1st June 2013

Iaaf Diamond League Eugene Report

1 June 2013

There were 13 British athletes in action at the 39th Prefontaine Classic, the Eugene leg of the IAAF Diamond League.

Double Olympic champion Mo Farah (coach: Alberto Salazar) controlled the 5,000m for the majority of the race and held off the challenge of his opponents until just over 100m to go when Kenyan Edwin Soi, Olympic 5,000m bronze medallist from Beijing in 2008, kicked past him and sprinted away to cross the line first in 13:04.75 while Farah finished second with 13:05.88. In the same race, Chris Thompson (Mark Rowland) finished 20th with 14:02.38.

The previous evening, Greg Rutherford (Dan Pfaff) finished third in the long jump thanks to a season’s best jump of 8.22m in the sixth round. The Olympic champion jumped the same distance as second placed Mauro da Silva of Brazil while Russia’s European Indoor champion Aleksandr Menkov leaped to a personal best and world leading 8.39m to take victory.

Christine Ohuruogu (Lloyd Cowan), 2008 Olympic champion and 2012 silver medallist, finished fourth in the women’s 400m with a time of 51.31. Reigning World champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana, who also won at both the Doha and New York legs of the IAAF Diamond League, took the victory in a time of 50.01.

Olympic finalist Andrew Osagie (Craig Winrow) closed strongly in the home straight to finish fifth in a world-class 800m field with a time of 1:45.62. In the absence of world record holder and Olympic champion David Rudisha, Mohammed Aman took his chance and led from the front to win comfortably in a time of 1:44.42.

Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz (Fayyaz Ahmed) set a season’s best 2.26m, but it was only enough for sixth place in a top quality competition that saw Olympic champion Ivan Ukhov finish down in eighth. Mutaz Essa Barshim, who also won in Shanghai, set a new personal best, Asian record and IAAF Diamond League record with 2.40m to become the fourth highest jumper in history and take the win ahead of Erik Kynard and Derek Drouin, who both also beat the previous meeting record with clearances of 2.36m.

British record holder Steve Lewis (Dan Pfaff, Scott Simpson) cleared a best height of 5.51m in the pole vault to finish in sixth place. There were three Germans in the top four places however France’s Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie took first place as he shattered the world leading mark with 5.95m. London 2012 silver and bronze medallists Bjorn Otto and Raphael Holzdeppe finished third and fourth with 5.90m and 5.84m respectively.

In the women’s 800, Marilyn Okoro (Johnny Gray) ran a strong race and finished sixth with a season’s best of 2:00.70. Francine Nyonsaba set a meeting record and world leading time of 1:56.72.

Double European Indoor champion Perri Shakes-Drayton (Chris Zah) was seventh with 55.74 in the women’s 400m hurdles as Olympic bronze medallist Zuzana Hejnova of Russia took the win with a time of 53.70.

In the women’s 1500m, Hannah England (Bud Baldaro) finished in eighth place in her 2013 outdoor season debut with a time of 4:03.38, her third quickest time ever. Laura Weightman (Steve Cram) also ran her first 1500m of the season in Eugene as she placed 11th in 4:05.36. Kenyan Hellen Obiri was a runaway winner in a new meeting record 3:58.58.

Yamile Aldama (Frank Attoh) jumped 14.06m for eighth place in the women’s triple jump. Caterine Ibarguen of Columbia was the winner with 14.93m but second placed Olha Saladukha’s jump of 14.85m was a world leading mark due to an illegal +2.1m/s wind for Ibarguen’s jump.

Ross Murray (Craig Winrow) finished tenth place in the International Mile with a time of 4:16.05, the race was won by Kenyan James Magut in 3:55.24.