The 14th and final Diamond League meet of the season was highlighted by numerous gripping showdowns and record-breaking performances as the curtain came down on the outdoor athletics season.
With only the top athletes qualifying for the season finale in a winner-takes-all scenario to clinch the Diamond League trophies on offer, we take a look at which African competitors excelled at the Prefontaine Classic at the USA’s spiritual home of track and field, Eugene, Oregon.
RECORDS MADE TO BE BROKEN – WOMEN’S 5000M
Just over three months after Kenyan superstar Faith Kipyegon broke the women’s 5 000m world record, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay took to the track on a mission to better that mark set in Paris.
The 10 000m world champion not only bettered it but obliterated the record, taking five seconds off Kipyegon’s time to win in 14:00.21 and come tantalisingly close to becoming the first woman in history to dip under 14 minutes.
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet was second – and also impressively close to Kipyegon’s time, finishing in a personal best of 14:05.92 with Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye well back in third in 14:21.52.
Not only did Tsegay ensure the record returned to Ethiopia, where it’s been since 2006 until Kipyegon’s run in June, but she also claimed this season’s Diamond League trophy in the process.
KIPYEGON FINISHES IN STYLE – WOMEN’S 1500M
Kipyegon didn’t contest the 5 000m in Oregon, but a day before that race, she finished off her track season in style in the 1 500m. The multiple Olympic and world champion was once again in a class of her own, speeding to victory in a new meet record time of 3:50.72 – the fifth fastest time in history behind her world record.
Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji was second, slicing over a second off her personal best time to finish in 3:53.93 – the fourth fastest time in the world this season, with Kipyegon having run the top three times.
WANYONYI ON THE RISE – MEN’S 800M MEN
The men’s 800m produced a thrilling duel between Kenyan teenager Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Canada’s world champion Marco Arop.
In a reversal of the World Championship final in Budapest, it was the Kenyan who got the better of the Sudanese-born Canadian this time.
Arop led at the bell but Wanyonyi outsprinted him down the home straight to finish in a new meet record and personal best time of 1:42.80 – also the fastest time in the world this year.
Arop was second in a national record time of 1:42.85 while Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati was third in a new PB of 1:43.06.
TOBI’S BACK IN BUSINESS – WOMEN’S 100M HURDLES
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan proved she was back at her best in Eugene. That’s after being cleared of a doping test whereabouts failure charge on the eve of the World Championships where she understandably didn’t show her finest form.
The world record holder bounced back in emphatic fashion to claim victory in the 100m hurdles in Oregon in a season’s best 12.33 seconds, so beating all three World Championship medallists and also clinching the Diamond League trophy for a third successive year.
KOECH CRUISES TO VICTORY – MEN’S 3000 STEEPLECHASE
Simon Koech had no trouble claiming victory in the 3 000m steeplechase.
The 20-year-old Kenyan opened up a gap on the field along with Ethiopian world junior silver medallist Samuel Firewu but then comfortably took the win in 8:06.26 to finish something of a surprise winner of the Diamond League trophy. Firewu was second in 8:10.74.
FAMILIAR FINISH – WOMEN 3 000M STEEPLECHASE
There was a familiar feel to the finish of the women’s 3 000m steeplechase, however, as it mimicked not only the World Championships podium in Budapest but also that of the Diamond League meet in Zurich a few weeks ago.
Kenyan-born Winfred Mutile Yavi, who has represented Bahrain since the age of 15, once again came out on top, winning in a world-leading and meet record time of 8:50.66 with Kenya’s world-record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech second in a season’s best 8:51.67 – the second and third fastest times in history.
Chepkoech’s 19-year-old compatriot Faith Cherotich dipped under nine minutes for the first time in her career, finishing third in a personal best time of 8:59.65.
CONSOLATION PODIUM PLACE – WOMEN’S LONG JUMP
Nigeria’s Ese Brume made up for some of the disappointment of just missing out on a World Championships medal in Budapest, where she finished fourth, by claiming a podium spot in Eugene.
The African record holder produced a third-round leap of 6.85m, which was matched by world champion Ivana Vuleta in the final round, but the Serbian claimed the win on countback with Brume second.
JUST ONE HUNDREDTH OF A SECOND IN IT – MEN’S 3 000M
The men’s 3 000m ended in a furious sprint down the home straight with Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha taking the challenge to Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who had come close to breaking the world record over one mile just the day before.
In the end, Ingebrigtsen just held on for the win by a mere one hundredth of a second in 7:23.63 but Kejelcha was at least rewarded with a national record of 7:23.64 for his efforts.
RETURN TO FINE FORM – WOMEN’S 100 AND 200M
After a scintillating build-up, Ivorian Marie-Josée Ta Lou had to deal with the disappointment of leaving the World Championships empty-handed.
But the 34-year-old rallied in Eugene, finishing second behind Jamaican Shericka Jackson in both the 100m and 200m.
Ta Lou equalled her season’s best in the 100m, finishing in 10.75 to get the better of Jamaica’s five-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah.
She followed that up with another season’s best in the 200m, finishing in 22.10 with Jackson taking the win in a meet record time of 21.57.
SPEEDY FINALE FOR OMANYALA – MEN’S 100M
In one of the most hotly anticipated races of the meet, Christian Coleman stunned fellow American and newly crowned triple world champion Noah Lyles in the men’s 100m, taking the win by equalling the fastest time in the world this year – 9.83 seconds.
Lyles was second in 9.85 with Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala securing third spot in the same time of 9.85 – Lyles just holding onto second by a few thousandths of a second.
DR ZANGO SETTLES FOR SECOND – MEN’S TRIPLE JUMP
It wasn’t until the penultimate round that Burkina Faso’s newly crowned triple jump world champion Hugues Fabrice Zango managed to produce his best effort of the competition.
But the electrical engineering PhD graduate’s 17.25m leap was not enough to eclipse Italy’s defending champion Andy Diaz’s opening-round effort of 17.43m to clinch the Diamond League Trophy.