2013 Stockholm Diamond League Distance Preview: The World’s Bests Including Moscow Champs Sum, Kiprop, Kemboi, and Defar Take on The DN Galan Meet

by: LetsRun.com
August 21, 2013

The athletes have barely had time to unpack their bags from Moscow, but they jump right back into action with the Diamond League at the DN Galan meet Thursday in Stockholm.

There is some great non-distance action as quite a few events including the women’s high jump, men’s 110m hurdles, and men’s 400m have all the Moscow medallists competing against one another.

We’re all about the distance races at LRC and we break them down below in  likely order of interest to LRC visitors.

Women’s 800m: Moscow 1-3-4-5-6 (And All the Americans) Take on Abeba Aregawi

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This one should be a great one. All of the top 6 from the World Championships except for silver medallist Mariya Savinova are here. That means the Americans are all here, bronze medallist!, Brenda Martinez, fourth place finisher, Alysia Montano, and American junior record holder Ajee Wilson.

All three Americans ran well in Moscow. Martinez got the bronze, Ajee Wilson left with the American junior record, and Alysia Montano left with a ton of heartbreak after going for gold and coming up oh so short of bronze. We’re going to talk more about the Moscow women’s 800m final next week, but Montan,o despite totally faltering the final 50 meters, still would have left with a medal if she had just stayed in lane 1. (Photo below).

We’re curious to see how all three do here. In Moscow, Martinez talked about eventually running “1:55 and 3:55” so we’d like to see here really go after it in a fast race. How does Montano respond to the emotional crusher of Moscow? And can Wilson back up the huge 1:58.21 pr of Moscow?

Eunice Sum was the surprise winner in Moscow and gets the favorite tag here because of her win. She was viewed as a 1500m runner until Moscow and now she’s the world 800m champion.

Someone who also is a 1500m runner is World 1500m champion Abeba Aregawi who is a Swedish citizen and will be running before a supportive crowd. Aregawi’s PR is a modest 1:59.2 but we expect her to bring that down here, but not win.

Another runner to watch is 1:57.64 runner Malika Akkaoui who won her prelim in Moscow but was only 8th in her semi. Was that some sort of short term hiccup?

Should be a great one with a lot of interesting US subplots.

*Relive all the Moscow 800m News Here

Alysia Montano Led Onto the Homestretch in Moscow But Ended up Face First Between Lane 2-3
ATHLETE DATE OF BIRTH NATION PB SB
25.12.1987
MAR
1:57.64
1:57.64
05.07.1990
SWE
1:59.20
1:59.20
13.01.1996
ISL
2:00.49
2:00.49
02.02.1986
RUS
1:59.21
1:59.21
08.09.1987
USA
1:57.91
1:57.91
23.04.1986
USA
1:57.34
1:57.75
23.09.1984
GBR
1:58.45
1:59.43
01.03.1991
RUS
1:57.53
1:58.05
10.04.1988
KEN
1:57.38
1:57.38
08.05.1994
USA
1:58.21
1:58.21

Men’s 1500m: Asbel Kiprop vs Silas Kiplagat vs Ayanleh Souleiman and Leo Manzano
Asbel Kiprop’s clearly the world’s best 1500m runner. He’s not only got the fastest time of the year in the world, but he won the World Championship in a slower paced race. Slow or fast, it doesn’t matter he’s the best.

He’s in Stockholm taking on many of the competitors he faced in Moscow including Kenyan finalists Silas Kiplagat and Nixon Chepseba. 

Kiprop is the Best

Chepseba ran fairly well in London, leading for most of the race and onto the homestretch before fading and finishing 4th. He would have left with a medal if he had not drifted outside and let Johan Cronje of South Africa pass him on the inside for bronze.

We’ll be particularly interested to see what Silas Kiplagat does here. Kiplagat was 6th in Moscow, but he ran a terrible race from a tactical perspective. According to Kiprop, the Kenyan plan in Moscow was for Kiplagat to lead the first lap in 57 seconds. Kiplagat did not take the lead and the Kenyan plan was down the drain. Then Kiplagat ran the most of the race in lane 2 and still finished only. 28 from bronze and .33 from silver. With better tactics, silver definitely should have been Kiplagat’s as we bet he ran farther than anyone else in the final.

Ayanleh Souleiman medaled in Moscow, but in the 800, getting bronze. Souleiman was known more as a miler than an 800m runner prior to Moscow and he gets his shot here at 1500. In Moscow, he doubled back in the 1500 but did not make the final after getting pushed around in his semifinal. Soulemain’s run 3:30.31 before, can he get near 3:30 here?

The one guy in the field beside Kiprop who has run under 3:30 this year is Caleb Ndiku who has run 3:29.50 and did not run in Moscow.

Then there is American Leo Manzano, the Olympic silver medalist. Leo entered Moscow with the same profile as Matt Centrowitz, a good tactical racer having an up and down season. Leo ran a very poor tactical semi-final and did not make the final, while Centrowitz walked away with the silver medal. Now Leo is back to racing the type of race he and Centro do not do particularly well at, rabbited Diamond League races. Leo ran 3:33:14 in Paris this year and assuming this race is faster than that, we’ll be looking at how close Leo gets to his 3:32.37 PR. A PR won’t make up for dropping the ball in the semi-final in Moscow, but it would be a nice consolation prize. The last thing Leo wants is another poor performance in a rabbited race.

*Relive all the women’s 1500m action here in our special Worlds 1500m Page

ATHLETE DATE OF BIRTH NATION PB SB
06.08.1988
KEN
3:30.77
3:30.77
12.12.1990
KEN
3:29.77
3:33.9h
02.03.1993
ETH
3:35.67
3:35.67
21.01.1987
KEN
3:29.47
3:34.7h
11.10.1988
ETH
3:31.45
3:32.43
24.02.1991
NOR
3:35.43
3:36.33
20.08.1989
KEN
3:29.27
3:33.7h
30.06.1989
KEN
3:27.72
3:27.72
20.07.1990
KEN
3:33.31
3:35.2h
12.09.1984
USA
3:32.37
3:33.14
02.04.1985
MAR
3:31.84
3:33.18
09.10.1992
KEN
3:29.50
3:29.50
01.01.1987
KEN
3:43.43
03.12.1992
DJI
3:30.31
3:32.55

 

 

Women’s 3000m: Rematch of Moscow 5000, Plus Obiri

Meseret Defar is in this one fresh off her Moscow 5000m gold and she faces Moscow silver medalist Mercy Cherono. Defar is the favorite in just about any race she runs and that applies to her stepping down in distance here. Moscow 10,000m silver medalist Gladys Cherono is also in the field as is Moscow 1500m bronze medallist Hellen Obiri.

If anyone is going to challenge Defar expect it to be Hellen Obiri. Obiri was the world indoor 3000m champion last year at 3000m and has good speed as evidenced by her 1500m bronze. We don’t think she’ll beat Defar, but she’s got a better chance than anyone else.

Four Americans are in this one. Kim Conley (5000) and Jordan Hasay (10,000m) ran at Worlds, while miler Gabriele Anderson did not. Anderson is the best of that trio at 3000m, but the American with the best chance is Shannon Rowbury. Prior to Moscow, Rowbury picked up the Diamond League win in London at 3000m versus a very weak field. Anything she does here she’ll have to earn. Rowbury is a miler, but 3000m may be Rowbury’s best event as she’s run 8:31.38 for 3k before. We don’t see here sticking with Obiri and Defar when things heat up, but could she mix it up with everyone else?  We’ll see.

Update. We received the following email from an LRC viewer:

I saw your preview of the Stockholm DL, but imo you missed Siffan Hassan in your preview. She won the Ostrava 1500 (4.03) and recently ran 8.41 in a low key mixed race (that’s why it isn’t mentioned in the IAAF list).
She’s running for Ethiopia now but is looking for a Dutch passport (didn’t manage to get it before worlds).
Don’t think she’ll beat Defar, but watch out for her!
ATHLETE DATE OF BIRTH NATION PB SB
25.06.1986
USA
8:42.64
8:42.64
26.06.1989
SWE
8:58.55
8:58.55
07.05.1991
KEN
8:38.51
12.05.1983
KEN
9:17.80
14.03.1986
USA
8:47.95
8:47.95
19.11.1983
ETH
8:24.51
08.02.1991
ETH
8:48.35
21.09.1991
USA
8:46.89
8:46.89
01.01.1993
ETH
8:57.71
8:57.71
22.12.1983
KEN
8:40.14
08.07.1986
NED
9:07.04
9:07.04
MAR
13.12.1989
KEN
05.02.1985
POL
9:04.46
9:04.46
11.03.1979
SLO
9:03.99
9:28.32
14.09.1984
USA
8:31.38
8:41.46

 

Men’s Steeple is Better than Moscow With Brimin Kipruto In the Field

This race features the Moscow gold and silver medallists Ezekiel Kemboi and Conseslus Kipruto, plus fourth placer Paul Koech.

It’s better than Moscow in our book because it also has Brimin Kipruto, the 2007 World and 2008 Olympic champion. Paul Koech was inexplicably put on the Kenyan team ahead of Kipruto. Kipruto was only fifth at last year’s Olympics, but he’s had a lot more success than Koech historically. Kipruto gets a chance for revenge here.

A big question in this one is does it go sub 8:00?

Youngster Conseslus Kipruto is looking for the first sub 8:00 of his career, Paul Koech is looking to tie Saif Shaheen with the most # of sub 8:00 clockings ever, and Brimin Kipruto is looking for his first sub 8:00 of the year.

American Dan Huling is in the field and he gets to show whether he really is in good shape. He trains with American Evan Jager, and says he is in great shape, but he performed terribly in Moscow.

New Canadian record holder Matt Hughes gets to try and crack 8:10 for the first time.

*All of the World’s Steeple 3000m Coverage Here

ATHLETE DATE OF BIRTH NATION PB SB
14.12.1992
KEN
8:03.43
8:10.27
03.08.1989
CAN
8:11.64
8:11.64
16.07.1983
USA
8:13.29
8:22.38
23.05.1996
ETH
8:36.13
25.05.1982
KEN
7:55.76
7:59.03
08.12.1994
KEN
8:01.16
8:01.16
31.07.1985
KEN
7:53.64
8:06.86
22.01.1994
KEN
8:06.96
8:06.96
10.11.1981
KEN
7:54.31
8:02.63
23.08.1995
KEN
8:21.5h
8:21.5h
15.08.1983
KEN
8:15.80
8:24.90
24.10.1989
USA
8:20.08
8:20.08
31.01.1981
MDA
8:18.97
8:19.64
02.04.1992
KEN
8:03.57
8:03.57

*Full start lists

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