From fishing to lounging on the couch, drinking copious amounts of wine and holidaying in Tasmania, global track and field stars are headed for a hard-earned, richly-deserved and eagerly-awaited off-season break in different fashion.
Last weekend’s Wanda Diamond League Finals at Brussels’ Memorial Van Damme meeting was the culmination of a long, six-month season that toured 14 cities on four different continents.
At the end of it all last Friday and Saturday, the 32 Wanda Diamond League champions of 2024 were crowned at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, and they immediately switched from competition to holiday mode.
Besides the 14-leg Diamond League series, there was the small matter of the Olympic Games in Paris, a schedule that would certainly make any athlete long for a holiday.
The Brussels meeting was highly-regarded for many reasons, especially as, for the first time in history, it was spread over two days featuring all 32 disciplines
It was the best-attended athletics meet in the world with athletes from all continents and with over 70,000 tickets sold on each of the two days, breaking the meet’s own ticketing record along with that of all previous Wanda Diamond League finals.
The meeting had most Olympic medallists ever at the start and celebrated the highest prize money ever in Belgium with each of the 32 champions awarded a prestigious "Diamond Trophy", $30'000 (about Sh3.9 million) prize money and a wild card for next year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, although certain conditions apply for some events.
Australian Nina Kennedy, the Olympic Champion, won the women’s pole vault on the second day of action at the King Baudouin Stadium, clearing four metres, 88 centimetres to finish ahead of American Sandi Morris (4.80m) and Canadian Alysha Newman (4.80m).
“Winning the Olympics was the goal of the season and I achieved that… I went back to Australia, which was amazing, but coming back to Europe (for the Diamond League) was difficult,” Kennedy – who shared last year’s World Championships gold with American Katie Moon - said after her Brussels triumph.
“I had three Diamond League meetings and I said I’d win them all. I set a goal for myself and I did it, and so I’m happy.”
So what’s her holiday plan? “I’m going to Tasmania, in Australia, and Barham Bay as well,” the 27-year-old Olympic champion, now a two-time Diamond League overall winner, quipped with a broad smile, the allure of Tasmania – the only Australian state not located on the mainland and known for its clean air – certainly on her mind.
Barham, some 823 kilometres south west of Sydney, is known for its citrus groves, fishing and relaxing, man-made lakes.
“I’ll be there for a long time… the holidays are two weeks but I’ll take a long time off training. I’m gonna do something fun! I know there are many things that athletes don’t do because we want to keep ourselves in perfect condition and so I wanna go surfing, I wanna go roller-blading, I wanna do things that I would normally not do.”
Morris, second to Kennedy last weekend, will certainly let loose!
“I’m gonna leave here, get some wine and celebrate because I’m fairly pleased with my performance,” she reacted.
“I’ll definitely go for red wine because that gives me the excuse that it’s ‘healthy’… I’m going to stay home on my couch because we do a lot of travelling.
“My husband really wants to go to Mexico for three or four days, but it will take a lot of convincing to get me on a plane… but maybe a few Margarittas (cocktails) will convince me!”
Elsewhere, Fishing is on the mind of USA’s three-time Olympic shot put champion, Ryan Crouser, who was upset in Brussels by Italy’s European champion Leonardo Fabbri.
The Italian hurled an opening attempt 22.98 metres, a meet record that improved on American Joe Kovacs’ previous mark by 37 centimetres.
Crouser battled to a fourth throw 22.79 metres, also inside the previous mark, to settle for second with Jamaican Rajindra Campbell third with 21.95m.
The 31-year-old, 145-kilogramme Crouser, who has won three straight Olympic gold medals in Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and lately Paris, was frustrated with his throws in Brussels, but nonetheless looked foward to the off-season.
“It was a good day for me in terms of consistency. I threw very well - hats off to Fabbri - he threw a PR… I’ve been happy with the consistency, but it’s frustrating because when you have consistency you feel that big performance is there, but I have just not had that one big throw this second half of the season…”
His holiday plans? “I’ll definitely get some fishing in, unfortunately not as much as I’d like but when I get home, I’ll be pretty busy with media obligations – that’s unfortunately cut into my fishing more that I would like, but I will still get out into the water!”
Meanwhile, Fabbri won’t rest on his laurels after the Brussels upset win.
“I think I will take two or three weeks off and then work hard because next season should hopefully be better than this one,” the 27-year-old European champion says.
Kenya’s Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi has been a standout performer this season, winning the Olympic gold and running the third-fastest all-time, 1:41.11, at the Lausanne meet on August 22.
He looked beaten in Brussels but outsprinted Canada’s early pace-setter Marco Arop and unpredictable Algerian Djamel Sedjati to the tape, winning in 1:42.70 with Sedjati second in 1:42.86, and Arop third in 1:43.25.
Wanyonyi won’t do anything elaborate over his off-season break, electing to spend time with family in Kenya’s Trans Nzoia County.
“I don’t like enjoying too much during the holidays… I’ll just go and see my mother at home and spend the holiday together with my family,” he said in Brussels, pretty much the same family break three-time Olympic 1,500m champion and world record holder Faith Kipyegon craves.
“I finished my season with a fifth Diamond League trophy… it’s just amazing,” Kipyegon said at the King Baudouin Stadium.
“My last race of the season will be in New York (at the Athlos women-only track meeting mooted by tennis star Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian) and then I go back to my family. They have missed me a lot, especially my daughter – I’ve been home-out, home-out and now is the time to give back to my family and just enjoy the holiday.”
Kipyegon is married to 2012 Olympic 800m bronze medallist Timothy Kitum and they have a five-year-old daughter, Alyn.
American 400m hurdles silver medallist Anna Cockrell looks forward to just hitting the couch and taking it easy in her new house.
“I’m just gonna lay down… I’m excited to be in my own house, in my own bed, and I’m gonna drink a lot of coffee and eat some ice-cream, nothing too crazy,” the 27-year-old 2016 World Under-20 Championships hurdles champion said.
Kenya’s 100m Africa champion Ferdinand Omanyala is negotiating with his coach Geoffrey Kimani on the duration of his holiday.
“We are still negotiating with coach… he’s at five weeks. I’m at eight, so I don’t know how many he will give me.
“But I don’t think I will stay out for long because my body is used to training. The most important thing is getting the rest and get back to the drawing board and evaluate the good and bad and see how it’s gonna be,” said Omanyala who won the invitational 100m race in Brussels in 10.07 seconds.
USA’s world 400m hurdles world record holder Sydney Mclaughlin-Levron didn’t do much of the Diamond League season and, like Omanyala, was on the invitation programme in Brussels, winning the 200m with ease in 22.40 seconds and immediately digging into some waffles in the media mixed zone, glad that the season is over!
“I’ve no idea (how long the holiday will be)… I’ll just take it one day at a time and enjoy these moments,” she quipped, waffle in hand.
Despite specializing in the 400m hurdles, Mclaughlin-Levron has featured in the 200m and 400m, flat, on various occasions and loves the mix.
“They (200m and 400m) are very different but I enjoy both of them… They both challenge me in different ways – one teaches me how to sprint, the other teaches me how to sprint and be patient. I love challenging myself every step of the way.”
In the absence of Mclaughlin-Levron on the DL circuit, multi-talented Dutchwoman Femke Bol, an Olympic 4x400 mixed relay champion and 2023 world champion in the hurdles, capped her fourth Diamond League hurdles trophy, remaining unbeaten this season and absolutely deserving the time off, post-season.
“I’ll be moving (during the off-season break)… I’ll be in the Netherlands, and I will also be two weeks on an island to enjoy a bit, to see the sun, good food, with my boyfriend,” said Bol who won the hurdles in Brussels in 52.45 seconds, adding that it has been a great experience travelling across the Diamond League venues.
“It’s all about enjoying the hard work I’ve done and the shape I’m in. I just love being on the circuit and travelling from place to place, to be in different stadiums with different crowds…”
Canada’s Marco Arop, the nearly-man of the 800m with an Olympic silver medal and 5-7 down in duels with champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, very much looks forward to the off-season.
“I’m gonna go home (Canada) first. I haven’t been home for almost three months and so I’ll be celebrating with my family and the community in Canada, and after a week I think we will have some downtime to relax and start training again in October,” said Arop who was ranked third in the world this year.
And with most of the athletes off to enviable holiday spells, Olympic women’s high jump champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh will brave through her battle-ravaged nation of Ukraine to join her family.
“I will celebrate with my team now and then celebrate with my family, and my father… he’s looking forward to that,” she said in Brussels.
At the Paris Diamond League in July, Mahuchikh had to endure a roller-coaster of emotions over a 24-hour period, first celebrating her world record, then, hours later, mourning after a Russian ballistic missile attack on a hospital in the city of Poltava.
Moscow’s attacks via two missiles also struck a communications centre, killing 51 people and injuring over 200 others.
Mahuchikh, 22, plans to travel back home to Ukraine to reunite with the family, even with the dangers that lurk in Kyiv.
“Of course it’s dangerous, and there’s no safe place in Ukraine at the moment,” she reacted. “But my parents, my friend are there and I want to spend time with them… I was there last year in October.”
Puerto Rico’s 28-year-old Olympic 100m hurdles bronze medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn ended the season on a high with a 12.35 second victory in Brussels.
“An Olympic bronze medal was not on my list this year, but it is what it is… But I got the Diamond League trophy and so I’m grateful for that. I’m healthy, I’m alive, I’m blessed and that’s all I can ask for… I don’t know yet about my break. We’ll see!,” she noted in Brussels and the elites of global track and field launched their long off-season break, the World Championships in Tokyo next summer the big one for 2025, with the usual Diamond League programme expected to bring out more twists and turns. (All photos: Memorial Van Damme Diamond League meeting)
The 32 Wanda Diamond League winners for 2024 after last weekend’s season-ending Memorial Van Damme Diamond League Finals in Brussels:
Women:
100 metres hurdles: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn
200 metres: Brittany Brown
400 metres hurdles: Femke Bol
1,500 metres: Faith Kipyegon
3,000 metres steeplechase: Faith Cherotich
5,000 metres: Beatrice Chebet
Javelin: Haruka Kitaguchi
Pole vault: Nina Kennedy
Long jump: Larissa Iapichino
100 metres: Julien Alfred
400 metres: Marileidy Paulino
800 metres: Mary Moraa
High jump: Yaroslava Mahuchikh
Triple jump: Leyanis Perez Hernandez
Discus throw: Valarie Allman
Shot-put: Sarah Mitton
Men:
200 metres: Kenneth Bednarek
400 metres hurdles: Alison dos Santos
800 metres: Emmanuel Wanyonyi
Triple jump: Pedro Pichardo
Shot put: Leonardo Fabbri
High jump: Gianmarco Tamberi
Javelin: Anderson Peters
100 metres: Ackeem Blake
110-metre hurdles: Sasha Zhoya
400 metres: Charles Dobson
1,500 metres: Jakob Ingebrigtsen
3,000 metres steeple: Amos Serem
5,000 metres: Berihu Aregawi
Pole vault: Mondo Duplantis
Discus throw: Matthew Denny
Long jump: Tajay Gayle