2024 DL Final Day 1: Ingebrigtsen Gets Revenge on Hocker/Nuguse, Alfred Beats Richardson, & El Bakkali’s Win Streak Snapped

By Robert Johnson , Jonathan Gault , and Joseph Carroll

September 13, 2024

2024 Allianz Memorial Van Damme -- Brussels Diamond League Final

Day 1 of the 2024 Memorial Van Damme — which serves as this year’s Diamond League final — took place this evening at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels under cool conditions (56 degrees, 74% humidity, 6 mph wind, 14mph gusts).

With 16 Diamond Trophies on offer, there was plenty of action and the meet produced a number of exciting races, including Berihu Aregawi‘s big win in the 5,000 (12:43.66), Amos Serem (8:06.90) snapping Soufiane El Bakkali‘s three-year win streak in the steeple, Julien Alfred (10.88) crushing Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:30.37) changing up his tactics and getting the win in the men’s 1500. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone also put on a show before the main program, running 49.11 in a special invitational section of the women’s 400.

Below we give you our takeaways from the men’s 1500, steeple and 5000s as well as the women’s 800. We then talk about some sprints – women’s 400 and the men’s and women’s 100s. We also did a live video show where we gave our instant reactions. If you’d like a podcast recap of Brussels, you need to join our Supporters Club. Join today and get the “I Am The Pacemaker” shirt for free, use code GOAT50 to save 50% on 1st year too.

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Full day 1 results are here. World Athletics day 1 recap.

Men’s 1500: Jakob Ingebrigtsen three-peats as DL champion in unconventional fashion

Jakob Ingebrigtsen wins the Men’s 1500m Diamond League Final with a time of 3:30.37 at Allianz Memorial Van Damme, the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels on 13 September 2024
Courtesy Diamond League AG

We are used to seeing Jakob Ingebrigtsen win on the Diamond League circuit. His victory on Friday in Brussels was his fourth DL win of the year and his third straight DL title in the 1500. But we are not used to seeing Ingebrigtsen win in the fashion he won in Brussels. Unlike recent Diamond Leagues, the Wavelight system was set for “only” 3:30.00 pace on Friday, and unlike most races Ingebrigtsen runs, he did not go to the front, instead slotting in as the second racer behind American Yared Nuguse. He stayed there until the pacer started to slow with 500m to go, at which point the field began to bunch up and Ingebrigtsen could wait no longer, closing in 54.2 for his last lap to get the win in 3:30.37 — his slowest time in a DL race since May 2023.

This was an odd race, and not just because Ingebrigtsen did not take the lead until late. The pacer Boaz Kiprugut had real issues exiting the track as Ingebrigtsen had to pass on his outside and he also tangled with Timothy Cheruiyot. Meanwhile Nuguse, who beat Ingebrigtsen last week in Zurich, lost his momentum with 300 to go after he appeared to get tangled with Cheruiyot, and was not a factor the rest of the way, finishing 6th in 3:32.30.

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It was a big positive for Ingebrigtsen that he was able to change up his tactics and still get the win. Nuguse has repeatedly shown that he likes a fast pace — watch how he ran at the Olympic Trials or the Olympic semifinals — and Ingebrigtsen may want to explore sitting on him more often, either in Diamond Leagues or championship finals (perhaps this is something he could try in a Grand Slam Track meet next year).

But this does not mean Ingebrigtsen has found a magic formula to win a global championship. His last lap tonight was 54.2, almost a full second slower than what Cole Hocker ran to win the Olympics (53.4) even though the winning time at the Olympics was more than 2.5 seconds faster than tonight. Maybe the change of approach helped Ingebrigtsen. But we’d bet the bigger reason he won is because it is the middle of September and most of these guys are tired, a scenario that favors the strongest, most consistent athlete — and that’s Ingebrigtsen.

MB: Jakobs wins Diamond League Final in Interesting fashion

Props to Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse for continuing to race after the Olympics

Hocker and Nuguse experienced the highest highs of their running careers by earning Olympic medals in Paris. It would have been easy for both of them to come back to the US after that and bask in the glory of their accomplishment. Instead, both kept racing on the DL circuit — something both Ingebrigtsen and distance fans worldwide appreciated very much.

They have also posted some impressive results. Nuguse won in Zurich last week, while Hocker finished 2nd in Lausanne, 3rd in Zurich, and 3rd tonight — the three best DL finishes of his career (his previous best was 5th at the 2022 Pre Classic). The men’s 1500 has been fantastic this year in part because the best guys have not been afraid to race each other on the circuit. Props for them for finishing out the season — now they can enjoy a well-earned break.

Men’s steeple: El Bakkali’s three-year win streak is snapped

Entering tonight, 2021 and 2024 Olympic champ Soufiane El Bakkali had not lost a men’s steeplechase race in over three years — his last loss was on September 9, 2021, when he finished second in the Diamond League final in Zurich. Since then, he’d won 14 in a row but this year had been a grind as he battled to come back from a knee injury early in the season. He had to dig deep to win in Marrakech in May and at the Olympics, and his win in Silesia on August 25 came by just three-thousandths of a second.

Tonight, El Bakkali’s streak finally came to and end as 2021 World U20 champ Amos Serem of Kenya finally took him down. Serem’s victory was well-deserved after a wild 2024 campaign. At the Paris Diamond League on July 7, he was given the same time as the winner missed out on the win by .002 of a second. In Silesia on August 25, he was given the same time as El Bakkali, who denied him the win by just .003. In between, at the Olympics, he missed the water jump in his semifinal after contact with another runner and had to turn around, hurdle it, and use an all-out sprint to try to qualify on the last lap (he was advanced to the final due to the contact, but only finished 14th in the final).

Serem, who won the Kenyan Olympic trials in June, is only 22 years old and will certainly be one to watch next year.

Men’s 5000: Aregawi shows he can kick yet again

Berihu Aregawi backed up his Olympic 10k silver medal with a Diamond League championship, running 12:43.66 to win over countryman Hagos Gebrhiwet (12:44.25). Aregawi has had a massive breakout year, evolving from an aerobic monster to someone with a good enough kick to win an Olympic medal or races like this. The last three years, he placed 4th, 4th, 7th, and 8th at the Olympics and Worlds. Now in just one summer he is an Olympic silver medalist and Diamond League champion. In Paris, in the 10,000m, he closed the final 1200 in 2:58.4 including a 54.9 final 400 in a quick race. Tonight, he did the same thing, closing in 4:01, 1:54 and 54.0 for this final 1600, 1200 and 400.

Someone that clearly did not learn from Paris was Yomif Kejelcha, who led for much of the Olympic 10,000 before failing to end up on the podium. Tonight, he tried the same tactics here as took the lead when the rabbit dropped at 2400 and upped the pace, running a a 2:01.9 800 before being left empty-handed when it came time to kick as he finished 5th in 12:51.21.

Women’s 800: Mary Moraa runs a season’s best to win

When Brit Georgia Bell passed the Olympic bronze medalist Mary Moraa of Kenya to go into the lead with 200 meters to go in tonight’s women’s 800m final, it looked as if the 30-year-old Brit might cap one of the most unlikeliest seasons the sport has ever seen with a Diamond League title. But it was not quite to be. Moraa rallied back and used her trademark final 100 to win in a season’s best of 1:56.56 while Bell had to settle for 2nd in 1:57.50.

Still, it is wild to think how far Bell has come in a year. This time last year, Bell’s pb in the 800 was 2:03 from 2014, when she was 20 years old. This year, she’s lowered it to 1:56.28 and finished 2nd in the DL final — and that is not even her most impressive accomplishment as she ran a British record of 3:52.61 to earn bronze in the 1500 in Paris, after starting the year with a 4:06.20 pb. Few women have ever improved so much at such an advanced age, and the 30-year-old Bell is not done racing yet — she’ll run the 1500 tomorrow in Brussels.

She also was 4th at World Indoors in the 1500 this year and earned European silver in the 1500.

MB: Who coached Georgia Bell at Cal? They should hand in their coaching card, right?

Women’s 400: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone runs the fastest but Marileidy Paulino wins the DL title to complete perfect season

Two women were clearly better than everyone else in the women’s 400 meters tonight in Brussels. Unfortunately, they were not in the same race. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, unable to run the DL 400 final after she did not qualify for a wild card entry, dominated the “invitational section” in 49.11. Ten minutes later, world and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino pulled away from the DL final field over the final 400 to win in 49.45.

The victory meant that Paulino finished her 2024 season undefeated – nine wins from nine starts (eight in the 400, one in the 200). She has not lost a race at any distance since the Silesia Diamond League in July 2023.

With 56-degree temperatures and a wet track (it had rained earlier in the day), conditions were not fast for running. Paulino, who ran 48.17 at the Olympics and 48.66 in her last race on August 25 in Silesia, was much slower tonight. That Paulino “only” ran 49.45 (and no one else ran faster than 50.32) makes SML’s run (which came in full tights) that much more impressive – 49.11 is a great time given the conditions.

Unfortunately for McLaughlin-Levrone, this is the second straight time Mother Nature has failed to cooperate in the 400. Back in June, SML ran 48.75 at the NYC Grand Prix but would have gone faster had it not been so windy on the track. Tonight’s effort was worth well under 49 seconds had it been warmer and drier. Sanya Richards-Ross’s 48.70 American record will last another year, but SML is clearly capable of breaking it if the weather cooperates in 2025.

Men’s 100: Ackeem Blake was your surprise champion

On a cold night in Brussels, Jamaica’s Ackeem Blake ran 9.93 to be the surprise Diamond League final winner. Blake was able to match world 60m champ Christian Coleman out of the blocks and held him off the entire way. Blake was the only man to break 10 seconds as Coleman held off a hard-charging Fred Kerely (10.00 to 10.01) for second.

The biggest disappointment of the day has to be Kerley in third. In a race that had only one other Olympic finalist (Akani Simbine) and lacked the world’s two biggest sprint starts in Letsile Tebogo and Noah Lyles, it seemed the stage was set for the Olympic bronze medalist to win and he failed to do so, never being in contention to win and matching his Olympic finish against a much weaker field.

Ackeem Blake, meanwhile, gets to end his up and down season on a high note.

Blake was third indoors at Worlds in the 60m but had a slow start to his season, failing to break 10 in nine consecutive races. He was third at the Jamaican championships, but then failed to make it out of the semis at the Olympics. Now Blake has lived up to his potential and is the first Jamaican DL champ since Asafa Powell back in 2016. To run 9.93 in these conditions when your pb is 9.89 was impressive.

Women’s 100: Julien Alfred completes dream season with DL title

Julien Alfred has suffered a few defeats in 2024, but she has consistently come through on the biggest stages all year. She won the World Indoor title at 60m in March, earned Olympic gold in the 100 and silver in the 200, and now she is the Diamond League champion after running a strong 10.88 in conditions that were not great for sprinting. She is the first woman in history to win all three titles in a single year.

The headline showdown coming into this one was Alfred v world champ Sha’Carri Richardson, but Alfred opened a gap early, at which point Richardson packed it in, running 11.23 for 8th place. Richardson and Alfred were 2-2 against each other in the 100 this year, but Alfred won the two big ones at the Olympics and the DL final — and in both cases, Richardson was not even close.

Alfred could not relax after dropping Richardson, however, as her training partner Dina Asher-Smith gave her a run for her money in the home straight, but Alfred held on for the victory in 10.88 to Asher-Smith’s 10.92. *Full Results