News05 Jan 2012


2011 Samsung Diamond League Review – Part 2

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2011 Samsung Diamond League Trophy winners in Brussels (© Gladys Chai van der Laage)

MonteCarloOur review of the 2011 season comes to a close with this two-part look back at the second season of the Samsung Diamond League series. We conclude with a summary of the Paris, Birmingham, Monaco, Stockholm, London, Zurich and Brussels meetings.


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Click here for season schedule and results

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8 July

Paris


The newly laid Mondo track at the Stade de France did not get a superfast christening from Usain Bolt, but Jamaica’s World and Olympic champion comfortably held off local hero Christophe Lemaitre to win the 200 metres in 20.03 on a night when an appreciative crowd of 49,174 spectators saw four World season leading marks set and victories for their other home hopes in Renaud Lavillenie and Mahiedine Mekhissi Benabbad.


The Meeting Areva’s four finest efforts of the season so far came from Cuba’s Yargelis Savigne, with a Triple Jump of 14.99 metres, Christina Obergföll of Germany, who won the Javelin with a throw of 68.01 metres, Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar, who earned a 5000 metres victory in 14:29.52 after a 62.79 last lap, and Zuzana Hejnova, who won the 400m Hurdles in 53.29, which was also a Czech Republic record.


Bolt revealed after a race in which he had slowed dramatically over the final 30 metres that he had been in two minds about racing because of what he described as “a flu”.


In the circumstances, he would have had particular reason not to appreciate the lengthy delay before the night’s finale - caused by problems with the timing equipment. The field had to take to their blocks three times before getting belatedly away.


The World record holder, who had initially joked and laughed as the camera lingered on him, was more subdued after finishing. Lemaitre, straining to keep in touch, took second place in a season’s best of 20.21, with Darvis Patton of the United States third in 20.59. It was the first time Bolt had finished a 200 metres, excluding rounds, in more than 20 seconds since 14th September 2007, when he finished third in Brussels.


David Oliver’s progress towards the IAAF World Championships 110m Hurdles, upset by his defeat at the hands of former World and Olympic champion Liu Xiang at the Shanghai Samsung Diamond League in May, received another jolt as he was beaten by his other great rival, Cuba’s World record holder Dayron Robles, with both men recording 13.09.


Both men had warm memories of this stadium, Robles having set a stadium record of 12.88 in 2008, and Oliver having run his best of 12.89 here last season.


Savigne had to reach out to the brink of the 15 metres mark in order to head off the challenge of her Ukrainian Triple Jump rival Olha Saladuha, who had arrived with the season’s best mark of 14.98 to her credit.


France’s European champion Mahiedine Mekhissi Benabbad caused the stadium to fill with patriotic noise as he came home half a straight clear of his Kenyan rivals in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase to reduce his personal best from 8:02.52 to 8:02.09. It was not quite what the tall, bearded figure in the green top and shoes wanted – he has been seeking the European record of 8:01.18, held his compatriot Bob Tahri, all season.


The Stade de France spectators soon had another reason to be waving the large, bright yellow sponsor cards which had been distributed throughout the stadium as another of their European champions delivered. This time it was the personable Lavillenie, who secured victory in the Pole Vault with an effort of 5.73 metres.


Chris Tomlinson took second place in the Long Jump as he regained the British record which had been taken from him by Greg Rutherford with a third round effort of 8.35m.



10 July

Birmingham


It may have rained on Birmingham’s parade as the city staged its first Samsung Diamond League meeting in an Alexander Stadium transformed by the new,  as-yet unnamed, stand on the back-straight, but a full house was able to enjoy some of the most stirring contests yet seen in this season’s series and World leading performances from Andreas Thorkildsen, who won the Javelin Throw with a third round 88.30 metres, and Sally Pearson who earned a pulsating victory over the 100 metres Hurdles in 12.48, an Oceania Area record.


For the home crowd, however, two of the highlights of this thoroughly enjoyable Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix will have been the victories by Mo Farah and Dai Greene in the 5000 metres and 400m Hurdles respectively which boded well for the forthcoming IAAF World Championships in Daegu and beyond.


Asafa Powell, who won his 100m here with ease in 9.91, was also left feeling increasingly confident about the possibility of securing his first global title, even if he did have to face fellow countryman Usain Bolt.


Pearson, Australia’s Olympic silver medallist, had already indicated what might be in store by winning her 100m Hurdles heat in a time of 12.57, equalling the meeting record. In the final, despite coming under sustained pressure from the Diamond Race leader Danielle Carruthers and her US colleagues Ginnie Crawford and Kellie Wells, who led the 2011 season list coming into this meeting with 12.50, the Australian kept her form impeccably over the final four sets of hurdles to maintain the lead she has established from the gun and cross in 12.48.


Carruthers, grimacing with every effort over the barriers, finished second with a personal best of 12.52, with Crawford third in 12.79 and Wells fourth with 12.80.


“I’ve come to Europe to get ready for the World Championships and I’ve had fantastic preparation,” said Pearson. “It’s all just come together. I’ve always wanted to be the best in the world and I’m heading in that direction.”


Mo Farah’s winning 5000 metres time of 13:06.14 may not have been impressive, but his final 400m time of 54.03 certainly was, and also the overall manner of his win against a world class field as he left Ethiopia’s Diamond Race winner of last year and leader of this, Imane Merga, in his wake.


In the final straight Farah’s training partner Galen Rupp moved up to take second place in a personal best of 13:06.06.


Greene, sandwiched between Puerto Rico’s World silver medallist Javier Culson and the former World champion Bershawn Jackson, set the fireworks flaring at the end of the stadium with an impressive victory in the 400 metres Hurdles in 48.20, a season’s best.


Asked about the rain which was falling steadily at the time, Greene joked: “As a Welshman I consider these conditions to be almost tropical.”


Croatia’s World champion Blanka Vlašic maintained her lead in the High Jump Diamond Race – but only after a prolonged struggle with Russia’s Anna Chicherova, whom she beat on count-back, by dint of just one extra failure, after both had cleared 1.99 and then failed at 2.01.


Dylan Armstrong extended his lead in the Shot Put Diamond Race with victory in 21.55 metres.



23 July

Monaco


Olympic champion Brimin Kipruto’s 3000m Steeplechase victory in a Kenyan record of 7:53.64, the second fastest time ever, outshone even a hard-fought 100m victory by Usain Bolt in a season’s best of 9.88 at the Herculis / Samsung Diamond League meeting.


Kipruto, with a last lap of around 60 seconds, missed by just 0.01 the World record time of 7:53.63 which Saif Saaeed Shaheen, a fellow Kenyan who switched allegiance to Qatar in 2003, achieved at the 2004 Golden League meet in Brussels. It was arguably the most impressive performance of the season thus far.


Behind Kipruto, the 2004 Olympic gold medallist Ezekiel Kemboi and World leader Paul Koech were rewarded with lifetime bests, the former moving to fourth position on the all-time list with 7:55.76 while Koech's clocking of 7:57.32 lifted him to seventh.


Bolt was the last sprinter to rise out of his blocks and at 50 metres looked vulnerable as fellow Jamaican Michael Frater, with another three rivals in contention, was half a stride ahead.


But then the long legs of the World record holder began to exert traction and he eventually crossed the line ahead of fellow countryman Nesta Carter who lowered his season's best by 0.02 with Michael Rodgers of the USA third in 9.96.


World 800m record holder David Rudisha won in a World leading time of 1:42.61 but was chased home by fellow Kenyan Asbel Kiprop, the Olympic 1500m champion who had won the 800m series opener in Doha and was rewarded with a personal best by 0.02 clocking 1:43.15.


Amantle Montsho maintained her impressive form with a fourth consecutive victory in a national record of 49.71 which would have been a World lead if Anastasiya Kapachinskaya had not run 49.35 earlier in the day at the Russian Championships.


Mo Farah held off former World champion Bernard Lagat to win the 10,000 metres, lowering his British record to 12:53.11. Lagat broke his US record in a time of 12:53.60 while in third place Kenya's 17-year-old Isaiah Koech, who ran a World Youth Best of 12:54.59 at the Rome meet two months ago, lowered that outstanding mark to 12:54.18.


Olympic silver medallist Sally Pearson, leading from gun-to-tape, again proved herself the World No.1 when scoring a third Samsung Diamond League victory in three weeks over the 100m Hurdles with a time of 12.51.


Carmelita Jeter, the world's second fastest ever 100m performer, earned an inspirational win at 200m over her fellow American, the triple world champion Allyson Felix, in a personal best of 22.22.


Renaud Lavillenie, given massive support by the enthusiastic crowd, went to the top of the world Pole Vault rankings in clearing a height of 5.90m at his third attempt.


The men's 1500m, a non-Diamond League event, saw Silas Kiplagat improve the World lead he achieved at altitude in the previous weekend's Kenyan Championships with a time of 3:30.47. It also saw French athletes Mehdi Baala and Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad coming to blows on the track after the race, for which both lost their appearance fees and were suspended pending an inquiry by the French Federation.



29 July

Stockholm


World champion Vivian Cheruiyot produced one of the most dominant 5000 metres performances in living memory at a DN Galan meeting which saw her World season lead matched by Andreas Thorkildsen and Mitchell Watt respectively in the Javelin and Long Jump.


The other headline efforts came from Olympic Pole Vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who sent a message to the world that she was back after taking the 2010 outdoor season off, and Usain Bolt – back at the track where he had been beaten by Tyson Gay over 100 metres the previous year – who managed a victory in the 1912 Olympic stadium at the third time of asking.


Having established a lead of 40 metres with seven laps remaining, Cheruiyot finished more than 120 metres ahead of her shocked rivals as she clocked a national record and World season leading time of 14:20.87. It was a clear message that she intended to defend her title in Daegu.


The wind was favourable for the Javelin, and Thorkildsen took advantage as he extended his World season best to 88.43m. Watt, returning from a heel injury, also laid down a marker for Daegu as he cleared a new Oceania Area record of 8.54m (+1.7mps) in the Long Jump.


After she had no heighted in Lignano the previous week and then withdrawn from the Lucerne meet in Lucerne two days later after injuring her wrist in a fall in warm-up, there were doubts about whether Isinbayeva could be a force at the IAAF World Championships.


But in a competition containing her main rivals for Daegu including Germany’s Silke Spiegelburg, Jen Suhr of the United States and World Indoor champion Fabiana Murer of Brazil, the 29-year-old Olympic champion eventually won with a first-time clearance of 4.76m.


"The competition and the technique was okay, it was nice to be back," Isinbayeva said.


Bolt had to battle with the elements in the 200m, eventually settlng for a time of 20.03 into a wind of -1.2 mps. But it was a win.


World and Olympic Shot Put champion Valerie Adams secured another morale-boosting win over the 2010 Diamond Race winner Nadezhda Ostapchuk on the day before the main event. The New Zealander, who said she was fitter and leaner under her new training regime in Switzerland, where she is guided by the three-times World champion Werner Gunthor and his coach, Jean Pierre Egger, won with 20.57m.


Kaliese Spencer’s 400m Hurdles victory over her fellow Jamaican, the Olympic champion Melaine Walker, was rewarded with a 1-Carat Diamond worth US$10,000 for her stadium record of 53.74.


Jason Richardson scored the best 110m Hurdles victory of his career in beating the world No1 and fellow American David Oliver in a time of 13.17 against a -2.4m wind.



6-7 August

London


Some of the great rivalries in world athletics played themselves out as the first episode of London’s two-day Samsung Diamond League show produced some clear pointers towards who might medal in Daegu.


The opening day of the Aviva London Grand Prix saw David Rudisha maintain his pre-eminence over Abubaker Kaki at 800 metres. Dayron Robles, the Olympic 110m Hurdles champion, did the same over his US challenger David Oliver, winning in a season’s best of 13.04, although another US challenger Jason Richardson pushed him hardest, earning a personal best of 13.08. Oliver, third in 13.19, still maintained a three point lead in the Diamond League race.


In the women’s Javelin, Germany’s Christina Obergföll threw 66.74m to nudge ahead of the Olympic champion, Barbora Špotáková, who managed 66.41, while in the men’s Long Jump, Mitchell Watt of Australia produced an effort of 8.45m which kept him ahead of a supercharged British duo of Chris Tomlinson – who managed 8.30 – and Greg Rutherford.


There were also two World leading times for 2011, as Kaliese Spencer won the women’s 400m Hurdles in 52.79 and Grenada’s precociously talented 18-year-old World Junior champion Kirani James won the 400m in 44.61. James, the upwardly mobile one-lap talent, added to his growing reputation with a perfectly judged Diamond League race which took him clear of Jamaica’s Jermaine Gonzales, second in 44.85.


The first meeting of the season between the two greatest 800 metres talents of the moment ended with the Kenyan World record holder winning in 1:42.91, a meeting record and UK All Comers’ record, bettering the time of 1:43.22 set by Steve Cram in winning the 1986 Commonwealth title in Edinburgh.


Kaki, who plans to double up over 1500 metres at next year’s London Games following his hugely promising third place in Monaco , where he reduced his personal best from 3.39 to 3:31.76, finished with a season’s best of 1:43.13.


Asafa Powell, leading the 2011 100m World lists with 9.78, had said on the day before the meeting that he was running better than at any time since his first World record-breaking year of 2005, but he made a late decision to withdraw from the 100m in order not to exacerbate a groin problem he had picked up racing in Hungary during the previous week.


In Powell’s absence, Jamaican colleagues Yohan Blake and Nesta Carter stepped, swiftly, up to the plate, with Blake – a relatively late addition to the 100m field here – proving to be the first to finish with the event as he managed a time of 9.95, which equalled his season’s best, but was surely superior to his previous version given the headwind of 1.6 metres per second.


But home fans will have gone home from this south-east London venue convinced that they had seen a British World champion-to-be in the shape of Mo Farah, who produced what you could only describe as an Ethiopian finish to win a top class 3000m in 7:40.15, with an electric burst at the end which saw him cover the final 200 metres in 25.2 seconds.


The women’s 800m was won in a season’s best of 1:58.60 by home runner Jenny Meadows, who moved decisively past Kenia Sinclair as the field entered the final straight. Jamaica’s Diamond Race leader clocked 1:59.16.


Towards the end of the evening, spectators produced sustained applause for the former Jamaican sprinting legend Merlene Ottey, who was running the final leg of the sprint relay for her new nation of Slovenia at the age of 51.


She told spectators that she was looking forward to coming back to London next year, adding: “I’m talking about the Olympics…”


Sanya Richards-Ross demonstrated on day two at Crystal Palace that she was back in business – and in perfect time to defend her World 400m title.


The 26-year-old American had missed all the previous season with injury and, by her own admission, has found it hard to return to her previous form. But her victory in 49.66 - almost a second faster than her previous season’s best of 50.61 - put her right into the medal reckoning for Daegu.


Britain’s Olympic champion, Christine Ohuruogu, was characteristically forthright after a race in which she had finished last, describing it as “appalling.”


But Carmelita Jeter and Sally Pearson were looking good bets in Daegu after emphatic wins in the 100m and 100m Hurdles respectively. The American won in 10.93 against a field which included Jamaica’s World and Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Pearson finished a stride clear of her opposition in 12.58 after another beautifully composed performance over the hurdles, with Danielle Carruthers of the United States finishing second in 12.67.


“I’m slightly disappointed with my time today,” said Pearson, who led the year’s World list with 12.48. “But hopefully I can run quicker in Korea.”


Despite taking an early Triple Jump lead with a first round effort of 17.07m, Britain’s World champion Phillips Idowu was overtaken by the exuberant 21-year-old American Christian Taylor, whose victory in a personal best of 17.68m put him right into the picture for Korea.


Walter Dix restated his medal potential for Daegu as he won the 200m by five metres, finishing in 20.16 despite running into a 2.0 metres per second headwind.


The win took Dix to 12 points in the Diamond Race for this event, where he now held jont leadership with Usain Bolt.


“It was a tough wind out there, but I ran a great race, I think,” Dix said. “I need a couple of medals at the World Championships and people will start to look out for me.”



9 September

Zurich


The Weltklasse meeting, the first of the two finals of the Samsung Diamond League, took place in front of a full house in the Letzigrund Stadium. With Valerie Adams having secured the Shot Put title on the previous evening in a competition held at the main railway station, there remained 15 more Diamond Races to be decided on the night, with Trophies and US$40,000 in cash due to be distributed to each overall series winner, and with the offer of double points raising the stakes in each competition.


Many of the competitors had returned to Europe only a couple of days earlier from the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, but there was plenty of energy on display, most notably from the 100m gold medallist Yohan Blake, who ran a lifetime best of 9.82, taking 0.07 off his previous best.


The 21-year-old defeated a field which included fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell – who had already effectively secured the Diamond Trophy following the decision made by his only rival for the distinction, Usain Bolt, not to race in the Swiss venue. Powell took second place in 9.95.


Two other Daegu World champions – Grenada’s 400m winner Kirani James, and Kenya’s Vivian Cheruyiot, who won 5000 and 10,000m gold – also distinguished themselves.


The 19-year-old James secured the Diamond Race with another win over the man he had beaten in South Korea, Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt, finishing 0.31 ahead of the American in 44.36.


The meeting organisers were paying double prize money rather than time bonuses after the stamina-sapping schedules some of the 5000m entrants had undertaken in Daegu, but Cheruiyot still won in a meeting record of 14:30.10 to retain her Diamond Race title.


After losing the 110m Hurdles World gold on a disqualification for obstructing China's Lui Xiang in the final, Cuba’s Olympic champion Dayron Robles had something to prove in Zurich. He did so, defeating the American who had benefited from the debacle in Daegu to win the title, Jason Richardson, with his fastest time of the season, 13.01. Richardson clocked 13.10. David Oliver, who had arrived with a three-points lead, could only finish third in 13.26.

There was satisfaction for Javelin thrower Christina Obergföll of Germany, who had finished outside the medals in Daegu. The 30-year-old had already done enough to secure her event’s Diamond Trophy, but produced a season's best of 69.57m, a meeting record.


Kaliese Spencer, who arrived with an eight point lead over her nearest 400m Hurdles rival, the Czech Republic’s Zuzana Hejnova, was the first athlete of the night to retain a Diamond Trophy, doing so in style with victory in 53.36.


World champion Mariya Savinova won the 800 metres in 1:58.27, but Britain’s Jenny Meadows secured the Diamond Trophy by finishing third in 1:58.92 as Jamaica’s Kenia Sinclair, who had been the Diamond Race leader before this race, blew her chances by finishing ninth.


Robert Harting, who had won a second World Discus title in Korea, extended his winning run to 17 with an effort of 67.02m, but Lithuania’s two-times World and Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna took the Diamond Trophy in second place with 66.69.


Australia's World Long Jump silver medallist Mitchell Watt was already assured of Diamond Race success, so it did not matter too much when, last after three rounds, he withdrew citing fatigue.


Nixon Chepseba was an athlete with perhaps more to prove than any other in Zurich, given that he had not been selected for the Kenyan team in Daegu despite some outstanding performances. Relatively fresh, he beat his higher profile rivals in the 1500m with a time of 3:32.74 and collected the overall Diamond Race win.  Olympic and World 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop, who had arrived at the meet as the Diamond Race leader, was third with 20 metres but slowed dramatically to finish seventh to finish in 3:34.89 and lose the title by a single point.


Kiprop’s fellow Kenyan Paul Koech made no such mistake in the 3000m Steeplechase as he retained his Diamond Trophy by finishing second to fellow countryman and World champion Ezekiel Kemboi, who won by 0.12 in 8:07.72.


World 100m champion Carmelita Jeter took the Diamond Race in the 200m with victory in 22.37, finishing three points ahead of fellow Americans Bianca Knight and Allyson Felix.


Silke Spiegelburg, ninth finish in Daegu, captured the Diamond Race Pole Vault in finishing second on count-back to Jennifer Suhr, both having cleared 4.72m.


World High Jump champion Jesse Williams also finished the night with a Diamond Trophy despite only managing 2.28m to finish fourth. Both Williams and Andrei Silnov of Russia finished the series with nine points and one victory each, but the American took the prize by virtue of finishing above Silnov, who could only manage 2.25, on the night.


Double World Long Jump gold medallist Brittney Reese led from start to finish to retain her Diamond Race win, her furthest distance of 6.72m coming in the third round.



16 September

Brussels


You would not have bet on Usain Bolt being upstaged by anyone at the final Samsung Diamond League meeting of the season in Brussels, especially after he had succeeded in his ambition of running the fastest 100 metres recorded this year, 9.76, in a race that was outside the night’s Diamond Race events.


But upstaged he was, by the training partner who profited from his 100 metres false start in Daegu to take the World title, Yohan Blake. With Bolt still waving to the crowd and signing autographs on the back straight, Blake won the Van Damme Memorial 200 metres in a startling 19.26 – the second fastest time ever behind Bolt’s World record of 19.19.


No wonder the senior partner was registering a certain amount of shock as he hugged his smaller compatriot. Blake had spoken on his arrival of wanting to run “the perfect race” here. “I knew I could do something crazy,” he said. “But to be honest I was surprised when I saw the clock at the finishing line. This was a perfect controlled race. I started slow, and while I’m not a good bend runner I accelerated afterwards.


“Usain stays the best runner, but after tonight I feel I’m capable of breaking the World record over 200 metres. I’m looking forward to competing with Usain next season.”


Despite the final two events on the Diamond League circuit carrying double points, Blake was not in a position to win the Diamond Race Trophy and accompanying $40,000 on offer to 16 athletes on a night when the crowd was also around the 40,000 figure.


Interestingly, his reaction time was 0.269, slowest of the field. Had he got away to a sharper start, or perhaps not taken things a little cautiously on the bend, as he said he had afterwards, who knows what time he might have run…


The cash and the trophy for the 200m Diamond Race went to Walter Dix of the United States, who ran a personal best of 19.53 in second place. It was a nice counterpoint to the previous season, when injury prevented the American from contesting the final as he appeared poised to win overall.


There was a shock of a less happy kind in the 100m Hurdles, where Sally Pearson appeared on course to add a Diamond Race Trophy to the World gold she so consummately won in Daegu, only to come to grief at the seventh hurdle as she led the field. By the time the Australian had risen to her feet and walked away with a sad wave to the crowd, the race – and the Diamond Race – had gone to Danielle Carruthers of the United States, who won in 12.65.


Carmelita Jeter emulated Allyson Felix’s achievement of last year as she completed a Diamond Race double, adding the 100m title to the 200m honours she had secured in Zurich the previous week.


Russia’s World champion Anna Chicherova had no chance of overtaking Blanka Vlasic in the overall Diamond Race standings, but she finished her season with a winning flourish as the only high jumper to clear 1.99 here, and went on to clear 2.02, then 2.05, before having three decent attempts at a world record of 2.10.


The women’s 1500 metres might have had a sub-title – The Fall and Rise of Morgan Uceny. Having seen her World Championship ambitions disappear when she was tripped, the American came into this event leading the Diamond Race stakes by a two-point margin  and sealed her position by winning in 4:00.06, the fastest time in the world this year.


Andreas Thorkildsen will not look back on 2011 with great satisfaction. Having lost his World title to Matthias De Zordo in Daegu, the Norwegian also saw the German deprive him of the Diamond Race Trophy as he won with a personal best of 88.36m.


World 800m champion David Rudisha was unable to break the 14-year-old stadium record of 1:42.20 set by his predecessor as World record holder, Wilson Kipketer.


But the Kenyan secured the Diamond Race Trophy and prize by winning in 1:43.96.


The 400m Hurdles proved to be a race too far for Britain’s World champion, David Greene as he was beaten by World silver medallist Javier Culson – but second place was enough to secure the Welshman the Diamond Trophy. Daegu all over again for Culson…


China’s new world Discus champion Li Yanfeng only narrowly failed to bring off a winner-takes-all triumph in the Diamond Race as she won with 66.27m. Yarelis Barrios took the Race by a single point after finishing second.


Renaud Lavillenie turned his big lead in the Pole Vault into trophy and cash as he secured second place with an effort of 5.72. Milcah Chemos, already assured of retaining her Diamond Race Trophy in the 3000m Steeplechase, was not able to deliver on the World record she had been hoping for.


World 400m champion Amantle Montsho was also an unassailable Diamond Race winner, and she underlined her superiority by winning in 50.16.


Imane Merga secured the Diamond Race Trophy in the 5000 metres, winning here in 12:58.32, and Olha Saladukha, the newly ensconced world champion, sealed the formality of her Diamond Race victory in the Triple Jump, winning with 14.67m.


Like Saladukha, Dylan Armstrong had already done enough in the season to be assured of his $40,000 bonus. He finished second on the night to Reese Hoffa of the United States, who threw 22.09m – a season’s best with his season’s last effort.


Phillips Idowu of Britain did enough to secure his Diamond Race Trophy in the Triple Jump, despite only managing 16.29m to finish fifth.


Kenenisa Bekele won a 10,000 metres that was not part of the Diamond League programme in 26:43.16, taking over from the 26:46.57 run by the absent Briton, Mo Farah, at the top of this year’s World list. Farah’s training partner Galen Rupp set an Area record of 26:48.00 in third place.


Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF


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