Jesse Squire | On 09, May 2013

The Diamond League is ready for action!

The weekend’s best matchups comes a day early this week because the schedule warrants it. Not only does the Diamond League start early on Friday, but the top collegiate conference championships go through the weekend as well.

There is so much going on this weekend that I’ve gone to twenty, yes twenty matchups! Here are the top clashes set for the coming days.

1. Allyson Felix vs Amantle Montsho

400 meters, Doha Diamond League
Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha QAT
Friday, 8:37pm local time (1:37pm ET)
Felix was the dominant female athlete of 2012, finally winning Olympic gold in the 200 meters. Running distances from 100 meters to 400 meters, she’s undefeated in ten races over the eight years in the pro meets held in Doha. Montsho, however, beat Felix in the 2011 World Championships final at 400 meters and took fourth at the Olympics, so she is no pushover. A season-starting 50.14 in Africa two weeks ago shows she’s already in good form. Britain’s Christine Ohuorogu, gold and silver medalist at the last two Olympics, is off to her career best start this year and could factor in as well.
Schedule, start lists and live results | Universal Sports live coverage | Sketchy but free live streams
IAAF: Felix and Montsho’s Diamond Race begins in Doha

2. Florida vs Texas A&M (men)

SEC Championships
Audrey J. Walton Stadium, Columbia MO
Thursday through Sunday
In the latest USTFCCCA rankings, Florida is #1 and Texas A&M is #2. Arkansas is a real threat to win as well, as the NCAA indoor champions sit #5 in the rankings. And if it’s close and comes down to the 4×400 relay? Well, these three teams have the three best 4×400 squads in the country. This should be a barn-burner. I’ll update scoring predictions throughout the weekend at tracksuperfan.com.
Meet homepage with schedule & links to live webstreams | Live results

3. David Rudisha vs Mohammed Aman

800 meters, Doha Diamond League
Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha QAT
Friday, 7:27pm local time (12:27pm ET)
Rudisha is the dominant half-miler of the last few years, so much so that he might be considered the greatest of all time or at least close to it. He’s taken the world record to places we previously thought unimaginable and been virtually unbeatable. In fact, he’s lost only twice in the last three years…both times to teenager Aman, Ethiopia’s national record holder. Rudisha is off to a hot start, with a nice 45.5 for 400 meters under his belt, and looks ready to extend his dominance. Another tough competitor entered here is Kenya’s Timothy Kitum, the Olympic bronze medalist.
Schedule, start lists and live results | Universal Sports live coverage | Sketchy but free live streams
The Statesman: Rudisha joins world stars for Diamond Race in Doha
L’Equipe: Ce qui reste à faire

4. Ameer Webb vs Isiah Young

200 meters, SEC Championships
Audrey J. Walton Stadium, Columbia MO
Sunday, 5:20pm local time (6:20pm ET)
Texas A&M’s Webb is the two-time NCAA indoor champion at this distance and was runner-up at last year’s NCAA outdoor championships. Ole Miss’ Young made the Olympic team at this distance. This is doubtlessly the best individual matchup of the conference championship weekend, and might be the best at next month’s NCAA Championships.

The sprints at the SEC Championships are off the charts. In the latest TFN NCAA formcharts, the conference represents five of the top eight in the men’s 200, five of the top six in the men’s 100, and five of the top ten in the men’s 400. No surprise, then that the NCAA’s four fastest 4×100 teams are in the SEC. Two more great individual men’s matchups are likely to be in the pole vault, between NCAA leader Sam Kendricks (Ole Miss) and two-time NCAA indoor champion Andrew Irwin (Arkansas), and in the decathlon, between Georgia’s Maicel Uibo and Arkansas’ NCAA indoor champion, Kevin Lazas.
Meet homepage with schedule & links to live webstreams | Live results

5. Reese Hoffa vs Ryan Whiting

Shot put, Doha Diamond League
Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha QAT
Friday, 5:35pm local time (10:35am ET)
Hoffa and Whiting are clearly the world’s top two shot putters through the early season and have already staged some great battles. An added challenge comes in the form of Poland’s Olympic champion, Tomasz Majewski, but he tends not to be in top form this early in the year.
Schedule, start lists and live results | Universal Sports live coverage | Sketchy but free live streams

6. Texas A&M vs Florida vs LSU (women)

SEC Championships
Audrey J. Walton Stadium, Columbia MO
Thursday through Sunday
Any of these three could win the NCAA title, as they are currently #2, #3 and #4 in the USTFCCCA computer rankings. #6 Arkansas is also a threat to win—the Razorbacks won the SEC Indoor title in February–and #10 Georgia gives the SEC half of the nation’s top ten. And, like in the men’s championship, these teams are all loaded in the meet-concluding 4×400.
Meet homepage with schedule & links to live webstreams | Live results

7. Silas Kiplagat vs Asbel Kiprop

1500 meters, Doha Diamond League
Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha QAT
Friday, 7:47pm local time (12:47 ET)
You wouldn’t know it from the Olympics, where both of these men underperformed, but they are the two best milers on the planet right now. They were the two fastest men last year and each won more big races than anyone else, but bombed in London. This is the beginning of a season of redemption for both. Also watch Olympic bronze medalist Abdelaati Iguider (Morocco) and Ayanleh Souleiman (from every smart-aleck teenager’s favorites country, Djibouti).
Schedule, start lists and live results | Universal Sports live coverage | Sketchy but free live streams
Let’s Run: There is no king in 1500 m, but it is good for the show
Capital FM Kenya: Kiprop braced for Doha redemption

8. Oregon vs Arizona (women)

Pac-12 Championships
Loker Stadium, Los Angeles CA
Saturday and Sunday
Arizona is #5 in the USTFCCCA computer rankings and Oregon is #7, and the Portland Oregonian’s Ken Goe dopes this out as a very close call. #9 Arizona State is also in the mix. I think, however, that Oregon will win this. Any calculation based on seasonal best marks alone will sell the Ducks short, as they’ve purposely left a lot in the tank. That’s what happened at the NCAA Indoor Championships, where I was confident that Oregon would prevail when few others were.

Goe reported today that Oregon coach Robert Johnson is going “all-in” and asking for many big efforts out of the team’s biggest stars. If it comes down to the last few events, which are the 5000 meters and the 4×400 relay, these are Oregon strengths. The Ducks won the NCAA cross country championships last fall, and dominated the 4×400 at this year’s NCAA indoor championships and Penn Relays.
Meet homepage | Schedule | Live results
TV coverage: Pac-12 Networks, Wednesday, May 15 at 6 p.m. PT
OregonLive preview

9. Abeba Arigawi vs Genzebe Dibaba

1500 meters, Doha Diamond League
Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha QAT
Friday, 7:14pm local time (12:14pm ET)
Arigawi, an Ethiopian with Swedish citizenship, dominated the indoor season and has the year’s fastest time. Dibaba, the Ethiopian record holder, was the best in the world last year before suffering a hamstring injury in the runup to the Olympics. Any way you slice it, these are the world’s two best women’s milers at the moment (now that the Olympic champion, Asli Alptekin, is likely to receive a lifetime doping ban).
Schedule, start lists and live results | Universal Sports live coverage | Sketchy but free live streams
Let’s Run: 2013 Opener Is A Mid-d Fans Dream

10. You vs. Us

IAAF Fantasy Diamond Race
No, seriously. The IAAF runs a Fantasy Diamond Race and you can join the House of Run league (PIN is 30139). The fun in fantasy sports is being obsessive about your decisions before the competition and needling your friends afterwards.

11. Kori Carter vs Georgeanne Moline

400m hurdles, Pac-12 Championships
Loker Stadium, Los Angeles CA
Sunday, 3:30pm local time (6:30pm ET)
These are the top two in the event in the NCAA, and both are closing in on being some of the fastest hurdlers in collegiate history. As of right now, they’re 2nd and 3rd on the world list. Arizona’s Moline was fifth at the Olympics last year, but Stanford’s Carter beat her in their lone meeting this year. This is the best individual race of the Pac-12 championships.
Meet homepage | Schedule | Live results
TV coverage: Pac-12 Networks, Wednesday, May 15 at 6 p.m. PT

12. Brittney Reese vs Yelena Sokolova

Long jump, Doha Diamond League
Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha QAT
Friday, 8:00pm local time (1:00pm ET)
Reese, nicknamed “The Beast”, has won pretty much every major title of the last four years. She can be inconsistent, though, so beating her isn’t impossible. Sokolova took silver behind her at last year’s Olympics. The Olympic bronze medalist is here, too, in the form of Janay DeLoach.
Schedule, start lists and live results | Universal Sports live coverage | Sketchy but free live streams
Gulf Times: Reese hungry for US record, world title

13. Shaunae Miller vs Regina George

200 meters, SEC Championships
Audrey J. Walton Stadium, Columbia MO
Sunday, 4:10pm local time (5:10pm ET)
Figure these two to be the ones battling it out in this event at the NCAA Championships. Georgia freshman Miller, from The Bahamas, is pretty much the most accomplished U20 quarter-miler of all time–she’s won every international age-group competition she’s entered since 2010, and won the NCAA indoor championship with the fifth-best indoor time in collegiate history. Arkansas’ George was 11th at last year’s Olympics (competing for Nigeria) and threw down the fastest split in the USA vs The World competition at the Penn Relays. Expect a war.
Meet homepage with schedule & links to live webstreams | Live results

14. Keshorn Walcott vs Andreas Thorkildsen

Javelin throw, Doha Diamond League
Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha QAT
Friday, 7:15pm local time (12:15pm ET)
Walcott shocked the world last year, becoming the youngest Olympic men’s javelin champion in history and the first non-European to win in sixty years. I mean, when you think “javelin”, you don’t think “Trinidad and Tobago”. Representing the more traditional Nordic stronghold of javelin throwing is Norway’s Thorkildsen, winner of the previous two Olympic titles, and Tero Pitkamaki, the early world leader. “Thorky” is finally injury-free, and got an interesting photo-op on Monday, participating in an “equestrian javelin throw” while riding an Arabian horse at Al-Saqab, Qatar’s famous equestrian center.
Schedule, start lists and live results | Universal Sports live coverage | Sketchy but free live streams
Gulf Times: Thorkildsen targets 85m+ distance in Doha

15. Will Leer vs Nick Willis

Medtronic TC Mile, Minneapolis MN
Thursday, 8:03pm local time (9:03pm ET)
Willis is riding a seven-meet win streak this year, during which he’s run the 1500 meter world leader and outdoor mile world leader. Leer, a Minnetonka native, is the 2013 US indoor champion who has been taken things up a notch since moving to Southern California. Both are coached by Ron Warhurst and they occasionally train together. The course record of 3:58.4 could be broken–and if so, that comes with a $10,000 bonus.
Race website | Bring Back the Mile feature
Runner’s World: Olympic Medalist Nick Willis Returns to What Works Best

16. Dawn Harper vs Lolo Jones

100m hurdles, Doha Diamond League
Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha QAT
Friday, 8:00pm local time (1:00pm ET)
Harper is the Olympic silver medalist and Jones is well-known even to casual followers of track and field. Jones was just fourth in her season opener and fourth at last year’s Olympics. Why does she get top billing over others, like world leader Queen Harrison (who beat both Harper and Jones at the Drake Relays) and Olympic bronze medalist Kellie Wells?

Besides the name recognition, it’s because I think Jones is ready for a big improvement. Her 2012 season came on the heels of a lost 2011 season and spinal surgery. This winter she didn’t get on the track, pursuing bobsledding instead. She says the big strength gains she got from bobsled has allowed her to make the switch to a rare seven-step approach to the first hurdle, one adopted by Aries Merritt last year with fantastic results. All of this makes me think she will soon be competitive with the very best US hurdlers.
Schedule, start lists and live results | Universal Sports live coverage | Sketchy but free live streams
AP: Olympians to star at Diamond League opener

17. Bryshon Nellum vs Mike Berry

400 meters, Pac-12 Championships
Loker Stadium, Los Angeles CA
Sunday, 2:20pm local time (5:20pm ET)
USC’s Nellum reached the semfinals at last year’s Olympics and was the USA flag-bearer for the closing ceremonies. Oregon’s Berry was on the US team for the 2011 World Championships, winning a gold medal in the 4×400 relay. Track and Field News figures these two as the favorites to win the NCAA Championship in this event, with this as the first round. Interestingly enough, it’s a home-and-home series–this one at USC and the NCAA at Oregon.
Meet homepage | Schedule | Live results
TV coverage: Pac-12 Networks, Wednesday, May 15 at 6 p.m. PT

18. Matt Tegenkamp vs 25 km

USA 25 km Championships, Grand Rapids MI
Saturday, 8:20am ET
Not long ago the joke was that Teg doesn’t run the 10k. Now he’s not only moved up to that distance but beyond, tackling 20k last year and now 25k. We might not know exactly what the future holds for Tegenkamp (and maybe he doesn’t either), but after making five straight US national teams at 5k and 10k, it might be time for him to move to the marathon. If so, this is part of a natural progression towards the 26-miler. The USA could use another highly-talented track guy moving to the marathon and doing well; another Meb Keflezighi would be great.
Race website and live stream
Runnerspace.com: Catching up with Matt Tegenkamp

19. Mutaz Essa Barshim vs Robbie Grabarz

High jump, Doha Diamond League
Qatar Sports Club Stadium, Doha QAT
Friday, 6:40pm local time (11:40am ET)
Barshim is Qatar’s first homegrown talent in track and field to become a high achiever (the country has enticed many foreigners to switch nationality). Just 21 years old, he’s the world leader and managed to win Olympic bronze while suffering from a vertebral stress fracture. He’s the real deal, and give the home crowd much to cheer for. Grabarz was one of the other two who tied Barhsim for bronze. Other challengers include Russia’s Aleksey Dmitrik (#2 on the world list) and Sergey Mudrov (this year’s European indoor champ).
Schedule, start lists and live results | Universal Sports live coverage | Sketchy but free live streams
IAAF: Barshim brothers out to impress at Doha

20. Leonard Patrick Komon vs the clock

UAE Healthy Kidney 10k, New York NY
Saturday, 9:30am
Komon is the world record holder at 10k and 15k, and is chasing his own Healthy Kidney 10k record of 27:35 and the $30,000 bonus that goes with it. He’ll have plenty of company, most notably in Edwin Soi (bronze at last year’s World Indoor 3k). A couple of former NCAA athletes are entered in Stephen Sambu (formerly of Arizona) and Leonard Korir (formerly of Iona).
Race website | Race Results Weekly preview