Athletics: Brits deliver great Diamond League track and field meeting

Tom Walsh finished second in a stellar shotput field at the Diamond League meeting in London. Photo / Photosport

Decay in the UK is a frequent topic of conversation and, as a visitor, there is some evidence there is truth in this in the post-Brexit world.

However, the British can still organise great events, as seen with the coronation of King Charles III. The British also still deliver great track and field meetings.

Following on the success of last year’s Commonwealth Games, Sunday’s Diamond League meeting in London was superb and brilliantly organised. A sell-out 50,000 crowd, the biggest one-day athletics event in the world this year, provided a vibrant atmosphere for top-level performances. As ever, the knowledgeable crowd didn’t just cheer British athletes‚ which they do vociferously, but acknowledged meet records, Diamond League records, area records, national records, world-leading performances and personal bests. They had plenty to cheer about on Sunday.

There were four world-leading performances, two Diamond League records, a world under-20 record, four area records, a further three national records, eight meet records, 27 personal bests and 37 season bests. The women’s 5000 metres saw 10 personal bests, two season bests, a meet record, two area records and a further national record. The great Olympian Sifan Hassan was one of the area record-breakers in the 5000m. After taking much of the pace, she had to settle for third.

I was particularly impressed with Femke Bol’s outstanding 400m hurdles win and personal best, which was also a Diamond League record, meet record, area record and world-leading performance. Noah Lyles won the 200m in 19.47, which was a world-leading performance. Letsile Teboga (Botswana) set an area record in second and, to the delight of the British crowd, Zharnel Hughes broke the long-established British record of John Regis, stopping the clock in 19.73.

One of the season’s bests came from Tom Walsh who, in a stellar field, finished second with a 22.58m effort. World record-holder Ryan Crouser (USA) produced a meet record of 23.07m to win, but Walsh finished ahead with Joe Kovaks (USA) third and Jacko Gill fifth with 21.11m.

High jumper Hamish Kerr was fifth with 2.24m. He almost cleared 2.27, pulling up with a calf cramp on his first attempt. As his coach Terry Lomax said, “There were a couple of really good jumps, and [that] showed he is not far away from where he wants to be for next month’s world champs.”

Sam Tanner finished 10th in a strong 1500m field in which three set personal bests and three more season bests. Tanner was only just shy of his best (3:31.24) with his third-best ever 1500m in 3:31.60. He will have learned much in what was a large and competitive race, with only seconds separating the top dozen.

The Diamond League provides a series of outstanding quality meetings and such is the depth and quality, many athletes do not manage to get into the field. Eliza McCartney, featured a fortnight ago in the Chronicle, was one such athlete. She is a former Olympic bronze medal winner (Rio de Janeiro 2016) and is coming back well from a long-term injury. She confirmed her qualification for next month’s world championships with her 4.65m vault at the Spitzen meet in Lucerne on July 20 following a 4.71m win at the Australian Championships in April. McCartney will gain little comfort from the fact 4.71m would have seen her on the London podium. Fifth place went at 4.62m.

The big New Zealand middle-distance news came from Geordie (George) Beamish with his New Zealand 3000m steeplechase record of 8:13.26. This broke the record Peter Renner set back in 1984 in Koblenz, one of New Zealand’s longest-standing records.

Beamish did not run a major steeplechase when he was at school, but did win the New Zealand Schools 3000m championship at Cooks Gardens in 2014 in his final year at Whanganui Collegiate School. He took up a USA scholarship at Flagstaff Arizona in August 2015. He has fulfilled his early promise and leads the New Zealand rankings in four events (mile, 3000m, 5000m and 3000m steeplechase), and has now also qualified for the world championships in Steeples – a new event for Beamish, but one in which he has huge potential. I should correct one reference to the achievement in the Whanganui Chronicle earlier this week, or rather my part in it. I might have coached Beamish when at school, but I never ran for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games - I just wished I had.

Hopefully, I will be back in New Zealand to report on this weekend’s New Zealand Cross Country Championships.