Awe-sum Eunice tops
Having stormed to the number one female 800m runner on the planet after her shocking triumph at the Moscow Worlds before sealing a maiden Diamond League crown at the back end of last season, Eunice Sum served notice she’s not about to vacate the throne with a world leading 1:59.33.
Racing smartly, the Moscow champion held off furious finishing American Chanelle Price over the last 80m as the only pair who managed to break the 2:00 barrier broke away from the field to contest victory with the challenger crossing home in 1:59.75 for second.
Czech Republic runner, Lenka Masná (2:00.20) nicked the last Diamond Race point in third from Osaka 2007 champion and Sum’s mentor, Janeth Jepkosgei (2:00.49) who was forced to finish just outside the podium.
Sum and Jepkosgei will also feature for their nation in Bahamas.
Kiprop shows who’s boss
Many maintain Makhloufi, who was totally commanding at the 2012 Olympics before injury knocked him out of the Moscow Worlds; won the gold medal because Kiprop was running with an injured hamstring in London where he finished last in the medal race.
Finally, the opportunity for the anticipated re-match came and there was only one winner as Kiprop’s majestically completed a resounding 3:29.18 world leading triumph in a thrilling three and a half laps of action.
Commonwealth champion and 3:29.63 meet record holder from last year, Silas Kiplagat, completed the Kenyan 1-2 in 3:29.70 as Djibouti’s sensation, Ayanleh Souleiman (3:30.16) set a national record to compel the beaten Olympics champion, who is back after changing coaches, down to fourth in his 3:30.40 career best, a place above World Junior champion, James Magut (3:30.61, PB).
The two pace-makers stretched the field out early with an electrifying pace through the first three laps as World Indoor champ Suleiman leading as the bell went.
Kiprop moved on to his shoulder with 200m to run, and then accelerated away in the last 40 metres of a 54sec final lap.
The winner, Kiplagat and Magut will represent their country at the World Relays where they are pursuing the 4x1500m title as well as world record.
Such was the furious intensity that sixth placed Ethiopian; Aman Wote set a national record of 3:30.86 as Kenyans stamped their authority as the best metric milers on the planet.
Best of the rest
With Olympics champion and record holder, David Rudisha, forced out of Doha by a calf strain a week to the event, Ethiopia’s world champion and main pretender, Mohammed Aman was chased all the way down to the line by a 75 percent fit London silver medallist and Botswana teenager, Nijel Amos.
The clocks returned 1:44.49 (WL) against 1:44.54 as Moscow Worlds runner, Ferguson Rotich, ran a lifetime best of 1:44.82 for third ahead of fellow Kenyans, Job Kinyor (1:44.95) and Jeremiah Mutai (1:45.30) who sealed the top-five.
Rotich, Kinyor, a son of former Commonwealth 400m Hurdles medallist, Barnabas Kinyor and 2009 Boston women marathon champion, Salina Kosgei and Mutai are part of Kenya’s 4x800m squad for Bahamas.
Rudisha is expected to make his eagerly awaited comeback at the May 31 DL meet in Eugene, Oregon.
Jamaican sprint sensation Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce kicked off her campaign with a comfortable victory in the women’s 100m by unleashing an 11.13 dash against 11.18 of Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare.
American Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt equalled his world lead of 44.44sec in winning the men’s 400m.
Russian Olympic titleholder Ivan Ukhov won a high-quality high jump competition with a DL record of 2.41m, ahead of Canadian Derek Drouin and American Erik Kynard, joint second on 2.37m in the stand-out showdown in the field.
Local hope and world indoor champion Mutaz Barshim finished fourth on count back.
The 14-meet Diamond League makes its second stop in Shanghai next week as Doha laid out the best marker for the campaign where lack of a Worlds or Olympics in 2014 placing the elite-circuit competition as the grandest stage this season.
*Pending usual IAAF ratification procedures
