Allyson Felix (Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE)

Diamond League launches in Doha

(Release from USA Track & Field)

Many of Team USA’s finest including Jesse Williams, Allyson Felix and LaShawn Merritt are slated to compete in Doha, Qatar, Friday as the Samsung Diamond League kicks off its third annual series.

It will be a U.S. and Jamaican showdown in the women’s 100m with a total of seven athletes from the two nations lining up on the straightaway. The two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 200m, Felix will drop down to the 100m for the second time this year after her individual opening win of 11.22 last week in Japan. Lashauntea Moore is the top U.S. entrant in the 100m with a season best of 11.11 and Miki Barber will make her season debut at the distance. Jamaica is bringing their heavy-hitters with Olympic and world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown and reigning Olympic medalists Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson.

The men’s high jump is set to be a marquee event with four of the world’s best. 2011 World champion Williams will open his outdoor season by facing recent World Indoor champion Dimitrios Chondrokoukis of Greece and World Outdoor silver medalist Aleksey Dmitrik of Russia and World Outdoor bronze medalist Trevor Barry of the Bahamas.

The men’s 400m boasts two reigning Olympic champions in LaShawn Merritt in the 400m and Angelo Taylor in the 400m hurdles. Merritt is the current world leader at 44.73, which earned him a win earlier this month in Guadalupe, Mexico. Taylor is ranked in the top-12 in the world in both the hurdles and the 400m. The duo will be challenged by Martyn Rooney of Great Britain, who currently owns the second fastest time in the world.

The Samsung Diamond League includes 32 individual event disciplines with a points scoring ‘Diamond Race’ which runs throughout the 14-meet series. Winners of each Diamond Race will receive a diamond trophy and a cash prize.

The Diamond League series takes on a new importance this year with a new IAAF rule that grants the overall series champion in each event a wild-card entry into the next World Outdoor Championships. It gives Team USA another opportunity to take four athletes in an individual event at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow. Previously, only the defending world champion was given a wild card entry.

The meet will be webcast live by Universal Sports on Friday at noon eastern time. For webcast information visit http://universalsports.com/category/track-field.

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Bolt in shock at Blake's 19.26

The meet was highlighted by Yohan Blake’s spectacular 200 meter run in a time of 19.26 seconds, the second fastest of all-time.  The 100 meter world champion had an incredibly lackluster start, allowing Walter Dix on his inside to pull even at the half-way mark.  The second half of the race, however, was all about Blake as he sped past Dix to win a meet record and world leading time.

Dix set a personal best of 19.53 seconds in second place, the second-fast ever run by an American.

Blake’s stunning performance should send warning signs to Jamaican teammate Usain Bolt who ran 9.76 seconds in Brussels to set the world leading mark in the 100 meters.  Bolt can no longer afford to fool around in his preparation for the London Olympics.

The other headline for U.S. fans were the distances performances of Galen Rupp and Morgan Uceny.

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Daegu was no fluke for Yohan Blake (Reuters/Ruben Sprich)

Weltklasse Zurich, the meet known to attract the world’s best post-major championships, delivered once again on Thursday.  Some thoughts from the day’s events:

• Yohan Blake proved to be a worthy world champion with his win in personal best time of 9.82 seconds.  False start not withstanding, Blake may be the only sprinter in the world capable of challenging Usain Bolt at the Olympic Games next summer.
• Carmelita Jeter once again defeated fellow Angeleno Allyson Felix over 200 meters.  This time the duo went one-two with Jeter winning in 22.27 seconds and Felix runner-up in 22.40 seconds.  After her tough double in Daegu, Felix is already speculating about her plans for next year.  Speaking to Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune, Felix says the 200-400 double is still on the table but so is a foray into the 100 meters to help her sharpen up for the 200.  It’s still a long way until she has to decide at the 2012 Trials so all discussion now is fairly meaningless.
• Kirani James showed his Daegu performance wasn’t a fluke and cemented himself as the world’s number one quarter-miler by defeating Lashawn Merritt, Jermaine Gonzales and others in a PR of 44.36 seconds.  Ato Boldon pointed out no non-American has ever broken 44 seconds in the 400 meters but the 18 year old Grenadian could very well be the first.
• Sally Pearson continued her utter dominance of the 100 meter hurdles, this time defeating a world-class field by nearly three-tenths of a second.  The Aussie stormed off from the gun and immediately established a lead against her opponents, a margin that only grew with her blistering top-end speed.
• Long distance queen Vivian Cheruiyot had her closest call of the season as Texas Tech grad and Oregon Track Club athlete Sally Kipyego challenged the double world champ to the finish.  Ultimately Cheruiyot held on to win in 14:30.10, about three-tenths ahead of Kipyego’s 14:30.42, an eight second personal best for her.  Kipyego had previous talked about making the switch to U.S. citizenship but she has now run the times and earned the hardware to compete for any nation in the world.
• First Asafa Powell missed Worlds due to a groin injury but quickly recovered in time big appearance fees at post-Daegu meets.  Now the pattern of Jamaicans’ mysterious injuries during Worlds followed by quick recoveries continues.  Kaliese Spencer performed poorly in Daegu due to a reported groin injury but bounced back to defeat world champ Lashinda Demus and Melaine Walker in Zurich.  Interesting to say the least.

For full results from Zurich, click here.

Just a few major competitions remain in the summer season.  Rieti and Berlin run back-to-back days on Saturday and Sunday (September 10 and 11) while Zagreb will take place on Tuesday, September 13.  The final Diamond League meeting will be in Brussels on Friday, September 16.

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