by Larry EderThe Exxon Mobil Bislett Games had some grand performances, and some grand attendees, from John Walker and Henry Rono to Seb Coe and Sergey Bubka.
The Diamond League was eventful as ever in Oslo, even if it wasn’t in the way we expected. While a number of the pre-event favourites lived up to the expectation, a whole load of others were upset by their less fancied rivals, performing out of their skin.
As we look ahead to New York on Saturday he are my five main things to take away from Norway.
1. @LauraMuirruns great
Laura Muir, photo by PhotoRun.net
@Lauramuirruns is the name of her twitter handle and that’s what she’s certainly doing at the moment. Having already produced 2:00.42 for 800m, 4:00.61 for 1500m and 8:38.47 for 3000m, the Scot came out and bossed it in Oslo as she showed great tenacity to go with the pacer and hang on for a brilliant DL victory. By getting the win and a fast time she showed that not only she match her rivals for pace but she can race them too.
A sub-4 run is surely just around the corner and so to is a top performance at a major championship, something she has so far been lacking in her senior career.
2. Time for Dibaba to focus on medals
Genzebe Dibaba, photo by PhotoRun.net
It’s pretty clear that Genzebe Dibaba is a wonderfully talented athlete and one that could soon rule the world, with the indoor world records and titles to back up that prediction. But the gifted Ethiopian still seems to have the monkey on her back when it comes to competing outdoors, at least when it comes to chasing her sister’s times.
After another failed world record attempt in Oslo, I think it’s time for her to focus on something more materialistic than a number on a clock at least for the time being.
Make no mistake, her 14:21.29 run in Oslo was a damn impressive performance and one that stands her in good stead against Almaz Ayana ahead of Beijing 2015, but it wasn’t the one she wanted.
Had she had the right pacing or another rival like Ayana close to her on this occasion then she may well have got a lot closer Tirunesh’s record but she didn’t and so the focus must now turn to gaining her first world outdoor title before her sister returns to the track next year. Not just in the 5k but maybe the 1500m too!
3. Arise Guowei Zhang, a new high jump contender?
Guowei Zhang, photo by PhotoRun.net
If you’d seen the pictures of the pre-event press conference in Monaco, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that there were only three top athletes competing in the men’s high jump competition, yet that most certainly wasn’t the case. In spite of the presence of the world outdoors, indoors and and Olympic champion in Oslo, it was the man who’s greatest achievement to date is Asian Games silver that shocked them all.
As Barshim, Bondarenko and Ivan Ukhov all struggled to live up to the pre-event hopes of a world record battle, it was China’s Guowei Zhang who stole victory with an excellent clearance of 2.36m. Following up his national record and second place in Eugene, Zhang celebrated like a rockstar and almost as if he had won one of his rivals prestigious titles, when he cleared the bar to win his first DL event.
While the others maybe have been off form, Zheng’s emergence makes the event even more stacked than ever!
4. Dream Mile reemergence from Kiprop
Asbel Kiprop, Matthew Centrowitz, Ayanleh Souleiman, photo by PhotoRun.net
With the stage set for Ayanleh Souleiman to smash the Dream mile with an apparent target of 3.44 reported, it seemed as though the perennial contender and mile specialist might cement his chances of being the favourite for the 1500m at Beijing 2015. Instead it was the current world champion who’s talent shone threw in the end to prove why he is still a big threat himself.
Though Souleiman went for broke on the first few laps in a quest to leave a big gap between him and his rivals at the bell, he couldn’t kick away and so soon Kiprop et al soon made up the ground on their rival before then leaving him for dead. While he wasn’t alone in his challenge to the Djibouti athlete’s surge, it was the Olympic champion who lead the push and kept going to grab his first DL victory of 2015.
One performance isn’t enough to say he’s back, but he’s certainly on his way.
5. What’s easier… to make the US women’s hurdles team or to fly to the moon?
Jasmine Stowers, photo by PhotoRun.net
You may have noticed but America’s women’s sprint hurdlers are killing it at the moment. Okay who am I kidding? Of course you noticed.
This event was clearly not the US champs, but it shore felt like it. Crossing the line from positions 1 to 5 were some of, and only some of, the USA’s best hurdlers. On this occasion it was Jasmin Stowers who pipped world champ Brianna Rollins on the line, with Queen Harrison grabbing the final DL point, but come Eugene in two weeks time there’s a chance that they could be filling the bottom three places in the national final. That’s how competitive it is.
After all, still to add to the mix are Dawn Harper, Sharika Nelvis, Lolo Jones, Kendra Harrison, Kristi Castlin and so many other sub-13-stars.
So while it’s unlikely, it could happen.
