“The steeplechase is unpredictable”

It isn’t over until it’s over. Nobody knows that as well as a 3000m steeplechaser. This, after all, is a discipline where even the most clear-cut races can have a sting in their tail.

In Paris in 2015, US steeplechaser Evan Jager was far ahead of the pack and on course to break the eight-minute barrier for the first time in his career, when he stumbled at the last barrier on the home straight. The mistake allowed Jairus Birech to steal in ahead of him on the finish line and left Jager just half a second short of eight minutes. 

Fellow American Emma Coburn had a similar experience in Monaco just two years ago, squandering the lead when she tumbled at the final water jump. 

With 35 barriers to clear, 3000 metres to cover and the dreaded water jump to navigate, few disciplines on the Wanda Diamond League circuit are as demanding as the steeplechase. 

The most complex of all the long distance disciplines is also one of the most fiercely contested and hardest to dominate: in the last three Diamond League seasons, there have been six different champions in the men’s and women’s events. 

German star Gesa Felicitas Krause is among those who knows what it takes to conquer the discipline. A World Athletics Championships bronze medallist in 2015 and 2019, she has also been a regular on the Diamond League circuit for much of the last decade, picking up her first and only win in the series in Rabat and 2017. 

The event is especially difficult because there are so many variables, she told the Wanda Diamond League Youtube channel. 

“It’s unpredictable, and you have to look at what your competitors are doing,” the 30-year-old explained. 

Like any long-distance event, athletes have to carefully manage their approach to the race. Yet Krause insisted that at Diamond League and championship level, tactics can only get you so far. 

“Tactics are important, but the most important is that you are fast enough. You have to run with the pack. It’s important not to go out too fast in the beginning,” she said. 

And if all else fails, sometimes sheer bloody-mindedness can get a runner through. In 2018, Conseslus Kipruto lost one of his shoes midway through the race, but rallied to take and hold the lead, before battling to an incredible victory to become the first man in any discipline to win the Diamond League title with one bare foot. 

As Krause says, the event remains unpredictable, and reigning Diamond League champions Soufiane El Bakkali and Werkuha Getachew will have their work cut out to defend their titles in 2023.