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Athletics - 05. August 2015.

Diamond Race update after 12 meetings - IAAF Diamond League

 

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The season-long marathon is nearly over; it is time for the sprint on the home straight.

In London and Stockholm, the last few points were gathered before September's IAAF Diamond League finals, and the scene is set for an exhilarating climax to the 2015 season. Events in the past week have provided proof that, in the Diamond Race, anything can happen.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou, meanwhile, extended their leads with victories in Stockholm and London respectively. Fraser-Pryce leads the women's 100m table by four points, while Kyriakopoulou has held off main rival Fabiana Murer in the women's pole vault to grasp a six-point lead.

In the women's javelin, three-time Diamond Race winner Barbara Spotáková, who is looking this season to successfully defend the Diamond Trophy for the first time, made up for a slow start with victories in Paris and Stockholm. Her second place in London means she holds a four-point lead going into the final.

Even that seems a big lead when compared to Ayanleh Souleiman, who is now just one point clear of Silas Kiplagat and two of Asbel Kiprop in the men's 1500m. Souleiman will nonetheless be happy with his position, having overtaken the two Kenyans for the first time this season with a win in Stockholm.

With 27 of the 32 Diamond Races still to be decided going into the finals, there are only a handful of athletes who have managed to fully dominate their fields this season. Caterine Ibargüen (women's triple jump), Tianna Bartoletta (women's long jump), Eunice Sum (women's 800m), Christina Schwanitz (women's shot put) and Sandra Perkovic (women's discus) have all refused to falter this year, and need only turn up to the finals to claim the Diamond Trophy.

Their achievement is even greater considering how fragile even the largest of leads can be in the Diamond Race. Kaliese Spencer and Kirani James, for example, have seen their early season dominance evaporate into thin air over the past two meetings.

Spencer had led the women's 400m hurdles Diamond Race by ten points at the start of July. That was before Zuzana Hejnová stormed to three consecutive victories. The Czech is now two points ahead at the top of the table.

Those turnarounds are testament to the unpredictability of the Diamond Race. Few narratives have run as expected this year, and as the finals loom, there is a whole host of Diamond Race stories which are yet to reach their climax.

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