Diamond League 2019 - Rome

[RunUnlimited]

Well then... Dibaba and Muir were in a class of their own in the 1500m just now. Dibaba taking the lead after halfway with Tsegay and Muir in tow pulling away from the rest of the field. Then it was the world record holder making a break for it after the bell and down the back straight, only Muir was able to keep up with Dibaba's vicious kick and it stayed that way to the finish, Dibaba winning in a world leading 3:56.28, with Muir running the 2nd fastest 1500m by a Brit ever, with 3:56.73!
Tsegay managed to break 4 minutes with a 3:59.96, with former world champion Jenny Simpson coming a strong 4th with a 4:01.18 season's best.

Behind Debues-Stafford (again impressing with another big PB, this time at the 1500m with 4:01.28), Elish McColgan ran a 4:02.29 season's best, which bodes well for her more favourable events, the 5000m and 10,000m.

[EDIT]: Should add that Elish's time is well inside UKA's World Championship 1500m qualifying standard of 4:06.50. Could she make it 3 out of 3 qualifying times in the Parliament Hill 10,000m next month? (31:51.00 is the 10,000m standard btw.)

[RunUnlimited]

Didn't see the 100m (watering my fruit bushes) but I'll take 10.94 from DASHER anyday, it's a long ol' season and from her interviews she is well aware of this and knows now is not the time to peak...

RunUnlimited and comments on Ugen, definitely in agreement of your analysis of her last season... I don't think KJT would make any Diamond League line up for hurdles, but it would do her no harm to try and get a slot in a 200 ...

Now... whats happening with Ms. Muir

(Incidentally, what odds that DASHER, KJT and Ms. Muir all medal at Doha?)

In the 100m, Dina made a good start, though probably not her best, and was leading Thompson over the first 50m or so. But then Thompson reeled her in over the second half of the race and passed her with about 20m to go.
Looking at that, it was great to see Elaine getting back into some sort of her past form. As for Dina, she'll be pleased with the time and will probably be glad to have actually taken a loss here... She wouldn't want to get too ahead of herself after her great start to the season.

On KJT, more 200m from her would be great!

The medal prospects of DAS, KJT and Muir?

DAS will get a medal in either the 100 or 200m.

KJT is right up there with Thiam challenging for the gold medal in the Heptathlon.

Muir.... It's so difficult to call with all the top athletes on the circuit who will be contenders in the world championships.

[carterhatch]

Didn't see the 100m (watering my fruit bushes) but I'll take 10.94 from DASHER anyday, it's a long ol' season and from her interviews she is well aware of this and knows now is not the time to peak...

RunUnlimited and comments on Ugen, definitely in agreement of your analysis of her last season... I don't think KJT would make any Diamond League line up for hurdles, but it would do her no harm to try and get a slot in a 200 ...

Now... whats happening with Ms. Muir

(Incidentally, what odds that DASHER, KJT and Ms. Muir all medal at Doha?)

[RunUnlimited]

Alright, time for the big one... the women's 100m is next...

Elaine Thompson gets her revenge on Asher-Smith, winning the 100m in a world lead of 10.89, with DAS coming second with a 10.94 season's best.

[RunUnlimited]

Nijel Amos gets beaten, just, in a loaded 800m race, Donavan Brazier of the USA snatching the win on the line, clocking a world-leading time of 1:43.63 to Amos' 1:43.65 (SB). Canada's Brandon McBride comes 3rd with a season's best 1:43.90. Adam Kzczcot in 7th, manages to go sub 1:45 with a 1:44.75 clocking.

[RunUnlimited]

I suspect Ms. Ugen is very much confidence athlete, what she needs is a good run out in a 4x100 relay which I would argue, kick started her fine season...

Also, I'd like to see KJT involved in LJ or HJ at the diamond league ...

Agree with you about Ugen and her confidence issues. She'd always had potential but was always dogged by inconsistency, especially when it came to putting together a series of jumps during a competition. Then last season it seemed to click for her and as you mentioned, her surprise turn out in the 4 x 100m relay for England (and how well she did on the anchor leg) seemed to help her out hugely. And of course that 7.05m at the national championships was a big confidence boost too.
However come the final in Berlin, it seemed that all the old demons choose that moment to come back to haunt her, and the fact she was the world leader in the event and her failure to even get a chance to do all 6 jumps in the final, seems to have knocked her a lot.

As for your point about KJT, I also agree with your assessment. KJT would only be helped by doing some Diamond League events in the long jump, the 100m hurdles or the 200m. Especially with the fact that she is based in France these days, it would mean travel to some of these events wouldn't be too much of a problem.

[RunUnlimited]

L O L

The world championship men's 400m hurdles is going to be between 3 guys.... Samba, Walholm and Rai Benjamin. No one else in the world is going to get close to them unless they fall in Doha (which could happen of course). Benjamin just now in Rome destroyed the field, winning by over a *second* with a time of 47.58.

[carterhatch]

I suspect Ms. Ugen is very much confidence athlete, what she needs is a good run out in a 4x100 relay which I would argue, kick started her fine season...

Also, I'd like to see KJT involved in LJ or HJ at the diamond league ...

[RunUnlimited]

More in the long jump.... In the 4th round, Mihambo finally breaks through into the 7 meter club! She sails out to a new personal best of 7.07m and takes the world lead for herself, well done to her!

[RunUnlimited]

Yikes... Lorraine Ugen's and Shara Proctor's slow starts to the season continue to worry in Rome. With 3 rounds completed, Proctor's "best" is a paltry 6.30m to finish a distant 9th place. Meanwhile Ugen finishes dead last with a "best" of 6.27m. All of this is a far cry to both athlete's pre-Berlin performances last season, especially Ugen, who was ranked #1 in the world heading into the European Championships before having a meltdown in the final and majorly under-performing. I have a feeling that disappointment last year is still affecting her at the start of this season.

Germany's Mihambo, European long jump champion last year, leads with a 6.90m leap in the 3rd round, equaling the world lead, just ahead of Catherine Ibarguen's 6.87m effort.

[carterhatch]

A BBC article on Pozzi

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/48533589

"I was racing under a much higher workload and was relatively fatigued in Shanghai," he says of his sixth-place finish in last month's Diamond League meeting.

"My time was competitive but whenever you make big changes, it is going to take several races for it to become habitual.

[LuckySpikes]

Yes, definitely looks like it will be the best DL so far this season and most of the events are super-competitive.

Looking forward to the women's 1500 especially - a rare DL appearance at the distance by Dibaba (though she's also doing it in Rabat), of course Our Laura, and I think Tsegay will continue to make strides and be a medal contender come Doha.

[RunUnlimited]

Eh, might as well put this up here in some further house keeping in this forum.

This is, to me, the first *big* Diamond League meeting of the year so far, with so many of the big names that have missed Doha, Shanghai and Stockholm due to the lateness of the World Championships, showing up here in Rome.

Dina Asher-Smith, who has won the two 200m races she's competed in so far this season, will face her stiffest test of the year, this time in a 100m race stacked with talent. She'll face Elaine Thompson again, who she beat so convincingly in Stockholm last Thursday, along with American Aleia Hobbs who has already won a 100m in her debut season on the Diamond League circuit. Then there is her old foe from last year Marie-Josee Ta Lou in the line up, as well as another American, English Gardiner, who has a 10.74 lifetime best at this distance.

In the 1500m, Laura Muir is going to face a much sterner test than the jogging exercise she had in Stockholm last week, with world record holder at the distance Genzebe Dibaba, amongst her competitors this time. Along with Tsegye of Ethiopia and Jenny Simpson of the USA there too, Muir's going to have to be on her A game to win. Elish McColgan will be in this race too, working on her speed after the sub 15 minute 5000m in Stockholm and the recent announcement she'll be heading the British team for the "Night Of The 10,000m PB's" at Parliament Hill next month.

There's some more British performers tonight, like NMB in the 200m, Lorraine Ugen in the long jump and Andrew Pozzi in the 110m hurdles, but I can't be bothered to get into the meat and bones of that here because I'm a lazy bum! Go on, go to the this link to see all the line ups and such.