\u00a9 Photos: Anders & Hasse Sj\u00f6gren<\/p>\n
All three European medallists are involved in the women\u2019s long jump, and the presence of two of USA\u2019s finest in Olympic and world champion Brittney Reese and Tianna Bartoletta, who has the top four marks in the world this year with a best of 7.02m from the Oslo IAAF Diamond League, means the event will be one of the most competitive on the programme.<\/p>\n
Bartoletta, the surprise 2005 world long jump champion, was forced to switch to sprinting in 2007 after a serious knee injury, but has returned to jumping this year, despite initial fears that her speed as a specialist sprinter would be too much to control on the runway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2005 win was a surprise to everyone except me,\u201d said Bartoletta. \u201cIn 2006 I tore the cartilage in my right knee and broke the patella. After I recovered I still wasn\u2019t able to set up jumps in the way I needed to, and it became more discouraging. I thought in the meantime, \u2018maybe sprint?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI got really fast, so when I got back to the runway after seven years away, I was way too fast. It was scary. Because the faster you run on the runway, the faster that last step has to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the reason I came back was I did a short stint on the US bobsleigh team as brakewoman, and I realised pushing a bobsled on an ice track running just as fast on the runway while launching myself into the back of an accelerating bobsled is way more frightening than taking the penultimate step of a long jump!\u201d<\/p>\n
Reese, joint third on this year\u2019s world list with 6.92m, explained that she has been taking this year with no big championships to work on a new technique on the runway.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though I jumped 7.25m last year, I felt I wasn\u2019t where I needed to be on the runway,\u201d said Reese. \u201cEveryone knows I\u2019m the Queen of Fouling! It\u2019s something I\u2019m trying to change, and as I have no major championships this year I\u2019m trying to experiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to just run, and use my speed. Now I do a four-step walk which helps me get speed up quicker. And on the take-off board I am trying to limit my natural dip, and to be taller.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tori Bowie, second on this year\u2019s world list for the women\u2019s 200m with 22.18, will meet her US compatriot Allyson Felix, the Olympic champion, on the Stockholm track. Like Bartoletta, she too initially established her reputation as a long jumper. But she has also had the best advice on how to harness her speed to the long jump if she wants to return, having roomed with Bartoletta at this year\u2019s IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe explained to me why she stopped jumping, and gave me a little advice,\u201d Bowie recalled. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason I\u2019m taking a break from the long jump because I can\u2019t handle the speed I\u2019m at right now \u2013 but on the off season I will definitely work on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe long jump has been my main event, but I guess because I ran a decent time in 60m indoors this year I thought I should maybe try to sprint more in the outdoor season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Felix said she felt she had been \u201cplaying catch-up\u201d this year after her hamstring injury in last year\u2019s IAAF World Championship final, but added: \u201cThe passion is still there. You have to cope with difficult things like injuries, and as time goes on your journey changes. But I am looking forward to a pretty intense period of competition in the next three years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny Simpson, who will contest the women\u2019s 1500m with a field including Sweden\u2019s European 5000m champion Meraf Bahta, their European 1500m silver medallist Abeba Aregawi and the woman who beat her to the line in Zurich, Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, accepted that the strength of the event was now making it comparable to the men\u2019s high jump.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a uniquely exciting time for women\u2019s 1500m running,\u201d said the USA\u2019s 2011 world champion, whose best of 3:57.22 has her second on the world list this year behind Hassan\u2019s 3:57.00. \u201cNot just in terms of talent, but the depth of the talent. Nobody knows who will win. There is no strong, heavy favourite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bahta, who held off Hassan to win her European gold last week, commented: \u201cMy PB for 1500m is 4:03, and I want to run under 4:00 in Stockholm, or even a 3:59 or 3:58.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aregawi said: \u201cI haven\u2019t been running so well recently so I hope I am going to be better in my next race. I am happy for the other Swedish runners like Meraf and Charlotta Fougbourg. I had the good time, now they are coming up.<\/p>\n
Hassan said she had been training with Bahta in St Moritz and Flagstaff, Arizona. \u201cIt\u2019s good to train together because we can push each other and help each other,\u201d she said. \u201cMeraf is a very strong athlete. She never gives up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simpson, meanwhile, has been training with her US compatriot Emma Coburn, who has improved her PB four times this year in the 3000m steeplechase, beating Simpson\u2019s US record of 9:12.51 with her 9:11.42 at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Glasgow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope to run another PB or close to it here,\u201d said Coburn, who believes she and her training partner will stick with their current events. \u201cThere\u2019s no rivalry in the steeplechase between us, and at 1500m she is head and shoulders above me \u2013 she\u2019s run eight seconds faster!\u201d<\/p>\n
Reflecting on her European silver, Sweden\u2019s Charlotta Fougberg said: \u201cI didn\u2019t take the gold, but silver was very big. I have been happier every second after the race, and many people told me I did well. I had a really good session yesterday. Now I want to improve with every race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Poland\u2019s Adam Kszcot, runaway winner of the European men\u2019s 800m title in a season\u2019s best of 1:44.15, is now targeting a faster time. \u201cI was surprised to win by so much in Zurich,\u201d he said. \u201cNow I want to find a good pace in a good race, and I think it should be 1:43.30 for me tomorrow, or lower.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fresh from winning his third consecutive European title, France\u2019s Olympic champion and world record-holder in the men\u2019s pole vault, Renaud Lavillenie, is contemplating his 23rd consecutive victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the possibility of staying unbeaten during all the year, and that is a major goal for me,\u201d he said. \u201cMy jump of 5.90m in Zurich showed I was in good shape and able to be at a high level. Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to clear 6.00m.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to jump 6.01m in Zurich, but the wind wasn\u2019t good for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the foot injury he suffered in trying to go further than his world record of 6.16m in Donetsk on 15 February had now cleared up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the injury I was two weeks without putting my foot on the ground. I was back to vaulting well by the end of February, but it took two months to feel good, as I was still jumping with a little bit of pain in my foot. But since the beginning of July I have been without any pain in my foot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeff Henderson of the United States, winner of the men\u2019s long jump at three IAAF Diamond League meetings this summer, is back to maintain his unbeaten run this season after suffering a minor injury when winning in Lausanne with 8.33m.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bruised my heel and had to pull out of the Monaco Diamond League because it was getting worse,\u201d he said. \u201cI went back to San Diego for rehab and it is way better now. I am ready to return to competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henderson added that, like Reese, he had altered his technique this year: \u201cI started hitching this year, so I have changed that, and my landing. I used to hang most of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galen Rupp will use the men\u2019s 5000m as another tactical test as he attempts to prepare himself for the future challenge of the World Championships and Olympics<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year I really want to work on my tactics, on winning races, especially when it is a slow race with a fast ending,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are so many talented runners in the 5000m and 10,000m that people are hesitant to go out to the front because they know there will be four or five behind relaxing and getting ready to go out in a sprint finish, so it\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maria Kuchina of Russia, women\u2019s high jump silver medallist behind Ruth Beitia in Zurich, said she was happy with her result, but added that she had wanted gold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will keep training, and next year I will be better,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew it would take 2.00m or more to win in Zurich.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile home jumper Emma Green is approaching this event in hope rather than expectation: \u201cIt\u2019s been a tough year,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s as good as it can be after several months of really bad back injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF and the IAAF Diamond League<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the eve of the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Stockholm\u2019s Olympic Stadium, organisers of...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","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=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}