Top 5 Recap: Day 1, Aviva London Grand Prix



1. The men's 110m hurdles was the performance of the meet with a ridiculously fast time by Aries Merritt in the final.  Merritt ran a 12.93, tying his previous world leading time from the US Trials. He also beat World Champion Jason Richardson and Dayron Robles' meet record of 13.04. One surprise was Liu Xiang pulling out of the final after finishing first in his preliminary heat because of an injury. 

RANK	ATHLETE	NATION	RESULT		REACTION TIME
1	MERRITT Aries	USA	12.93	=WL,MR	0.137
2	RICHARDSON Jason	USA	13.06		0.166
3	WILSON Ryan	USA	13.18	SB	0.153
4	PORTER Jeff	USA	13.32		0.154
5	BROWN Joel	USA	13.39		0.149
6	HICKS Antwon	USA	13.46		0.165
	POZZI Andrew	GBR	DNF

2. The men's 400m hurdles were a bit of a disapointment as Bershawn Jackson, bronze medalist in Beijing, false started from his lane and was unable to compete in the race that included David Greene from Great Britain.  The two athletes have a history of some trash talking beginning in March when Greene called out Jackson's teammate, Olympic gold medalist LaShawn Merritt for testing positive in 2010.  Since Jackson failed to make the US Olympic team, it would have been interesting to see how the two hurdlers would match up in this race.  Check out the full story here. 

RANK	ATHLETE	NATION	RESULT		REACTION TIME	DIAMOND POINTS	DIAMOND RANKING
1	CULSON Javier	PUR	47.78	=WL	0.175	16	1
2	GREENE David	GBR	48.10		0.146	4	3
3	TAYLOR Angelo	USA	48.43	SB	0.165	5	2
4	GREEN Jack	GBR	48.60	PB	0.186
5	SÁNCHEZ Félix	DOM	49.68		0.184	1	7
6	TINSLEY Michael	USA	49.86		0.177
7	GAYMON Justin	USA	50.28		0.134	3	4
	JACKSON Bershawn	USA	DQ	R 162.7		2	5

3. The women's 1500 turned out to be more of a tactical race than expected.  With Morgan Uceny, Jenny Simpson, Shannon Rowbury, two-time world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal, and Diane Cummin pacing for a 4 flat race, we were expecting something a bit faster.  Jamal came through with an easy win of 4:06.78 followed by a pack that seemed to fade quite a bit coming into the homestretch.  Simpson and Anna Pierce were the only women who had another gear heading into the line, coming through in a 4:06.78 for Jamal, 4:07.76 for Simpson, and 4:08.06 for Pierce. 

RANK	ATHLETE	NATION	RESULT		DIAMOND POINTS	DIAMOND RANKING
1	JAMAL Maryam Yusuf	BRN	4:06.78		4	3
2	SIMPSON Jenny	USA	4:07.76		2	5
3	PIERCE Anna	USA	4:08.06		1	8
4	WEIGHTMAN Laura	GBR	4:08.19
5	UCENY Morgan	USA	4:08.22
6	ROWBURY Shannon	USA	4:08.63
7	DOBRISKEY Lisa	GBR	4:08.83
8	MCKNIGHT Kaila	AUS	4:10.49
9	BUCKMAN Zoe	AUS	4:12.82
10	LANGAT Nancy Jebet	KEN	4:13.56	SB
11	ENGLAND Hannah	GBR	4:14.45
	CUMMINS Diane	CAN	DNF

4. The men's 100 meters was a performance to watch as Tyson Gay turned on the jets for the final to win in a 10.03.  He couldn't be beat in the last twenty meters as Ryan Bailey trailed behind him in a 10.09.  Gay is currently ranked 2nd in the diamond league behind Usain Bolt.  

RANK	ATHLETE	NATION	RESULT		REACTION TIME	DIAMOND POINTS	DIAMOND RANKING
1	GAY Tyson	USA	10.03		0.107	8	1
2	BAILEY Ryan	USA	10.09		0.174	2	4
3	CARTER Nesta	JAM	10.13		0.156	2	4
4	FRATER Michael	JAM	10.15		0.144
5	RODGERS Michael	USA	10.19		0.143	2	4
6	KIMMONS Trell	USA	10.19		0.155
7	HYMAN Kemar	CAY	10.25		0.152
	COLLINS Kim	SKN	DNS

5. The men's 5k was a heart-warming performance as hometown favorite Mo Farah delivered with a great kick in a time of 13:06 for the win.  Behind him was Collis Birmingham of Australia who held on for a personal best of 13:09.  

RANK	ATHLETE	NATION	RESULT		DIAMOND POINTS	DIAMOND RANKING
1	FARAH Mo	GBR	13:06.04		8	1
2	BIRMINGHAM Collis	AUS	13:09.57	PB	2	5
3	KIPSIRO Moses Ndiema	UGA	13:09.98		1	7
4	KIPTOO Mark Kosgei	KEN	13:13.77
5	RITZENHEIN Dathan	USA	13:15.91
6	BETT Emmanuel Kipkemei	KEN	13:23.05
7	MOTTRAM Craig	AUS	13:23.85
8	BARRIOS Juan Luis	MEX	13:35.44
9	ST. LAWRENCE Ben	AUS	13:37.35
10	SATO Yuki	JPN	13:43.43
11	KIBET Moses	UGA	13:45.29
12	TADESSE Kidane	ERI	13:50.96
	MUTAHI Sammy Alex	KEN	DNF
	NDIWA Remmy Limo	KEN	DNF