Women’s 3000m to feature in Doha Diamond League
The sixth leg of the Diamond League scheduled for September 25 in Doha, Qatar, will stage the women’s 3,000m and not the 1,500m event initially planned.
It will see some of the biggest superstars in athletics compete in over 12 different disciplines, including a women’s 3,000m race only recently introduced to the programme.
Organisers of the meeting said they were responding to wishes of a number of athletes.
The move will give long distance specialists another chance to compete in a season in which such opportunities have been few and far between.
It ensures that this year’s Wanda Diamond League circuit will provide a second high-level long-distance race for female athletes, following the successful 5,000m in Monaco earlier this month.
Middle distance athletes have competed in both Stockholm (1500m) and Rome (800m).
Following the move by the organisers of the Diamond League to trim the 2020 season events as part of its major plan to revamp the competition to fit a new 90-minute broadcast window,a number of Kenyan athletes were unhappy saying that they had been forced to participate in races which are not their speciality.
World steeplechase record holder Beatrice Chepkoech said: ‘’We had been forced to seek alternative races such as road races.”
“But for me, I can still switch to 1,500m and 3,000m flat and I can still do well. I can also run in the 10-kilometre road race,” she added Chepkoech who set a world steeplechase record at eight minutes, 44.32 seconds in the 2018 Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
“I was so disappointed. This event made me who I am now. It was really painful especially for those athletes who have specialsed in it,” she told People Sport.
The 200m, triple jump and discus for both men and women have also been dropped from the series.
Popularity of athletes, head-to-head competitions and excitement of the individual competition were cited as reasons for the decision to drop some events following a Diamond League survey which was conducted last year.
According to research, the discus, triple jump and 3000m steeplechase sit towards the bottom of the list when it comes to popularity.
The most popular disciplines are 100m, long jump and high jump, followed by the pole vault, 200m and 400m.
Over the years, Kenya has produced an endless chain of athletes who have excelled in steeplechase.
The current Kenyan steeplechase sensations are Conseslus Kipruto the reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion and women’s world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech.
