News - 04.07.2010

Oliver extends hurdle lead, Dix upsets Gay in Eugene

David Oliver

3 July 2010 - Eugene, Oregon, USA - In a meet with five world-leading marks, David Oliver was literally and figuratively head and shoulders above the field at the Nike Prefontaine Classic, the sixth event of the Samsung Diamond League.

The towering Oliver efficiently clicked off a series of crisp barriers to stop the clock at 12.90 in the 110m Hurdles, chopping .03 sec off his 12.93 PB and world leader he ran last week at the USA Championships in Des Moines. In doing so, Oliver equalled Dominique Arnold's national record and tied Arnold at third on the all-time list (with the fourth-best mark, behind Liu Xiang and two marks by current World record holder Dayron Robles).

Like many athletes, David Oliver is a Twitter user, but he may need to change his handle. After his 12.90 110m hurdles race at today's Prefontaine Classic, "doliversub13" looks somehow under-ambitious. Is "doliversub12_9" in use?

Dix upsets Gay at 200m

Walter Dix arrived in Eugene tied with Usain Bolt atop the Diamond Race standings for the 200m, but he's leaving in sole command with two wins. Dix matched the curve of Tyson Gay, back in the blocks after a nagging hamstring issue, and then clawed his way to a narrow lead over the Samsung Diamond League Ambassador on the homestretch. Dix arrived at the line in 19.72, just inches ahead of Gay, whose injury worries did not prevent him from running 19.76.

Gay said, "This performance wasn't bad for my first race and I was under a lot of pressure. I felt him coming up on me on the curve and I knew I was in for a tough race. It's not quite the step I wanted but I know my finish is not there yet."

The blazing 200m wasn't even one of the five season-leading marks at the thirty-five-year-old event. Thanks to this year's move later in the season's calendar, the annual Hayward Field event saw twelve meet records.

Cantwell "kills one"

Christian Cantwell was among the world leaders, blasting the shot out to 22.41m on his sixth and last attempt. Cantwell, who came to Eugene promising that he was ready to toss the iron ball much farther than he managed in winning the U.S. championships in Des Moines last week, opened with a 21.78m mark in the first round and extended that to 21.89m in the fifth round before delivering his 22.41 salvo.

As has become common for Cantwell this season, all six of his marks were enough to win, with Dylan Armstrong coming in second at 21.33m.

A championship-level 100m final

Meet management arranged a women's 100m as competitive as a global championship final, and as she often has in global championships, Veronica Campbell-Brown rose to the occasion. Campbell-Brown scorched a 10.78 straightaway, yet only barely got the best of World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser and 2009 world leader Carmelita Jeter. Fraser and Jeter finished in 10.82 and 10.83, respectively. All three marks bettered the previous world leader of Kelly-Ann Baptiste, 10.84.

Jeter continues to lead the Diamond Race thanks to her third-place finish, with five points ahead of Campbell-Brown's four.

In the women's 800m, Mariya Savinova held off the Kenyan duo of Nancy Jebet Langat (the Olympic 1500m champion) and Diamond Race leader Janeth Jepkosgei to set up a new world leading time of 1:57.56, lowering the previous meet record belonging to Maria Mutola by .01sec. Langat, second in 1:57.75, snuck by Jepkosgei (1:57.84) in the final strides, but Jepkosgei retains her Diamond Race lead with a three-point advantage over Savinova and Halima Hachlaf.

Kaki's record attempt falls short

The fifth world-leading mark of the afternoon came outside the Diamond League schedule, as Sudan's Abubaker Kaki came up short in his attempt to lower the 1000m World record of 2:11.96 set by Noah Ngeny in 1999. Kaki's 2:13.62 was nevertheless almost four seconds faster than the previous world leader, and he was followed closely to the line by Boaz Lalang in 2:14.83.

Demus' domination

Lashinda Demus continued her reign as the untouchable 400m hurdler of the season, once again arriving on the homestretch well in command and extending her lead through the finish. Demus crossed the line in 53.03 to 53.78 for Kaliese Spencer and further extended her lead in the hurdles Diamond Race.

With the hurdles off the track, the women's 400m was much closer, with Allyson Felix and Amantle Montsho taking that race to the wire. Felix's lead over Montsho at the line, 50.27 to 50.30, was enough to put the pair in a dead heat in the Diamond Race with eight points apiece.

In the longest barrier race, Milcah Cheiywa Chemos won her biggest victory of her revelatory season, if not the fastest, by besting World champion Marta Dominguez in the women's 3000m Steeplechase. Dominguez held on to Chemos' pace throughout the race but struggled in the closing lap, stumbling slightly out of the last water pit, and Chemos kept a relentless closing pace and put up a 9:26.70 victory, with Dominguez second in 9:29.61.

Men's middle distances

With the Prefontaine Classic taking its name from a middle-distance star, the men's 5000m and the Bowerman Mile are often the highlights of the meet. The longer event today saw a victory for the younger brother of the World record holder, as Tariku Bekele led an Ethiopian sweep. Bekele's 12:58.93 was a North American all-comers record, ahead of his countrymen Dejen Gebremeskel (12:59.30) and Imane Merga (13:00.18). Merga retains the Diamond Race lead with ten points, but Bekele has now moved into second with six and the pair will likely not settle this race until the end of the season.

Olympic 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop ran a stellar 3:49.75 to win the concluding event of the afternoon, the Bowerman Mile, with Amine Laalou just behind in 3:50.22. The lanky Kenyan dominates the Diamond Race with ten points. The mile illustrated the depth of competition here in Eugene, with ten of the eleven finishers dipping under the benchmark clocking of 4:00 and ten more doing the same in the earlier "international" race.

Men on the field

Piotr Malachowski seized the Diamond Race lead in the men's Discus Throw, with his 67.66m mark in the second round holding through the remainder of the competition. His Hungarian rival, Zoltan Kovago, formerly tied with Malachowski for the Diamond Race lead, took second with 67.55m in the fourth round.

Irving Saladino earned a victory over Diamond Race leader Dwight Phillips in the Long Jump with an 8.46m leap, but Phillips retains the race lead by two points over the Panamanian. The competition was fierce with Saladino getting only one legal mark and Phillips scoring three hops which were close, but not close enough, the best being an 8.41m in the third round.

Women on the field

In women's field events, Fabiana Murer took command of the Diamond Race in the women's Pole Vault with another win on countback. Both Murer and Anna Rogowska had 4.58m clearances but failed to get over 4.68m, so Murer won by virtue of making 4.58m on her second attempt, to Rogowska's third.

Nadezhda Alekhina took the Triple Jump victory from Olga Rypakova, 14.62m to 14.45m, but Rypakova retained the Diamond Race lead, her second-place points breaking a tie with Yargelis Savigne.

Kara Patterson, one of the stars of the U.S. championships last weekend in Des Moines, earned her first win in the Samsung Diamond League with a 65.90m effort in the women's Javelin. Samsung Diamond League Ambassador Barbora Spotakova, whose luggage never arrived in Eugene, competed with both borrowed clothes and borrowed javelins. Spotakova finished third in 61.12m but retained the Diamond Race lead over Patterson and Mariya Abakumova, now tied for second.

Other events

Outside the Diamond Race events, Tirunesh Dibaba established a Hayward Field record of 14:34.08 in the women's 5000m, with Olympic 10,000m bronze medalist Shalane Flanagan second in 14:49.08.

Eugene opened the meet with the best women's Hammer Throw competition ever held in the USA, with Tatyana Lysenko and Betty Heidler going the full six rounds and producing the five best all-comers marks in history. Heidler took the lead from Lysenko in the fourth round with 74.48m, then 74.55m in the fifth, but Lysenko produced a 75.98m toss in the sixth round to re-take the lead. Heidler could only find 74.87m to answer, and that was the end.

With 12,834 fans in attendance, the Prefontaine Classic recorded its 15th consecutive sellout.

Parker Morse for the Samsung DL

***Contact us***