Diamond Race still open in every event IAAF Diamond League

As the 2014 season of the IAAF Diamond League approaches the half-way stage, the Diamond Race in all 32 disciplines can still be won by anyone.

There are eight athletes, however, who are just two more wins away from winning the Diamond Race in their event. They are shot putter Valerie Adams, discus thrower Sandra Perkovic, pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie, 800m runner Eunice Sum, 400m runner Novlene Williams-Mills, 400m hurdler Kaliese Spencer, triple jumper Will Claye and 110m hurdler Pascal Martinot-Lagarde.

Six athletes – Lavillenie, Adams, Perkovic, Sum, Williams-Mills and 400m runner LaShawn Merritt – have so far achieved a clean sweep this season, having won every Diamond Race fixture for their event.

Lavillenie and Adams have extended their career tally of IAAF Diamond League wins to 20, more than any other athlete. Lavillenie is also on course to win an unprecedented fifth Diamond Trophy this year.

Meanwhile, if Perkovic wins in Paris and Glasgow, she will become the first athlete to win at every single IAAF Diamond League meeting on the calendar.

Already this year, IAAF Diamond League records have been set in five events, the most notable of which is in the men’s high jump.

Ivan Ukhov jumped 2.41m in the opening IAAF Diamond League meeting of the year to tie the record set last year by Bohdan Bondarenko. Mutaz Essa Barshim then equalled the record in Rome, before both he and Bondarenko jumped 2.42m in New York to add another centimetre to the mark.

Two IAAF Diamond League records were set in Eugene as world indoor champion Ayanleh Souleiman clocked 3:47.32 in the mile and Mercy Cherono ran 9:13.27 over two miles. In Doha, Hellen Obiri set an IAAF Diamond League record of 8:20.68 in the 3000m, while Perkovic broke her own IAAF Diamond League record in the discus with 70.52m in Shanghai.

There have also been some notable breakthrough performers this season. Having never before won at an IAAF Diamond League meeting, US triple jumper Will Claye and US sprinter Tori Bowie have now won three events each this year and lead the Diamond Race in their respective events.

And although 16-year-old Cuban triple jumper Lazaro Martinez and 17-year-old Ethiopian 1500m runner Dawit Seyaum may not have won at an IAAF Diamond League meeting, this season they have become the youngest athletes in the history of the series to score points in the Diamond Race.

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only