by Stuart Weir
Paris Diamond League delivers
I started an introduction to a meet overview with a comment that it was hard not to conclude that the overall standard of the field at the 2024 Meeting de Paris was disappointing. It was a fair comment on many events, and I explained that with the Olympics just over three weeks away, many athletes had decided that training was more important than competing. US Olympic Track and Field team members were fragile on the ground. In a year with the Olympics, World Indoors, and a European Championships, it is also hard to accommodate 15 Diamond League events. To compound the issue, Paris clashed with Hengelo, where Keely and Femke were on duty. Just hard to fit everything in.
Then we had two world records and several other stellar events – so what do I know? Alison Dos Santos got the evening started with a comfortable win in the 400h in 47.78
He will be a serious threat to Karsten Warholm. Remember Tokyo, when we had men’s and women’s 400-meter world records on successive days?
Djamel Sedjati won the 800 in an Algerian NR, Emmanuel Wanyonyi was second in a PR with third place Gabriel Tual setting a French national record – all three men under 1:42
Mondo Duplantis did what Mondo Duplantis does, winning the pole vault with a six-meter leap.
Abraham Sime won the Steeplechase in 8:02.56 in a race that produced five PRs and three national records in the top six!
Valarie Allman won the discus with 68.07, and Larissa Iapuchino won the long jump with 6.82. It was concerning to see Malaika Mihambo only jump three times with two no-jumps and a 6.60, and Ivana Spanovic jump just 6.17, so close to the Olympics.
Then there were those High Jump and 1500m world records; more on them later,
