Browsing: Doha

The Olympic season really started to warm up in Doha on Friday (28) as a series of world-leading performances and meeting record were achieved at the Wanda Diamond League event in Qatar’s capital.

Kenya’s Norah Jeruto won a thrilling women’s 3000m steeplechase with the quickest time in the world so far this year, while the USA’s 400m hurdles star Rai Benjamin was among the meeting record-breakers. The women’s pole vault again saw great depth, with six athletes clearing 4.74m or higher for just the second time in history – the first having also been in Doha at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.

Benjamin was among the 31 athletes returning to the city in which they had secured medal-winning success at that global event. This time the world 400m hurdles silver medallist and 4x400m champion held off the fast-starting Alison dos Santos for a 47.38 win, improving the meeting record of 47.57 which had been set by Abderrahman Samba in 2018.

Dos Santos, the world U20 bronze medallist in 2018, was rewarded with another Brazilian record as he built on the 47.68 he ran at the USATF Golden Games with time of 47.57 in second. Commonwealth champion Kyron McMaster was third in 47.82 as Qatar’s Samba, racing the 400m hurdles for the first time since claiming world bronze on home soil, finished fourth in 48.26.

There were spills as well as thrills in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, with Jeruto keeping her composure after a very fast start to gain a dominant victory, while her compatriot Hyvin Kiyeng, the 2015 world champion, suffered a fall at the final water jump.

As Jeruto claimed a clear win in 9:00.67, Mekides Abebe had a breakthrough in second place – the 20-year-old clocking 9:02.52 to set an Ethiopian record. Just behind her was Bahrain’s Winfred Mutile Yavi, who also improved her best with 9:02.64, and Kiyeng got back to her feet to finish fourth in 9:07.58, one place ahead of the USA’s 2017 world champion Emma Coburn.

“I feel very good,” said Jeruto, who next plans to race in Oslo. “I was very well prepared for today.”

Cheruiyot and Kipyegon impress

Jeruto’s fellow Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot was also largely untroubled on his way to a world-leading 1500m, claiming another win in Doha after his world title victory in 2019. This time he clocked 3:30.48 on his season debut, passing Ethiopia’s world indoor champion Samuel Tefera – who had led through the bell in 2:34 – on the back straight. Glancing over his shoulder, the Kenyan strode away to finish clear ahead of Australian record-holder Stewart McSweyn (3:31.57) and Morocco’s two-time world steeplechase medallist Soufiane El Bakkali (3:31.95), who passed a tiring Tefra in the closing stages.

Commonwealth champion Wycliffe Kinyamal became the first athlete to dip under 1:44 for 800m this season, the Kenyan clocking 1:43.91 ahead of world bronze medallist Ferguson Rotich (1:44.45) and Britain’s Daniel Rowden (1:44.60).

After a tactical start to the women’s 800m, Kenya’s Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon saved her energy for a fast final 200m, kicking away from Jamaica’s Natoya Goule and Morocco’s Rababe Arafi to dominate in 1:58.26. Goule had been to the fore as the group decided not to go with the pacemaker. Making their move on the second lap, Kipyegon and Arafi surged ahead but Goule came through for second in 1:59.70 as Arafi was third in 1:59.83.

“I’m very excited to be here,” said Kipyegon, racing for the first time this year and back in the city where she set her 800m, 1500m and 3000m PBs as well as claimed world 1500m silver. “The pandemic wasn’t easy, but we always try to be great. I’m training so hard and hoping to do my best.”

Kenya’s 21-year-old Beatrice Chebet was another to have the track race of her life in Doha, with the world U20 cross country champion running a big PB of 8:27.49 to set a 3000m world lead and beat her more experienced compatriots. Margaret Kipkemboi, the world 5000m silver medallist, was second in 8:28.27 while Lilian Renguruk was third in 8:28.96 and two-time world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri fourth in 8:33.98.

Nageotte soars to success

A high-quality affair was expected in the women’s pole vault, with the top eight finishers from the 2019 World Championships all returning to Doha, and the competition didn’t disappoint. Both the USA’s Katie Nageotte, who finished seventh in that global final, and Sandi Morris, the silver medallist on that occasion, matched the meeting record of 4.84m. Another four athletes ­­– Holly Bradshaw, Katerina Stefanidi, Tina Sutej and Iryna Zhuk – achieved 4.74m, with Nageotte winning on countback.

“You can expect anything in the pole vault, but I was ready to come and jump,” said Nageotte, who had cleared a world-leading PB of 4.93m five days earlier in Georgia.

All eyes were also on the women’s triple jump, with Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas back in action after her 15.43m leap at the World Athletics Continental Tour meeting in Andujar. She followed that mark – which was just seven centimetres off the world record – by opening her competition in Doha with 15.15m (2.0m/s) in the first round. That easily secured her place for the final round top-three shoot-out, and with that attempt she recorded 15.11m to win the competition ahead of Jamaica’s Kimberly Williams and Shanieka Ricketts.

Earlier in the event, Ricketts had come so close to the 15-metre mark, leaping a PB of 14.98m in round five, but her final attempt was a foul. For Williams, 14.45m from that last leap secured her second place, after a PB of 14.69m, also from the fifth round.

The women’s discus and men’s shot put were aslo decided by the top-three final round contest, with Cuba’s world champion Yaime Perez throwing 61.35m to win after 63.75m in an earlier round and the USA’s Valarie Allman throwing furthest overall with 65.57m, later securing her second place finish with a 58.58m throw. Armin Sinancevic equalled his recently-set Serbian record of 21.88m in the fifth round of the shot put competition and went on to place third behind New Zealand’s 2017 world champion Tom Walsh and Croatia’s Filip Mihaljevic, who threw 21.63m and 20.89m respectively in that last round as Sinancevic recorded a foul.

Home favourite Mutaz Barshim had been hoping to mark a decade of Diamond League competition with another win, back competing on home soil where he claimed his second world title in 2019. But while his best on the evening was 2.30m, Ilya Ivanyuk went on to soar clear at 2.33m. With the win secured, he had one attempt at 2.36m before calling it a day.

Fraser-Pryce and Bednarek shine in sprints

The women’s 100m at the Diamond League season opener in Gateshead five days earlier had seen Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce battle the rain and wind as well as her rivals to finish fourth, but in Doha she secured success, clocking 10.84 (1.1m/s) to win ahead of Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare (10.90) and the USA’s Javianne Oliver (11.03).

A close men’s 200m clash was won by the USA’s Kenny Bednarek as he pipped Canada’s Andre De Grasse 19.88 to 19.89 (0.4m/s). With identical PBs of 19.80, the pair were fairly evenly matched as they came off the bend but Bednarek had the strength to edge ahead. De Grasse wasn’t done and surged again, eventually missing out by just 0.01.

There was another fine 400m run by Michael Norman as the 23-year-old – world leader in both 2019 and 2018 – continued his winning streak this year with a world-leading 44.27 ahead of Colombia’s Anthony Zambrano (44.57). Fresh from a 100m PB of 9.91, Fred Kerley returned to his specialist distance and finished third in 44.60, while 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James was fourth in 44.61 as he returned to Diamond League action for the first time since 2018.

Qatari record-holder Femi Ogunode won the non-Diamond League 100m in 10.00 (0.9m/s).

Jess Whittington for World Athletics

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While the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha on Friday (28) is an important step for many athletes on the road to the Olympic Games in Tokyo, for Mutaz Barshim it also represents a key milestone in his career.

It is a decade since the Qatari high jump star made his Diamond League debut on home soil, clearing 2.31m as a 19-year-old. Since then he has increased his best to 2.43m, just 2cm off Javier Sotomayor’s world record, and among his many medals are two world outdoor titles, as he returned after injury to claim his second in Doha in 2019.

“In 2011 it was my debut here in Doha – that was my first Diamond League,” explained Barshim at the pre-event press conference.

“I remember when we started, I wasn’t that good in my technical performance. My coach said ‘you have to change that if you want to jump at a high level for 10 years’. In order to perform, you need to put in the work, and if you can’t put in the work, it’s not going to happen. If you have managed to stay healthy, anything is possible.”

Asked whether 2.45m might be possible, he replied: “I think 2.47m is possible, if you manage to stay healthy.

“I want to be remembered,” he added. “I want to make sure that you can never mention high jump without mentioning my name. I want to set an example. I know there are a lot of kids out there who have the same passion and dreams.”

Legacy was a hot topic at the press conference on Thursday, and among the athletes returning to Doha for the first time since the 2019 World Athletics Championships was the USA’s Rai Benjamin, who claimed 400m hurdles silver and 4x400m gold in Qatar’s capital.

“I would like to be the greatest 400m hurdler ever,” said the 23-year-old, who sits third on the world all-time list with his 46.98 PB. “It’s a big ask and it’s going to take a lot over the next couple of years, but I’m just getting started. I definitely want to be remembered, not just in my event but in other events too. I want to be the most versatile track and field athlete anyone has ever seen.”

When it comes to versatility, Benjamin added that he hopes to double up at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. “We’ll see what happens and if I decide to run the 200m or the 400m (as well as the 400m hurdles),” he said. “Whatever works best on the schedule, I definitely want to take a shot at it.”

His 2019 silver was claimed ahead of Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba, whose PB also stands at 46.98. The pair will go head-to-head on Friday, and looking ahead to the rematch, Benjamin added: “I know what type of shape I am in and what I’m capable of doing this weekend but in track you have to have a short memory. In 2019 Samba wasn’t healthy, I wasn’t healthy – it was just a matter of getting that confidence and having the support to show up to the final and actually run. We weren’t in the best of shape and every time we have raced each other we have run really well, so we’ll see what happens. I know it’s a big race and everyone is excited but I just pray that we finish healthy, we run fast and set our sights on Tokyo.”

For Samba, who will be contesting the 400m hurdles for the first time since that world final, all eyes are also on the Olympics. “Friday will be a great start for me to push for my ambition in Tokyo,” he said. “I am focused on Tokyo and will keep an eye on the podium.”

Fraser-Pryce seeks sub-10.70

Despite everything Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has already achieved, the nine-time world gold medallist remains driven by her hunt for faster times. After battling the wind and rain to finish fourth at the first Diamond League meeting of the season in Gateshead, the Jamaican sprint great will be hoping to make the most of the more favourable Doha conditions to work towards her aim of a sub-10.70 100m and a medal in Tokyo.

“Now being 34, I am intentional about my goals and one of those intentions is definitely to run below 10.70,” she said. “Hopefully I can put some solid races together this season and get that done.

“The harder the competitions are, the better I am at performing. I like a challenge, I like it when the competition is hard. When you’re at a Diamond League you know the field is going to be good and it’s going to be solid.”

But times and medals are not her only motivation.

“I’m passionate about community,” she added. “When I was growing up I didn’t have a lot of role models so I am passionate about going into my community and providing hope and inspiration to the young girls and boys.”

Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot expressed a similar wish, as he sat alongside Fraser-Pryce ahead of making his season opener in the 1500m.

“My passion is to nurture young athletes in my community so that people at home can remember me,” he said. “I hope I will open clubs so young athletes can train there.”

After his world 1500m title win in 2019, he raced the 800m in Doha last September, and added: “To be back here is very important to me

“The 1500m is very competitive worldwide. I need to work hard and focus on the Olympics because now I am in good form.”

The women’s pole vault is also set to be highly competitive and Friday’s competition will see the three 2019 world medallists – champion Anzhelika Sidorova, runner-up Sandi Morris and bronze medallist Katerina Stefanidi – clash once again.

“I’m excited because this is the first time we are all seeing each other again in person and it just so happens to be back here in Doha where we last met,” said the USA’s world indoor champion Morris. “I have no doubt that we are going to bring out the best in one another.”

Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Photos by Dan Vernon

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Thirty-one athletes who earned medals at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 – including 11 champions – will return to the Qatari capital on Friday (28) for the second Wanda Diamond League meeting of 2021.

Every scoring discipline on the programme includes at least one world medallist, while three of the disciplines – the women’s triple jump, pole vault and discus – boast the full complement of podium finishers from the 2019 World Championships.

All eyes will be on the triple jump after world champion Yulimar Rojas bounded out to a world-leading 15.43m at the World Athletics Continental Tour meeting in Andujar last week. Her leap is the same distance as her world indoor record and just seven centimetres – which, if you’re reading this on a smartphone, is roughly the width of your device – away from the long-standing world record.

The last time Rojas was in Doha, she won the world title with 15.37m. The Venezuelan will be reunited with the top five finishers from that occasion, including Olympic champion Caterine Ibarguen, world silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts, Commonwealth champion Kimberly Williams, and 2011 world champion Olga Saladukha. USA’s Keturah Orji and Dominica’s Thea LaFond, both of whom have set national records this year, are also in the line-up.

The women’s pole vault is of a similarly high standard and is essentially a replay of the 2019 World Championships, featuring the top eight finishers from that competition.

World champion Anzhelika Sidorova returns to Diamond League action for the first time in almost two years. She vaulted 4.90m during the indoor season but hasn’t competed since then.

World indoor champion Sandi Morris and 2019 Diamond League winner Katerina Stefanidi – both with season’s bests of 4.80m – are also slated to compete, but Katie Nageotte may start as the slight favourite. The US vaulter recently cleared a world-leading PB of 4.93m, moving her up one place to equal fifth on the world all-time list.

All three world medallists in the women’s discus – Yaime Perez, Denia Caballero and Sandra Perkovic – will be in action on Friday. The presence of USA’s Valarie Allman means the line-up contains three women with 70-metre-plus PBs.

Fraser-Pryce aiming for sub-11 territory

On her 100m season debut at the Wanda Diamond League opener in Gateshead, world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was hampered by the harsh wet and windy conditions, clocking 11.51.

Conditions in Doha will be be far more conducive to fast times, so the Jamaican star is more likely to be closer to the Qatari all-comers’ mark of 10.71 she set when winning the 2019 world title than her performance in Gateshead last week.

World bronze medallist Marie Josee Ta Lou, Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare, World Indoor Tour winner Javianne Oliver, European indoor champion Ajla del Ponte and USA’s Hannah Cunliffe add further depth and quality to the field.

The men’s 400m hurdles has been one of the hottest disciplines on the Wanda Diamond League circuit in recent years, and it makes its 2021 debut in Doha with world silver medallist Rai Benjamin lining up against world bronze medallist Abderrahman Samba – half the members of the event’s sub-47-second club.

Benjamin looked extremely comfortable when racing to a world-leading 47.13 at the Continental Tour Gold meeting at Mt SAC earlier this month. Samba hasn’t contested a hurdles race since the 2019 World Championships final, but a 45.43 clocking on the flat in South Africa two months ago shows the Qatari hurdler is in good form.

Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands and Alison Dos Santos of Brazil, who recorded national records of 47.50 and 47.68 respectively when finishing behind Benjamin at Mt SAC, are also in the line-up.

Two of the greatest all-round sprinters in history will clash at their specialist distance when Michael Norman takes on Fred Kerley over 400m.

Norman, the world leader in 2019 and 2018, is undefeated at 400m this year. World bronze medallist Kerley, meanwhile, has impressed at a range of distances, clocking a 100m PB of 9.91 and an indoor 400m best of 45.03.

The US duo’s head-to-head record currently stands at 3-3. Norman won two of their three clashes in 2019, but Kerley took the US title ahead of Norman that year with both men dipping inside 44 seconds.

It may not be just a two-man contest, either. 2011 world and 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James, fresh from impressive runs in Phoenix and Ostrava over the past five weeks, will make his first Wanda Diamond League appearance since 2018. World silver medallist Anthony Zambrano, meanwhile, will make his Wanda Diamond League debut.

Kenny Bednarek’s streak of sub-20-second 200m performances came to an end in Gateshead. The US sprinter had posted times of 19.65 (wind-assisted), 19.94 and 19.93 in his first three races of the year, but in the harsh conditions at last weekend’s Wanda Diamond League opener Bednarek managed 20.33 (-3.0m/s). Nevertheless, the manner of his victory there – finishing almost half a second ahead of a world-class field – was a clear statement of the 22-year-old’s form.

In Doha Bednarek will take on the likes of 2017 world champion Ramil Guliyev, world and Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse, 2014 European champion Adam Gemili and USA’s Justin Gatlin.

Obiri and Cheruiyot target triumphant return

Kenyan distance duo Timothy Cheruiyot and Hellen Obiri struck gold in Doha two years ago and will be aiming to come out on top again this weekend.

Obiri will contest the 3000m, the event she won at last year’s Doha Diamond League meeting, and she’ll be up against world 5000m silver medallist Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi and 2017 world cross-country bronze medallist Lilian Rengeruk. All three Kenyan women have set their 3000m PBs in Doha.

While Cheruiyot has dominated the 1500m on the Wanda Diamond League circuit in recent years, he has yet to win at the Doha meeting. He hopes to rectify that on Friday, though, when he takes on the lines of Australian record-holder Stewart McSweyn, world indoor champion Samuel Tefera, Ugandan record-holder Ronald Musagala and world indoor 3000m bronze medallist Bethwell Birgen.

The women’s steeplechase features four of the top five finishers from the World Championships, led by Emma Coburn and Kenya’s Hyvin Kiyeng, the 2017 and 2015 world champions respectively.

World bronze medallist Gesa Felicitas Krause, Asian champion Winfred Yavi, Ugandan record-holder Peruth Chemutai and sub-nine-minute performer Norah Jeruto are also in the line-up.

World silver medallist Amel Tuka and world bronze medallist Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich will square off in the men’s 800m. Britain’s Daniel Rowden, who made a break-through last year with some notable international victories, will make his 2021 debut.

Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon steps down in distance to contest the 800m in Doha, where she’ll face European indoor champion Keely Hodgkinson, Uganda’s Winnie Nanyondo and Jamaican record-holder Natoya Goule.

Barshim and Drouin resume duel

For the first time in almost four years, world champion Mutaz Barshim will compete against Olympic champion Derek Drouin in the high jump.

The duo racked up a stack of medals and Diamond League wins between 2012 and 2017, both joining the exclusive 2.40m club in the process, but their careers were hampered by injuries in recent years.

Barshim returned in 2019, winning the world title in sensational style on home soil, while Drouin has been out of action since 2017 and is only just returning to top-flight competition, having cleared 2.24m at a low-key meeting last week.

World bronze medallist Ilya Ivanyuk, who cleared a world-leading 2.37m last weekend, also competes, as does European indoor champion Maksim Nedasekau and 2018 Diamond League winner Brandon Starc.

In the men’s shot put, meanwhile, two-time world indoor champion Tom Walsh takes on Serbian record-holder Armin Sinancevic, Croatia’s Filip Mihaljevic and Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki.

Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

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