Urheilu’s expert Tuomas Raja reviews the most interesting events of the Diamond League final. The rules, which are different from the value races, allow for terrible results, which were also seen in the weekend’s finals.
The Diamond League final was contested over the weekend in Eugene, USA. Sports expert Tuomas Raja go through the background of the world record results of the final, the surprises of the final weekend and the starting points for the upcoming Olympic year.
The Diamond League saw two world records from superstars – Jakob Ingebrigtsen set a European record on the tough final day
Sweden’s 23-year-old pole vault star Armand Duplantis already scored his seventh ME result at a height of 623. The old outdoor track record (621) is from last summer, the indoor track record (622) is from February of the current year.
How high can Duplantis still improve its record?
– It depends entirely on how much he raises, and he will probably only raise a cent at a time. He would have something to jump even higher at the moment.
Why is the reigning world champion and Olympic champion increasing just a centimeter at a time?
– Yes, Duplantis is certainly also thinking about the financial dimensions, because he receives compensation for world records, so he wants to set world records often. He is a tough athlete, but his career is also relatively short, so the athlete wants to take advantage of the financial benefits.
What will be the highest crossing of the Swedish career?
– I believe that 630 kieppi is his maximum.
Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay ran 5,000 meters in 14:00,21 and improved By Faith Kipyegon ME time by almost five seconds. At the same time, more than 12 seconds were removed from Tsegay’s own record.
What does it take for your record and ME time to improve so much?
– He was already very convincing at the World Championships. Such a result requires hard races, good hares and good speeders. Although he came quite a long way in the end on his own. It’s a bit sad that Faith Kipyegon was not in the race. If Tsegay and Kipyegon had run together, less than 14 minutes would have been allowed.
Tough results were achieved in Eugene anyway. Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen ran 3,000 meters to set a new European record. Ingebrigtsen won the race with a time of 7:23.63 and Ethiopia Yomif Kejelcha lost to the Norwegian by only one hundredth.
What explains such an even and tough competition?
– Now it’s good to remember that Ingebrigtsen also ran the European mile record over the weekend. Then when all the toughest are really put together and there are speeders involved, then such results are produced. They are absolutely superior and wild men.
What other performances of the finals weekend are good to put on the table?
– I would say surprises and records Rai Benjamin’s 400m hurdles where he fell Karsten Warholm. At the shot put, they pushed far and Joe Kovacs showed he’s still a tough guy. The big surprise at the discus throwing place was that Matthew Denny came and defeated both Daniel Ståhl and Kristjan Čehin. In addition, the 800 meter races were great.
What decision was made for the athletics season?
– A really tough climax to this already great year of athletics. This makes for some very delicious settings as we move into next year, which is the year of the Olympic Games. All-round athletes are in high gear at the end of the season and will certainly be in high gear next summer at the Olympic Games in Paris.
What was left of the Diamond League season 2023?
Yes, there were a lot of high-level competitions, but this final competition rose above the others. In the diamond league, there are always hard results in endurance running, because it is a slightly different situation than in the value races, where there are no hares. The Olympic Games Results list is not directly from the Diamond League.