by Larry Eder
Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt, 2011 IAAF Gala, photo by PhotoRun.net
A tremendous meet for the 13th of 14 Samsung DL meets. After the Olympics, and the post Olympic season, most of the athletes are dragging. Some fantastic performances at the end of the season!
DESPITE RAIN: BOLT AND BLAKE WITH MEET RECORDS, AMAN BEATS RUDISHA
ZURICH (SUI, Aug 30): Sold out Letzigrund saw top fields of the season and in total 3 meet records despite rain and only 14 degrees. The sprinting results of Blake, Bolt, Fraser-Pryce and Harper are special. Sensation of the evening was the win of Mohamed Aman over David Rudisha, the drama of the evening women steeple: first fall of Chemos and then Assefa as winner disqualified. From olympic winners competing 6 did not win (Rudisha, Taylor, Sanchez, Reese and Antyukh with Felix but they were not running their special events).
Event by event review
Men
100 m: Blake is really the beast, 9.76 in rain is very special (+1.4). Also sub 10 for Carter 9.95 and Bailey 9.97 and Collins (36) got his season best 10.01 after Tyson Gay false started. This was non-DL race.
200 m: Only legends can do this: so easy looking 19.66 (0.0) for Bolt. Second Ashmeade 19.85 PB and wins the Diamond Race.
800 m: Deja vu. Aman in rain and last race of the season beats Rudisha (like Milano last year) and gets not only national record 1:42.53 (also equals second best ever by a junior) but also the Diamond.
5000 m: Fast last lap (sub 56) means the win for another junior Isiah Koech (12:58.98) over London medalist Longosiwa (12:59.24) and Bernard Lagat (12.59.92 his season fastest). Other 3 oly medalists in the race well beaten.
400mH: Angelo Taylor after Birmingham 400 m flat gets also the hurdles (48.29) ahead of Cuban surprise Cisneros (48.34), Gordon (48.40) and fourth oly winner Sanchez (48.42, happy birthday anyway). DR winner Culson only fifth (48.56).
HJ: Ukhov is the king, as the only one in wet conditions mastered 231 in third. But Diamond goes to Grabarz (second 228).
PV: Lavillenie showed his domination as he remained alone after clearing 570. The Frenchman was already before the Diamond winner.
TJ: Italian veteran Donato who is 14 years older than Taylor won with 17.29 (+1.6) over the olympic winner (17.16, 0.0).
JT: Finns saved the Diamond Race for Vesely. Pitkamäki with 85.27 last attempt and Ruuskanen 83.36 beat Pyatnytsa who improved in last throw (82.95). The Ukrainian needed to win, Vesely was fourth (80.54).
4×100 m: Zurich Trophy for USA in top composition (Patton-Spearmon-Gay-Bailey) in 38.02 over Jamaica without the best (Forsythe-Young-Weir-Bailey-Cole) 38.19 and Britain 38.30.
Women
100 m: Shelly-Ann refreshed after Lausanne and Birmingham and wins this time with more than impressive 10.83 (-0.4) taking into account the conditions. Jeter 10.97 and Felix 11.02 second and third. From the same training group false start from Kelly-Ann Baptiste (as Tyson Gay).
400 m: Sanya saved her powers for fast finish and won with 50.21 over Montsho (50.33) who got the Diamond.
1500 m: Aregawi won after slow second lap in 4:05.29 and gets the Diamond. Mercy Cherono showed top shape with 2nd 4:06.42. Oly medalist Jamal 11th.
Steeple: The drama of the evening. Sofia Assefa won the race in 9:21.32 and should get the diamond. But later all changed, she was disqualified for running out of the track and lost everything. Winner was Nedo in 9:24.97 (actually a meet record in women steeple debut at Weltklasse). Chemos who fell badly at the last barrier before the last lap finished the race (9:35.67) and will still get the Diamond.
100mH: Harper is winning and winning after the Games, 12.59 (+0.3) was high quality in that conditions. She gets the Diamond as the reward. Harrison in top late shape beats London bronze holder Wells (12.68 to 12.69).
LJ: Sokolova ruled 692 (+0.5) as the other London medalists did not had the day, De Loach 8th and Reese injured 9th.
DT: Perkovic is the queen here with 63.97. She lost only one competition in 2012 in Paris so far.
Others: Lauryn Williams gets national 200 m in 22.96 (+0.7), Kemar Bailey-Cole was fast in 100 m B-race in 10.13 (-0.7) ahead of World junior champion Adam Gemili (10.15). In the U23 match Italian De Leon clocked 49.58 in the 400 m hurdles.
DIAMOND RACE WINNERS
ZURICH (SUI): First group of Diamond Race winners was celebrated at Weltklasse. As new incentive they also won wild cards for 2013 World Championships in Moscow. But if the country already has a wild card holder as gold medalist from Daegu 2011 they can use only one wild card. On the men side Nickel Ashmeade (but Bolt is world champion), Mohamed Aman, Isiah Koech (4 Kenyans will be in Moscow at 5000 m), Javier Culson, Robbie Grabarz (4 Britons in high jump in Moscow possible), Renaud Lavillenie, Christian Taylor (already has WC as Daegu winner), Reese Hoffa (4 Americans in Moscow) and Vitezslav Vesely. On the women side Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (4 Jamaicans in Moscow and Jeter has the WC as Daegu winner that means also 4 Americans), Amantle Montsho, Abeba Aregawi, Dawn Harper (4 US runners in Moscow), Milcah Chemos (4 Kenyans here), Elena Sokolova (4 Russians at Worlds), Valerie Adams and Sandra Perkovic. The only athlete winning the Diamond Race for third time is Milcah Chemos in the steeple. Repeated wins from last year by Renaud Lavillenie, Amantle Montsho and Valerie Adams.
OTHER NEWS
ZAGREB (CRO): New names for 62nd Hanzekovic Memorial (IAAF World Challenge) on Sep 4 include more olympic winners from relay Michael Frater, Jeneba Tarmoh and Francena McCorory. In the men 100 m also Darvis Patton the silver holder from relay will run. In the shot put US Ryan Whiting was added into the field.
BRUSSELS (BEL): Belgian talented hurdler Anne Zagré is moving to Florida to live and train at the Florida State University she announced on Twitter. Zagré is following the path of twin brothers Kevin and Jonathan Borlée who have studied at the university some years ago.
BRUSSELS (BEL): High jumper Tia Hellebaut has confirmed she will continue her career for at least another six months and aims at competing at the European indoor championships in Göteborg. Hellebaut told Belgian media she has a special relationship with the city in which she became European champion in 2006. Before ending her 2012 season, Hellebaut is set to compete in front of a home crowd at the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Brussels.
AMSTERDAM (NED): Dutch former sprinter Troy Douglas has solicited to become the new technical director of the Bermuda Athletics federation. Douglas, in his position as Dutch national relay coach, managed to win this year’s European championships and reach the final of the Olympic Games. The former sprinter was born in Bermuda and said he would be honored to return to his country and develop athletics on the island.
BRUSSELS (BEL): Crowds continue to flock to sell-out stadiums in Europe in the wake of the highly successful London Olympic Games and Brussels is no exception with all 47,000 tickets sold confirms European Athletics. One of the undoubted highlights of the Belgacom Memorial Van Damme meeting on Friday September 7 in the King Baudouin stadium in Brussels is the women’s 800m which will be a rerun of the Olympic final.
TORONTO (CAN): Networking equipment giant Cisco is unveiled as a Premier Partner for the Toronto 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games, with a mission to deliver the most connected and fan-friendly event ever. The tie-up sees Cisco serve as the exclusive official information and communications technology provider delivering voice, video and data technologies reports Insidethegames.
ABUJA (NIG): As Nigerians come to terms with the no medal placement of Team Nigeria at the London 2012 Olympics, Athletics Federation of Nigeria, has given thumbs up for its Track and Field athletes who surpassed their personal bests at the Olympics. President of AFN, Chief Solomon Ogba who reviewed events of the London Olympics said that they were happy with the performance of Nigerian athletes despite not winning a medal writes Vanguard.
LAUSANNE (SUI): Mu-yen Chu, one of the athletes controversially disqualified from the recent election for places on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission, has formally appealed against his exclusion, claiming the affair has „damaged” his social image and professional reputation. Chu, an Olympic taekwondo gold medallist representing Chinese Taipei, had his candidacy withdrawn by the IOC following an allegation that he may have handed out lollipops to promote his candidature – an allegation he denies.
ZURICH (SUI): Swiss TV SRG and Weltklasse Zurich have extended the contract for the production and the media rights for radio, television and the Internet for the meet until 2016. SRG will produce the signal and recieve all media rights for the Swiss territory.
OFFENBURG (GER): The shot put on the market square in Offenburg on September 14 will have every meter worth of money, in the form of a donation in support of World Hunger Help. As the Badische Zeitung reported, javelin thrower Christina Obergföll changes for a good cause for a few hours the discipline. Also shot put champion David Storl and presenter Jörg Pilawa have announced themselves. Additional applications are welcome, the donation is five euros per meter.
RESULTS
DUDINCE (SVK, Aug 30): Martina Hrasnova won the hammer at throwing meet here with 67.46 m.
SAD NEWS
BRATISLAVA (SVK): Former Slovak Athletics Federation president Anton Ihring died at age of 70 after long illness. Former shot putter was one of the top Slovak sports administrators ever. He was leading Slovak Athletics from April 1982 until April 1998. He was also first vice-president of former Czech-Slovak Athletics Federation in 1984-1990, first vice-president of Slovak Olympic Committee (1992-2001).
