Birmingham Diamond League - Official discussion thread

Who is missing from the W5000 that ran in Doha apart from Faith?

I don't know without looking it up. I would like to have seen one or two other of the top women, Teferi, Tsegay, Hassan, Chebet, and from a British perspective, McColgan who was 9th quickest in the world last year. This is the first 5k of the DL after all

Where are the American women? especially the 800/1500.

It’s better than that.

Bromell tops the field IMO, but behind him will be a dogfight:

ADG, Bracy, Hughes, Blake Y., Blake J. are all in the hunt for medals. It’s like the Commonwealth plus USA. No Africans, guys like Simbine have been awol so far this year.

I think I would guess Bromell and Bracy 1-2, then who knows. Hughes was moving really well last season, and Blake J. has looked semi-interesting.

Great that there are 4x1’s👍. CAN and GBR should be the highlights, but who knows.

Not just Africans, but no Italians here, either—no M4x100m relay rematch vs GBR😢.

Pre Classic is next week, they'll be looking to peak for that. For once, I won't rag on US distance runners for not travelling to race. Pre is the one event on US soil where distance runners can race against world elite talent, they don't want to spend the week before that flying to Europe and back. It means a lot to US athletes. Muir and Hodgkinson are also racing Pre, but it's just another meet for them so if they bomb out, like they did last year at Pre, it doesn't matter as much.

I saw Sage Hurta on the 800 list, I assume that will be her first DL. Good chance to revise her PB with Hodgkinson to chase

Kipsang is running too much, imho.

I asked in the Doha thread but perhaps here might be a better place. Anyone heard anything about Sifan Hassan and what distances she's targeting this year? Very much looking forward to seeing her race. Tsegay as well for that matter. Hopefully we'll be seeing them both at Pre.

Hate to bang on about it, but hard looking at Niyonsaba and her schedule if she pulls it off. Win over 3000 over Faith Kipyegon in Doha, 7hr travel to Birminghan to dispatch multiple sub 14:30 women including Taye, a 14:14 woman over 5000. Hop on another 10hr flight or two to Prefontaine to set the world record in the 2mile versus ??

Would be a very impressive 3 weeks. Not impossible, but just very hard to do.

But isn't this the same as last year? Muir and Reekie were over in Apr/May and Mu didn't even race them then. Later Mu didn't show up in Europe at all. Now I get the distinct feeling that Mu isn't coming to Europe this year either. Do we give her a pass cos the worlds are in the US? At least Ajee comes over here so we European track fans can see her.

It is a different calculus if you are an athlete coming from African/Europe in the first place (whether you're based there or on a training stint there). You travel minimally to this meet and then go to Pre. As opposed to going back-and-forth.

El K, yes Kipsang is racing/traveling a lot. However, it's not unprecedented for this to work. See Stewart McSweyn last year. It's just more unusual in this day and ago.

Thoughts on the fields:
W400H: Muhammad vs. Russell ~ no McLaughlin/Bol, which makes it a little bit of a letdown

W1500: Muir will go off as a big favorite, though she battled injuries indoors. Reekie also was shaky indoors. Hull ran great in the 3000 last week and might be able to pull the upset if the Brits are a bit off. Embaye and Welteji are in the mix as well. We'll see where Cory McGee is as well

M100: Yes a thin field, especially if De Grasse is slowplaying the season per usual. Bromell big favorite, but can he do well overseas? Bracy in solid form as is Jerome Blake.

M800: Are Dobek and Rotich going to contend this year after last year's medals? Good test with neither doing much yet. Mariano Garcia is the most intriguing after his indoor season, and then you have a bunch of could-be medal contenders in Bol, Rowden, Hoppel, Arop, Murphy and Kinyamal. Huge field, hopefully someone goes with Sowinsky so it's not sit-and-kick. Good to see how Jake Wightman goes as well.

W100: Thompson-Herah, Shericka Jackson and Asher-Smith to me. Thomas is a step down in the 100, but we'll see how she goes. Del Ponte was a revelation last year as well. Not sure how real Sturgis' 10.87 is.

M400: A terrible field for a Diamond League. Feels like this should be recategorized with Olympic 6th place Christopher Taylor (44.79 PB) being the favorite I'd guess.

W5000: Expecting Niyonsaba to roll though there are some good Ethiopians led by Taye.

M1500: This one is exciting — Kerr vs. Kipsang vs. Tefera. You also have a strong list of contenders to beat that top trio including Katir, Hoare, McSweyn (bounce back from last week?), Mechaal and Simotwo. Really strong field, which will set the stage fantastically for Pre. Kinda wish Wightman went here instead?

110H: Looks like Parchment's race to lose with no Holloway, Allen et al in it. McLeod maybe can rediscover his old form?

W800: Goule vs. Hodkinson and you'd have to favor Keely a lot. Hurta will be of interest to US fans. Is the 800 her event or the 15?

I'd wait and see with Mu. I think she'll race in Europe after World's. Not many American distance runners are travelling to race right now - curiously, US sprinters are travelling, I wonder why they are so keen to race abroad but the distance men and women want to stay on home turf? It's a little weird as US sprinters don't need to travel to find competition: most of the best sprinters are US-based but most of the very best distance runners don't compete in the US.

There need not be any wonder or curiosity…

And, High Hopes, you have asked this same question, or more to the point, made the same insinuation about US distance runners not going to Europe and racing in other posts.

US distance runners are racing either USATF 10k championships and world championship selection race in nine days Friday night before Pre where other US distance runners are racing 5k, Bowerman mile, 1500m etc on Saturday. Many of these same US distance runners are currently training at altitude and would not jeopardize their preparation for worlds by taking chunks of time away from their schedule and impact their trading phase based on this years events calendar.

After worlds, those US distance runners that are invited to Diamond league races will most likely go to run fast against top competition and make some money. Others that don’t make worlds or aren’t at the performance level to be invited to Diamond league will go over and race in other races to… run fast against strong completion and make some money.

Not having much knowledge about the sprints; I’ll guess that sprinters are not faced with the same training preparation needs as distance runners and have the benefit to be able to race more, recover more easily, not have to be at altitude etc.

I think 5000 suits niyonsaba and fantu worku less than last week but I can still see 7 or 8 under 14.43 here. I call that deep. The girl with the WL at the half will be better suited here and if conditions are better could be very quick

Yeah, I think I sometimes underestimate how hard it is to get into a DL race for the distance athletes versus the sprinters. American sprinters are always among the very best in the world, so I guess the are at the top of the invite list for most meet organisers. And the agents for Ethiopian and Kenyan runners are good at filling the distance fields by packaging a star name with a few lower profile runners

I hope so. Conditions look good, 17C, 10mph wind, low humidity. I still think this will be a dominant win for Niyonsaba. Her strength over the 10k in her first year in the event was impressive, and she carries her mid-d speed. I wouldn't be surprised to see her run sub 14:15 this year

Watching Max Burgin time trialling the B race will be almost as fascinating.

I hope you are right about Mu, two whole years not coming over would be a bit much. Anyway I look forward to seeing how Sage Hurta gets on.

Good field in the womens 800 for Hurta to lower her PB with Hodgkinson, Goule, etc