Diamond League Winners to Get Wildcard Entry to World Champs

Also the Top 15 at World XC will count as 10000m 'A' standard

nice

continues DL as a TV time trial, i.e. not a major. to become a living legend you have to win at worlds or olys.

this is cool. Are there any notable examples of DL winners who did not make WCs?

Paul Koech is the only one I can think of. But the Kenyan federation would still have to choose him over the defending champion.

10000 aths make worlds and olys. only a handful medal.

Interesting to see how this will be interpreted. I would imagine world champion would have precedence over diamond league champion but you never know

Interesting point about the US 1500 this year. If this applied to next year, I'd take Uceny over Simpson as wildcard purely based on consistency but thats just me. There are pluses to both I suppose

Only majors count. Outdoor WC and Oly are major T&F meets. The others are insignificant.

arfarf wrote:

this is cool. Are there any notable examples of DL winners who did not make WCs?

Paul Koech is the only one I can think of. But the Kenyan federation would still have to choose him over the defending champion.

Tyson Gay

Wallace Spearmon

Jeremy Wariner

Paul K. Koech

Teddy Tamgho

Priscilla Lopes

CU Buffs wrote:

continues DL as a TV time trial, i.e. not a major. to become a living legend you have to win at worlds or olys.

Amazing how little it takes to get the Simpson fans backs' up

Gay, Spearmon, Wariner, and Tamgho were all injured, right? Wariner actually finished top 3 at USAs so he could have gone if he were healthy.

Is the rule only valid for the year preceding the World championships? i.e. this year's champions don't qualify but next year's do.

Pluses:

-Allows superstars who were injured during their trials or weren't picked by a corrupt federation to still make Worlds.

-Ties the season together. Now each Diamond League meet is connected to Worlds, and the meets aren't completely exhibitions that have no bearing on any other race.

-The excitement of the last few Diamond League meets as athletes who aren't in Worlds get desperate for a spot.

Minuses:

-It takes away from the "do or die" nature of the US championship meet. This applies more in the sprints, and some field events, because most U.S. men distance runners aren't threats to win a Diamond League meet (although Lagat is, and on the women's side several could do it).

-It allows more (African) countries to have 4 competitors rather than 3, so it will bump down the finishing places of US distance runners even more.

-What about the events that aren't contested at Diamond League meets? It seems odd that athletes in some events will get multiple chances to qualify, but those in other events don't have that option.

Overall, I say the pluses outweigh the minuses. It can't hurt to change things up and see where the chips fall.

Good analysis, exciting rule change.

For this rule to apply to you, you need win the 'Diamond Race', i.e. be ahead in points for your event after the whole series, not just win a single Diamond League race, right?

I'd support either version. Any athlete good enough to win a Diamond League race deserves to be considered for the WCs or Olympics. And I agree with a previous poster who said this would make the last few Diamond League races really exciting. On the other hand, the real effect might just be to give the federations of the countries likely to be effected (US, Kenya, etc) more flexibility in deciding who to send, which is a mixed bag... But in any case, I don't think that's how the rule works?

Adding the DL to an official list of time trials is an attempt to take the wind out of the USA outdoor Nationals and other nation's championships.

I'm happy that it is on the way to b eing one of the most successful rule changes the IAAF has ever made.

I know from phone calls and emails that U.S. meet directors are in a panic to add their meets to the IAAF's list naturally to boost the importance of their current meets and to add new later meets after USA Natls.

The best scenario is that after USATF's there will be further time trials held in Des Moines, Lawrence, Austin, etc. to grab wildcard spots.

The events not contested in the Diamond League are the 10,000m, hammer throw, and multis I believe.

I think they could add the hammer and give out a wildcard spot for that.

It doesn't make sense to run a bunch of 10k's or have multi competitions every other week. Both of these fields have to be limited because the 10k is run in a single heat and the multis have to have few enough competitors to finish all of the events in a timely manner.

They could and should give a wildcard to the world cross country champion for the 10k.

Perhaps the wildcard for the multis could be given to the world indoor champion.

I'm not sure that this will make the last few weeks really exciting because it will be a full year before the WCs.

The diamond league race doesn't end until after the WCs so it will be the 2012 DL winner who makes the 2013 WCs.

If anything, it will force some big stars to do those last races right after the Olympics.

Bolt, for example, could have won the DL in the 100 this year but he skipped the meet that was like 4-5 days after the end of worlds. Next year he won't have the luxury because he isn't the defending champ. It makes me think that this whole rule was just a way to force Usain Bolt to run more DL meets next year.

categorically wrote:

I'm not sure that this will make the last few weeks really exciting because it will be a full year before the WCs.

The diamond league race doesn't end until after the WCs so it will be the 2012 DL winner who makes the 2013 WCs.

If anything, it will force some big stars to do those last races right after the Olympics.

Bolt, for example, could have won the DL in the 100 this year but he skipped the meet that was like 4-5 days after the end of worlds. Next year he won't have the luxury because he isn't the defending champ. It makes me think that this whole rule was just a way to force Usain Bolt to run more DL meets next year.

Matters less for Bolt in his particular case, as Jamaica can only enter four, and they have the reigning world champion.

This will be helpful in other cases, for example, if an American shot putter wins the Diamond League this year, that will allow for four to go in 2013.