One of only two multi-day meetings on the IAAF Diamond League circuit, the Eugene meeting has a long history of promoting endurance running and there are some greatly anticipated clashes again lined up for this year’s event.
Eugene presents a second opportunity for athletes to score much needed points in the Diamond Race, with all 16 disciplines on show having already been featured this year.
The men’s shot putters and discus throwers and the women’s long jumpers all compete on Friday evening, while the women’s triple jump, javelin, 100m, 800m and 5000m take place on Saturday, along with the men’s 200m, 400m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles, steeplechase, high jump, pole vault and mile.
Retrospective…
In 2014 Eugene hosted an “International” 400m that wasn’t part of the IAAF Diamond League programme, but that nevertheless astonished the crowd, as both Olympic Champion Kirani James and USA’s Lashawn Merritt clocked 43.97. The Grenadan got the nod for the win and most observers called it as one of the best 400m races in living memory.
The duo return this year and anything close to a repeat would be very well received, as James looks to add more Diamond Race points to the four he won in Shanghai, where his great rival could only take one.
Another close battle in a non-Diamond Race event 12 months ago was in the mile, where Ayenleh Souleiman produced a superb 3:47.32 to edge out Kenya’s Silas Kiplagat. The Kenyan subsequently took the Diamond Trophy and again, both athletes line up at Hayward Field this weekend, this time with Diamond Race points at stake.
In the Diamond Race itself, Nijel Amos ran a magnificent 1:43.63 to take the 800m last year, one of two four point hauls on his way to the title, while Hellen Obiri continued her own blistering form, following up her win over 3000m in Doha earlier in the month with a strong 3:57.05 for 1500m.
Diamond Race Leaders
14 current leaders compete in the 16 Diamond Race events on the Eugene schedule, all of whom will have high hopes of extending their leads at the top of their respective standings.
In the absence of China’s Huihui Lu in the javelin, previous champions Barbora Spotakova and Christine Obergfoll will be looking to secure their first points of the season, while Sunette Viljoen has a chance to add to the two points that she secured for 2nd place in Shanghai.
One of the surprise packages from round one was Almaz Ayana in the women’s 5000m, but in the Ethiopian’s absence her compatriot Genzebe Dibaba, never a Diamond Race winner, could secure some much needed points.
Piotr Malachowski (discus), David Storl (shot put), Bershawn Jackson (400m hurdles), Jairus Birech (steeplechase), David Oliver (110m hurdles) and Alonso Edward (200m)in the men’s events and Tianna Bartoletta (long jump), Caterine Ibarguen (triple jump), Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor (100m) and Eunice Sum (800m) in the women’s are all Diamond Race leaders who will be confident of a repeat performance of two weeks ago, although the latter faces stiff competition for the points from USA’s Ajee’ Wilson. The American picked up maximum points in Monaco last year and was one of the few athletes to defeat the Kenyan in recent years.
In the high jump Mutaz Essa Barshim will look to take another four points and put further distance between himself and his great rival Bohdan Bondarenko in the Diamond Race due to the Ukrainian’s absence, while Konstantinos Filippidis will be thankful to have secured maximum points in Doha, given that five-time Diamond Race winner Renaud Lavillenie returns to the pole vault field in Eugene.
In the Bowerman Mile, both Silas Kiplagat, the current Diamond Race leader and the 2014 champion and Ayanleh Souleiman, the current Diamond Race leader in the 800m, take part, meaning that one of them at least will taste defeat for the first time in the 2015 IAAF Diamond League.
