In the third article by Stuart Weir on the Van Damme Memorial, Stuart writes about the ten noteworthy aspects of the Brussels meeting. We like Stuart’s deep thoughts.
Come to think of it, we always like Stuart Weir’s deep thoughts.
Valerie Allman took second in the discus! photo by Diamond League AG
Francine Nyonsaba pushes the pace in a killer 5000m, photo by Diamond League AG
Fred Kerley takes the win in the 100m, photo by Diamond League AG
Ten noteworthy aspects of Brussels
1 Mondo Duplantis was diplomatically unsure at the press conference if he preferred Swedish or Belgian chocolate. Didn’t stop him from clearing 6 meters in Brussels though.
2 Further evidence that Sifan Hassan might be human after all: “After Tokyo, I was so tired”. Tonight she won the mile in 4:14.74 but in a time outside her own world record.
3 Great idea to have a night of the discus, show-casing the event in a beautiful location the previous evening.
4 A fascinating men’s 100m with three Americans Fred Kerley, Trayvon Bromell, and Michael Norman going under 10 seconds. A year ago, you might not have expected any of them to be on a 100m podium. Bromell was injured and Kerley and Norman were 400m runners. Great year for all three.
5 Great to see Francine Niyonsaba – banned from running 800s over testosterone levels – back winning this time at 5,000.
6 On the other hand questions have to be asked about the rationale of allowing Christine Mboma to run 200 (and dominate) but not the 400.
7 While some Olympic medalists are hibernating, it was great to see the women’s high jumpers Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Mariya Lasitskene and Nicola McDermott competing in Lausanne, Paris and now Brussels and they will be in Zurich.
8 Michael Cherry running a PR of 44.03 to win the 400m
9 Great to see an Australian 1-2 in the 1500m with Stewart McSweyn winning in 3:29.51 from Oliver Hoare (3:33.79).
10 Great to see Dina Asher-Smith and Sha’Carrie Richardson running in the 200m after a tough previous month.
