DIAMOND RACE UPDATE AHEAD OF FIRST FINAL IN ZURICH – IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE

The IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 is over. But the show goes on. There is more top-level athletics to be enjoyed over the next two weeks with the IAAF Diamond League finals in Zurich and Brussels.

All season long, the world’s top track and field stars have vied for valuable Diamond Race points in the first 12 IAAF Diamond League meetings. Even with just the two finals to go, however, much could still change. Double points are on offer in the finals, meaning only an eight-point lead at this stage guarantees overall victory in the Diamond Race.

The finals are the perfect conclusion to the 2015 season. They are a chance for the victors of Beijing to garner yet more success. A chance for those who were disappointed to claim redemption. A chance for all athletes to get their hands on a $40,000 cash prize and the spectacular Diamond Trophy.

IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE
© Philippe Fitte

New Diamond Race champions to be crowned

The first of the two finals takes place on Thursday 3 September in Zurich. At the Weltklasse meeting, 16 different Diamond Races will reach their ultimate conclusion, and the first 16 Diamond Race champions of 2015 will be crowned.

Among them will almost certainly be Christina Schwanitz, Tianna Bartoletta and Eunice Sum, who have all been imperious in this season’s Diamond Race.

Both shot putter Schwanitz and 800m runner Sum have won four out of six Diamond League clashes this season, while long jumper Bartoletta has three wins to her name, her points tally bolstered by second-place finishes in New York and Monaco.

All three athletes now have a lead of eight points or more, meaning that they only need to compete in Zurich in order to claim the Diamond Trophy.

But in many of the disciplines which will conclude in Zurich, there is barely a hair’s breadth between those still in the running for the Diamond Trophy.

In the men’s 200m, there have been four different victors over the six races so far, leading to a field so open that it is led by a man who hasn’t a single victory to his name. Anaso Jobodwana has finished second four times this year. He is now on nine points, just a whisker ahead of Alonso Edward and Zharnel Hughes.

The men’s 400m is nearly as close. The first half of the season was dominated by Diamond Trophy holder Kirani James, but after his shock defeat in Paris to Wayde van Niekerk, the Olympic champion has seen his lead shortened dramatically. He is now just two points ahead of the young South African.

Two other world champions who will be gunning for the Diamond Trophy in Zurich are Asbel Kiprop and Zuzana Hejnova. Kiprop is third in the men’s 1500m Diamond Race, having been outgunned so far by Ayanleh Souleiman and Silas Kiplagat. With only a two-point gap between him and the top, though, the newly re-crowned world champion will be confident of winning the Diamond Trophy.

Hejnova, meanwhile, overturned Kaliese Spencer’s 10-point lead with three straight wins since Paris. She is now two points ahead of Spencer, and the battle between the two of them is one to look forward to in Zurich.

© Deca Text&Bild

Favourites can still fall

There is a wealth of athletes who remain agonisingly close to Diamond Race glory. Steeplechaser Jairus Birech and pole vaulter Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou have leads of seven and six points in their respective Diamond Races. Despite both failing to win gold in Beijing, they are both expected to take the Diamond Trophy. Piotr Malachowski, who is six points ahead in the men’s discus, is in a similar position.

Others are less certain of success. Greg Rutherford has had to fight at times this season, but the new world champion has come out on top with a five-point lead in the men’s long jump. The same goes for Mutaz Essa Barshim, whose disappointment in Beijing mirrored his travails in the Diamond Race since Oslo after an early period of dominance.

Genzebe Dibaba and Barbara Spotakova may also have expected to be sitting more comfortably in their Diamond Races by this stage. Dibaba only has a six-point lead in the women’s 5000m to show for her excellent season, while three-time Diamond Race winner Spotakova has been challenged by an open field, and holds a lead of only four points.

Leads of four, five, six or seven points are perhaps the best illustrations of the excitement of the Diamond Race. Those holding them have had to work all season to establish their advantage, yet one bad performance in Zurich could see them blown away in an instant.

2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE – FANTASY DIAMOND RACE STARTS AGAIN

With just three days to go before the start of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League, the excitement is already starting to mount and the traditional opening meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha has already assembled some of the sport’s top stars to get proceedings underway for the sixth year of the series on Friday (15).

Mohammed Aman, Asbel Kiprop, Mo Farah, Christian Taylor, Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards-Ross, Sifan Hassan and Sandra Perkovic are just some of the sport’s star names that will be competing in Doha.

The likes of Kirani James, Jairus Birech, David Oliver, Mutaz Essa Barshim, Eunice Sum, Caterine Ibarguen and Yarisley Silva will be in action in Shanghai just two days later on Sunday (17).

2015 IAAF DIAMOND LEAGUE – FANTASY DIAMOND RACE STARTS AGAIN credit IAAF

The IAAF is also happy to announce the return of IAAF Fantasy Athletics.

The 2015 edition of the Fantasy Diamond Race is similar to last year and follows the athletes who compete in the 32 event disciplines of the Diamond Race at the 14 meetings of the IAAF Diamond League in 2015.

This provides players with the chance to compare their athletics knowledge against fellow track and field fans from around the world via the overall leader board, and players can also set up private leagues with their friends and colleagues.

Players have to identify nine athletes at each IAAF Diamond League meeting who they think will place highest in their events and, just as with the real Diamond Race itself, points are then awarded to those finishing in the podium positions.

There are unique prizes for those players whose teams have the highest scores at each of the 14 meetings, and for the season winner who accumulates the best overall points score across all meetings

Select your provisional team

The provisional entry lists for the opening meetings in Doha and Shanghai are now available, but it is recommended that players keep checking the start lists as changes sometimes occur and corrections can be made up to the start of a meeting.

Click here to login or register for the 2015 Fantasy Diamond Race

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The IAAF Diamond League is composed of 14 of the best invitational track and field meetings in the world. The meetings are spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA, and compose the top tier of the IAAF’s global one-day meeting competition structure.

This series of 14 meetings, which began in 2010, showcases 32 event disciplines which are carefully distributed among the meetings.

In each discipline, there is a Diamond Race with points available throughout the 14-meeting season. Winners of each Diamond Race receive a USD$40,000 cash prize and a spectacular Diamond Trophy.

IAAF

2015 IAAF Diamond League calendar

Doha, QAT – 15 May
Shanghai, CHN – 17 May
Eugene, USA – 30 May
Rome, ITA – 4 June
Birmingham, GBR – 7 June
Oslo, NOR – 11 June
New York, USA – 13 June
Paris, FRA – 4 July
Lausanne, SUI – 9 July
Monaco, MON – 17 July
London, GBR – 24-25 July
Stockholm, SWE – 30 July
Zurich, SUI – 3 September
Brussels, BEL – 11 September

Nairobi To Host The 2017 IAAF World Youth Championships

Nairobi to host the 2017 IAAF World Youth Championships, credit: IAAF / Philippe Fitte

The Kenyan capital was the only candidate for this IAAF competition but the Nairobi delegation convincingly persuaded the IAAF Council to endorse its right to host this event, the second IAAF World Athletics Series competition to be held in the country after the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

The Nairobi bid team included Dr Hassan Wario Arero, the Cabinet Principal Secretary at the Ministry for Sports Culture and the Arts as well as local government and Athletics Kenya officials.

Also included in the delegation were the well-known athletes Mercy Cherono and Jairus Birech, the latter the 2014 Diamond Race winner in the men’s 3000m steeplechase.

The next edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships will take place in Cali (COL), 15-19 July 2015

Nairobi to host the 2017 IAAF World Youth Championships. CREDIT IAAF / Philippe Fitte

IAAF Diamond League: With Four Meetings To Go-Most Diamond Races Remain Wide Open

There are four more meetings left in the 2014 IAAF Diamond League series, but six athletes have dominated their disciplines to the extent that they have already done enough to win the Diamond Race.

US 400m runner LaShawn Merritt, French sprint hurdler Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, Kenyan steeplechaser Jairus Birech, French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie, Jamaican 400m hurdler Kaliese Spencer, and New Zealand’s shot put star Valerie Adams are the Diamond Race winners in their respective events.

To seal their victory – and the USD $50,000 bonus and Diamond Trophy to go with it – they simply need to compete in their discipline at either of the IAAF Diamond League finals in Zurich and Brussels.

The other 26 events in the Diamond Race remain undecided. Four of them are extremely close, however, with just two athletes left in the running. US triple jumpers Will Claye and Christian Taylor are currently separated by just two points. Piotr Malachowski and Robert Harting are the only remaining athletes in with a chance to win the Diamond Race in the men’s discus.