Skip to main content

Iaaf Diamond League

Bromell underlines Olympic gold favouritism with Diamond League 100m win

Bromell won the final Diamond League race prior to the Olympics in 9.98 seconds from British pair CJ Ujah (10.10) and Zharnel Hughes (10.13) in second and third respectively.

The victory at Gateshead was 26-year-old Bromell's first-ever Diamond League triumph, following years plagued by injuries.

"I’ll take the win,” Bromell said. “I’m happy to cross the line with no injuries.

"I’m just trying to tune up for Tokyo, stay mentally relaxed and continue to fight."

Bromell started strong and finished well ahead of the field, despite Ujah's surge.

“I know I can do better than that. I want the gold," Ujah said. "This is a different CJ and I am really excited.

"It’s now about getting out to Japan, acclimatising and preparing for the race.”

Switzerland's Ajla Del Ponte won the women's 100m in 11.19 seconds, ahead of Canadian pair Khamica Bingham and Crystal Emmanuel.

Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah claimed her career 23rd Diamond League win in the women's 200m in 22.43 seconds.

“I am very pleased. I am going to train, reset and stay focused,” the Olympic champion said.

Britain's Jodie Williams ran second in the 200m before competing in the 400m less than an hour later and finishing second with a personal best 50.94 behind Stephenie McPherson.

Ronald Levy won the men's 110m hurdles in 13.22, while Cindy Sember won the women's equivalent in 12.69.

Coronavirus: European Athletics Championships cancelled, Oslo to stage 'Impossible Games'

European Athletics announced on Thursday that the Championships will not take place at the Charlety Stadium from August 25-30 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Paris 2020 Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Federation Francaise d'Athletisme (FFA) made the decision to call the event off at an extraordinary LOC Executive Committee meeting.

European Athletics interim president Dobromir Karamarinov said: "We had hoped in these troubled times to offer European athletes a major event to aim for at the end of this summer.

"Unfortunately, today we were informed by the LOC and French athletics federation that, after discussions with the relevant French national and local public health and safety authorities, they were no longer able to proceed with delivering the championships this August and were forced to cancel the event.

"Whilst we regret announcing the cancellation of our European Athletics Championships, it is worth reiterating that in these unprecedented times the health and safety of all athletics' stakeholders including athletes, fans, officials, partners and everyone connected with the sport is paramount. We will always do what is best for the members of our athletics family and the wider public."

A further two Diamond League meetings scheduled to take place in June were postponed earlier in the day but plans for an exhibition event in Oslo on June 11 were revealed.

There is due to be a world record attempt from world 400 metres hurdles champion Karsten Warholm on home soil and a pole vault battle between world record holder Mondo Duplantis and Renaud Lavillenie.

The hour-long event, which will be shown live by Norway's public broadcaster NRK, will ensure a full observation of the country's coronavirus regulations and social distancing rules.

Organisers stressed that a full programme is yet to be confirmed and is subject to change.

Lyles misses out on 200m world record after not running full distance

Lyles, running on his own in Florida as part of the Inspiration Games event, crossed the line in a rapid 18.90 seconds. 

It appeared the record of 19.19s Usain Bolt set at the 2009 World Championships had gone, but BBC commentator Steve Cram was among those to question the time. 

"That cannot be right," said Cram. "Even he has got his hands in the air wondering what is going on." 

It was then revealed that world champion Lyles had run 15m less than his opponents competing at other tracks, as he had started in the wrong lane. 

The 22-year-old subsequently missed out on a $10,000 winner's cheque, with Christophe Lemaitre taking victory in a time of 20.65 at Letzigrund. 

Lyles tweeted: "You can’t be playing with my emotions like this.... got me in the wrong lane smh [shaking my head]." 

Olympic legend Allyson Felix to retire at season's end

After claiming gold and bronze in the 400m and 4x400m relay respectively at the Tokyo Olympics, the 36-year-old will retire having won 11 Olympic medals including seven gold.

In November 2018, Felix gave birth via emergency Caesarian at 32 weeks, but returned to the track less than a year later to become the most successful athlete in World Championships history.

Felix has the potential to add to her 13 world titles at this year's World Championships in Oregon in June

"As a little girl they called chicken legs, never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined a career like this," Felix wrote in an Instagram post.

"I have so much gratitude for this sport that has changed my life. I have given everything I have to running and for the first time I'm not sure I have anything left to give.

"I want to say goodbye and thank you to the people who have helped shape me the only way I know – with one last run."

In 2019, Felix contested the issue of maternity pay after revealing in the New York Times that sponsors Nike wanted to reduce her pay by 70 per cent once she became a mother. 

"This season isn't about the time on the clock, it's simply about joy," she said.

"This season, I'm running for women. I'm running for a better future for my daughter. I'm running for you."

The IAAF Diamond League begins in May in Doha.

We don't have to do things the same way – Coe suggests athletics changes following coronavirus crisis

On Tuesday, it was confirmed the Tokyo Olympics – which had been due to start in July – has been postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing crisis.

World Athletics has welcomed the decision, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) having initially been reluctant to postpone the showpiece event.

It appears inevitable the World Athletics Championship, due to be held in Oregon in August 2021, will be nudged back a year to 2022 as a result.

Though disappointed at the 2020 schedule being hugely affected, Coe suggested there is now an opportunity to reinvigorate athletics.

"When we get through this, and we will, we will be braver and more innovative," Coe wrote in an open letter on Friday.

"We will be more collaborative and resilient. We will be stronger and more tolerant. We will be more global, not less.

"In sport we have a unique opportunity not to tiptoe around things and tweak at the edges. We have the chance to think bigger, to rip up the blueprints and banish the 'that's the way we've always done it' mentality."

Coe added: "The situation the world finds itself in today is a huge wake-up call for all of us – as human beings, as businesses and as sport. We should capitalise on this and work out new ways of delivering events, create and plan new events that embrace the many as well as the few.

"We can use this time to innovate and extend our sport across the year. Rather than just focusing on one-day meetings and one-day road races at one end of the spectrum and 10-day extravaganzas at the other end, we should look at weekend festivals of running, jumping and throwing that take advantage of the southern and northern hemisphere seasons.

"We should work with governments to re-establish sport in schools, rebuild club structures, incentivise people to exercise and get fit. This should and could be the new normal. We don't have to do things the same way.

"The priority for all of us right now is to contain the pandemic, stay healthy and stay home. But where we can continue to drive our sport forward, we must."

Coe also revealed his organisation will do all it can to ensure the outdoor season of one-day meetings goes ahead as soon as it is safe, with Diamond League events having been postponed until at least June.

World Champs silver medallist, Shaneika Ricketts, to tweak preparations for Tokyo 2020

According to Ricketts coach and husband, Kerry Lee Ricketts, Shanieka will be working on more technical advances to her jumping, which will mean she competes less ahead of the Olympics.

That method is in stark contrast to the way Ricketts approached last year when she had what has been her most successful season to date.

Ricketts competed in 15 meets last year but her coach says she won’t need as many this time around.

“We won’t need many meets. I think she will probably open at either the Jamaica [International] Invitational if it has a triple jump or the Racers Grand Prix,” said coach Ricketts.

Ricketts pointed out that last year, there was a lot of testing to see what worked and what didn’t.

Now that the testing is over, Ricketts says there is no need to jump as much.

“This year, it’s not so much testing, it’s more of preparation, so we’re just basically going to prepare, prepare, prepare,” he said.

Shanieka Ricketts has been hunting for marks over 15 metres, getting closer with her personal best 14.93 metres. To get there, her coach believes she needs to get her final phase right, something that while there has been improvement, accounting for consistently bigger jumps, she still hasn’t nailed down.

“We’ve been putting in a lot of work in the last phase and we haven’t gotten it yet and we still have some work to do,” said the coach.

“It’s a learning process where, you know, you learn A and then you move on to B. You can’t learn A and B at the same time,” he said.