The Prefontaine Classic in Eugene saw ten men’s events in the Diamond Race and all of the early leaders who had secured maximum points in Doha and Shanghai still find themselves at the top of the table, albeit as a result of varying degrees of success in the North West of the USA.
While Kirani James (400m), Mutaz Barshim (high jump) and Piotr Malachowski (discus) increased their leads with second IAAF Diamond League victories of the season, Konstantinos Filippidis (pole vault), Silas Kiplagat (1500m/Mile) and Alonso Edward (200m) all remain joint leaders despite not picking up any points in Eugene, courtesy of the wins being taken by Renaud Lavillenie, Ayenleh Souleiman and Justin Gatlin, all of whom scored their first points of the season in their respective disciplines.
Of course, Souleiman and Gatlin had both won in other disciplines in round one, meaning that they now have the honour of leading two Diamond Races.
Lavillenie, on the other hand, returns to lead the pole vault following his astonishing 6.05m leap and looks set for his sixth successive Diamond Trophy.
David Storl (shot put), Jairus Birech (steeplechase), Bershawn Jackson (400m hurdles) and David Oliver (110m hurdles) may not have won, but top three finishes in their events still ensured that they maintain leads over their nearest rivals.
In three of the six women’s events, Eunice Sum (800m), Caterine Ibarguen (triple jump) and Tianna Bartoletta (long jump) maintained 100% records for the season and lead their Diamond Races with an impressive eight points from two events. All three were 2014 Diamond Trophy winners and already it looks a tough challenge for the rest of the athletes in their events.
In the absence of Almaz Ayana (5000m) and Huihui Lu (javelin), Genzebe Dibaba and former champion Christina Obergfoll both took four points to move level overall, while Blessing Okagbare Ighoteguonor (100m) didn’t pick up any points, meaning that two-time Diamond Race champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce could also move level in the shortest sprint.
Four Diamond Race points are awarded to event winners at each meeting, two to runners up and one to third place finishers, with the top eight athletes in the standings securing places in the season ending finales in Zurich and Brussels, where points won are worth double. The athletes in each discipline with the most points after all seven meetings are crowned the Diamond Race Champions and each secure a Diamond Trophy.
Dean Hardman for the IAAF Diamond League
