Team USATF athletes returned to Doha for the first time since the 2019 World Championships for the second stop on the World Athletics Diamond League circuit. Katie Nageotte and Sandi Morris swept the top two spots in the women’s pole vault for Team USATF, both clearing 4.84m/15-10.5. Nageotte, who last week had a world-leading 4.93m/16-2 at Marietta, Georgia, made that bar on her first attempt to win, with Morris taking the runner-up spot going over on her second try. With Fred Kerley to his inside and 2011 world champion Kirani James of Grenada to his outside, Michael Norman had all the pressure he needed in the men’s 400m. Norman took off quickly as is his usual style and ran a quick and controlled race to cross the line in a world-leading 44.27. Anthony Zambrano of Colombia closed very quickly to snag second in 44.57, .03 ahead of Kerley, who was making his 2021 debut outdoors in the event. Vernon Norwood was fifth in 44.87. His third legal sub-20 time of the year was jusssst enough to give Kenny Bednarek a hair’s-breadth win in the men’s 200m in a season-best 19.88. Coming off the turn even with Canada’s Andre De Grasse to his inside, those two men were inseparable until the photo finish camera did the job and gave Bednarek a .01 margin of victory. Justin Gatlin was fifth in 20.49, the fastest time ever run by a 39-year-old. Rai Benjamin had to do a lot of work to make up ground on Alison Dos Santos of Brazil and Kyron McMaster of the Virgin Islands, and after clattering the seventh hurdle on the final curve, Benjamin’s speed and strength showed through as he powered through to win in 47.38 ahead of Dos Santos, who set another national record of 47.57 in second. Local favorite Abderrahman of Qatar struggled in his season debut and ended up fourth in 48.26. Kenny Selmon (49.03) was fifth and David Kendziera was eighth. The new Diamond League field event format wasn’t kind to Valarie Allman in the women’s discus. Allman, the American record holder and this year’s U.S. leader, had the best throw overall with a 65.57m/215-1 in round four, but in the sudden death final round between the top three throwers, Allman ended up second behind Cuba’s Yaimé Pérez, who managed a 61.35m/201-3 to Allman’s 58.58m/192-2. Whitney Ashley was ninth. Trailing a very rapid early pace in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, Emma Coburn demolished the U.S. leading time for 2021 with a 9:08.22 to place fifth. Coburn’s time is the 12th-fastest performance in American history, and she owns nine of those times. Norah Jeruto of Kenya took advantage of a fall at the final water jump by fellow Kenyan Hyvin Kiyeng to win in a world-leading 9:00.67. Strong out of the blocks and just behind Jamaica’s Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce in the women’s 100m, Javianne Oliver maintained well through the race and finished third in 11.03, the second fastest time of her career. Hannah Cunliffe took fifth in 11.26 and Kiara Parker was sixth in 11.26. Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas is almost unbeatable in the women’s triple jump on current form, and she won again with a best of 15.15m/49-8.5 and a 15.11m/49-7 in the winner-takes-all final round. American record holder Keturah Orji finished fifth with a best of 14.37m/47-1.75. Official results can be found here. Fans can follow along with #JourneyToGold on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.