{"id":1177,"date":"2016-08-02T08:17:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-02T08:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/the-diamond-race-duels-track\/"},"modified":"2016-08-02T08:17:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-02T08:17:00","slug":"the-diamond-race-duels-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/the-diamond-race-duels-track\/","title":{"rendered":"The Diamond Race Duels: Track"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>LaShawn Merritt vs Wayde van Niekerk<\/h3>\n<p>Two-time Diamond Race winner LaShawn Merritt got off to a flyer with wins in Doha and Rabat in the men&#8217;s 400m. Since then, last year&#8217;s runner-up Wayde van Niekerk has fought back with two victories himself in Rome and Monaco. Isaac Makwala and Kirani James are also in the chasing pack, but it is Merritt and van Niekerk who lead the line this season.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\"><p>They top the standings in the <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DiamondRace?src=hash>#DiamondRace<\/link>, so we pit <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/lashawnmerritt>@lashawnmerritt<\/link> vs <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/WaydeDreamer>@WaydeDreamer<\/link> in a battle of the stats! <link https:\/\/t.co\/QqL5nnpoS7>pic.twitter.com\/QqL5nnpoS7<\/link>\n<p>\u2014 IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/Diamond_League\/status\/758634078937776128>July 28, 2016<\/link><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<h3>Asbel Kiprop vs Elijah Motonei Manangoi<\/h3>\n<p>Diamond Trophy holder and two-time winner Asbel Kiprop was expected to run away with the men&#8217;s 1500m Diamond Race this year. Three victories from five rounds have put him in a good position, but he is yet to pull clear of Elijah Motonei Manangoi, whose consisten podium finishes have seen him rack up the points as he chases his compatriot.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\"><p>Elijah Motonei <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Manangoi?src=hash>#Manangoi<\/link> has been hot on the heels of <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/KipropAsbel>@kipropasbel<\/link> in this year&#8217;s 1500m <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DiamondRace?src=hash>#DiamondRace<\/link>. <link https:\/\/t.co\/5lOg9xOtOx>pic.twitter.com\/5lOg9xOtOx<\/link>\n<p>\u2014 IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/Diamond_League\/status\/760051323681243136>August 1, 2016<\/link><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<h3>Ruth Jebet vs Hyvin Kiyeng<\/h3>\n<p>Perhaps one of the most closely fought Diamond Race campaigns of the entire season, neither Ruth Jebet nor Hyvin Kiyeng have given each other an inch this season. With two wins each, they are equal on points and victories, and neither has been able to win two meetings in a row. If the trend continues, it could mean a decisive showdown in the Final.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\"><p>Ruth <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Jebet?src=hash>#Jebet<\/link> and Hyvin <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Kiyeng?src=hash>#Kiyeng<\/link> have been neck-and-neck all the way in the women&#8217;s <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Steeplechase?src=hash>#Steeplechase<\/link> <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DiamondRace?src=hash>#DiamondRace<\/link> <link https:\/\/t.co\/sGzKEJjLVe>pic.twitter.com\/sGzKEJjLVe<\/link>\n<p>\u2014 IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/Diamond_League\/status\/760072358690295808>August 1, 2016<\/link><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<h3>Orlando Ortega vs Omar McLeod<\/h3>\n<p>Omar McLeod was the story of the early season as he raced to victories in Doha and Shanghai, giving him a healthy lead in the Diamond Race. Orlando Ortega, though, only narrowly missed out on the Diamond Trophy last season, and has fought back to overtake the Jamaican. McLeod&#8217;s unfortunate fall in Monaco meant that Ortega&#8217;s lead is as big as ten points, but the Spaniard is by no means out of the woods yet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\"><p>.<link https:\/\/twitter.com\/orlando2991>@orlando2991<\/link> has overtaken <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/Warrior_omz>@Warrior_omz<\/link> in the <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DiamondRace?src=hash>#DiamondRace<\/link>, but it&#8217;s still all to play for in the <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/110mH?src=hash>#110mH<\/link> duel! <link https:\/\/t.co\/hNZIfPt5WJ>pic.twitter.com\/hNZIfPt5WJ<\/link>\n<p>\u2014 IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/Diamond_League\/status\/760103826057666560>August 1, 2016<\/link><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once athletes return from their Olympic adventures in Brazil, many will face a climactic finish...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[165,6,8,186,185,150,109,184,144,30],"city":[],"class_list":["post-1177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-asbel-kiprop","tag-diamond-league","tag-diamond-race","tag-elijah-motonei-manangoi","tag-hyvin-kiyeng","tag-ihab-abdelrahman","tag-lashawn-merritt","tag-ruth-jebet","tag-thomas-rohler","tag-wayde-van-niekerk"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=1177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}