by Justin Lagat
We asked Justin to write about the Doha DL. This is his story, with the view from Kenya.
2019 Doha Diamond League re-opens the conversation on track athletes and sets stage for a great season of competitions.
It has been many months since we last watched great action on track and field. We even almost forgot some of the stars, but the Doha Diamond League has just opened another great track and field season, opening the conversations again on the track and field stars. It has now left fans eager to know how the rest of the season will go for the athletes in different events, especially the new stars like Mahuchick Yaroslava in the women’s high jump event, among others.
While we are likely to see the same dominance by two training mates; Elijah Manangoi and Timothy Cheruiyot in the men’s 1500m, it seems as though Manangoi is in a better form this year than he was last year. While Cheruiyot would beat him in the Diamond League races, he would win the major championship races. This time, he started by beating Cheruiyot in the first Diamond League race and it remains to be seen whether Cheruiyot will retaliate in the next meeting.
The absence of Evan Jager and Conseslus Kipruto in the men’s 3000m steeplechase race saw Soufiane El Bakkali taking the men’s race. But, it did not happen for him as easily as fans would have expected. He had to battle Hillary Bor up to the last 50m when Bor had looked up at his tall figure and, perhaps realizing who he was running against, just gave up the battle and settled for the second position.
In the men’s 800m, Amos Nijel showed that no one is yet to learn how to resist his finishing kick as long as he is still in contention for the win in the last 100m of the race. Nijel was able to overtake Emmanuel Korir on the home straight.
Stahl and Semenya headline a night to remember in Doha.
Check out our summary of last night’s #DiamondLeague at Khalifa International Stadium.https://t.co/5fS5uubHkO#DLDoha #DohaDL pic.twitter.com/t3cWAdyd0k
— Doha Diamond League (@dldoha) May 4, 2019
The women’s 800m race was seen as likely to be Caster Semenya’s final race in the event following the recent ruling by CAS on her eligibility to run it. But, Semenya appeared indifferent and just ran and dominated this race just as she had been doing in any other race followed by Francine Niyonsaba who took second. It remains to be seen what will happen in this effect once the new rules by IAAF on this event takes effect on the 8th of May.
Hellen Obiri does the amazing with an official time of 8:25.60 in the women’s 3,000m and brings it home for #Kenya. 💎#DohaDL #DLDoha #DiamondLeague pic.twitter.com/z32az5CEXN
— Doha Diamond League (@dldoha) May 3, 2019
Despite the women’s 3000m race being run in a more of a championship pace in the first three laps in which the field appeared to have been over-crowded, the last three laps were faster and resulted in a total of nine personal best times in the race. The fast pace in the last stages may have been partly contributed by Lilian Kasait’s fall when the rest saw the danger in remaining huddled together and decided to open some space. Impressively, Kasait was able to fight back till she finished 3rd behind Hellen Obiri and Genzebe Dibaba. The last 150m was a fierce battle for victory between Obiri and Dibaba with Obiri holding on to the lead up to the end.
For now, the track season is finally on and a lot of exciting action and fast times should be expected in the following meetings.
