At the first 12 meetings of the Diamond League, the athletes in their discipline were able to collect points with which they could qualify for the final in Zurich. There was not only a $30,000 check for the winners of each event, but also a diamond trophy.
That was enough for the big names to give one last shot in their long and exhausting season. The Dutch Femke Bol already had a World Cup and a very busy European Championship (with 3 titles) behind her, but she did not let the diamonds in the 400 meters hurdles lie.
In the pole vault was Armand Duplantis yet another class of its own. His jump of 6.07 meters was 21 centimeters better than the number 2. Ben Brothers was fifth with 5.72.
That was also the place where the only other Belgian, Julien Watrin, ended up in the 400m hurdles. This time he was unable to improve his Belgian record, which he had set even better in Brussels: 49″08 was his finishing time.
The Jamaican Shericka Jackson was able to hit a double in the 100 and 200 meters, which were run on the same evening. She won the 200 meters by force majeure, but in the 100 meters she had to meet her compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ahead, the 5th overall victory at the Diamond League for Fraser-Pryce.
There were also a few best world year performances at the last top meeting of the season: Jakob Ingebrigtsen ran the fastest 1,500 meters of 2022 (3’29″02), Emmanuel Korir did the same in the 800 meters (1’43″26). The Dominican Marileidy Paulino completed the fastest lap of the year among the women (48″99).
The focus is on Thursday during this two-day event, but Joe Kovacs already let his muscles roll on Wednesday evening.
The American, a two-time vice champion at the Games, achieved the third best shot put throw.
His tour de force of 23.23m was a lot stronger than that of compatriot Ryan Crouser (22.74m).
The world record is in Crouser’s name. In Eugene last year he put 23.37m on the scoreboard, at the Games in Tokyo the gold was in the pocket with 23.30m.
In the high jump, Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi was the primus. Between the gusts of rain and lightning bolts he went over 2.34m.
