by Larry Eder
Vivian Cheruiyot, running by herself from 2k on, broke the Kenyan record, and ran the third best all time with her fine 14:20.89. Usain Bolt ran 20.03 in his sleep, and then stood around with the young fans for half an hour plus! Andreas Thorkildsen threw 88.43 WL in great conditions and noted that he could improve. LaShawn Merritt, after two years off, runs 44.74 for his first race back!
Christian Cantwell throws 21.70m and Valerie Adams throws 20.57m for the shot wins. And Yelena Isinbayeva is back in the pole vault wars, as is Jenn Suhr. More to come tomorrow!
29 July 2011
DN Galan Stockholm DL
Men’s Discus
Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania, the giant of the discus, and the man who loves to compete, won here with a third round throw of the 65.05m. His series was 62.81m, 61.31m, 65.05m, and then, three fouls. Virgilijus summed up his competition this way,
” The atmosphere was good here but the wind was too strong for an event like the discus. It was my first victory in Samsung Diamond League this year and I am happy with that. For Daegu, top 8 would be good and top three would be great!”
In second, Piotry Malachowski of Poland, the 2010 European champion had a fourth round throw of 64.96m. His series was foul, 64.81m, 64.91m, 64.96m, foul, foul. Malachowski had some issues with the winds as well.
Yennifer Frank Casanas of Spain finished third with a throw of 63.42m. His series was 53.82m, 58.84m, 62.17m, 63.42m, 61.17m, 61.85m.
Fourth was Erik Cadee of the Netherlands, with a third round throw of 63.21m. Fifth was Gerd Kanter of Estonia with a second round throw of 62.98m.
Women’s Triple Jump
Olha Saladukha took the win with her first round jump (wind-aided) of 15.06m. Her series was 15.06m, 14.76m, 13.16m, 14.48m, a foul in the fifth and then 14.89m.
Yargelis Savigne of Cuba, who has the WL of 14.99m, finished second here in 14.87m. Her series was foul, 14.87m, 14.48m, foul, 14.65m, 14.83m.
Caterine Ibarguen of Columbia was third in 14.83m. Her series was 14.70m, 14.69m, 14.27m, foul, 14.62m, 14.83.
The winds were all over the place, from a high of +2.3mps to +1.0 mps.
Dagens Nyheter Stadiom has not been changed much since the 1912 Olympics. The stadiom is filling up nicely. A windy Scandanavian evening. We are sitting right above the mixed zone, where Jonathan Edwards, TJ world record holder, and Colin Jackson, World and Olympic champ, are waiting for interviews after the top athletes finish their events. All is good! What a tremendous event!
Men’s Shot Put (Held Thursday night, 28 July)
Christian Cantwell of the U.S. continues his recovery from his shoulder surgery this past spring, and is rounding into shape with his win here in 21.70m, his best throw of the year. Cantwell’s series was 21.44m, 21.21m, 21.10m, 21.70m, and fouls in rounds five and six.
Tomasz Majewski of Poland was second, garnering that with his sixth round throw of 21.60m. Majewski, the 2008 Olympic champion’s series was 20.79m, 20.57m, foul, foul, 21.16m, 21.60m.
Dylan Armstrong, the world leader at 22.21m, finished third here, with a throw of 21.00m. His series was 20.40m, 20.95m, 21.00m, and three subsequent fouls.
Reese Hoffa, the 2007 world champion, was fourth with a best throw of 20.91. His series was foul, 20.91m, 20.55m, and Hoffa finished his series with three fouls.
Daniel Taylor of the U.S. was sixth with a throw of 20.20m, and Russ Winger was seventh with a throw of 20.14m.
A bit of added pizzaz was Dolf Lundgren, the movie actor riding around the stadium in a batmobile (seriously). He spoke in Swedish and English, wishing that some records would be crushed tonight in the stadium.
Women’s 800m B
Molly Beckwith of the US moved up from fourth (61.21 for 400 meters) to win the 800 m B race in 2:00.33. Lucia Klocova of Slovak Republic was second in 2:00.60. Eunice Jepkoech Sum of Kenya was third in 2:00.78. Tasmyn Manou of Australia was fourth in 2:00.78, her seasonal best.
Men’s 1,500m B race
The pack was tight, with 400m hit in 56.09 by pacemaker Justus Koech, who hit the 800m in 1:56.03, and Bethwell Birgen hit the 1,200m in 2:54.77. Hamza Driouch held
off Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria, 3:35.73 to 3:35.77. David Torrence of the US took third in 3:35.95, seasonal best and Will Leer in fourth in 3:36.33, his personal best. Nathan Brannen of Canada was sixth in 3:37.92.
Men’s 110m hurdles
Heat 1
Jason Richardson of USA won in 13.20. Aries Merrritt was second in 13.26, and Omoghan osaghae was third in 13.65. Note that Ryan Brathwaite, World Champ,
did not move on, running 14.08.
Heat 2
David Oliver was all business in heat 2, taking it in 13.38 from Dwight Thomas of Jamaica, who ran 13.42. Joel Brown was third in 13.65 and Tyrone Atkins was fourth in 13.67. All four moved to final.
Women’s 800m
Running like a bat out of hell, or a women on the mission of setting a world leader, Kenia Sinclair followed Tatyana Andrianova through 400 meters in 56.86 and then she
was off! Kenia Sinclair hit the 600 meters in 1:27.44, looking like a 1:55 if there ever was, ran a 1:58.03, winning by nearly two seconds!
Malika Akkaoui of Morocco was second in 1:59.75, with Yuneysi Santiusti of Cuba in third in 2:00.06. Alice Schmidt of the US ran 2:00.25, admitting that she had run ” not a smart race strategy.”
” I started the race very tough because I did not want to make the same mistake that I did in Paris. The time was okay since it was my first race after an injury. My goal in Daegu is to get a medal.” noted Kenia Sinclair.
Men’s 400 meters
This was to be LaShawn Merritt, the 2009 World Champ and 2008 Olympic Champs, first race in 21 plus months. Merritt got out well, and ran a perfect first 350 meters, but just needed a bit of racing experience. His second place in 44.74 is a pretty darn good opener. Jermaine Gonzales of Jamaica won in 44.69. Christopher Brown of the Bahamas ran 44.79 and Angelo Taylor the 2000, 2008 400m hurdle champ finished fourth in 44.82.
“It was a good race and time,” noted Jermaine Gonzales,” I am happy because it was my fastest time this year. I am going for gold in Daegu.”
” I did not know how really the race was gonna go. I was not focused on the time. Physically, I feel food and mentally strong. I missed competing, this was what I love most. I will go back home now and train to get ready for Daegu. I will come there to defend my title and that is what I expect from the championships.” noted LaShawn Merritt.
Women’s 100m
Carmelita Jeter won the 100m here in 11.15. Marshevet Myers was second in 11.21 and Kerron Stewart was third in 11.27. Conditions were too windy for a fast time.
Here is how Carmelita Jeter summed up the 100 meters tonight like this:” I felt very strong head wind and I was curious how strong it reallywas. Generally, I executed the race well and it went just how I wanted to. I will go back to practice but I also have the next race in London. I am disappointed that I did not win the diamond for the meet record but I am always mainly focused on the time and the victory. Now, I have the motivation to come back next year.”
Men’s 1,500 meters
Silas Kiplagat took this tactical race in 3:33.94. Running a strong pace, with David Krummenacker pacing through 400m in 56.10 an 800 m in 1:54.36. Caleb Mwangangi Ndiku lead through the 1,200 m in 2:54.18.
Nick Willis moved up on Kiplagat’s shoulder by 200 meters and was there through
the last 50 meters as Asbel Kiprop went by. Kiprop was second in 3:34.42, with Nick Willis holding on for third in 3:34.49.
Men’s Long Jump
Mitchell Watt of Australia took the lead from his first jump, with a fine 8.34m. Then, in his second attempt, Watt dropped an 8.54m jump on the field, and his new AR held up for the win. Yahya Berrabah of Morocco used his third attempt to jump 8.40m for the second place position.
Watts series was 8.34m, 8.54m, pass, 7.96 and passes on the final two jumps.
Berrabah’s series was 8.07m, foul, 8.40m, 7.97m, foul, pass.
In third, Irving Saldino, the 2007 World Champ, jumped 8.19m. His series was 8.03m, 8.19m, foul, foul, 8.13m, foul.
Watt summed up his Australian record and win like this: ” This is only my second competition in two months, so I was unsure what to
expect. But, after the first rounds, I knew it would be okay. This is my comeback after the injury. I had problems with my heel on the left take off leg but now it is all right. For four months, I did no jumping training, in fact, I was only running, so this result and the area record is surprising. But, my heel gets better and now I can come back to the normal training. It was my first time here and I liked the track and did not care about the wind. I wanna come back but first, I want to win in Daegu.”
This guy could take it all. He has the talent and the wheels.
Men’s 110m hurdles
Jason Richardson won this one, in 13.17. David Oliver told us afterwards, ” I just did not race well. I did not execute.” Oliver hit five hurdles. Races like that happen. He ran 13.28 for second. ” I have London in one week. And then, I go home to train, and then, Daegu.”
Men’s High Jump
In an epic high jump competition, Ivan Ukhov and Jesse Williams battled until there were just two. Ukhov cleared 2.34m on his second attempt and Jesse just could not
get there after a super series, clearing 2.32m on his second attempt.
Moataz Essa Barsham Ahmed, of Qatar, was third in 2.30m, on his first attempt.
Ahmed will be a real player over the next several years.
Men’s Javelin
Andreas Thorkildsen, on his second attempt, hit the WL of 88.43m. His series was 85.35m, 88.43m, 84.63m, foul, 81.97 and pass. ” See that Flag?” noted Andreas Thorkildsen to me after the meet.” The conditions were perfect. I have a few things to work on over the next few weeks. Sad that there is no javelin in London, so I am heading home for my national championships and some workouts.”
Matthias De Zordo of Germany was second in 84.37m. Stuart Garquhar of New Zealand was third in 84.21.
U.S. Mike Hazle was 12th in 66.31m.
Women’s 5,000m
Vivian Cheruiyot took off at two kilometers and she was off. Her 8:38.67 for 3k was the world leader! Cheryuiyot did not stop, breaking the Kenyan record and running the third fastest time in history, with her fine 14:20.87.
Sally Kipyego was second in 14:43.87. Sylvia Jebiwot Kibet was third in 13:45.31 and Shalane Flanagan, in fourth, misssed the AR again, very close in 14:46.80.
Congrats to Magdelana Lewy Boulet who ran 15:14.25 for her pb! Jenny Simpson ran 15:18.55 and Lauren Fleshman, the 2010 US champ, ran 15:27.30, her seasonal best.
Men’s 200 meters
To the delight of the crowd, Usain Bolt won the 200 meters here in 20.03. Alonzo Edward was second in 20.47 and Ainsely Waugh was third in 20.56. Bolt is still with the
media, chatting away!
