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Gregson in for Diamond League opener in Doha

Published Thu 04 May 2017

Australian duo Ryan Gregson (Vic) and Genevieve LaCaze (Vic) will be on the search for qualifying times for the upcoming IAAF London World Championships in the season opener of the Diamond League in Doha this Friday.

Coming off his third 1500m national title win following four indoor races in Europe, Gregson has been in top shape after a training camp stint at Mt Laguna in Southern California with his Melbourne Track Club training group.

At the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix, Gregson ran 3:36.50 for the 1500m to finish a close second to Ben Blankenship (USA), who will also race in Doha.

But the aim for Gregson this Friday will be the qualifying mark of 3:36.00 he'll need to book his spot on the team to London. It's a time that should be well within the Rio Olympic finalist's grasp even this early in the European season.

The field he comes up against includes eight Kenyans and features four men who have run faster than 3:30 including Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI) who finished fourth at the Rio Olympics and Silas Kiplagat (KEN) with a personal best of 3:27.64 from 2014.

National record holder in the 3000m steeplechase, Genevieve LaCaze, will open up her season over the barriers in a quality field that has five women who have run under 9:10.

Her form before training camp was solid with an indoor 8:45.81 over 3000m in Birmingham after clocking 4:13.19 for 1500m in Ireland, not long after competing at the Nitro Athletics Melbourne series.

Given her personal best of 9:14.28 is nearly 30 seconds quicker than the qualifying standard for London, a place on the world championships team for LaCaze could be secured in Doha.

Seven of the top ten finishers from the Olympic final will be on the start line including gold medallist Ruth Jebet (KEN) who has dipped under the nine-minute barrier.

Tasmanian javelin thrower Hamish Peacock, who has already qualified for London, will compete against the reigning Olympic champion Thomas Rohler (GER) and three men who have personal bests over the 90-metre mark.

His throwing across the domestic season was big and consistent, with five of his eight competitions producing throws over 80 metres, including his season’s best of 84.36 to win his second consecutive national title.

One of the headline events on the program will undoubtedly be the men’s 100m with Rio Olympics silver medallist Justin Gatlin (USA), Asafa Powell (JAM) and Andre De Grasse (CAN), bronze medallist from Rio, will square off in the blue riband event.

De Grasse showed good form at the IAAF World Relays representing Canada, as did Gatlin who is also yet to open his season over the distance other than his relay legs.

There are also three world-class athletes in the women’s 200m as double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson (JAM) faces rival Dafne Schippers (NED) and two-time Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM).

An intriguing match-up looms in the women’s 800m with the all-conquering Olympic champion Caster Semenya (RSA), with a season’s best of 2:00.99, coming up against Genzebe Dibaba (ETH).

Dibaba, the silver medallist from the 1500m at the Rio Olympics is yet to post a time for two laps as a professional athlete but has shown exceptional speed over the metric mile in recent times.

Other events on the program include high jump which will see local athlete Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT) begin his season in pursuit of the world record at 2.45 metres, just two centimetres higher than his best.

2008 Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt (USA) will be favourite in the one-lap race, while world record holder and fellow American Kendra Harrison is on the start list for the 100m hurdles.

 

--- You can watch all the action live on Eurosport at 2:00am AEST Saturday morning