The Diamond League Final: Kenyan Dominance and The Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Dilemma
The Diamond League final has come to an end, marking the unofficial conclusion of the 2024 track and field season. As usual, the athletics action during an Olympic year was as good as we could have hoped, and the standouts from day two could not have been more fitting.
Click here to read my recap from day one.
The Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Dilemma
Perhaps the most intriguing storyline from Brussels was about an athlete who didn’t run in any Diamond League final events at all. 400m hurdles world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is the undisputed sprinting GOAT of this generation, and so, when the Brussels Diamond League announced that she would be running the 400m and 200m, many in the athletics community were excited.
However, the time, energy, and undisclosed (but presumably large) amount of money that went into securing McLaughlin-Levrone’s participation was, in the end, a waste. Not long after the meet organisers announced McLaughlin-Levrone’s participation did Diamond League CEO Petr Stastny inform the running community that the American was ineligible to run as she had not raced at a single Diamond League meet all year.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has not competed on the Diamond League circuit all year, and was therefore ineligible to compete at the final
Most athletes qualify for the Diamond League final by accumulating points during the 14 regular season meets. Last year, a “Global Wild Card” rule was introduced so that Jakob Ingebrigtsen could run in the 3000m despite not having the required points. The wild card rule dictates that a meet can invite two men and two women to compete in any event they like, provided they have raced in at least one Diamond League during the year and they are a world record holder, or a reigning world, Olympic, or Diamond League champion (or very highly ranked, but the World Athletics ranking system is a rabbit hole for another day).
McLaughlin-Levrone is a reigning Olympic champion and world record holder but hasn’t competed in a Diamond League event all year; therefore, she is ineligible. Simple as that, right?
Not quite. For some reason, the Brussels organisers had not read the Diamond League wild card rules (which are readily available online and only 243 words long). As a result of their incompetence, they found themselves having already offered McLaughlin-Levrone a lofty appearance fee and having the Diamond League overlords informing them that she was ineligible to compete.
The compromise? McLaughlin-Levrone would run in a non-Diamond League 400m and 200m race a few minutes before the actual events took place.
As strange as this setup was, McLaughlin-Levrone delivered as always. Her 49.11 would have been good enough for the win in the actual 400m final, and her 22.40 in the 200m would have earned her second place in the real thing. I’m not usually one for race-to-race comparisons: tactics change, environmental factors have a massive impact on performance, and people respond differently to different competitors. But sprints don’t have the same tactical element that distance events do, and these two races took place mere minutes apart, in the same stadium, and in the same weather conditions, so I think it’s fair to say McLaughlin-Levrone would have won at least one of these races. Not bad for a woman who has spent her entire career as a hurdler.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone destroys the field in a non-Diamond League 400m
As fun as it would have been to see McLaughlin-Levrone in the actual Diamond League final events, you have to ask yourself why the Brussels organisers were so desperate to have her there in the first place. Yes, she’s a huge star in the sport, but she’s also the face of Grand Slam Track, which, despite what they say, will become a direct competitor to the Diamond League when it debuts next year. It also feels strange to spend so many resources recruiting a woman who has shown no interest in the Diamond League all year (she’s actually only contested one Diamond League race in the last five years). In the end, a far bigger injustice would have been hastily removing someone who has rightfully earned their place in the final in favour of adding McLaughlin-Levrone to the official program. My hat goes off to Stastny for correctly making such a difficult and controversial call.
Women’s 1500m
For the third year in a row, Faith Kipyegon has gone undefeated in the 1500m.
The three-time Olympic champion and current world record holder settled into the pack for the first few laps of the Diamond League final, making her way to the front only after the pacemaker stepped off with 500m remaining.
A gradual wind-up of pace left a few in contention with 200m to go, and it took Kipyegon until the home straight to dispose of the entire field, at which point she stretched away from Diribe Welteji in second and Jessica Hull in third to win her sixth Diamond League trophy.
Her winning time of 3:54.75 also erases Süreyya Ayhan’s 21-year-old meet record, a mark nobody will be disappointed to see fall (Ayhan was banned for life from the sport in 2009 for repeated doping offences).
Kipyegon is to 1500m running what Eliud Kipchoge was to the marathon: a timeless figure, dumbfoundingly dominant, and the undisputed greatest of all time. She is the only person to have ever won three Olympic 1500m titles, never mind her multiple world records and five world championships. Soon to be 31, history suggests that she should be slowing down, and yet 2024 has been her fastest season on record. If she wins at the World Championships next year (which seems likely), she will be the oldest champion in the event's history.
Faith Kipyegon crosses the line to win her fifth 1500m Diamond League trophy, her sixth in total
Women’s 5000m
What a year it has been for Beatrice Chebet. Undefeated on the international stage, a 10,000m world record, a World Cross Country title, two Olympic gold medals, and now, a Diamond League final champion.
For the second time in two weeks, Chebet broke 14:10 in a race where nobody else cracked 14:20, and the two races could not have been more similar. Just as in Zurich last Thursday, the pacemakers at the Diamond League final stepped off early, leaving Chebet in the lead. From there, she wedged a gap between herself and the rest of the field by relentlessly increasing the pace, leaving only the clock as a worthy opponent.
Beatrice Chebet wins the 5000m at the Diamond League final
And just like that, the international track season comes to an end. The women’s-only Athlos meet will debut in New York in a couple of weeks, so there’s still some track action left in 2024, but that’s it for your regularly scheduled program. For our sprinters, it’s time for a well-deserved break before they start preparing for 2025. For our distance runners, the road season kicks off later today with the Copenhagen Half Marathon, which looks particularly exciting on the men’s side. 20 sub-60 athletes will toe the line, including reigning world champion Sabastian Sawe and world record holder Jacob Kiplimo. Jakob Ingebrigtsen – who won the 1500m Diamond League trophy yesterday – will also be in attendance to make his half marathon debut in an attempt to flaunt his incredible range.
Find out how you can watch the race here, or head over to the Onus Athletics Twitter/X page to follow the action from 5pm AEST.
You can access all the results from the Diamond League final here.