The Wanda Diamond League has today postponed three more meetings which had been scheduled to take place in May. An alternative calendar for the 2020 season is to be announced in due course.
Following the postponement of early-season events in Qatar and China last week, the series has decided to also suspend meetings in Stockholm (scheduled for 24 May), Naples/Rome (28 May) and Rabat (31 May).
The decision was made in close consultation with all the relevant parties. The dynamic global spread of the COVID-19 disease, the travel restrictions expected to be in force for some time and above all concerns over athlete safety have made it impossible to stage the competitions as planned.
The meeting organisers, the Wanda Diamond League and World Athletics remain committed to delivering a structured extensive season in 2020. The aim is to ensure that athletes can compete at the highest possible level this year and that fans will be able to see their favourite stars in action, whenever the global health situation allows.
New dates for Wanda Diamond League events will be announced in cooperation with the World Athletics Global Calendar Unit as soon as the extraordinary situation makes a reliable plan possible. We are working intensively with all stakeholders (athletes, managers, broadcasters, sponsors, local authorities and federations) to develop a new calendar for a 2020 Wanda Diamond League season which best serves the interests of athletes and fans.
Paulino, running from lane five, made her move off the curve and swept by Jamaica’s long-time leader Candice McLeod, to stop the clock in 49.36s. McLeod stayed on for second, equaling her season’s best 50.19s.
American Lynna Irby-Jackson (50.45s) was third, as she got by the tiring World Championships bronze medallist Sada Williams (50.95s) of Barbados.
In the end, the Jamaican, showing very little signs of fatigue, stopped the clock 21.82s in a slight 0.8 metres per second head wind.
Jackson stormed off the curve and later opened up in the stretch run, leaving Great Britain’s Daryll Neita (22.25s), to finish best of the rest, with American Kayla White (22.33s) in third.
Bahamian Anthonique Strachan, who early contested the 100m, placed sixth in 22.65s.
Meanwhile, American Noah Lyles, also extended his rich vein of form, as he closed fast to top the men’s event in 19.80s, ahead of compatriot Erriyon Knighton (19.87s), with Great Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (19.94s) in third.
The Tokyo Olympics 100m silver medalist was speaking at a press conference Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she, Thompson-Herah and Shericka Jackson will once again line up for the 100m in a field that also includes local talents Mujinga Kamnundji, Ajla del Ponte and Marie Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast.
Talk of the world record heated up last weekend when Thompson-Herah sped to a world-leading and personal best 10.54 while winning the blue-riband dash at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. The time is only 0.05s off the world record of 10.49.
Fraser-Pryce, who ran a personal best of 10.63 in June, believes that the world record is now being challenged is a boon for the sport and women’s sprinting.
“As for running the world record, Elaine is much, much closer than I am so it’s good to be able to challenge a record that for women that for a long time we thought was impossible,” she told media gathered for the press conference,” and it speaks to the evolution of sprinting and what mechanics can do to sprinting and the different things that are involved in sprinting, so to be able to be in that conversation or to have that conversation is truly remarkable.”
Fraser-Pryce, who ran 10.73 while finishing second to Thompson-Herah in Eugene, expressed optimism that fast times – maybe even the world record - can be achieved on the track in Lausanne on Thursday.
“I know that Lausanne has a very good track; I ran 10.7 here in 2019 after coming off a plane, so I know it’s a very good track. So, hopefully, tomorrow the ladies will have a superb race and we will see how it goes at the end.”
Rising American star Sha’ Carri Richardson will take on two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m in a much-anticipated matchup in the United Kingdom.
Defending Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and European champion Dina Asher-Smith will also add spice to the potentially sizzling showdown.
Richardson, who is trained by Dennis Mitchell, stunned the world on April 10 when she blazed to a world-leading 10.72 at the Miramar South Florida Invitational.
It was the fastest time run by a woman that early in the season and announced to the world the potential threat she poses to the Jamaican stranglehold on the Olympic blue-riband event since Fraser-Pryce became the first Jamaican woman to win an Olympic 100m title in Beijing in 2008.
Fraser-Pryce defended her title in 2012 but was defeated by Thompson-Herah at Rio 2016. Richardson represents the USA’s best hope of breaking that hold.
Meanwhile, Asher-Smith, the reigning European 100 and 200m champion should not be overlooked. Second to Fraser-Pryce at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, the Briton has not raced outdoors so far this season but looked sharp in a couple of indoor meets in Germany in January.
The first Wanda Diamond League event of 2021 was due to take place in Rabat but has been moved to Gateshead due to the coronavirus pandemic. It means Gateshead International Stadium will be staging its first international Grand Prix meeting since 2010.
James, who was disqualified for a lane violation at the recent World Athletics Championships, ran his usual well-paced race from lane four to stop the clock in the winning time, which betters his previous season’s best of 44.50s.
He just edged American Quincy Hall, who was also given the same time, while Jamaican Rusheen McDonald (44.82s), was third. Another Jamaican Zandrion Barnes (45.29s) finished eighth.
Thompson, who has been holding good form since his first sub-10 second clocking at Jamaica’s National Championships in July, produced a top performance, which not only shattered his previous personal best of 9.91s, but also makes him the fastest Jamaican this year. He overtook Oblique Seville at 9.86s.
Additionally, the 22-year-old Thompson’s time also makes him the sixth-fastest Jamaican of all time. Only Usain Bolt (9.58s), Yohan Blake (9.69s), Asafa Powell (9.72s), Nesta Carter (9.78s) and Steve Mullings (9.80s), have gone faster.
While Thompson’s achievement, which makes him the 22nd fastest man of all time and also earned him a spot in the Diamond League final, may come as a surprise to many, his coach Stephen Francis did indicate that there was more to come after his one-round run at the national championships.
“He would have run significantly faster but the most important thing is that he feels healthy and can look forward to the rest of the summer. Our plan is to ensure that next year, in the Olympic year, he will have the necessary race experience and a different attitude to tackle the full program,” Francis said then in an interview with Sportsmax.tv.
Thompson just failed to get back to Coleman, who equalled Noah Lyles World leading time, as they competed in a slight tailwind of 0.4 metres per second. American Fred Kerley (9.96s) was third.
Meanwhile, the other Jamaicans, Yohan Blake (10.04s), Rohan Watson (10.18s), were sixth and ninth respectively, while Ackeem Blake, who seemingly picked up an injury finished at the back of the pack in well over 25 seconds.
With none of the medallists from the World Athletic Championships in Budapest present, the event was left for the pickings, and it was Great Britain’s Laura Muir that proved best of the lot on the day, as the Jamaicans produced contrasting performances in their bid.
Muir, who assumed the lead at the 200m mark, left the field in her wake, as she went on to win in 1:57.71, ahead of Australia’s Catriona Bisset (1:58.77) and the fast-finishing Tracey (1:59.05), who left it late.
The front-running Goule-Toppin, who took the lead at the bell, faded into ninth in 2:00.10.
Thompson-Herah, who has been struggling to get back to her best after battling injury, ran a well-paced raced from a tidy break, but couldn’t get back to Richardson, who continues to display her superb form this season.
The American won in 10.88s, with another Jamaican Natasha Morrison (11.00s), running her heart out from lane one, to edge Thompson-Herah for second.
Thompson-Herah’s time bettered her previous season’s best of 11.06s, and though it is well off her personal best of 10.54s, it signals a step in the right direction since she started working with Shanikie Osbourne on a provisional basis.
Meanwhile, Shashalee Forbes (11.2s), the other Jamaican in the event, placed fifth, while Anthonique Strachan (11.39s) of the Bahamas failed to figure on this occasion, placing ninth.
Thompson-Herah ran a world-leading 10.85s in a dominating performance at the Diamond League meeting in Rome. She was metres clear of the USA’s Aleia Hobbs (11.12) and the Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou, the bronze medallist from last year’s 100m final at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Thompson, who finished fourth in Doha in 10.93, said her performance on Thursday told her all she needed to know.
“I leave here with the world-leading time, I'm super excited,” she said.
“This tells me where I am at the end of this season, and tells me how I can prepare for next year. I am super excited.”
The Covid-19 pandemic enforced a lot of changes to the track season and Thompson-Herah admitted that it has been challenging. However, she has managed to find the motivation she needs while looking forward to the Olympics where she intends to defend her Olympic double from Rio 2016.
“This year required more adjusting, and my goal was to push back and to motivate myself,” she said. “I am a double Olympic champion, so I want to be in my top form next season. We had some competitions in Jamaica, but obviously, the field was not as strong as it is here.”
