ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND, September 07— The Weltklasse for the second year in a row hosted the entire Diamond League Final, before it heads to Eugene next year for its first-ever U.S. staging.
The first day highlighted the popular city center events, held again in the Sechseläutenplatz on the banks of Lake Zürich. Six events were contested: the shots, the 5000s, and the men’s high jump and women’s vault. Enthusiastic crowds, noticeably bigger than last year’s, surrounded the athletes with noise, and many stayed there even after an evening rain came down and temps dropped to the low 60s (17C).
The remainder of the 32 events will be held in classic fashion in Letzigrund Stadium on Thursday.
Our reports on the 6 Wednesday events (as always, all the winners are eligible for Wild Cards to next year’s World Champs in Budapest):
Men’s 5000
The odd genre that is running on a strangely-shaped temporary track produced a genuinely odd race. Nicholas Kipkorir came out on top, clocking a 12:59.05 that was all the more commendable because of the challenges along the way.
Challenge 1 came right away, as the surface, especially on the turns, appeared to be undulating and uneven along the 563m loop. Several times various runners were seen losing balance and taking a step off the inside rail.
A second challenge was the weather. With 4 laps to go, the skies opened up and hard rain fell; no one slipped despite fears about the footing. At the 4K, lightning flashed.
The remaining challenge was the competition itself. A rabbit led through kilos of 2:35.15 and 5:11.35. Close behind ran defending champion Berihu Aregawi, Grant Fisher and Selemon Barega. Finally, Barega took over and with 3 laps to go upped the ante to string out his pursuers. Kipkorir faded and lost contact, then Fisher lost touch and soon was running behind the Kenyan, who had finished just behind him in Eugene. If this were a track race, one would think the two were toast.
But this wasn’t a typical race. Barega passed 3K in 7:46.14, constantly swiveling his head to see where the competition was. The pace slipped a bit (4K in 10:23.11), and suddenly Kipkorir was back in the mix. A wild long last lap saw Telahun Bekele challenge for the lead before Kipkorir took over. Remarkably, Fisher also made it out of the cellar, and in the final stretch came after the lead pack.
Behind Kipkorir, Domnic Lobalu of…
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