by Stuart WeirGB highlights and disappointments
The London Diamond League is a highlight of the year for many British athletes – the opportunity to compete in front of a full stadium (60,000 home crowd) and especially in front of friends and family. Inevitably, some had better days that others
Success stories
1 Charlie Dobson winning the 400 in PB of 44.14, overtaking Matt Hudson-Smith over the last few meters. A delighted Dobson said: “It is an incredible feeling, I love running here in front of a massive home crowd, it is just awesome to get that time. Tactically it went perfectly, and I won the race, so what more can I ask for”.
2 Lewis Davey didn’t get a lane in the main 400m race so he ran a PR in the national race – that will show them!
3 Yaroslava Machuchikh (1.93) didn’t win the high jump. Elenor Patterson (1.93) did not win the high jump. Morgan Lake won with 1.96 and was ever so close to the her first ever 2m clearance. Morgan said: “It was amazing today, even on the call outs the crowd were so loud, and today was all about enjoying it and having fun, and stay in the competition as long as possible. I cleared 1.96m on the second attempt so I was really happy about that. It felt like a big clearance, so when I jumped that, I knew I had 2.00m in there. I had three good attempts at it, so I am really pleased with how I performed. I was nearly over it on the last attempt, I just clipped it with my feet, so I know it is in there”.
4 Georgia Hunter-Bell won the 800m in 1:56.74 with a perfectly timing run to the line and is opening considering doubling up in Tokyo
5 Jazmin Sawyers only managed 6.63 but it is great to see her competing again after being out for over 18 months with injury.
6 Max Burgin ran a PR of 1:42.36, saying: “After disappointing runs at Paris and Monaco Diamond Leagues. I managed to stay with the leaders in this one without taking the lead too early and it was important to get a good, strong race in before the trials and put my stamp down. It was a massively strong field out there today, so to come away with a PB is very pleasing”.
7 PRs for Revee Walcott-Nolan (4:19.16) in the 1500 and for Hannah Nuttall (14:39.48) Innes FitzGerald (14:39.56) in the 5K.
Disappointments
1 Jemma Reekie 6th (1:58.76) and Laura Muir 10th (2:00.95)
2 Molly Caudery 5th with 4.60 in PV
3 Jeremiah Azu 6th in 100m in 10.11 so far unable to transfer his gold-medal winning 60m performances outdoors.
Disappointing, but it is still a long time to September.
