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By Jonathan Gault
Could 12, 2022
The primary Diamond League meet of the season is considered one of LetsRun.com’s favourite days on the working calendar. The Diamond League is what the NFL is to soccer or the Champions League is to soccer — the most effective athletes of their sport dealing with off frequently. In a sport that may be frustratingly onerous to comply with, the Diamond League is the closest factor now we have to stability. The meets are (largely) in the identical place from 12 months to 12 months, they don’t drag on all day (the TV window is simply two hours), and whereas showdowns between the easiest in every occasion don’t occur as a lot as we’d like, you possibly can tune right into a Diamond League occasion and know that a lot of the races shall be of a reasonably top quality. Plus within the US you don’t should go trying to find how you can watch each meet: you possibly can watch all of it for $5 a month in case you subscribe to Peacock Premium. All in all, the Diamond League a reasonably good factor.
As we rely right down to Friday’s Doha Diamond League, we’re doubly excited. First, as a result of it’s Opening Day! Which means an opportunity to see stars who’ve competed sparingly or in no way in 2022 like Donavan Brazier, Religion Kipyegon, and Dina Asher-Smith. We’re additionally excited as a result of the 2022 Doha fields are spectacular. How about Brazier towards Noah Kibet and Ferguson Rotich within the 800? Kipyegon towards Francine Niyonsaba within the 3000? Or, better of all, world champ Noah Lyles and Olympic champ Andre De Grasse squaring off towards Fred Kerley within the 200? There are big-time matchups up and down the schedule.
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LetsRun.com is so excited, in truth, that we’re working a mini prediction contest. Give us the winner and successful time of the boys’s 200 in addition to Donavan Brazier’s time within the 800. Closest prediction in every occasion wins the LetsRun.com shirt of their alternative. Enter under.
Plus ensure you head to LetsRun.com instantly after the meet is over as we’ll be doing a LIVE video present recapping the meet shortly after it wraps up at 2 p.m. ET on Friday.
To get you prepared for a terrific meet, right here’s one man’s have a look at the highest 10 occasions in Doha on Friday.
What: 2022 Doha Diamond League
The place: Qatar SC Stadium, Doha, Qatar
When: Friday, Could 13. DL observe occasions (and the Peacock broadcast) start at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Learn how to watch: This meet shall be streamed dwell in the US on Peacock from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET on Friday. For full TV/streaming particulars, see under.
Full Doha schedule/entries/results * TV/streaming information
10. Girls’s 400 (12:04 p.m. ET): Miller-Uibo vs Paulino
The Olympic and World Indoor champ Shaunae Miller-Uibo ran 49.91 her final day out, however that was a month in the past. One thing tells me she’s going to go even quicker towards a area that includes Olympic silver medalist Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic.
9. Males’s steeplechase (1:47 p.m. ET): Olympic rematch — will anybody stand up and take over this occasion?
The cool factor about this race is that all the high guys from 2021 shall be right here. The highest 5 from final 12 months’s Olympic last — Soufiane El Bakkali, Lamecha Girma, Benjamin Kigen, Getnet Wale, and Yemane Haileselassie — are all entered. The unhealthy information is the steeple form of sucked final 12 months. Kigen had the quickest time on the earth in 2021 at 8:07.12. Outdoors of the 2020 COVID 12 months (the place there have been virtually no elite steeples), that was the slowest world chief in 27 years. 8:17 gained the Diamond League last.
However there’s nonetheless expertise on this occasion, even when injury-plagued Evan Jager and Conseslus Kipruto (neither of whom is working Doha) can’t return to their former heights. El Bakkali is a sub-8:00 man. Girma is a two-time silver medalist on the age of 21. Wale could be the largest query mark. He’s run 7:24 and 12:53 on the flat however solely 8:05 within the steeple. He’s additionally solely 21 (formally) — might he take over the occasion if all the things clicks?
There’s one American within the Doha area: Hillary Bor, who has gained the final two US titles in Jager’s absence. Bor has produced some spectacular DL performances previously, virtually successful Doha in 2019 and taking the DL opener in Gateshead final 12 months, however he didn’t make the Olympic last in Tokyo. After working 13:10 indoors and 43:14 to complete third on the US 15K champs in March, how will he fare in his steeple opener?
El Bakkali is probably the most completed and constant member of the steeple crew proper now so that you’d should name him the favourite for Friday and the most secure choose for Worlds this 12 months. Will anybody stand up and problem him?
8. Girls’s 200 (1:36 p.m. ET): Dina Asher-Smith returns
One of many shames of the 2021 Olympics is that we didn’t get to see Dina Asher-Smith at her finest. Six weeks out from the Video games, the British star was within the form of her life, assured she might go even quicker than the ten.83/21.88 nationwide information that delivered silver and gold medals on the 2019 Worlds. However a torn hamstring induced her to overlook a piece of time simply forward of the Olympics, and Asher-Smith wound up lacking the 100 last in Tokyo and withdrawing from the 200 totally.
Asher-Smith did race after the Olympics however solely confirmed glimpses of her finest self. Now, with an offseason to heal, she’ll run her first 200 of the 12 months towards a area that includes Olympic 100 bronze medalist Shericka Jackson and Olympic 200 bronze medalist Gabby Thomas. Asher-Smith shall be keen to indicate each what she might have achieved if wholesome in Tokyo final 12 months.
7. Males’s pole vault (11:10 a.m. ET): Duplantis & Nilsen paved the way
Any pole vault competitors with Mondo Duplantis is robotically price watching as a result of there’s an opportunity he may set a world document. Doha shall be his outside opener — the primary time he’s jumped since he invented the 6.20 membership at World Indoors in March — and he’ll tackle a area that features 5 of the highest six from Tokyo, highlighted by silver medalist Chris Nilsen of the US.
6. Males’s excessive bounce (12:15 p.m. ET): Barshim and Tamberi, reunited
One of the vital standard moments from final 12 months’s Olympics was when longtime pals Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy each gained gold medals after one of many best excessive bounce competitions in Olympic historical past. That is the primary time they’ve competed collectively since, which is a pleasant probability for them to reunite…and in addition a rattling good competitors, since no different occasion in Doha options two reigning Olympic champions. Throw in World Indoor champ Sanghyeok Woo of South Korea and US champ JuVaughn Harrison in his Diamond League debut and that is fairly a area.
5. Males’s 400 hurdles (12:35 p.m. ET): Benjamin vs. dos Santos vs. Samba
No, it’s not Rai Benjamin vs. Karsten Warholm (it’s turning into clear that we’re solely going to get that matchup yearly shifting ahead — perhaps twice if each really feel like working the DL last). However it’s nonetheless fairly rattling good. Between Benjamin (#2, 46.17), Alison dos Santos (#3, 46.72), Abderrahman Samba (#5, 46.98), and Kyron McMaster (#8, 47.08), this area options half of the eight quickest males ever to stroll the Earth. The 400 hurdles can be a stacked occasion proper now even when Warholm and Benjamin didn’t exist.
What I’m enthusiastic about seeing is whether or not dos Santos can flip the Massive Two right into a Massive Three. At simply 21, he’s virtually three full years youthful than Benjamin and his 46.72 pb is quicker than each Warholm (48.22) and Benjamin (47.02) on the identical age. Dos Santos has by no means crushed Benjamin, and in Tokyo, he was .55 behind him. Can he shut the hole in Doha?
4. Males’s 1500 (1:23 p.m. ET): Is Timothy Cheruiyot nonetheless the person?
Few athletes dominated a Diamond League self-discipline as totally as Timothy Cheruiyot has dominated the 1500/mile since 2018. The 26-year-old Kenyan has gained 17 of his 19 DL races in these occasions during the last 4 years, together with 5 straight Diamond League finals. It’s El Guerroujian stuff.
Final 12 months, nonetheless, a challenger lastly emerged as Jakob Ingebrigtsen, after dropping his first 12 matchups with Cheruiyot, beat him twice in a month, first on the Olympics in Tokyo after which, convincingly, on the Prefontaine Basic in Eugene. A altering of the guard? Not so quick. Cheruiyot battled again and held off Ingebrigtsen to win a traditional of their last matchup of 2021, the DL final in Zurich.
Ingebrigtsen isn’t entered in Doha, however Cheruiyot is, together with a bunch of proficient guys. Charles Simotwo, Abel Kipsang, and 19-year-old Kamar Etiang, the three males who beat Cheruiyot eventually 12 months’s Kenyan Olympic trials, are all working and Kipsang is in tremendous kind having simply run 3:31.01 at 5000+ ft in Nairobi on Saturday. Stewart McSweyn, a fixture on the entrance of Diamond League packs, can also be entered for his first race of the 12 months — a giant check for the Aussie who has been out of motion whereas battling the results of lengthy COVID. Indoor mile world document holder Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia is one other title to look at.
Cheruiyot and Kipsang have already raced one another this 12 months, with Kipsang destroying Cheruiyot over the ultimate 100 on the Kenyan championships on the finish of April (Cheruiyot wound up sixth within the race). That sounds unhealthy on paper, however there are some things to know. First, the meet wasn’t actually the Kenyan championships — it was simply the choice meet for the African Championships in June (the World Championship trials shall be held as a separate meet). As well as, fabled coach Renato Canova, who’s acquainted with the Kenyan system, weighed in on the LetsRun messageboard saying he didn’t imagine Cheruiyot was attempting over the ultimate 100 as he had little interest in making the African Champs crew.
Contemplating Kipsang is likely one of the world’s high milers (4th on the Olympics, third at World Indoors), he might not have wanted Cheruiyot to again off to earn the victory. However we’ll know for positive who’s fitter proper now after Friday’s race as there’s no approach Cheruiyot would pack it in in a Diamond League occasion.
MB: Tim Cheruiyot 6th Among Massive Upsets at Kenyan Athletics Championships
3. Girls’s 3000 (12:17 p.m. ET): Kipyegon vs Niyonsaba ought to be a deal with
When Francine Niyonsaba determined to deal with longer distance races for the 2021 season, nobody knew how it might end up. Caster Semenya — one other intersex athlete who, like Niyonsaba, selected to not decrease their testosterone ranges and subsequently can not compete within the ladies’s 800 meters — made the identical determination and was greater than 20 seconds away from qualifying within the 5000 meters.
Niyonsaba didn’t simply qualify for Tokyo; she completed fifth within the 10k (and was on observe to complete equally excessive within the 5k before a BS DQ). After the Olympics, Niyonsaba was even higher: she gained 4 Diamond Leagues (clocking 8:19 for 3k and 14:25 for 5k alongside the best way) and ended her season with a 2000m world document in Zagreb of 5:21.
The query now’s how good Niyonsaba can change into as a distance runner. If she was capable of make such large enhancements in her first 12 months racing the longer occasions, what can she do now that she’s had a complete offseason to construct her power? And if she continues to dominate, how lengthy till World Athletics tries to broaden the restricted occasions for DSD athletes past the mile? (WA faces an identical query with Christine Mboma within the sprints).
Niyonsaba will get a severe check in Doha. Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet (winner right here in 8:27 final 12 months) and steeple world document holder Beatrice Chepkoech (8:22 flat pb) might pose a problem, however the headliner is Religion Kipyegon, double Olympic 1500 champion and the best feminine miler in historical past. Just lately, Kipyegon has been extra enthusiastic about stepping down in distance than up as she’s solely run one 3k in her life, approach again in 2014. However that 3k was additionally actually quick — 8:23 — and Kipyegon ran that when she was 20 years previous at a time when her 1500 pb was 3:56.98 (it’s now 3:51.07) and earlier than she had gained a single world medal. If she’s near her 2021 form, she ought to be capable to run nicely beneath 8:20 on Friday — which is what it might take to defeat Niyonsaba.
2. Males’s 800 (12:49 p.m. ET): Donavan Brazier runs his first 800 for the reason that Olympic Trials
Photograph by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Photos for IAAF
2021 was alleged to be Donavan Brazier‘s 12 months. After successful Diamond League and world titles in 2019 and going undefeated in 2020, Brazier entered 2021 because the Olympic 800 favourite. However Brazier struggled to run via a leg harm early within the marketing campaign and wound up fracturing his tibia on the Olympic Trials, fading from second to lifeless final over the ultimate 200 in his first 800m defeat in over two years. In his absence, the boys’s 800 was a little bit of a large number globally till Emmanuel Korir took over, successful Olympic and Diamond League titles.
Brazier didn’t run an 800 indoors this 12 months, however he ran nicely sufficient within the 400 to make the US World Indoor crew in that occasion. Extra importantly, he was wholesome and mentioned he felt the most effective he has in coaching for the reason that center of 2020 — again when he was nonetheless the World #1. Although Korir is absent, the race in Doha (town of Brazier’s world title, however a special stadium) will function a baptism by fireplace as the sector is robust: Marco Arop and Wyclife Kinyamal (two DL wins every in ’21), Ferguson Rotich (Olympic silver), Peter Bol (Olympic 4th), and new Kenyan wunderkind Noah Kibet (silver at World Indoors) will all line up. If Brazier is a reduce above the remainder of the world, as he was in 2019, we’ll understand it. And if he nonetheless has work to do, we’ll know that too. Both approach, we’ll have a measure of the place Brazier is at.
1. Males’s 200 (1:12 p.m. ET): De Grasse vs Kerley vs Lyles
So the caveat right here is that none of this will matter if Erriyon Knighton improves in any respect from his 19.49 opener in April. However even when Knighton completely owns the 200 meters by July, that is nonetheless an unimaginable matchup. You’ve received the Olympic champ Andre De Grasse, the world champ Noah Lyles, and Fred Kerley, who impressively ran down Michael Norman with a 19.80 victory at Mt. SAC in his final 200 4 weeks in the past. That’s an entire lot of sprinting star energy.
I’ll be watching Lyles closest of all. The 24-year-old struggled for lots of 2021, however the previous Lyles got here out in his last meet on the Pre Basic, the place he blasted a 19.52. After a few 60-meter pbs indoors, Lyles opened up with a low-key 19.86 in his first 200 of the 12 months in Clermont on Could 1. How a lot quicker can he go in Doha?
All of those guys can have seen what Knighton did at LSU. That is their probability to reply.
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