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IAAF Diamond League - Paris

Paris Diamond League: Evan Jager's July 4th American Record Attempt

Paris Diamond League: Evan Jager's July 4th American Record Attempt

Jul 3, 2015 by Lincoln Shryack
Paris Diamond League: Evan Jager's July 4th American Record Attempt


 Evan Jager will try and lower his 8:04.71 steeplechase American record in Paris
While here in America most are still recovering from a wild US Championships weekend, the 2015 track season rolls on with its next stop being the Paris Diamond League tomorrow in the French capital. As fireworks explode all across the nation to celebrate July 4th, several top Americans will look to create some noise themselves in Paris, but of course to do so they’ll have to take down the best athletes in the World. This is the Diamond League after all, and to win here proves that you can hang with anyone. 
 
With USA’s in the rearview mirror, FloTrack is over in Europe covering all of the top meets across the continent for the next month!
 
(Start times listed in Paris time)
 
Men’s 3,000m Steeplechase (8:24pm)
Evan Jager breaking his own American record on Independence Day would certainly fall under a list that read “Things That Are Meant To Be.” Jager enters Paris in better form than ever before, and he’ll be chasing the top Kenyans tomorrow with the hope of lowering his 8:04.71 national record. 
 
Jager won USA’s easily last weekend, gliding away to his fourth consecutive U.S. steeple title in a new meet record of 8:12.29. The 26-year-old has made it his mission to be able to hang with the best in the World in the last lap, which generally means closing in around 60-seconds over barriers. He nearly did as much in May’s Pre Classic, where he ran 8:05.28 with a 61-second last lap to finish 4th. Add in Jager’s 3:32 1500 from the Portland Track Festival, a World lead, and you’ve got all the ingredients of a medal contender at World Champs in Beijing. The competition tomorrow will be similar to Pre, and the weather (expected to be around 90 at race time) could be the only thing that stops Jager from lowering his mark. 
 
We spoke to Jager before tomorrow’s race:
 


The three men who beat the American record holder at Pre will all be there in Paris. World leader and three-time defending World champion Ezekiel Kemboi ran 8:01.71 to take down his dominant countryman Jairus Birech in Eugene, however he was a distant 10th in the Oslo steeple, only managing a 8:30.07 finish. The 33-year-old Kemboi is always unpredictable in Diamond League races, he’s generally very hot or ice cold, but the dude always steps up in big races. I mean, you can’t count out a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a three-time World champ, and a guy with a 7:55 PB. If you’re not familiar with Kemboi, just watch this video of him dancing after his 2011 gold in Daegu:



Birech dominated this event all of last season, and has shown nearly identical form thus far in 2015. The 22-year-old did take a rare loss at Pre, but he was a close 2nd to Kemboi in 8:01.83. The 22-year-old Kenyan has been flawless otherwise, including an utter domination in Oslo where he won by more than six seconds. 

Conseslius Kipruto finished just .08 seconds ahead of Jager at Pre, and like his American counterpart, will be looking to go sub-8 for the first time in his career. The Kenyan won the silver medal in Moscow two years ago as just an 18-year-old, and should be among just a handful of guys that could contend for gold in Beijing. 

Women’s 5,000m (9:32pm)
The Ethiopian duo of Almaz Ayana and Genzebe Dibaba arrive in Paris with one goal in mind: the World record. That 14:11.15 mark held by fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba (Genzebe’s sister) has stood since 2008, but with the way the two previously mentioned women have been running, it doesn’t figure to survive past 2015. 
 
The 23-year-old Ayana pulled a stunner by winning May’s Shanghai 5,000 in 14:14.32, the 3rd fastest in history. The 2013 World bronze medalist won that race by a full 26 seconds, but she won’t run away from Dibaba, who’s range from 1,500m to 5,000m is unmatched by anyone.


Genzebe Dibaba will chase her sister Tirunesh's 14:11.15 5,000m World record in Paris

The 24-year-old Dibaba owns four indoor World records- 1,500m (3:55.17), 3,000m (8:16.60), 2-mile (9:00.48), and 5,000m (14:18.86), the last of which she ran in February in Stockholm. She’s isn’t too shabby on the outdoor oval either, as she’s won her first two races this summer, both 5,000m, in 14:19 and 14:21, respectively. Even though Ayana has run faster, Dibaba has the edge in my book due to experience (she’s won two indoor World titles), and head-to-head, as Dibaba has beaten her countrywoman 2/3 times they’ve raced over 5,000m
 
As for the possibility of a World record, the weather could slow this pair down. Race temps around 85 certainly are not ideal, but Dibaba still ran fast at Pre (14:19) with warm and windy conditions, so don’t rule out the possibility. 
 
Women’s 800m (8:42pm)
The hangover of just missing a World Championship team can be tough to overcome, but Americans Molly Ludlow and Chanelle Price will try to do just that against a field that includes nine women with sub-2:00 PBs. 
 
Ludlow and Price were so very close, .04 and .11 to be exact, to the top 3 last weekend in Eugene, but they’ll have to shake off that disappointment in order to run well against such a deep field in Paris. 

INTERVIEW: Chanelle Price looked to Richards-Ross to deal with USA's disappointment

INTERVIEW: Molly Ludlow on USA's and how she moves forward
 
2013 World champion and current World leader (1:57.82) Eunice Sum of Kenya brings her undefeated 2015 season into Paris looking to grab another victory. In a field that lacks Ajee Wilson, who finished second behind Sum at Prefontaine, the 26-year-old Kenyan figures to run away from this field tomorrow. 
 
Men’s 1,500m (9:02pm)
No Americans this time around (sorry Centro and Leo fans), but even you domestic loyalists won’t want to miss this metric mile, which features almost all of the best international stars in the World. 


Ayanleh Souleiman (right, in yellow) won his second-straight Pre Classic mile in May

The co-favorites heading into tomorrow have to be Ayanleh Souleiman and Silas Kiplagat, who each have Diamond League victories to their credit in 2015. Souleiman won the Bowerman mile at the Prefontaine Classic for the second consecutive year, beating essentially all of the World’s top milers in that race. The 22-year-old from Djibouti also won the 800m at Doha on May 15th in 1:43, flashing the wheels that are sure to make him a threat for a World title in the 1,500m in Beijing. He owns a 3:29.58 PB from Monaco last July. 
 
Kiplagat won the Shanghai Diamond League 1,500m in May, and is coming off a runner-up finish in the Oslo mile on June 11th. The 25-year-old beat Souleiman there, and has nearly a two-second faster PB of 3:27.64 (fourth fastest all-time) which he set last July in Monaco.
 
Three other men enter Paris with sub-3:30 personal bests: Ronald Kwemoi (3:28.81), Abdelaati Iguider (3:29.83), and Aman Wote (3:29.81). 
 
The Kenyan Kwemoi ran his PB as just an 18-year-old in that crazy fast Monaco race last year. The now 19-year-old has had an okay start to his 2015 Diamond League season, finishing 6th at Pre (3:52.57) and 5th in Oslo (3:53.07), but he can’t be counted out after the magnificent 2014 campaign he had which included a runner-up finish in the Commonwealth Games. 

Make sure to check back with FloTrack tomorrow for LIVE UPDATES from Paris. 

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