The Olympic season really started to warm up in Doha on Friday (28) as a series of world-leading performances and meeting record were achieved at the Wanda Diamond League event in Qatar\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
Kenya\u2019s Norah Jeruto won a thrilling women\u2019s 3000m steeplechase with the quickest time in the world so far this year, while the USA\u2019s 400m hurdles star Rai Benjamin was among the meeting record-breakers. The women’s pole vault again saw great depth, with six athletes clearing 4.74m or higher for just the second time in history \u2013 the first having also been in Doha at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.<\/p>\n
Benjamin was among the 31 athletes returning to the city in which they had secured medal-winning success at that global event. This time the world 400m hurdles silver medallist and 4x400m champion held off the fast-starting Alison dos Santos for a 47.38 win, improving the meeting record of 47.57 which had been set by Abderrahman Samba in 2018.<\/p>\n
Dos Santos, the world U20 bronze medallist in 2018, was rewarded with another Brazilian record as he built on the 47.68 he ran at the USATF Golden Games with time of 47.57 in second. Commonwealth champion Kyron McMaster was third in 47.82 as Qatar\u2019s Samba, racing the 400m hurdles for the first time since claiming world bronze on home soil, finished fourth in 48.26.<\/p>\n
There were spills as well as thrills in the women\u2019s 3000m steeplechase, with Jeruto keeping her composure after a very fast start to gain a dominant victory, while her compatriot Hyvin Kiyeng, the 2015 world champion, suffered a fall at the final water jump.<\/p>\n
As Jeruto claimed a clear win in 9:00.67, Mekides Abebe had a breakthrough in second place \u2013 the 20-year-old clocking 9:02.52 to set an Ethiopian record. Just behind her was Bahrain\u2019s Winfred Mutile Yavi, who also improved her best with 9:02.64, and Kiyeng got back to her feet to finish fourth in 9:07.58, one place ahead of the USA\u2019s 2017 world champion Emma Coburn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very good,\u201d said Jeruto, who next plans to race in Oslo. \u201cI was very well prepared for today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeruto’s fellow Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot was also largely untroubled on his way to a world-leading 1500m, claiming another win in Doha after his world title victory in 2019. This time he clocked 3:30.48 on his season debut, passing Ethiopia\u2019s world indoor champion Samuel Tefra \u2013 who had led through the bell in 2:34 \u2013 on the back straight. Glancing over his shoulder, the Kenyan strode away to finish clear ahead of Australian record-holder Stewart McSweyn (3:31.57) and Morocco\u2019s two-time world steeplechase medallist Soufiane El Bakkali (3:31.95), who passed a tiring Tefra in the closing stages.<\/p>\n
Commonwealth champion Wycliffe Kinyamal became the first athlete to dip under 1:44 for 800m this season, the Kenyan clocking 1:43.91 ahead of world bronze medallist Ferguson Rotich (1:44.45) and Britain\u2019s Daniel Rowden (1:44.60).<\/p>\n
After a tactical start to the women\u2019s 800m, Kenya\u2019s Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon saved her energy for a fast final 200m, kicking away from Jamaica\u2019s Natoya Goule and Morocco\u2019s Rababe Arafi to dominate in 1:58.26. Goule had been to the fore as the group decided not to go with the pacemaker. Making their move on the second lap, Kipyegon and Arafi surged ahead but Goule came through for second in 1:59.70 as Arafi was third in 1:59.83.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very excited to be here,\u201d said Kipyegon, racing for the first time this year and back in the city where she set her 800m, 1500m and 3000m PBs as well as claimed world 1500m silver. \u201cThe pandemic wasn\u2019t easy, but we always try to be great. I\u2019m training so hard and hoping to do my best.”<\/p>\n
Kenya\u2019s 21-year-old Beatrice Chebet was another to have the race of her life in Doha, running a big PB of 8:27.49 to set a 3000m world lead and beat her more experienced compatriots. Margaret Kipkemboi, the world 5000m silver medallist, was second in 8:28.27 while Lilian Renguruk was third in 8:28.96 and two-time world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri fourth in 8:33.98.<\/p>\n
A high-quality affair was expected in the women\u2019s pole vault, with the top eight finishers from the 2019 World Championships all returning to Doha, and the competition didn\u2019t disappoint. Both the USA\u2019s Katie Nageotte, who finished seventh in that global final, and Sandi Morris, the silver medallist on that occasion, matched the meeting record of 4.84m. Another four athletes \u2013 Holly Bradshaw, Katerina Stefanidi, Tina Sutej and Iryna Zhuk \u2013 achieved 4.74m, with Nageotte winning on countback.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can expect anything in the pole vault, but I was ready to come and jump,\u201d said Nageotte, who had cleared a world-leading PB of 4.93m five days earlier in Georgia.<\/p>\n
All eyes were also on the women\u2019s triple jump, with Venezuela\u2019s Yulimar Rojas back in action after her 15.43m leap at the World Athletics Continental Tour meeting in Andujar. She followed that mark \u2013 which was just seven centimetres off the world record \u2013 by opening her competition in Doha with 15.15m (2.0m\/s) in the first round. That easily secured her place for the final round top-three shoot-out, and with that attempt she recorded 15.11m to win the competition ahead of Jamaica\u2019s Kimberly Williams and Shanieka Ricketts.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the event, Ricketts had come so close to the 15-metre mark, leaping a PB of 14.98m in round five, but her final attempt was a foul. For Williams, 14.45m from that last leap secured her second place, after a PB of 14.69m, also from the fifth round.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s discus and men\u2019s shot put were aslo decided by the top-three final round contest, with Cuba\u2019s world champion Yaime Perez throwing 61.35m to win after 63.75m in an earlier round and the USA\u2019s Valarie Allman throwing furthest overall with 65.57m, later securing her second place finish with a 58.58m throw. Armin Sinancevic equalled his recently-set Serbian record of 21.88m in the fifth round of the shot put competition and went on to place third behind New Zealand\u2019s 2017 world champion Tom Walsh and Croatia\u2019s Filip Mihaljevic, who threw 21.63m and 20.89m respectively in that last round as Sinancevic recorded a foul.<\/p>\n
Home favourite Mutaz Barshim had been hoping to mark a decade of Diamond League competition with another win, back competing on home soil where he claimed his second world title in 2019. But while his best on the evening was 2.30m, Ilya Ivanyuk went on to soar clear at 2.33m. With the win secured, he had one attempt at 2.36m before calling it a day.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s 100m at the Diamond League season opener in Gateshead five days earlier had seen Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce battle the rain and wind as well as her rivals to finish fourth, but in Doha she secured success, clocking 10.84 (1.1m\/s) to win ahead of Nigeria\u2019s Blessing Okagbare (10.90) and the USA\u2019s Javianne Oliver (11.03).<\/p>\n
A close men\u2019s 200m clash was won by the USA\u2019s Kenny Bednarek as he pipped Canada\u2019s Andre De Grasse 19.88 to 19.89 (0.4m\/s). With identical PBs of 19.80, the pair were fairly evenly matched as they came off the bend but Bednarek had the strength to edge ahead. De Grasse wasn\u2019t done and surged again, eventually missing out by just 0.01.<\/p>\n
There was another fine 400m run by Michael Norman as the 23-year-old \u2013 world leader in both 2019 and 2018 \u2013 continued his winning streak this year with a world-leading 44.27 ahead of Colombia\u2019s Anthony Zambrano (44.57). Fresh from a 100m PB of 9.91, Fred Kerley returned to his specialist distance and finished third in 44.60, while 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James was fourth in 44.61 as he returned to Diamond League action for the first time since 2018.<\/p>\n
Qatari record-holder Femi Ogunode won the non-Diamond League 100m in 10.00 (0.9m\/s).<\/p>\n
Jess Whittington for World Athletics and the Wanda Diamond League<\/em><\/p>\n