by Stuart Weir
A varied program in Brussels
The Allianz Memorial van Damme (also known as the Brussels Diamond League) delivered as it always does. The name is in honor of Ivo van Damme, a Belgian athlete who won two medals at the 1976 Olympics and was killed in a road accident the following year, aged just 22. The program lasted nearly five hours and included William Van Dijck and Aries Merritt being driven around the track in vintage cars to celebrate their induction into the van Damme Hall of Fame. Merritt had broken the world record in the 110m hurdles in Brussels in 2012 – a time of 12.80. William Van Dijck was the first Belgian to win a World Championship medal (Steeplechase in 1987). The smurfs* were on hand to add some dignity to the occasion.
The first hour was devoted to a program of youth races, giving kids a chance to run in the famous stadium, albeit before most of the spectators had arrived. There were wheelchair and para races in the pre-Diamond League program, and Fleur Jong, a double-amputee, won the long jump with 6.77, beating a field of “able-bodied” athletes, including Nafi Thiam.
The highlight of the main program was the women’s 100m, won by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in 10.76 from Sha’Carri Richardson, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in her last ever Diamond League fourth.
A very competitive 1500m was won by Niels Laros (3:30.58) from Phanuel Kipkosgei Keoch, with Yared Naguse third. Ruben Querinjean won a 3000 m SC in 8:09.47, setting a Luxembourg national record. There are only 650,000 people in Luxembourg, and Runblogrun is not aware of how many of them participate in the steeplechase. Nikki Hiltz won the women’s 1500 in 3:55.94, from Linden Hall, whose 3:56.33 was a national record. Agnes Jebet Ngetich won a 5k in 14:24.99 by a margin of six seconds in a race in which Marta Garcia set a new Spanish record and Jana van Lent a Belgian one. Anna Cockrell won the 400 m in 53.66, and there was another Belgian record set here with Naomi van den Broeck running 54.12. Winfred Yavi always wins the Steeplechase, so the sneaky Belgians changed the distance to 1 mile, and guess what? Yavi still won it – in 4:40.13,
In field events, Ralford Mullins won the discus with 69.66, leaving Mykolas Alekna, Kristjan Ceh, and Daniel Stahl in his wake. Katie Moon won an epic pole vault competition with a height of 4.85 – see separate post. Chase Jackson, with a score of 20.90, won the shot.
The program concluded with a mixed 4×100 relay, which was won by the Netherlands Orange team. Since you asked, Netherlands Blue came last.
My only reservations about the meet were:
1. Why did the stadium announcer feel it was a good idea, when professional athletes were trying to secure selection for Tokyo or a place in the Diamond League final, to encourage the crowd to ignore what they had come for and do a silly Mexican (or Memorial) wave?
2 What on earth the Turbo Sprint of European Influencers was all about
*Smurfs are a fictional colony of small, blue creatures that live in the forest in Belgium.
