up to 3rd!
On my World Combined Events list for the 800 & Mile, her times of 1:56.81 and 4:14.71 adds to 6:11.52.
She moves from 9th A-T to 2nd!!
Tsegay came 2nd, time of 4:16.14.
Besides becoming 6th A-T World, she led the total erasure of my Place Records, nabbing the best 2nd Place mark!
Obiri was right on her shoulder, hitting the line in 4:16.15!
She gets the best 3rd Place mark, and breaks her own National Record of Kenya!
She's now 7th A-T World!
Simpson fell short of Mary Slaney's iconic AR, but cut more than 2 seconds from her PR, with her 4:17.30.
She gets the Age 31 Record, and the best 4th Place mark!
She improves her times on 2 C-E lists.
On the World list for the 1 & 2 Mile, Simpson's times of 4:17.30 and 9:16.78 adds to 13:34.08.
She remains 3rd there!
On the US list for the same events, she remains 2nd!
On the US C-E list for the 800 and Mile, her times of 2:00.45 and 4:17.30 adds to 6:17.75.
She moves from 3rd to 2nd!
She moves from 21st A-T World to 11th!
But she remains 2nd A-T US!
Muir finished in 4:19.28!
She gets the best 5th Place mark!
Laura Weightman came next, time of 4:20.49, getting the best 6th Place mark!
She actually broke her own Place mark!!
She misses my World DDD by just 0.14 seconds!
Winny Chebet's 4:20.51 gave her the best 7th Place mark!
Kate Grace seems to have had the fastest last 109 meters, the only one to close in under 17 seconds!!
This gave her the best 8th Place mark, time of 4:20.70!
On my US Combined Events list for the 800 & Mile, her times of 1:58.28 and 4:20.70 adds to 6:18.98.
She moves from 5th A-T to 3rd there!
On my US DDD, she moves from 8th A-T to 4th!!
Sarah McDonald's 4:20.85 gives her the best 9th Place mark!
Linden Hall's 4:21.40 is the best 10th Place mark, but more importantly, she breaks Australia's National Record!!
Another National Record fell to Simona Vrzakova's 4:21.54.
She gets the NR for the Czech Republic, as well as the best 11th Place mark!
And Sofia Ennaoui's 4:23.34 nabs the best 12th Place mark!!
An amazing field!!
Before continuing with my London report, let's move to Belgium, and its meet in Heusden-Zolder!
Because the American assault on their Women's Record Book saw a huge victory there--behind General Shelby Houlihan!!
Asking Shalane Flanagan--in Marathon training, and age 37--to rabbit was a smart move!
Flanagan performed to perfection, passing 3K in 8:53, with only Houlihan in tow at that point!
The next 2000 took just 5:41--close to World Record pace!!--and when she crossed the line, her time of 14:34.45 had slashed 4 seconds from Shannon Rowbury's AR!!
She moves all the way from 17th A-T US to the Top!!
She misses the World list by 3.25 seconds!!
On my US C-E list for the 1500 and 5000, her times of 3:57.34 and 14:34.45 adds to 18:31.79!
She moves from 6th A-T to 1st!!
Molly Huddle led the charge of the Second Brigade, her 15:01.44 not bad for also being in Marathon training mode!!
Next came new Bowerman Babe (BTC) and Nike signee, Karissa Schweizer!
Wearing her new kit, she demolished her previous best by about 15 seconds!!
Her time of 15:02.44 makes her 19th A-T US!!
Would have been the Collegiate Record if run at the NCAA's or before!!
Dom Scott also cut a chunk off her PR, timing 15:04.14 in 4th.
Vanessa Fraser was another recent College grad to see a good PR--her 15:09.62 giving her 9th!
In other H-Z news---
Emily Lipari PR'ed in winning the 1500, her 4:05.68 beating Winny Nanyondo's 4:06.08.
Alexa Efraimson and Cory McGee ran low'4:07.s in 3rd & 4th!
Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda won the 800 in 1:59.58, with Hanna Green's 2:01.28 taking 2nd, followed by Emily Richards's 2:01.33.
Eric Avila won the 1500 in 3:36.41.
Chala Regese took a quick 5000 in 13:06.98, beating Nibret Malek's 13:07.27.
Sean McGorty ran 13:21.93 in 10th!
Back to London!!
The meet actually began with a World Record--however obscure!
Britain's Tom Bosworth Walked the WR for the 3000, his time being 10:43.84!
Not far behind was Laboyeng Shange's 10:47.08!!
The Men's PV saw a good 3-way battle!
Sam Kendricks emerged the winner, his 19-5 beating the 19-2.75 of Renaud Lavilenie and Mondo Duplantis!!
(Has any other event seen the World's Top 3 compete so often against each other this season??)
Christian Coleman was a DNS in the 100!!
That left Ronnie Baker to take the W--his 9.90 beating the 9.93 of Zharnel Hughes, the 9.94 of Akani Simbine, and the 9.95 from Yohan Blake!!
Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce continued her comeback from giving birth, her 10.99 enough to defeat Dezerea Bryant's 11.04!
Someone noted that she's one of the only Moms to run a sub-11 less than a year after delivery!!
Abdellelah Haroun broke his own National Record of Qatar in winning the 400 in 44.07!
He becomes 22nd A-T World!!
Paul Dedewo got another small PR, his 44.43 taking 2nd.
Kirani James (44.50) and Baboloki Thebe (44.54) were next!
In 5th was 400H wonder Abderrahman Samba, his 44.62 a massive PR of 0.85 seconds!!
On my World C-E list for the 400 & 400H, his 44.62 and 46.98 adds to 1:31.60--but still gets him "only" 2nd there!!
Speaking of the 400H, Karsten Warholm had that race all to himself, winning in 47.65!
It's the London Meet Record, as well as breaking his own National Record of Norway!!
And he makes my World DDD list, in 23rd place!!
Luvo Manyonga had a great LJ series, with his last 5 rounds being between 27-8 and his winner of 28-1.75!!
He gets the Meet Record!
Ruswahl Samaai's 27-7.50 took Silver, with Jarrion Lawson's 27-0.75 taking 3rd!
Mariya Lasitskene returned to her winning ways, taking the HJ with 6-8.25!
But she had to fight for it!!
For a previously obscure Italian--Elena Vallortigara--shot her PR up 6 inches, all the way to 6-7.50!!
Born September 21, 1991, she had HJ'ed 6-1.25 at Age 16, but then a series of injuries and other life problems kept her at that level for years---until this meet!!
And suddenly Ms Lasitskene has some competition!!
The 100H was once again an American affair!
After heats of 12.41 (Brianna McNeal), 12.50 (Kendra Harrison), 12.56 (Christina Manning), and Norway's Isabelle Pedersen (12.72)--which gave the latter her National Record!--the final went off near meet's end!
There, Harrison won in 12.36, beating McNeal's 12.47, and Sharika Nelvis's 12.51!
Pedersen came close to her new NR, hitting 12.73 at the line!
Emmanuel Korir followed the rabbit through the first 400 of the 800 in 49.87!
His 52.18 closer gave him the World Lead--1:42.05!!
And the Meet Record!
He becomes 6th A-T World!
On my World C-E list for the 400 & 800, his times of 44.21 and 1:42.05 adds to 2:26.26.
He moves from 3rd A-T into 1st!!
Clay Murphy's 1:43.12 season's best just nipped the 1:43.12 of Wyclife Kinyamal!!
Nijel Amos came in 4th, time of 1:43.29!
Ninth place was timed in 1:45.04!
The 200's produced some fireworks!
Akeem Bloomfield had recently PR'ed with a 20.00!
Now he's down to 19.81!!
(Amusing that the announcers mistakenly thought Alonzo Edward had won!!)
Edward did come 2nd, but in 20.01--no contest!!
Bloomfield misses my World DDD by just 0.01 seconds!!
Jenna Prandini finally won herself a DL meet!
Her 22.16 edged the 22.19 of Gabby Thomas!!
For Prandini, she moves from 23rd A-T US to 20th!
And Thomas becomes 23rd A-T US, tied with 1 other!!
Shericka Jackson ran 22.22 in 3rd, while Dafne Schippers's 22.42 was relegated to 7th!!
The Women's 3000 saw an interesting "finish"!
At the 2800 meter point, Fantu Worku sprinted through the "tape", thinking she'd "won"!!
BUT---the race had 200 left to go!!
Lillian Rengerek's 8:41.51 took the REAL race, followed by Susan Krumins's 8:41.83, and Katie Mackey's 8:44.47!
Worku, seeing her mistake, DNF'ed!!
Shamier Little's 53.95 edged Janieve Russell's 53.96 in the 400H!
Shara Proctor had a similarly close contest for the LJ title!
Her 22-8 beat Lorraine Ugen's 22-7!
Huihui Lyu's JT sailed 215-0, beating the 214-5 from Nikola Ogrodnikova!!
Stephanie McPherson easily won the 400, time of 50.31.
And even though she fouled 5 times, her 1st round DT of 220-7 gave Sandra Perkovic another W.
Ron Levy's 13.13 beat the 13.30 from Devon Allen in the 110H.
Matthew Centrowitz used his "CenTrot" (MY new nickname for his tactics, inspired by MoBot!!) to win his first DL race!
His 3:35.22 took the 1500 over Ryan Gregson's 3:35.35!
Nick Willis ran 3:35.72 in 6th, beating the PR of 3:35.90 by Drew Hunter!
Paul Chelimo won the 5000, his 13:14.01 beating Muktar Edris's 13:14.35!
The first 7 ran faster than 13:17!
Ce Aira Brown PR'ed in winning the Semenya-less 800 in 1:58.57!
This makes her 24th A-T US!
She beat Natoya Goule's 1:58.67!
A couple of Relays saw some good marks!
Great Britain's Men took the 4 X 100 in 37.61, the Meet Record!!
Japan was 2nd in 38.09.
The Netherlands improved their NR to 38.21 in 3rd!
They move from 19th A-T Nation to 18th!
The Brit Women also won--in 42.36.
They beat China's 42.59, and the Netherlands 42.71.
Finally---
I missed reporting that Sydney Siame's 20.18 winner in the Cork 200 broke his own National Record of Zambia!
And Anita Wlodarczyk continues to sharpen for the Euros, her latest HT measuring 261-1, her best of 2018!!
And that returns us to what's next!
The Euros begin August 7th!
There are SOME meets (and Road Races) happening between now and then--and some of the European nation's National Championship are winding up!
So I'll probably have SOME marks to report in the next two weeks!
And I'll be doing my Euros Preview in 2 weeks also!
But until then, I can't tell you when my next post will be!!
BTW, the Euros COULD be a GREAT meet, as that Continent has been giving up some Record-breaking and List-making marks!!
See you soon!
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