In a recent post I wrote about the resumption of Diamond League competitions. Although my view was globally positive I did not hesitate to qualify the Monaco competition "a pale copy of the famous Herculis meetings". And I was crossing my fingers while waiting for the Lausanne Athletissima and the Brussels Van Damme memorial. Unfortunately I had set my expectations too high.
The Lausanne meeting was reduced to a single, street, event. Admittedly that was a very high quality one, with the best pole vaulters participating and an exciting competition. But that was all: one event.
Duplantis was once more superb. Pushed by Kendricks up to 6.02 m he went one to jump a world best outdoors 6.07 m.
He had one try at 6.15 m but the falling night did not allow him to make a serious attempt. It seems that the performances had exceeded the organisers' expectations: they had not planned for sufficient lighting in the competition area.
The women's event was won by A. Bengtsson who is having a very consistent year. Let's hope she sustains her momentum in 2021 as well.
I was hoping for something richer in the Van Damme. Unfortunately I was in for some disappointment. There were just two field events: men's pole vault and women's high jump (and in the latter without a 2 m+ participant). Duplantis was, as always, masterful. Now that he has mastered his new, stiffer, pole, jumping 6 metres is a simple exercise for him. He had three attempts at 6.15 m but without success. His attempts at what would be an outdoors world record remind me of Ch. Papanicolaou who was attempting a world record at each competition in 1970. He finally did it in October 25th, jumping 5.49 m (a historical first 18 feet jump for the people in the US who are still using the imperial measurements). I am quite confident that Duplantis will reward us with a 6.15 m vault. The season is not over yet.
The one thing I have trouble understanding is why are there no throws in the Diamond League program (apart from the discus throw in Stockholm). And, please, do not start mentioning sanitary reasons. There are many competitions around the world where throws are part of the program. Why have they be shunned from the Diamond League? I am particularly disappointed by the Brussels meeting since a women's triathlon was initially planned but was scrapped when the shot put was dropped from the program, leaving just the 100 m hurdles and the high jump. (This can explain why the participation was not of very high level in these two events: the initial planning was probably for combined events athletes to take part).
I will not delve into the fact that the organisers planned for a world record in women's 1000 m and a european one in men's 1500 m and then left F. Kipyegon and J. Ingebrigtsen alone to negotiate the crucial last 400 m without somebody to push them all the way. Both runners did their best, coming close to their objective but without attaining it in the end.
I have mixed feelings concerning the one-hour world record attempts. Somehow I do not feel at ease with M. Farah's comeback to track events. Also it was clear that he let his training partner B. Abdi take the lead at one point so that he could get the 20000 m world record (with 56:20.2).
My only criticism concerns the animation for the men's race. The leg frequency of the animated runner is totally unrealistic (my first reaction was "what is this long jumper doing on the track?"). Since the one for the women's animated figure is perfectly OK I don't think it will be difficult to correct this minor problem.
There remain two Diamond League competitions: Rome on the 17th and Doha on the 25th. Let's hope they will provide a better spectacle than the previous ones. And after all there are the Continental Tour Gold, Silver and Bronze meetings which, while not getting a large tv coverage, may offer interesting competition opportunities to the athletes. The french have an expression which fits perfectly to the situation: "sauver les meubles" (literally "save the furniture", meaning salvage what you can). I believe this is what World Athletics is trying to do with the 2020 season.
But, please, please, please no more ridiculous experimentation like the horizontal jump absurdity we had to suffer in Stockholm. How will a casual athletics fan looking back from a few years' distance at the results of men's long jump make head or tails of the classification?
PS. Thank God, the Continental Tour meetings do not follow the miserly programme of the Diamond League and do include throws.
The Lausanne meeting was reduced to a single, street, event. Admittedly that was a very high quality one, with the best pole vaulters participating and an exciting competition. But that was all: one event.
Duplantis was once more superb. Pushed by Kendricks up to 6.02 m he went one to jump a world best outdoors 6.07 m.
I was hoping for something richer in the Van Damme. Unfortunately I was in for some disappointment. There were just two field events: men's pole vault and women's high jump (and in the latter without a 2 m+ participant). Duplantis was, as always, masterful. Now that he has mastered his new, stiffer, pole, jumping 6 metres is a simple exercise for him. He had three attempts at 6.15 m but without success. His attempts at what would be an outdoors world record remind me of Ch. Papanicolaou who was attempting a world record at each competition in 1970. He finally did it in October 25th, jumping 5.49 m (a historical first 18 feet jump for the people in the US who are still using the imperial measurements). I am quite confident that Duplantis will reward us with a 6.15 m vault. The season is not over yet.
The one thing I have trouble understanding is why are there no throws in the Diamond League program (apart from the discus throw in Stockholm). And, please, do not start mentioning sanitary reasons. There are many competitions around the world where throws are part of the program. Why have they be shunned from the Diamond League? I am particularly disappointed by the Brussels meeting since a women's triathlon was initially planned but was scrapped when the shot put was dropped from the program, leaving just the 100 m hurdles and the high jump. (This can explain why the participation was not of very high level in these two events: the initial planning was probably for combined events athletes to take part).
I will not delve into the fact that the organisers planned for a world record in women's 1000 m and a european one in men's 1500 m and then left F. Kipyegon and J. Ingebrigtsen alone to negotiate the crucial last 400 m without somebody to push them all the way. Both runners did their best, coming close to their objective but without attaining it in the end.
I have mixed feelings concerning the one-hour world record attempts. Somehow I do not feel at ease with M. Farah's comeback to track events. Also it was clear that he let his training partner B. Abdi take the lead at one point so that he could get the 20000 m world record (with 56:20.2).
Kosgei's single 'misstep'
The women's race was more contested and S. Hassan prevailed over the Marathon world record holder B. Kosgei thanks to her superior speed. It is a pity that Kosgei got disqualified for stepping off the track. The Lets Run website comments on this in non-ambiguous terms:
Kosgei, tiring after 41 laps of running in her first-ever track race, momentarily lost focus, ran slightly too close to the rail, and accidentally stepped on it to steady herself (the “rail” was actually a thick white strip, so Kosgei stepped on it, rather than inside it, but it was still an illegal move). If anything, stepping on the rail slowed Kosgei down — she would have been faster if she hadn’t lost balance and simply remained on the track instead. And even if you want to argue that Kosgei did gain an advantage, it was a miniscule one that did not affect the outcome of the race.
What I did like a lot was the Wavelight pacing system. From what I understood B. Som, ex-european champion and pacer-extraordinaire, was involved in this light-guided pacing system. I find it extremely useful for the athletes but also for the spectators. For the tv viewers it gets even better. There is an embedded animated image of a runner running at the world record mean velocity.
There remain two Diamond League competitions: Rome on the 17th and Doha on the 25th. Let's hope they will provide a better spectacle than the previous ones. And after all there are the Continental Tour Gold, Silver and Bronze meetings which, while not getting a large tv coverage, may offer interesting competition opportunities to the athletes. The french have an expression which fits perfectly to the situation: "sauver les meubles" (literally "save the furniture", meaning salvage what you can). I believe this is what World Athletics is trying to do with the 2020 season.
PS. Thank God, the Continental Tour meetings do not follow the miserly programme of the Diamond League and do include throws.
Thanks to this, we have been able to enjoy the majestic throw of J. Vetter in the javelin, where with 97.76 m he did give a serious scare to the long standing world record.
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