Doha Sprint & Field Recap: Noah Lyles, Steven Gardiner, Ta Lou, Keni Harrison Run Fast, Pichardo, Röhler, Perkovic Excel
By LetsRun.com
May 4, 2018
The Diamond League season got underway in Doha on Friday night and the sprint and field action lived up to the hype. Steven Gardiner got things started with a national record in the 400 and the action was hot all night.
Noah Lyles stayed undefeated at 200 in the DL, Keni Harrison beat Brianna McNeal in the hurdles matchup, Marie-Josee Ta Lou won a great women’s 100, Abderrahman Samba got a world leader in the 400 hurdles and Thomas Röhler won an epic javelin competition, Pedro Pablo Pichardo a great triple jump with Sandra Perkovic throwing a Diamond League record in the discus.
The distance action is recapped separately here: Caster Semenya Sub-4 for First Time, 17 Year-Old George Manangoi 3:35.53, Emmanuel Korir Wins at 2018 Doha Diamond League
Men’s 200 Noah Lyles is Undefeated in the DL
Noah Lyles still has never lost in the Diamond League.
Just 20 years old, Lyles ran a personal best of 19.83 to beat a stacked field in the season opener in Doha.
Watch the race below:
The field in Doha included 2017 World Champion Ramil Guliyev, 2017 bronze medallist Jereem Richards, and 2016 Olympic silver medallist Andre De Grasse, but Lyles dispatched them with ease the final 100m.
Lyles won in Shanghai last year in 19.90, then got injured and missed the DL season until the finale in Brussels which he won in 20.00.
He upped his game to 19.83 tonight and told the IAAF that he’s just getting started. When asked what we could expect the rest of the season he said, “I’m not going to say times because my goal is just to dominate, but I tell you what I’m not going to go any slower.”
19.83
Personal Best
Meeting Record“It’s exactly what I planned to happen”@LylesNoah ain’t messing about this season ?#DohaDL pic.twitter.com/VKsEXBFeRk
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) May 4, 2018
200 Metres - Men Wind: +1.3 m/s
Pts
1 Lyles , Noah USA 19.83 8
2 Richards , Jereem TTO 19.99 7
3 Guliyev , Ramil TUR 20.11 6
4 Brown , Aaron CAN 20.18 5
5 Mitchell-Blake , Nethaneel GBR 20.37 4
6 De Grasse , Andre CAN 20.46 3
7 Carnes , Brandon USA 20.56 2
8 Dwyer , Rasheed JAM 20.72 1
Discuss: Noah Lyles will go undefeated at 200 in 2018
Women’s 100H: The World Record Holder Beats Out The Olympic Champ
World record holder Keni Harrison won a stacked women’s 100H in 12.53, beating Olympic champ Brianna McNeal by .05. McNeal got out to an early lead at the halfway point, but Keni Harrison was super smooth through the second half while McNeal lost some momentum on one of the later hurdles. Back a ways was Sharika Nelvis in 3rd (12.75) and Jasmin Stowers in 4th (12.77), giving the US a 1-4 sweep.
Dawn Harper Nelson is retiring after this year and didn’t get her final Diamond League season off to a good start as she hit a hurdle (actually breaking it) and was a distant last.
100 Metres Hurdles - Women Wind: +0.5 m/s
Pts
1 Harrison , Kendra USA 12.53 8
2 McNeal , Brianna USA 12.58 7
3 Nelvis , Sharika USA 12.75 6
4 Stowers , Jasmin USA 12.77 5
5 Williams , Danielle JAM 12.82 4
6 Pedersen , Isabelle NOR 12.82 3
7 Visser , Nadine NED 12.94 2
8 Harper Nelson , Dawn USA 13.21 1
Women’s 100: Marie-Josee Ta Lou Wins As The Top 5 Break 11 Seconds
The Ivory Coast’s double World silver medalist Marie-Josee Ta Lou set a PB and world lead to win the women’s 100 in 10.85 seconds. Behind her, Blessing Okagbare Ighoteguonor was second in 10.90 and Olympic champion Elaine Thompson third (10.93).
100 Metres - Women Wind: +1.5 m/s
Pts
1 Ta Lou , Marie-Josée CIV 10.85 8
2 Okagbare-Ighoteguonor , Blessing NGR 10.90 7
3 Thompson , Elaine JAM 10.93 6
4 Ahouré , Murielle CIV 10.96 5
5 Horn , Carina RSA 10.98 4
6 Schippers , Dafne NED 11.03 3
7 Kambundji , Mujinga SUI 11.17 2
8 Levy , Jura JAM 11.29 1
Men’s 400: Steven Gardiner Opens DL Season with a Bang
This was the very first DL track race of the year and Gardiner kicked everything off with a blazing fast 43.87 national record. Total domination.
400 Metres - Men
Pts
1 Gardiner , Steven BAH 43.87 8
2 Haroun , Abdalleleh QAT 44.50 7
3 Makwala , Isaac BOT 44.92 6
4 Roberts , Gil USA 45.22 5
5 Thebe , Baboloki BOT 45.58 4
6 Abbas , Mohamed Nasir QAT 45.76 3
7 Norwood , Vernon USA 45.82 2
8 Conradie , Pieter RSA 46.68 1
Men’s 400m Hurdles: Samba Impresses Home Crowd with Diamond League Record
Abderrahman Samba picked the right time for a huge pb (previous best 47.90 at altitude) as he dominated and got the win in a national record, meet record, and Diamond League record of 47.57.
The unretired Bershawn Jackson finished 2nd. We never hyped this video enough but last year Jackson talked about how much track meant to him.
400 Metres Hurdles - Men
Pts
1 Samba , Abderrahman QAT 47.57 8
2 Jackson , Bershawn USA 49.08 7
3 McMaster , Kyron IVB 49.46 6
4 Copello , Yasmani TUR 49.95 5
5 Fredericks , Cornel RSA 50.03 4
6 Clement , Kerron USA 50.19 3
7 Green , Jack GBR 50.22 2
8 Hussein , Kariem SUI 51.40 1
Karsten who? Move aside fanboys- Abderrahman Samba just opened with 47.90 in the 400h
Women’s Pole Vault: Sandi Morris Tops The Rest
The women’s pole vault was billed as a continuation of the rivalry between Sandi Morris and Olympic and World champ Katerina Stefanidi. However, it turned out to be much more than that as behind Morris’s winning 4.84m, the next five places all cleared 4.64m. Britain’s Holly Bradshaw took second place on countback and USA’s surprise indoor champion Katie Nageotte was third. Stefanidi finished tied for fourth.
Morris’ 4.84m broke her own meet record she set last year. Afterwards she said she was happy with the win, but has the goal of breaking the 5.06m world record this year. Stefanidi explained she isn’t in the best shape after dealing with an injury indoors, but is healthy now.
Highlights:
Pole Vault - Women
Pts
1 Morris , Sandi USA 4.84 8
2 Bradshaw , Holly GBR 4.64 7
3 Nageotte , Katie USA 4.64 6
4 Kyriakopoúlou , Nikoléta GRE 4.64 5
4 Stefanidi , Katerina GRE 4.64 5
6 Peinado , Robeilys VEN 4.64 3
7 Newman , Alysha CAN 4.54 2
8 Mullina , Olga ANA 4.44 1
9 Grove , Emily USA 4.24
Guillon-Romarin , Ninon FRA DNS
Men’s Triple Jump: Pedro Pablo Pichardo Wins An Exciting Duel With Christian Taylor
Sparks always fly when World and Olympic champ Christian Taylor and 2015 World silver medalist Pedro Pablo Pichardo go head-to-head in the triple jump and today was no exception. Pichardo just missed breaking the 18-meter barrier as he won in a world-leading 17.95m with Taylor not far behind in 17.81m.
Despite the loss, Taylor was in high spirits afterwards as he said, “I’m happy I finished the competition healthy, and will always keep smiling. My father is here, my girlfriend is here! It’s always good to have their support. I’ve trained so hard to break my own record, and the WR as well. I’m going to Shanghai next week, so who knows? It might be then!”
Triple Jump - Men
Pts Wind
1 Pichardo , Pedro P. CUB 17.95 8 +0.6
2 Taylor , Christian USA 17.81 7 +0.6
3 Copello , Alexis AZE 17.21 6 +0.5
4 Évora , Nelson POR 17.04 5 +0.2
5 Benard , Chris USA 16.96 4 +1.4
6 Mokoena , Godfrey Khotso RSA 16.92 3 +1.3
7 Dong , Bin CHN 16.65 2 +0.7
8 Heß , Max GER 16.52 1 +1.4
9 Al-Mannai , Rashid Ahmed QAT 15.83 +0.8
10 Pontvianne , Jean-Marc FRA 15.55 +0.2
11 Suleiman Mohamed , Ahmed Faisal QAT 15.35 +0.2
There have been just four triple jump competitions in history in which two guys have jumped beyond 17.80m.@Taylored2jump & Pedro Pablo Pichardo are responsible for three of those four occasions (including tonight at the @dldoha)
— Jon Mulkeen (@Statman_Jon) May 4, 2018
Men’s High Jump: Mutaz Essa Barshim Thrills The Home Crowd With A 2.40m Clearance
World champion Mutaz Essa Barshim made sure the home crowd didn’t go home disappointed as he cleared an early-season world lead of 2.40m to get a dominant victory (Second place was Syria’s Majd Eddin Ghazal, who set a national record of 2.33m.) Barshim then attempted to break the meet record of 2.41m, but failed all three tries. He’s been stuck at 2.40m the last couple of years (he last cleared 2.41m in 2015), but interestingly he’s never been this high this early in the season, so maybe big things are to come in 2018.
High Jump - Men
Pts
1 Barshim , Mutaz Essa QAT 2.40 8
2 Ghazal , Majd Eddin SYR 2.33 7
3 Thomas , Donald BAH 2.30 6
4 Przybylko , Mateusz GER 2.24 5
5 Protsenko , Andriy UKR 2.24 4
6 Rivera , Edgar MEX 2.20 3
6 Wang , Yu CHN 2.20 3
8 Hamdi , Mohamat Allamine QAT 2.20 1
9 Wilson , Jamal BAH 2.20
10 Ivanov , Tihomir BUL 2.15
Nuh , Andu ERI DNS
Women’s Discus: Perkovic Breaks the DL Record
Sandra Perkovic broke the Diamond League record with her toss here, which was .03 off her PR.
Discus Throw - Women
Pts
1 Perkovic , Sandra CRO 71.38 8
2 Pérez , Yaimé CUB 66.82 7
3 Caballero , Denia CUB 63.80 6
4 de Morais , Andressa BRA 63.77 5
5 Stevens , Dani AUS 63.59 4
6 Lewis-Smallwood , Gia USA 58.73 3
7 Ashley , Whitney USA 58.42 2
Men’s Javelin: Thomas Röhler Wins Epic Competition
Röhler won with a massive 91.78 toss but he had to be this good as this competition was one of the best ever. Jon Mulkeen has the stats:
And now a third German (Andreas Hofmann) throws 90.08m.
First time three guys have thrown beyond 90m in the same javelin comp!! And they're all from the same country!
— Jon Mulkeen (@Statman_Jon) May 4, 2018
First competition with 2 men over 91.50 and first with 3 over 90.
Javelin Throw - Men
Pts
1 Röhler , Thomas GER 91.78 8
2 Vetter , Johannes GER 91.56 7
3 Hofmann , Andreas GER 90.08 6
4 Chopra , Neeraj IND 87.43 5
5 Vadlejch , Jakub CZE 86.67 4
6 Kirt , Magnus EST 83.97 3
7 Magour , Ahmed Bader QAT 83.71 2
8 Yego , Julius KEN 80.75 1
9 Frydrych , Petr CZE 80.07
10 Peacock , Hamish AUS 76.45