by Perri Williams
It was back to Rome again tonight for the 13th leg of this year’s Diamond League - the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala. Tonight was the final opportunity for many athletes to gain a place in the Wanda Diamond League Final. Winfred Yavi and Ackera Nugent both set world leads while Faith Kipyegon and Nina Kennedy qualified for the final to be held in Brussles on Sept 13-14.
The 1,500m was billed as one of the top races of the evening with Faith Kipyegon one of the athletes hoping to achieve one of those final qualification spots. There were no records for Kipyegon this time around, but she had an amazing final 100m as she was a class apart finishing two seconds ahead of a much improved Hailu of Ethiopia in 3.52, booking her place in the final. Sarah Healy finished 7th in 3:58.46 moving up four places over the final 400m. Healy has shown some consistent running over the past few months on the back of her 3:57.46 personal best that she set in the Diamond League in Paris on July 7th.
Tonight was not the best night for Candor Track Clubs Nick Griggs as he had a DNF in a red hot 5000m. It was a clean sweep for the Ethiopians as Gebrhiwet had a narrow victory from Kejelcha with Barega in third place. Ethiopia reverberated their force in distance running as they took five of the top six positions.
The first Diamond League event of the evening was the men’s shot putt where American Ryan Crouser had a meet record with a massive throw of 22.49m. The ladies steeplechase was one of the most thrilling races as Olympic Champion Winfred Yavi (Bahrain) clocked 8:44.39, coming within 0.07 seconds of Beatrice Chepkoech's world record.
The final race of the night was the men’s 100m where Christian Coleman (USA) was out to prove his sprinting presence. Coleman the world indoor 60m champion finished 4th in the US Olympic trials and missed out on a place on the US team for the 100m. In the press conference yesterday Tebogo, the Olympic champion over 200m was still insisting that he was not the face of sprinting and credited both Coleman and Kerley with the ability to win in Rome. The humble Batswana athlete cruised through the 100m with such ease, he even had time to look around him, in the final stages of the race. If the consistency of victories is any measure, that face of sprinting might be edging its way towards him.
The next stop is Zurich on September 5th.