With the U.S. Championships in the rear-view mirror and the second half of the Diamond League officially beginning with Saturday’s meet in Paris, we’ve reached the unofficial midpoint of the professional season. 

As usual, the Diamond League scheduled is backloaded with the two Diamond League finals along with loaded meets in Monaco and Lausanne. Before we get any further in the season, let’s look back on the season so far and give out some grades of some notable athletes, countries and events.

Men’s 400m Hurdles: B+

Both in Diamond Leagues and out, this event has sizzled. Rai Benjamin’s 47.02 at NCAAs was the best mark of the meet and moved him into a tie for the second fastest of all time. But it didn't take long for Abderrahman Samba to respond. The Qatari broke the Diamond League record for the fourth time this season, posting a 46.98 on Saturday in Paris. The mark bests Benjamin for the second best of all time and is another ridiculous step forward for Samba in 2018. 

After opening the season with a debut of 47.90, Samba has ticked off times of 47.57, 47.48, 47.60, 47.41, and now 46.98. The last mark puts him within range of Kevin Young’s world record of 46.78, particularly if he can get into a race with Benjamin. 

So why is this only graded at a B+? 

Because a race between the two seems unlikely. Unless Benjamin runs the hurdles in Thursday’s meeting in Lausanne, the two will probably miss each other 2018 (if they do race in Lausanne I’m happy to go back and adjust their grade). Benjamin doesn't have enough Diamond League points to qualify for the final so any race after this week would have to come outside of the Diamond League schedule (update: Benjamin has said he isn't racing the 400m hurdles again this season). 

But even if they don’t meet, this event has been incredible to watch. Samba’s never been under serious threat in any of his four races, but he’s managed to drag others to lifetime bests. Kyron McMaster ran 47.54 in Paris, while Karsten Warholm ran 47.82 and 47.81 in second-place efforts to Samba. 

Jamaican Sprinting (100m/200m): C-

The Jamaican success in the 100m and 200m was one of the most interesting subplots in this the first year of the post-Bolt era. Jamaica is doing well in the hurdles (Omar McLeod, Hansle Parchment, Ronald Levy, Danielle Williams) and the 400m (Akeem Bloomfield and Nathon Allen), but this category is looking at 100m and 200m. 

Clearly, Jamaica wasn't going to be able to replace Usain Bolt. There's only one of him and he's playing charity soccer matches now. But at the very least, there was some hope that they could rebound from a rough 2017 that saw no man or woman qualify for the 200m final at the World Championships. 

On the men’s side, Jamaica is still a long way from where they were a decade ago. Only one man has broken 10 seconds this year, collegian Andre Ewers, and the fastest wind-legal 200m for the men comes from Jahnoy Thompson. Thompson’s 20.21 is good for the 46th-best mark of the year. Both the star power and depth for the Jamaican men have evaporated. Luckily, they have another year to regroup, but it’s hard to see this is as a quick fix. Currently, their 4x100m team would struggle to get on the podium. 

It’s a bit more promising for the women. Elaine Thompson is the only Jamaican under 11 seconds this year in the 100m, but she is a consistent force on the circuit. Their brightest hope comes from Shericka Jackson. The 23-year-old has turned into a force in the 200m. She just put up a 22.05 at the Paris Diamond League, giving her four of the year’s 10 best performances. 

Men’s Long Jump: A

Track and field moves in cycles. An event doesn’t take long to go from “down” to being on world record watch. The men’s long jump was inert for many years, with a record book dominated by performances from decades past. 

All the talk of world records and top-five performances in the jumping events centered around the men’s triple jump and high jump. That started to change last year when Luvo Manyonga put up the best jump in eight years when he leaped 8.62 meters. Juan Miguel Echeverria took it further this year, jumping 8.68 and 8.66 meters as well as a staggering barely wind-aided mark of 8.83 meters. 

‼️8.83‼️ (+2.1) Longest jump in 23 years and almost jumps OUT OF THE PITpic.twitter.com/4Tk2USoi9u

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) June 10, 2018

That last mark was only 12 centimeters off Mike Powell’s world record—a record that looked to be frozen in time, or at least until a new era of jumpers came up. Echeverria's ascent hasn't forced Manyonga into retreat. 2017 hasn’t been good as 2018, but he still has legal jumps of 8.58 and 8.56 meters. 

Many of the records on the books are singular efforts of dominance, but there are also situations where the combination of two closely-matched athletes aiming for the same mark catalyzes the record chase. Mutaz Essa Barshim and Bohdan Bondarenko did this in the high jump several years ago, same with Christian Taylor and Pedro Pablo Pichardo in the triple jump. 2018 and 2019 in the long jump could see something similar. 

Caster Semenya: A

In a season where she is affixed in the spotlight, Semenya has been better than ever. She just ran 1:54.25, her fastest 800m of all time and the fourth-best mark in history, moving her less than a second from the world record. Of course, a world record will invite even more scrutiny, but that hasn’t seemed to impact her in the past. We are coming up on the three-year anniversary of when she last lost an 800m race.

Diamond League Men’s 1500m/5000m: D

Perhaps it will pick up in the second half of the season, but so far the 1500m and 5000m races have been flat. Sure, there have been some quick times in the men’s 1500m. The problem is every race seems like the one before it. The pacers have such an outsized impact on the race in this event I’m hoping that we see someone eschew rabbits at an upcoming Diamond League (Semenya did this in Paris). 

The event is missing a clear No. 1 to make that call so that seems unlikely, but I think the event as a whole would benefit from the unpredictability and a transition away from a pure time trial.

As for the 5000m, that race is long enough that there is plenty of time for interesting racing after the pacers step off the track. But the times this year haven’t been great (nobody this year has broken 13 minutes). And with Mo Farah done with the track, there’s no marquee name in the event. Throw in the underwhelming Pre Classic two-mile and there hasn’t been highlight performance in the longer distances yet for the men.