English
In the opening ceremony the stars paraded around the track in electric cars, a sign of support of DN Galan and the Diamond League’s environmental policy. First came Genzebe Dibaba (1500m) and Ruth Beitia (high jump) together with pole vault world record holder, Renaud Lavillenie. They were followed by the Swedish middle distance trio who won medals at last week’s European Championships – Meraf Bahta, Charlotta Fougberg and Abeba Aregawi.
Ann Louise Ekman sang True Colors followed by the national anthem and then Björn Eriksson, Chairman of the Swedish Athletics Federation, entered in an electric car carrying a case of diamonds which, according to tradition, were placed in a glass box by the victory podium in front of the royal box.
Strong finish gave Simpson victory
The hyped women’s 1500m lived up to expectations when Genzebe Dibaba pulled away in the second half and gained a 15 metre lead. Sifan Hassan and Jennifer Simpson caught up on the last bend and in the straight the American was the strongest and won by over half a second in 4:00.38.
World lead by Edris
The 5000m started fast with a 2:33 first kilometre. When the pacemaker dropped out at 3000m, American Galen Rupp was at the front and led for most of the last two kilometres. But in the final 400m he had to deal with an African trio of Edris, Longosiwa and Ndiku and Edris ran a fantastic 55.8 last lap, with 27.3 final 200m, to seal victory in 12:54. The top three were under 13 minutes and Rupp finished fourth in 13:05.97.
Tornéus best Swede
In the long jump Michel Tornéus took the lead with his first jump of 8.03m and managed one more over 8 metres (8.02). At the end of the event he was placed third behind Godfrey Mokoena (8.09) and Ignisious Gaisah (8.04). An acceptable result considering the fact that it was 13 degrees by the time the competition finished.
Six men over 84 metres in the javelin
The javelin was one of the evening’s highest quality events which new European Champion, Antti Ruuskanen, from Finland, won with a throw of 87.24m in the second round. Thomas Röhler took second place with 85.12 and was followed by four more who recorded over 84m.
Allyson Felix – the crowd’s favourite
In the women’s 200m the eight-times World Champion, Allyson Felix took her third victory in a row when she clocked 22.85. The winning margin was 0.06 between her and compatriot, Tori Bowie. World Junior silver medallist, Irene Ekelund from Sweden finished sixth in 23.61. Afterwards they stayed behind in the stadium to sign autographs for excited fans.
The best women’s sprint result came in the 400m when Novlene Williams-Mills, under pressure from Sanya Richards-Ross, won by .2 second in 50.59, incredibly fast under the tough conditions and actually only .3 second from the stadium record.
An aggressive 3000m steeplechase
The women’s steeplechase set off fast with 3:04.5 for the first kilometre by leader Birtukan Alemu and 3:08 by Swedish record holder Charlotta Fougberg. In the end it was Diamond Race leader Hiwot Ayalew who won in 9:17.04 strengthening her claim on the title. Charlotte ran well, and with 9:35.57 was ninth – a time, which would have been a Swedish record three months ago.
Not Lavillenie’s day
Pole Vault favourite, Renaud Lavilenie, could not cope with the strong side wind and low temperature. He ran through the first jump at his opening height of 5.60, cleared his second attempt but the bar fell and completely failed his third. Instead victory went to Greek, Konstantinos Filippidis for 5.60m. Swedish hope, Melker Svärd Jacobsson finished a respectable fourth with 5.45m.
In 2015 DN Galan will take place on 30 July, just before the World Championships in Beijing and on this earlier date we look forward to considerably better weather!Results
Jonas Hedman