The headlines last weekend may have been dominated by Genzebe Dibaba's world record, but the Monaco leg of the IAAF Diamond League also laid the groundwork for a thrilling end to the 2015 track and field season.
Saturday's results mean that many of the 32 Diamond Races now rest on a knife edge ahead of the finals in September.
The women's 100m hurdles Diamond Race was close enough even before Monaco, but Sharika Nelvis’s triumph there has only added to the excitement. Her victory prevented previous joint leaders Jasmin Stowers and Dawn Harper Nelson from pulling away, and leaves all three women tied in first place with one meeting to go.
In the women's 200m, Jeneba Tarmoh’s third-place finish in Monaco puts her a single point behind leader Allyson Felix.
With one half of the draw now set for the final, attention turns to the 16 disciplines which will be on show in London and Stockholm. In these Diamond Races, there are still three opportunities for athletes to pick up points, and once again, there are some mouth-watering title races.
Greg Rutherford and Barbara Spotakova have the slimmest lead possible in the men's long jump and women's javelin respectively. Both are tied on points with their closest challenger, and lead only due to having notched up more victories.
There are, of course, those athletes who have bucked the trend, and continued to dominate their chosen event with aplomb this season. Sandra Perkovic and Tianna Bartoletta need only to turn up to the final to claim the Diamond Trophy.
Yet not all leads are unassailable. Five athletes will head to the final stages with a lead of six points, theoretically slim enough to allow for a late upset.
Among the rest, Eunice Sum and Genzebe Dibaba are similarly positioned with six-point leads in the women's 800m and 5000m respectively.
As it stands, at least 14 of the 32 Diamond Races will now definitely be decided in either Zurich or Brussels. Should London and Stockholm throw up the sort of unpredictability we have seen in the rest of the season, it could well be more than 14 that go right to the wire.
IAAF
