We've reached our last "regular season" meet before the Diamond League finals. To put it another way, this was the last chance of the 14 meets this season to qualify for the finals.
At the beginning of this year, we mentioned that there is a points system that is very similar to an invitational meet scoring. Essentially, the entire season is invitational meets that lead to a final invitational meet. The winner gets 8 points and then you subtract a point for place behind until eighth place gets 1 point. All of the accumulated regular season points determine who makes the Diamond League final. To qualify for the final, you have to make the top six in the field events, top eight for 100m-800m and the top ten for 1500m and long distance events (read: 3000m steeplechase and 5000m). The meet is also allowed to invite 4 global wildcards (2 men, 2 women) and a national wildcard. You can read about it here.
If you just skimmed all of that, the gist is that this meet was the last opportunity to get the points needed to get the rankings needed to make the final. This one was broken up into 2 days with most of the action happening on day 2, August 27th. You can watch all of day 2 here on YouTube or catch both days of the Diamond League Finals in Brussels here on FloTrack.
Let's get into some of the big events that happened in Zurich.
Men's 400m Hurdles
Big Names in the Race:
Dany Brand (SUI) - PB: 48.96
Alison dos Santos (BRA) - PB: 46.29
Matic Ian Guček (SLO) - PB: 48.03
Matheus Lima (BRA) - PB: 47.26
Ezekiel Nathaniel (NGR) - PB: 47.11
Chris Robinson (USA) - PB: 47.61
Abderrahman Samba (QAT) - PB: 46.98
Karsten Warholm (NOR) - PB: 45.94
What's Happening: Alison dos Santos gets out very hard and soundly defeats rival Karsten Warholm by over a second, setting a new world record of 45.80. The old world record of 45.96 was held by Warholm.
Callout: This is easily one of the performance of the meet and this likely caught everyone by surprise. dos Santos did not announce that he was going for the world record. He simply just got out like a mad man. In particular, it is worth noting how fast he makes up the stagger between 100 and 200m into the race.
dos Santos, Warholm, and Rai Benjamin make up the Big Three of this event. They have elevated this event to a new level, with regular performances under 47 seconds. It will be interesting to see how Benjamin responds to this world record!
Men's 1500m
Big Names in the Race:
Timothy Cheruiyot (KEN) - PB: 3:28.28
Vincent Ciattei (USA) - PB: 3:30.90
Anass Essayi (MAR) - PB: 3:30.17
Robert Farken (GER) - PB: 3:30.09
Azeddine Habz (FRA) - PB: 3:27.49
Jake Heyward (GBR) - PB: 3:31.08
Cole Hocker (USA) - PB: 3:27.65
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) - PB: 3:26.73
Hobbs Kessler (USA) - PB: 3:29.45
Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech (KEN) - PB: 3:27.72
Isaac Nader (POR) - PB: 3:29.37
Stefan Nillessen (NED) - PB: 3:29.23
Yared Nuguse (USA) - PB: 3:27.80
Samuel Pihlström (SWE) - PB: 3:30.87
Ethan Strand (USA) - PB: 3:30.25
What's Happening: First pacer takes them through 800 in around 1:52. Second pacer takes them through ~2:38. Yared Nuguse makes a move with around 300 to go. In the final straightaway, Cole Hocker pulls off his signature inside rail pass to win in a time of 3:31.71.
Callout: Somewhere in the distance is almost certainly a track coach yelling some variation of "RAIL! RAIL!" A competitor has to approach Cole Hocker the way you would approach a vampire: do not let him inside!! Easy for me to say that from the outside because the obvious instinct is to cover your ground from an attack on the outside when you are ahead. We see that Nuguse drifting out to cover Koech opens things up for Hocker. You can say a lot of good things about Hocker's speed and kick, but this race and his famous Olympic gold medal victory in Paris can be traced back to his patience for the right opportunity to strike. Will his victories be the closest that Americans get to high-speed rail?
One other callout is we see yet another case of the pacers not keeping up with the lights. The first pacer seem to keep contact, but the second one did not keep contact with the lights between 800 meters and 1100 meters.
Definitions: "Inside rail" refers to a physical barrier on the inner edge of lane one. You might also hear "hugging the rail," which means just staying as clear to the rail as possible to avoid running extra distance.
Women's 100m Hurdles
Big Names in the Race:
Tobi Amusan (NGR) - PB: 12.12
Alaysha Johnson (USA) - PB: 12.31
Annik Kälin (SUI) - PB: 12.60
Ditaji Kambundji (SUI) - PB: 12.24
Ackera Nugent (JAM) - PB: 12.24
Masai Russell (USA) - PB: 12.14
Pia Skrzyszowska (POL) - PB: 12.37
Nadine Visser (NED) - PB: 12.28
Danielle Williams (JAM) - PB: 12.31
What's Happening: Masai Russell gets out with an early lead and then gets challenged by Amusan. Russell responds and pulls away to set a new world record of 12.09.
Callout: This was the less shocking world record of the meet but no less impressive! This season, we've seen Russell change the nature of this race from a closer and unpredictable race to one where she consistently emerges on top. She is undefeated! On top of that, we've seen her get the American record this season and now she has the world record. Russell is now the Goliath of this event.
Let's also note Amusan's race in lane 3 as well. Amusan gave Russell a challenge right around the 6th and 7th hurdles that likely pushed Russell towards the world record.
Women's 800m
Big Names in the Race:
Sarah Billings (AUS) - PB: 1:57.01
Femke Broeders-Bol (NED) - PB: 1:55.41
Eloisa Coiro (ITA) - PB: 1:57.56
Jessica Hull (AUS) - PB: 1:57.15
Georgia Hunter Bell (GBR) - PB: 1:54.90
Audrey Werro (SUI) - PB: 1:53.80
What's Happening: The pacer takes the field through ~55.3 seconds and drops out at 500m. Broeders-Bol takes the lead and then Werro makes a hard (and somewhat physical) pass with 200 to go and sets a personal best and a new diamond league record of 1:53.71.
Callout: In Lausanne, we noted that the pacer went out faster than the wavelights and separated quite a bit from the field and how that likely hampered Werro's ability to run faster. In this one, we see a more controlled pacing job and the field is able to stay with the pacer. We also see a more confident Broeders-Bol up in the front! I believe that this is the first time we've had to see Werro pass Broeders-Bol. I question how necessary the contact was during the pass.
Werro continues to inch closer and closer towards the world record (1:53.28). She is remarkably consistent, which is often a good sign before a major breakthrough. That said, that world record must feel like an asymptote at the moment.
Definitions: The 800m world record is held by Jarmila Kratochvílová of Czechoslovakia set the world record with a time of 1:53.28. It is worth mentioning that this current world record is a controversial one due to suspicions of PED use. This is largely circumstantial since PED use was a widespread problem in Warsaw Pact countries in that era. (For the record, Kratochvílová has never failed a drug test).
What's Next
The next meet will be the Diamond League final! It will be held on September 4-5th. You can stream it on FloTrack and it will also be on Prime Video. If you want to follow along with more track and field observations or bad puns between now and then, you can follow me at @predamame on Twitter. See you then!