Zurich DL Preview: Big Money On The Line

Zurich DL Preview: Big Money On The Line

We previewed today's deep and incredibly American 5K race here. But the rest of the Diamond League finales on tap in Zurich, Switzerland, have the same amou

Aug 31, 2016 by Dennis Young
Zurich DL Preview: Big Money On The Line
We previewed today's deep and incredibly American 5K race here. But the rest of the Diamond League finales on tap in Zurich, Switzerland, have the same amount of money at stake, and some of them even have fields that are as good. The first track event in the main program is at 2:05 PM Eastern time.

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Zurich is the first half of the two-part Diamond League finale, in which points--usually allotted 10-6-4-3-2-1--are doubled. Athletes with the most points in their event at the end of the season win the Diamond Trophy and $40,000. Ties are broken first based on wins and second based on order of finish at the DL finale. Half of the DL events will have their season finale in Zurich, and half will be in Brussels next week.

Go ahead and cash those checks

Renaud Lavillenie (pole vault), Dafne Schippers (200m), Keni Harrison (100H), Sandra Perkovic (discus), and Ivana Spanovic (long jump) have clinched their titles--all they have to do is show up and compete. It's Lavillenie's seventh straight Diamond Race win; between that and his world record, it's remarkable that he's only won one gold medal ever at an Olympics or world championships.

In order to clinch their $40K, LaShawn Merritt just needs to get third in the 400m, Christian Taylor just needs to get fourth in the triple jump, and Ruth Beitia just needs to get fifth in the high jump. All of that is almost guaranteed to happen.

Winner-take-all

In the following races, two athletes can win the Diamond Race by winning the event. If Laura Muir wins the 1500m over Faith Kipyegon, the two will be tied on points and wins for the season, but Muir will win on the strength of her Zurich win. Reminder: scoring here is 20-12-8-6-4-2. 

Women's 1500m: Faith Kipyegon is eight points ahead of Laura Muir
Women's 3K SC: Ruth Jebet is two points ahead of Hyvin Kiyeng
​Women's 800m​: Caster Semenya is two points ahead of Francine Niyonsaba
​Men's 5K: ​Mutkar Edris is eight points ahead of Yomif Kejelcha.
​Men's 400H: ​Kerron Clement is six points ahead of Javier Culson
​Men's 100m​: Ben Youssef Meite is six points ahead of Asafa Powell
​Men's shot put: ​Tomas Walsh is four points ahead of Joe Kovacs
​Men's javelin: ​Thomas Rohler is four points ahead of Jakub Vadlejch

​Six must-wat​ch events​

Men's 5K, 2:13 PM Eastern​: Could be the deepest American 5K race ever. Full preview here.​

​Women's 200m, 2:34 PM
​Diamond League champion Dafne Schippers vs. Olympic champion Elaine Thompson vs. Allyson Felix looking for 200m redemption after not qualifying in the event for the Olympics! Thompson actually lost to Schippers in Oslo and Eugene earlier this year, so this race will be spicy.​

​Women's 1500m, 2:41 PM
Muir will get another rematch against Olympic gold medalist Faith Kipyegon, and Shannon Rowbury and Jenny Simpson will also be in the field with a real shot at the American record. Rowbury edged out Simpson in 3:58.00 in Paris; her AR is 3:56.29. Simpson's PB is 3:57.22; if the pace is fast, watch for Rowbury to closely follow Simpson until the last 100 meters and then duke it out on the homestretch.

Can Muir or Kipyegon lower ​their ​national records? Muir ran a shocking 3:55.22 in Paris last weekend, while Kipyegon's 3:56.41 at Pre in May is the Kenyan record.

In addition to Kipyegon, Simpson, Rowbury, and Muir (who went 1-3-4-7 at the Olympics), the rest of the top nine finishers from the Olympic final except for Genzebe Dibaba will race in Zurich.

Women's 800m, 3:02 PM
Will Semenya finally chase the world record? The rabbit has been requested to go through 400m in "55.0-55.5"; splits of 55/58 would put her right in the ballpark of the 1:53.28 world record.

All eight Olympic finalists are here, including Kate Grace.

​Women's 100H, 3:12 PM
Can Keni Harrison lower her own 12.20 world record? This excellent article by PJ Vazel makes a pretty strong case that, in a perfect race, women can run 11.96 in the 100H with no major evolutionary jumps. And Harrison herself has said she thinks she can go sub-12.

​Men's 100m, 3:20 PM
​No Bolt, Gatlin, or De Grasse, but Olympic 110 hurdles champion Omar McLeod is in the race, and could beat the field here in the flat 100m.

​Women's steeplechase, 3:36 PM
​Ruth Jebet could end her season with a world record and Olympic gold medal and still lose the Diamond League title. She's only two points ahead of Hyvin Kiygeng.

The two marks to watch here for American fans are Jebet's 8:52.78 world record and Emma Coburn's 9:07.63 American record. Also, Colleen Quigley is in the field, and after running 9:20 in Paris, she'll be looking to become the fifth American under 9:20.

Stephanie Garcia, the fourth American under 9:20, will rabbit the race. She's scheduled to take the field through 1600m in 4:46. 4:48 is 9:00 pace.

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