The Florence Diamond League meeting, which was the one-year home of the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea Meeting, had some amazing distance events.
Justin Lagat writes about the distance events in Florence in this column.
Sifan Hassan runs WL 1,500m five days after setting short lived 10,000m WR, photo by Diamond League AG
With slightly over a month to the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Florence Diamond League offered another chance for athletes to measure themselves against their rivals ahead of the Games. It was a time for some runners to check on their over-confidence, others to perfect on their finishing skills, and for others to know where their fitness levels fall at this time and if there is something they can still do about it.
The Men’s 5000m, at Florence DL, photo by Diamond League AG
In one of the most thrilling races of the evening, Jakob Ingebrigtsen took advantage of his 1500m speed in the closing stages of the men’s 5000m and surprised everyone by beating Joshua Cheptegei who holds the world record of 12:35.36 for the distance. Ingebrigtsen shaved 14 seconds off his personal best time to run a new area record, world-leading and personal best time of 12:48.45.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen sets ER / PB of 12:48.45 in Florence DL, photo by Diamond League AG
The first two kilometers of the race were moderately fast until Cheptegei moved to the front and made it even faster with some 60 to 61 seconds per lap for the next 2000m before the pace slowed down again and Ingebrigtsen closed the gap and moved towards the front in the penultimate lap. Hagos Gebrhiwet could not find enough speed in his legs to counter Ingbrigtsen in the home stretch and finished 2nd in 12:49.02. Ahmed Mohammed came third at 12:50.12.
Sifan Hassan leads 1,500m, 3:53.61 WL ! Florence DL, photo by Diamond League AG
There was a stunning race between Sifan Hassan and Faith Kipyegon in the women’s 1500m. Hassan made it a long hard run just after the pacesetter dropped out and she broke away together with Laura Muir and Kipyego. With about 250m to go, Kipyegon made an attempt to overtake, but Hassan took advantage of the inside lane and maintained her lead. With about 50m to go, they were almost parallel before Kipyegon began to yield some ground as Hassan came to cross the finish line in a new world-leading and meeting record time of 3:53.61. Kipyegon registered a national record time of 3:53.91 in second place ahead of Muir who came third in 3:55.59.
Sifan Hassan celebrates her 1,500m win, photo by Diamond League AG
In the men’s 3000m steeplechase, Soufiane El Bakkali showed some great form as he easily moved away from the field in the last lap to win in a world-leading 8:08.54. Bikila Tekele was 2nd in 8:10.56 while Mohamed TinDouft took 3rd in 8:11.65. World and Olympic champion, Conseslus Kipruto did not finish the race.
