OSLO, Norway – The International Association of Athletics Federations held its third Diamond League meet of the season on Saturday at the Bislett Games at Oslo’s Bislett Stadium, and LSU alums Lolo Jones and Richard Thompson were among the stars shining in one of the landmark European meets of the year.
Jones captured her second Diamond League title in the 100-meter hurdles in as many races this campaign, while Thompson earned a runner-up finish in the 100-meter dash in his first Diamond League appearance.
Jones, who opened the Diamond League season with a win at the Doha Meeting in Qatar on May 14 with a wind-aided time of 12.63 seconds, cruised to victory at the Bislett Games on Saturday with a new wind-legal seasonal best and the third-fastest time in the world this season at 12.66. She dominated the field for the title as Canadians Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (12.72) and Perdita Felicien (12.72) took second and third.
Thompson enjoyed a seasonal-best performance of his own in finishing runner-up in the men’s 100-meter dash as he raced to the finish line with a slightly wind-aided time of 9.90 in the final to finish behind only Jamaica’s Asafa Powell (9.72). The race was run with a slight tailwind of 2.1 meters per second.
The reigning Olympic silver medalist won his prelim heat with a wind-legal seasonal best of 10.08 as he’s run only six races over 100 meters since his season debut on April 17.
The IAAF Diamond League features 32 individual event disciplines with a point scoring ‘Diamond Race’ that runs through the 14 meets in the series. Winners of each Diamond Race event will receive a Diamond Trophy and cash prize, as well as consideration for the World’s No. 1 athlete in their discipline.
Each event is staged seven times with the top three athletes in each discipline receiving equal points in the meetings with the exception of the final (Zurich and Brussels) where the point totals are doubled. Athletes finishing in first place receive four points, while second place gets two and third place gets one point.
The athlete with the highest number of points in each discipline at the end of the IAAF Diamond League season wins “The Diamond Race.”For an athlete to win a Diamond Race and its prize, he or she must be a competitor in the final race of their event discipline in either Zurich on Aug. 19 or Brussels on Aug. 27 at the end of the season for the inaugural IAAF Diamond League.
With two races in the books and five races still to come, Jones has jumped out to an early lead with a total of eight points in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Lopes-Schliep follows in second place in the event race with four points as she has finished runner-up to Jones in both Diamond League events in the 100 hurdles.
Thompson is currently in second place in the standings in the men’s 100-meter dash with two points as he follows the eight points scored by Powell with five races still to come this summer.
Both Jones and Thompson will return to action next weekend as they are scheduled to compete in the next Diamond League meet in New York on Saturday at the adidas Grand Prix.