Live Diamond League – New York

That’s the last of the Diamond League races. Thank you to anyone who read even a single update of this blog.

Fantastic performances from David Rudisha and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Robbie Grabarz was the stand-out British performance.

The Diamond League will now be taking a break as each country participate in trials for the Olympic Games in London.

Overall, it was a good meet. Good times in both the men and women’s 100m, Rudisha was awesome in the 800m and completely tore the field apart. The high jump, though sadly neglected by the coverage, was very competitive with both Grabarz and Williams producing excellent jumps. The 110m hurdles, usually a thrilling race, was overshadowed by three false starts and the long jump failed to make an impact. Oscar Pistorius missed out on the necessary A standard once again, but Tyson Gay proved why he is one of the best in the world with 10.10 on his first race in just under a year.

As for my first live blogging experience, I believe I improved as it went on. It was good fun, and it was fun to engage with Twitter a bit too. Hopefully on future live blogs, there will be even more interesting tweets to share with everyone. I’ll be trying this again, but until next time, goodnight!

21.02

Away third time.

Martina of the Netherlands wins the men’s 200m in 19.93.

Just on the line, very tight between Martina and Ashmeade. A very good run and a good time. It’s a new national record for Martina and the Netherlands.

21.00

False start number two. A lot of incidents today.

Curtis Mitchell this time, it looks like. He was the first to mvoe the first time, but the field were given a green csrd. This time it’s red, and he’s off.

20.58

False start in the men’s 200m.

The field is given a green card. Not a fault of the athletes.

20.56

Men’s 200m next. The field is filled with Jamaicans. One Norwegian, one Dutch and one American complete the field.

20.51

Dibarba wins the women’s 5000m in 14.50.81.

Competition between Defar and Dibarba as expected.

20.38

MJ McLaughlin asks on Twitter: ‘Why do US officials walk in front of 100m runners as they are on their blocks? Most disconcerting’.

It is worth noting that the officials did the same thing in the 110m hurdles, and even nudged Merritt’s foot on the two occasions he false started. I haven’t noticed this take place at other major meets, but it may have been less obvious.

Let me know if this is standard practice.

20.36

Worn out yet? There’s still more to come.

Next is the women’s 5000m. It’s Defar v Dibarba, both of Ethiopia, with no Cherriott in this race.

20.32

Johan Blake wins the men’s 100m in 9.90.

He was continually under pressure from Bledman, but had the faster finish. Three men under 10 seconds.

20.27

Johan Blake runs in the men’s 100m race next.

He is the current World Champion, winning after Usain Bolt was disqualified for false starting. He has definite medal potential in London.

20.27

We’ve just seen the men’s B race of 100m run earlier today. Tyson Gay completely destroyed the field and produced 10.00. He seems to have recovered spectacularly from his hip injury. He was running into a headwind. Great to see all of the men’s 100m favourites coming into form.

20.25

Mitchell Watt of the USA wins the long jump.

Jesse Williams also of the USA wins the high jump. 

20.24

Robbie Grabarz has failed at 2m38, but his 2m36 was absolutely wonderful. He is third in the all-time British records. He’s in great form, and he just keeps getting better. Jesse Williams wins on countback. Both have equaled the meeting record.

20.22

Kelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wins the 100m women’s race in 10.92 into a headwind!

A fantastic run. Is she looking to retain her Olympic title in London? On this form, certainly. It is a season best. Madison in second, Jeter in third.

20.20

The 100m women’s race is up next. It is a fabulous line up.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, reigning Olympic champion. Allyson Felix. Carmelita Jeter. Kelly-Ann Baptiste.

These races have proved incredibly hard to call and so I won’t even try. These are truly the best women in 100m running on show here.

20.18

Robbie Grabarz will be attempting a British record after completing 2m36. He has been up against a class field, with Jesse Williams and is doing spectacularly well. He had a great indoor season and has been able to translate that to the outdoor season. Britain is beginning to expect great things.

20.14

David Rudisha wins the 800m men in an amazing 1.41.74.

Fastest in the world this year. He took the race from the front and just continued to move away from the rest of the field. He’s still very young. An extraordinary talent.

20.11

Grabarz and Williams both over 2m34 in the high jump, but Williams in the lead on countback.

20.10

Rudisha, Lalang, Yego and Kaki. This is going to be a great race. But will be great to see Osagie try to take these greats on.

20.08

800m men coming up next, with David Rudisha of Kenya. Andrew Osagie is Britain’s hope. He has had a terrific indoor season this year, and may be a surprise medal hope for London in August.

20.06

Sadly, we haven’t been able to watch much of the high jump, but it sounds like a thriller.

20.04

A great high jump competition! Grabraz doing great for Great Britain, in the top three with a height of 2m31.

Jason Richardson of the USA wins the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.18. 

Thomas went down in the final stages. Hopefully it’s not a serious injury.

It was overall a pretty messy race.

20.02

It’s Parchment who’s off this time. He is also running under protest. What a farce!

20.01

Merritt clearly just wanted a run with trials coming up. He’s off this time though.

Attempt three is another false start! 

So disappointing to see this. The athletes are clearly disturbed by the previous false starts. They are being forced to stay in their blocks for a very long time before the gun.

19.59

False start number two! Merritt again. Both times, he has had his foot moved slightly by one of the judges who walk either side of the athletes. It was a clear false start this time.

He was already running under protest, surely he cannot do that a second time?

19.58

False start in the 110m hurdles. It was a long hold for the athletes. Merritt of the USA, a favourite in this race, has been shown the red card and is off. He is not allowed to run under protest, but is regardless, it seems!

19.52

No big names in the men’s 110m hurdles coming up. A lot of American athletes are trying to get some good times on the board before the American trials in a few weeks’ time. There is a lot of pressure on American athletes, with only three selected for each race out of a large pool of talent.

19.48

Francena McCorory of the USA wins the 400m women in 50.07.

It was a great run for the line between McCorory and Williams-Mills. Ohuruogy failed to make much of an impact, but achieved a seasons best. McCorory made a fantastic personal best.

19.45

Will Musto on Twitter asks ‘why does he [Pistorius] keep getting lanes in SDL meets?’ when he hasn’t achieved the A standard. I think part of the answer lies in the fact he is a crowd favourite.

19.43

Just realised the times on this live blog are wrong. They seem to be GMT rather than BST. I’ll look to sort that out later this evening.

19.42

400m women is next on track. This is not a Diamond League race. It features Ohuruogu from Great Britain, who won gold in the Beijing Olympics. Williams-Mills of Jamaica is one to watch in this race.

19.40

Bernard Lagat has said: ‘I don’t want to come in being third at the Trials. I want to come in after a win.’

Pistorius ran 46.14. The A standard is 45.30. More disappointment for the South African athlete.

19.37

Pistorius off to a slow start, but he is always stronger towards the end of the race.

Santos in first, Wariner in second in 400m men. 

But has Pistorius got the A standard? Despite a slow start, he was close to the pack by the end.

19.35

Jeremy Wariner of the USA is probably the favourite in the race, but been relatively slow this year.

19.31

Oscar Pistorius will be a crowd favourite in the 400m race next on the track. He is looking for the A standard to help secure himself a place in the Olympic Games. He’s under a lot of pressure to do so, since he is running out of time. He has run the A standard earlier this year, but has not been close in recent races.

19.29

It is a new meeting record and personal best for the Ethiopian. She is only 20 years old and looks like she will produce great things in the next few years. She has already set a national record for her country.

19.28

Magiso leading into the last 200m. Extraordinary kick towards the end, and the rest of the field cannot respond.

Magiso wins the 800m Women in 1.57.49.

19.24

Fantu Magiso will probably be favourite after her race in Rome.

19.23

The men’s high jump and long jump are about to get underway. The high jump has been very competitive this Diamond League season so far. The women’s 800m race is up next on the track. British hopes rest with Marilyn Okoro with the best season’s best in this race.

19.21

A great race to the finish between Lagat and Souleiman. Lagat wins in 3.34.63. A relatively pedestrian race, but great to see Lagat in such good form.

19.19

Lagat wins 1500m Men. 

19.17

Choge has decided to lead from the front, perhaps trying to up the pace of the race. The group are quite bunched together, however.

19.16

We’re underway again here. Quite slow through the first 300m.

19.15

The officials have called the athletes back, and they’re slowly making their way back to the start line.

19.13

Lining up now is the 1500m men. Bernard Lagat will probably be the favourite here, as well as Augustine Choge.

19.10

Surprise victory from Theresa Brown of the USA edging out Jamica’s Kaliese Spencer by 6/100ths of a second, winning in 54.85. Spencer’s hurdling was described by Lemar Edwards on Twitter as ‘sloppy’.

Video footage on the BBC might be back!

19.07

Spencer has finished fourth in her last two World Championships. She has the best PB of the field.

19.05

The first Diamond League event will be the women’s 400m hurdles. Current Diamond League leader Kaliese Spencer is running. She has the best time so far this year of all the runners in this race, at 54.39.

18.52

Not a great start to my live blogging attempt as my coverage via the BBC has been cut off due to technical difficulties! Hopefully myself and the BBC will be up and running soon.

18.31

Today’s meet in New York features British hopes Robbie Grabarz in the high jump, Christine Ohuruogu and Shana Cox in the 400m and Andrew Osagie in the 800m.

The women’s 100m features a sterling line-up with Carmelita Jetta, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kelly-Ann Baptiste and Allyson Felix. Johan Blake runs in the men’s 100m. Can he out-class Usain Bolt this year?

Tyson Gay has run 10.00 flat to win the B 100m race moments ago. It is a great start to his season, having not competed in just under a year.