by Alfonz Juck
Zurich Weltklasse, August 29, 2019, photo by Stuart Weir
This is the event by event highlights of the Weltklasse captures much of the excitement in the 2019 event!
Warholm gets 46.92 European record
Karston Warholm, photo by Zuerich Weltklasse
ZURICH (SUI, Aug 29): Weltklasse meet was really a World Class act. With all details secured making it to superb spectacle with Sandi Morris and Noah Lyles performing on stage live the song Souvenir followed by a firework. Another firework happened on the track before sold out stadium with 25 000 enthusiastic spectators. 4 World Leads in that number also 3 meet records and 3 Diamond League records, very special sub 47 in the 400 m hurdles, also Echevarria and Miller-Uibo. From 16 DL winners, four women defended their titles, three more winners had the diamonds from other year (Hassan in 2015, Kendricks in 2017) or other event (Lyles 200 m).
Men
100m – Noah Lyles won in 9.98 from China’s Xie Zhenye (10.04) and Jamaica’s Yohan Blake (10.07). World champion Justin Gatlin had to settle for fourth in 10.08.
800m – Nijel Amos followed the pacemaker through 400m in 48.23 and was still on world record pace through 600m in 1:14.43 before he got reeled in by Donavan Brazier who ran much more even splits to win in a 1:42.70 PB (just missing Johnny Gray’s US record of 1:42.60) to Amos’ 1:42.98.
5000m – Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei made the break and held off the challenge from the pursuers to win in a 12:57.41 PB from Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet (12:58.15) and Kenya’s Nicholas Kimeli (12:59.05) with Telahun Haile Bekele (12:59.09) and Selemon Barega (12:59.66) also sub-13. First overall Diamond League win for Uganda.
110m hurdles (non-DL) – Victory for European champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde in 13.51 ahead of Brit David King in 13.58.
400m hurdles – Race of the night and maybe even the race of the season as two athletes went sub-47 in the same race for the first time. Karsten Warholm ran the second fastest time ever of 46.92, bettered only by Kevin Young’s world record of 46.78, to hold off Rai Benjamin who broke 47 seconds for the first time in his career with 46.98.
Long jump – Juan Miguel Echevarria only had one valid jump but his opening round mark of 8.65m was a world lead and Diamond League record and also surpassed compatriot Ivan Pedroso’s meeting record of 8.60m.
High jump – Ukraine’s Andriy Protsenko cleared a 2.32m season’s best on his first attempt to defeat Australia’s Brandon Stars and Bulgaria’s Tihomir Ivanov at 2.30m. Protsenko became the most unexpected winner of the evening. Mutaz Essa Barshim could only manage 2.20m in only his third competition of the season.
Pole vault – World champion Sam Kendricks cleared 5.93m on his third attempt to defeat Armand Duplantis (5.83m) with Piotr Lisek and Cole Walsh equal third also at 5.83m.
Javelin – Estonia’s Magnus Kirt improved to 89.13m in the sixth round to beat Chao-Tsun Cheng’s first round lead by eight centimetres.
Women
Shaunae Miller Uibo, photo by Getty Images/ British Athletics
200m – Shaunae Miller-Uibo caught Dina Asher-Smith at the top of the home straight and blasted to a world lead and Diamond League and national record of 21.74 to move to equal 11th on the world all-time list. Asher-Smith was second in a 22.08 season’s best with Elaine Thompson (22.44) and Dafne Schippers (22.46) third and fourth respectively. For SMU fourth overall DL win.
400m – In her first race in six weeks, Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser won convincingly in 50.24 and defeated her last year win from Shakima Wimbley from the United States in 51.21.
800m (non-DL) – Former world champion Eunice Sum set a 2:00.40 season’s best to beat Kate Grace from the United States (2:00.66) and Norway’s Hedda Hynne (2:00.79).
1500m – Sifan Hassan produced a 57.71 last lap to win in 3:57.08 from training partner Konstanze Klosterhalfen (3:59.02) with Gabriela Debues-Stafford becoming the first Canadian to break four minutes in third in 3:59.59. Genzebe Dibaba faded to fourth in 4:00.86.
3000m steeplechase – Beatrice Chepkoech faded after a super-fast opening kilometre of 2:51 but still held on to win the Diamond again after last year in 9:01.71 ahead of Kenyan teammetes Hyvin Kiyeng (9:03.83), Norah Jeruto (9:05.15) and Daisy Jepkemei (9:06.66). Gesa Felicitas Krause was fifth in a German record of 9:07.51 and best European non-Russian ever.
400m hurdles – In her first race since breaking the world record at the US Championships Dalilah Muhammad was third in 54.13 behind US teammates Sydney McLaughlin (52.85 season best) and Shamier Little (53.86).
4x100m (non-DL) – Germany won in a fast 42.22 European lead 2019 from the Netherlands (42.28) and China (42.60).
Triple jump – Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas improved to 14.74m in the sixth round but Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts pulled out a big PB of 14.93m with the last jump of the competition to win, handing Rojas just her second defeat of the season.
Shot put – Gong Lijiao set a world lead of 20.31m in the sixth round to eclipse Natalya Lisovskaya’s long standing meeting record of 20.23m. It was her third DL Diamond win in a row. A PB of 19.68m for USA’s Chase Ealey in second. Gong defended her DL win.
Javelin – China’s Lyu Huihui had the three best marks of the competition including a fourth round throw of 66.88m to beat Kelsey-Lee Barber by two metres with 64.74m.
