Reaction Time: Doha Diamond League

Let's get into some examples. 

Women's 400m:

Big Names in the Race

Marileidy Paulino - 1 x Olympic gold medalist, 1 x World championship gold medalist, 1x Olympic silver medalist, 2 x World championship silver medalist in the open 400m. 

Natalia Bukowiecka - 1 x Olympic bronze medalist, 1 x World championship silver medalist in the open 400m

What's Happening: Marileidy Paulino wins in a very decisive victory with a meeting record, a season's best, and world #2 time of 48.91.

Callout: This is a very strong run from Paulino. She is about a second off of her personal best and this is her second race of the season. Speed endurance is critical in the 400m and she seemed to be able to handle a hard first 250m without succumbing to major fatigue. You'll notice that she has completely made up the stagger by 250m and the race was over by 300m with a massive margin over Bukowiecka in second place. I'm not sure that you can throw the "too early" line at Paulino. Given that she also has plenty of experience succeeding late in a season, this is likely a great sign for her future. 

Definitions:  "Stagger" refers to a staggered start line. Since the outside lanes cover more distance due a larger radius, they shift the starting lines for each lane accordingly. "Meeting Record" is just the formal version of "meet record." It's the best performance in a specific event for a certain meet's history."Speed endurance" refers to the ability to hold max speed (or close to it) as long as possible. You're only physiologically able to hold your max speed for a handful of seconds. 

Men's 110m Hurdles:

Big Names in the Race:

Cordell Tinch - reigning world champion in the 110m hurdles

Jamal Britt - won the Shanghai and Xiamen Diamond League 100m hurdle events

What's Happening: Cordell Tinch wins with a time of 13.23 in a very messy 110m hurdles race, with a late emergence by the ninth hurdle. 

Callout: To be a bit blunt, this race was a mess. Winning a Diamond League event is a significant victory for Cordell Tinch, but this race was less about who ran the fastest and more about who slowed down the least from clipped hurdles. Almost every competitor clipped a hurdle at some point.  Note that Tinch emerges in the lead at the ninth hurdle after being in the middle of the mix for most of the race. Tinch is a reigning world champion, so a victory from him isn't unusual. However, his 13.23 is a little ways off of the season's bests from Trey Cunningham (12.98 in Rome) and Jamal Britt (12.99 at LA Grand Prix) and Ja'Kobe Sharp (12.75 at NCAA's). That said, Britt continues to look fatigued as this is the second time that he's run into issues clipping hurdles late into the race. Something to keep in mind is that it was very hot there (~100 degrees F at peak), so that's going to majorly impact coordination.

Definitions: "Reigning World Champion" refers to an athlete who won the last World Championship in an event.

Men's 3000m Steeplechase:

Big Names in the Race: 

Soufiane El Bakkali - 2x Olympic Champion, 2x World Champion, 1x World silver medalist in the 300m steeplechase 

What's Happening: Soufiane El Bakkali patiently moves from the middle of the pack to the front by 2000m. The pace slows down and the group bunches back up before El Bakkali drops the field hard with a big kick in the last lap to win in a time of 8:09.28.

Callout: We haven't covered the steeple yet. Let's touch on a few basic things first. There's 28 dry hurdles and 7 water jumps. It starts in the middle of the backstretch and finishes at the normal finish line. Hurdlers can hit the hurdle and it will give. Steeplers don't really have that luxury as barriers won't give. It demands coordination with a lot of risk. And remember, it was very hot there (~100 degrees F at peak), so that's going to majorly impact endurance and coordination. You'll notice that several guys drop out or injure themselves over the course of this race! 

This isn't quite a personal best (he's run 7:56.68), but it's a very strong run for him. It's worth noting how El Bakkali patiently responds to moves that are made rather than making any frantic moves. He also shows a lot of stability over the hurdles and barriers. 

Overall Thoughts at Halftime

So, that meet was a little messy (what sport isn't?), but for an off-year, it's been a good one so far. For context, there is neither a world championship nor an Olympics, but there is a secret, third thing (World Athletics Ultimate Championship). 

If that sounds confusing or it sounds like I just confused ultimate frisbee with track and field, you're not alone - a lot of fans were confused by this. The gist is that the governing body of track and field, World Athletics, is debuting a new format of meet for the end of the season with only 16 athletes per track event, 8 athletes per field event, and 8 teams per relay event. They'll extend invitations based on recent World or Olympic gold medals or high positioning in the World Athletics Rankings with the goal of a streamlined, high quality meet. 

Given all of that, here are some events and meets I'm looking forward to in the second half of the season. I'm looking forward to seeing the Ultimate Championships I just mentioned, which goes from September 11-13. I'm also looking forward to the next 8 Diamond League meets. One that I am looking forward to in particular is the Prefontaine Classic, which will have (but not limited to) stacked lineups for the men's and women's miles and the women's 100m in particular.

As the season goes on, we have a few events that are getting increasingly competitive. The men's 800m should also be quite the battle as 17-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus has emerged as the dominant figure in a deep field that includes Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi. Even then, he's not the only young up-and-comer as Niels Laros seems to be rounding form. 

My favorite event to track continues to be the women's 100m hurdles, but it remains unclear who will be victorious in any given moment. 

And then there's the path to the coveted "fastest man/woman in the world" titles.  The women's 100 and 200, Shericka Jackson and Julien Alfred have had tremendous starts to the season and let's keep an eye on how they hold their forms against the likes of Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Sha'Carri Richardson. Sha'Carri in particular jumped back into form from 10.99 to 10.77 in the span of a few days. Noah Lyles hasn't lost yet and has already set a world record so far this season (albeit in a 150m), but there have also been amazing 200m performances from Kenny Bednarek and Gout Gout and Sinesipho Dambile already. Could Letsile Tebogo emerge late as a contender? 

So, this year lacks the usual high stakes, but we're still getting some good matchups, very fast times, and a new type of meet.

Complete results can be found below.