Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Julien Alfred Cap Season With Diamond League Titles
Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Julien Alfred Cap Season With Diamond League Titles
On day one of the Diamond League Final in Brussels, Belgium, a handful of Olympic champions ended their seasons with DL titles in hand.
Despite the adverse conditions that athletes dealt with at King Baudouin Stadium, the first half of the two-day Diamond League Final in Brussels provided exciting performances throughout its entirety.
While some Olympic champions were able to continue their winning ways, others weren't so lucky as both underdogs and contenders stole the spotlight out from under them.
- Subscribe To FloTrack To Watch More Track & Field Meets All Year Long
- Watch The Diamond League Live On FloTrack, Starting In 2025
- Diamond League Brussels 2024 Schedule: What To Know
Tomorrow's second and final day of competition will be must-see television, with world-class stars suiting up in every single event.
Here are four of the top performances from the first night of the Diamond League Final.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen Ends Season On A Hight Note, Wins 1500m Diamond League Final
Even in chilly conditions and a rain-soaked track, the world's best mid-distance runners gave us one final show in Brussels as the Norwegian got a little revenge on the American duo of Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot and Hocker were the main contenders down the final stretch, but roles were reversed this time around for the Ingebrigtsen and the Olympic champion, as the 5000m Olympic champion crossed 3:30.37, just ahead of Cheruiyot and Hocker in 3:30.93 and 3:30.94.
Olympic bronze medalist Nuguse was back in sixth in 3:32.7. Nuguse led for most of the race, but got tripped up with 300 meters to go and fell back to sixth.
Ingebrigtsen's weekend got off to a great start as he solidified his three-peat, and now we wait and see if he decides to make his half-marathon debut in two days time at the Copenhagen Half, which was the rumor leading into the Diamond League meeting.
Julien Alfred Ends Historic Season With Diamond League Title
In the final rematch of the season between 2024 Olympic champion Julien Alfred and 2023 World champion Sha'Carri Richardson, the St. Lucian star pulled away for the win.
Alfred was the lone woman to dip under 10.90, edging out Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith by four-hundredths of a second for the win in 10.88 (+0.2). Côte d'Ivoire star Marie-Josee Ta Lou was third in 11.05.
Richardson, who had beaten Alfred recently just over a week ago on the Diamond League circuit, faded to eight in 11.23.
Alfred's dream season ends with an Olympic gold and an Olympic silver in the 200m, and her next big stop will be her return to St. Lucia where she'll celebrate her country's first ever Olympic medals.
Mondo Duplantis Does It Again, Breaks Meet Record En Route To Diamond League Title
After breaking the world record three separate times this season, some may have expected the Swede to go after another clearance of that caliber, but in rough conditions for a pole vaulter, he settled for the win instead.
Just like he has all season long, Mondo Duplantis entered the competition late and found himself alone towards the end. The 24-year-old cleared 5.62m, 5.92m and 6.11m, and was the only athlete left in the competition after the bar moved up to six meters.
Without missing a beat, Duplantis soared over the bar, clearing 6.11m to establish a new meeting record.
In this season alone, Duplantis successfully defended his Olympic title, broke the world record a handful of times and beat Norwegian 400m hurdles star Karsten Warholm over 100m for bragging rights.
Valarie Allman Makes It 18 Consecutive Wins, Fourth Diamond League Title
Valarie Allmans's legendary run is looking like it's going to last well into 2025, as the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist took care of business against a loaded field in Brussels.
In a field that had multiple women with PB's that surpassed 70 meterse, Allman picked up her 18th consecutive win in the discus, capping off an undefeated season.
It took a few throws to get what she needed, but on her third attempt, Allman launched the discus 68.47m to jump into the lead in the latter half of the competition. China's Feng Bin was Allman's closest competition, coming within a meter on her final throw, settling for a runner-up finish and a best mark of 67.49.
Yaimé Pérez was third with a mark of 66.96.