byJustin LagatThe Doha Diamond League meet is one of my favorites each year. I have not been to Doha DL since 2017 (heart surgery in 2018, not invited in 2019, pandemic in 2020, 2021). The World Champs was fun and tiring in 2019, but the Doha Diamond League gives chances, to the field eventers, to show their stuff.
Justin Lagat reminds us, kindly and gently that our sport is not about times, and distances, but competitions! The championship tactics and the emotional finishes to the season are huge. I have to admit, the perfect season, for me, is following athletes across US, Middle East and Europe and seeing them compete as they build up.
Hellen Obiri, Monaco 2020, photo by Etienne Fiacre/Diamond League AG
Justin Lagat, the RunBlogRun senior writer in Kenya, gets it. He, like our readers, wants to see the athletes battle in several races, not come down from the mountaintop, fit for battle, but with no racing experience.
Perhaps, there is a middle ground.
Doha will stage the second Diamond League meeting this Friday, but the two meetings so far do not seem enough to fix the head-to-head competitions that some fans are yearning to see in the buildup to the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Some of the big stars have already made their appearances in Gateshead, but they are yet to race against their perceived main rivals. For example, Kenneth Bednarek is exhibiting great form in the men’s 200m, but how will he perform against other big names like Noah Lyles? Is Katir Mohamed a passing cloud in the men’s 5000m event or is he here as a big contender towards the Olympic Games?
Last year when the diamond league season could not happen due to the pandemic, one of the memorable meetings was the “Impossible Games” where some runners ran the 1500m race in Oslo while others did the same simultaneously in Nairobi. While Timothy Cheruiyot remains ranked at position one by World Athletics, Jakob Ingebrigtsen had won the virtual race in June last year.
It would have been great if the two runners had finally met at the last meeting in Gateshead, where Ingebrigtsen won; or at the Doha meeting where Cheruiyot is on the start list, Ingebrigtsen is not.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon is the defending Olympic champion in the women’s 1500m and while fans are curious to see her shape ahead of the Games, she will be appearing in a different event during the Doha Diamond League, running in the women 800m.
Just like Kipyegon, Hellen Obiri will be in action in the women’s 3000m race. Obiri has made her intentions known that she will be hoping to double in the 10,000m and 5,000m at the Tokyo Olympic Games, the 3000m may not be very accurate in predicting her form for the 10,000m and 5,000m races.
The 2019 world championships medalists; Soufiane El Bakkali, Lamecha Girma, and Conseslus Kipruto are yet to be seen in action in the men’s 3000m Steeplechase race this year. Time and other upcoming competitions ahead will tell us if they still the top contenders in this event or whether the long break from competitions is bringing in some new stars?
One of the events that will bring in a good number of competitors that have always been on top of their event will be the women’s 3000m Steeplechase race that has Beatrice Chepkoech (World record holder and reigning world champion), Emma Coburn (former world champion), Norah Jeruto, Hyvin Kiyeng, Wilfred Yavi, and Felicitas Krause. All these six names are ranked in the top six by World Athletics.
