No rest for the wicked! Straight back into Diamond League action on Thursday.

Remaining televised/officially streamed track meetings
25 Aug - Lausanne DL
27 Aug - Paris DL
28 Aug - Kamila Skolimowska Memorial (Warsaw; 3.30pm Eversport.com) - Just 100m, high hurdles & field events but attracts good fields
01 Sep - Zurich DL*
03 Sep - Berlin World Challenge (3.50pm Eversport.com)
06 Sep - Zagreb World Challenge (6pm Eversport.com)
08 Sep - Golden Fly series (Liechtenstein; Eversport.com) - LJ & PV street meeting (M+W)
09 Sep - Brussels DL
10 Sep - Great North CityGames (Newcastle/Gateshead; BBC)
11 Sep - Rieti World Challenge (no word yet from Eversport.com about coverage but they've streamed it the last 2 years)

* The Women's Pole Vault is being held the evening before at Zurich Railway Station and is live on Swiss TV (SRF 2; 5.30pm). I'll try and find a stream for it.

Other good meetings
31 Aug - European Athletics Classic Meeting in Honour of Miners' Day (Velenje, SLO; http://www.ak-velenje.si/si/miting)
06 Sep - Palio Citta della Quercia (Rovereto, ITA; http://www.usquercia.it/palio/)
17-18 Sep - Decastar combined events meeting (Talance, FRA; http://www.decastar.fr/en/index.html)

Just a bump for Lausanne tonight, kicking off a busy few weeks of post-Olympic athletics.

http://www.diamondleague.com/news/si...-look-out-for/

You usually get some good performance in these meets as athletes should still be in peak form but glad to be performing in front of a full stadium again.

^ These post-championship meetings have felt a bit flat to me in the last few years. Lots of athletes looking tired (and saying they're tired) and not many record attempts. It used to be the record-chasing part of the season but maybe now that some of the records are out-of-sight, like the men's middle + long distances, that's changed for the foreseeable future?

However, tonight Genzebe has requested a halfway pace of 4:05 in the 3000, just off WR pace (8:06.11). The fastest non-Chinese times ever are Genzebe's 8:16.60 (indoors) & Hellen Obiri's 8:20.68 in Doha a couple of years ago.

Aries Merritt set his 110m WR in Brussels in 2012, that would be the last one, I think.

Normally I'd think these end of season meetings were a bit of a downer, but frankly I'm glad we've escaped that stadium in Rio.

Steve Cram on commentary too. Bonus.

And the ad breaks neatly covers up the news from the shot. Win for Valerie Adams, closing in on more bling.

Some way short of a top class field in the men's 100m though.

Not a bad run for Joel Fearon, though, first time up against a big international (well, Asana Powell) field.

Another well-judged race by Lyndsey, decent time again.

Oh, dear, another bad day at the office for Lavillenie.

What wouldn't Robbie Grabarz have given for four first time clearances last week?

Oh dear, messed up the women 100m. typical Swiss carelessness and inefficiency.

Good job that 'false' start didn't happen last week!
Lavillenie seems to have been around for years... Only 29

Well I was doing my best to make Renaud feel at home. Just a bit of friendly booing.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a 100m go all the way on a false start.

Yeah, itwas like the Grand National that Esha Ness won!

Oh, it happened to Merlene Ottey at a World Champs once, 1999 was it?

So funny, the contrast in the comms compared to the Olympics... No mention of Desiree Henry yet. Got off to a very bad start, but came back strongly in second half of race.

The good news is that Elidh Doyle has at last got her new stride pattern working well. The bad news is......

Lorraine Ugen needs to get that floppy leg under control. Nice run from Mrs. Doyle however, she even went over the last hurdle without bricking it.


God, was she still running even back then!? Admittedly my memories of championships pre Sydney has gotten a little fuzzy, but I do remember that Merlene was rather lovely.

Edit: I tend to blot out her Slovenian antics.

She really does get a good head of steam up, shame her drive phase is practically non existent. Not sure what she can do about that though.

Sadly the crushing emotional pressure of running in front of a French-speaking Swiss crowd in a post-Olympics homecoming race proved to much for the fragile temperaments of the French 110m hurdlers there.

Back in the day at the same time and in the same events, I had a "thing" for Juliet Cuthbert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd2MB-9PT0I

Oooh, Michael Rimmer going in the 1000m, a treat indeed to wind up the evening with!

Sadly, it proved 450m too far for him.

You had to jinx it.

Oh, blimey 19.81 from Churandy Martina!

So turned out to be a good meet in the end after a kind of ordinary first hour. On to Paris on Saturday to see what the other half of the draw can do.

Will we see Usain Bolt competing again this season

Checked the prices of London 2017, ****ing hell hey are insane. Plus you can't even buy anything anywhere close to the finish line. Was going to get tickets for several nights but given these options I will pass on all of them.

Quite enjoyed that meeting.

It had more atmosphere about it than the whole week in Rio's Olympic stadium.

The 100m false start was a strange one. Surely a second gun should be used, or a klaxon for the hard of hearing.

IMO the prices are fair considering the top-end ticket prices are less than a quarter of the London 2012 equivalents (and IIRC 60% higher than in Glasgow 2014).

Out of curiosity, what sessions were you considering?

Tell that to those who stayed for the business end of the men's pole vault. (Admittedly, that was marred by their classless booing of Lavillenie.)