Middle distance wins for Muir and Rotich
Closing with an impressive 57.3 final lap, Laura Muir took the women’s 1500m in 3:58.25 to collect her second Diamond League win of the season.
The Scot was running about even with Moroccan Rababe Arafi and Konstanze Klosterhalfen at the bell before taking the lead as she entered the backstretch. While Arafi soon dropped off the pace, the German was in hot pursuit until midway through the home straight, eventually fading to fifth. Keyan Winny Chebet closed well to finish second in 3:59.93, as did Gabriela Debues-Stafford, whose 4:00.26 in third was a Canadian national record.
Ferguson Rotich took command of the Diamond League 800m standings with a decisive 1:43.14 victory. The Kenyan took the lead with just over 100 metres remaining, holding off his quick finishing compatriot Wyclife Kinyamal, who clocked 1:43.48. It was the third fastest career performance for Rotich, a 2016 Olympic finalist, and a season’s best for Kinyamal.
An anticipated battle between world leader Nijel Amos of Botswana and Emmanuel Korir, last year’s top 800m runner, never materialised. Amos pulled up less than 200 metres into the race, clutching his right hamstring before falling to the track while Korir, still feeling the effects of a serious automobile accident he was involved in three weeks ago, was never in the hunt, finishing a distant eighth in 1:44.75.
Source: IAAF
