By Ben Efe
The outdoor season kicked off at the first leg of the Samsung Diamond league in Doha, Qatar last weekend with 11 athletes achieving world leading times ahead of the World Championships billed for  Daegu, Korea in August.

Nigeria’s hope Blessing Okagbare running in the 200m gave little indication of fulfilling the expectations placed on her by Athletics Federation of Nigeria president, Solomon Ogba who was in Doha to lend support to the athlete who came forth with 23.19. Okagbare was the only Nigeria athlete performing in the Diamond League.

A hot but blustery night ended with two crowd-pleasing performances. First, Ethiopia’s Yenew Alamirew who burst dramatically past Kenya’s former World champion Eliud Kipchoge just 200 metres from the end of the 3000m race, winning in a world-leading, meeting record of 7:27.26 which sent his compatriots into a flag-waving frenzy.

Allyson Felix got her outdoor season off to the perfect start as she raced to victory in the 400m.
The three-time world 200m champion was happy with her outing as she trains toward possibly attempting a 200m-400m double at Daegu.

Felix held off a spirited comeback from Botswana’s Amantle Montsho to coast to the win in a world lead of 50.33 seconds.

“It’s a decent time, nothing special,” the Los Angeles native said. “We went out very conservatively
However, there was no such dream start to the outdoor season for Felix’s teammate Lolo Jones, for whom a bout of debilitating sciatica put paid to her indoor season.

The US’ Funmi Jimoh wrapped up the women’s long jump with a world lead of 6.88m, ahead of Brazilia’s Olympic champion Maurren Maggi.