by Stuart Weir
The 2025 Diamond League season is up and running
There was the good, the bad, the unexpected and the exciting. There were the entirely predictable, the shocks and the down-right strange! It was good to have the Diamond League season back even if some of it had a real early season feel to it.
Business as usual
Yaroslava Mahuchikh won the high jump.
Mondo winning the pole vault with 3 vaults.
Beatrice Chebet won the 5000m followed by 6 Ethiopians.
Valarie Allman winning the discus.
Shocks
Gent Hollaway losing – race won by Cordell Tinch.
El Bakkali beaten in the steeplechase – by Sanuek Firewu.
Excellent performances
Jessica Schilder winning the shot with 20.47 (with her first throw).
Bayapo Ndori winning the 400m in 44.25.
Mingzun Zhang winning the long jump.
Anania Battle winning 200 in 22.41.
Aline Sambini winning the 100m in 9.99.
Danielle Williams winning the 100m hurdles – see separate post.
Disappointing
Mujinga Kambundji eighth in the 200 after winning the world indoors 60m.
Christian Coleman and Letsile Tebogo fourth and seventh in the 100m.
Unusual events
Faith Kipyegon winning the 1000 but failing to break the world record. However she was recorded as setting a Meeting Record and a World Lead – so, how many times has the 1000 been run this season and how many times ever in Xiamen?).
Karsten Warholm winning the 300m hurdles. We understand that it was a WR, WL, MR, DLR, WPB and as far as we know the fastest time by a Norwegian in Asia on a Saturday on which there was a papal funeral.
Early season
Yaroslava Mahuchikh won the high jump without clearing 2 meters.
Mondo failing at 6.01.
RunBlogRun wishes to congratulate the large number of athletes who achieved a season’s best, especially those who were in their first competition this season!
Sartorial elegance prize
Marquis Dendy for his bright orange hat.
Britwatch
Morgan Lake 5th in the high jump, Amy Hunt fifth in the 200, Jeremiah Azu third in the 100. Can’t help saying it, Jeremiah, but 6095 miles is quite a lot way to go to run for 10.17 seconds.
Best piece of commentary:
Hannah England on the 1000m. “1000m is a horrible distance. You have to run at 800 pace and then keep going another 200”.
Best of the flashquotes
“I will have to check with my coach where I can do better next time”. Shericka Jackson
“My feet are not good”. Gudaf Tsegay
“I’m not very good at indoors”. Chase Jackson
Lost in translation. Yaming Zhu on his triple jump performance “We made some adjustment for this race”.
“It’s a long travel to be here”, Jenna Prandini
“I just want to jump as high as I can”. Nicola Olysagers
“I think this stadium is even better than the Birdsnest in Beijing”. Marquis Dendy
“That 15 hour flight hurt, but I had to suck it up and get out here and compete”. Anavia Battle. She won!
“Not really because the season is still new”. Beatrice Chebet. Good answer just wish I knew what the question was!
And it all starts again in Shanghai next Saturday.
