The London Diamond League, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games, is an annual
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...
event held in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England.
Previously one of the five
IAAF Super Grand Prix
The IAAF Super Grand Prix was an annual series of one-day track and field competitions organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Over the competition's history, a total of nine different meetings were part of the ...
events, it is now part of the
Diamond League
The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...
. As the London Grand Prix, until 2012 all editions were held at the
National Sports Centre
There are three National Sports Centres as part of Sport England's strategy to create elite England, English world class sporting talent:
* Bisham Abbey#Sports centre, Bisham Abbey
* Lilleshall Hall#Sports centre, Lilleshall
* Plas y Brenin
E ...
in
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
. The 2013 edition was renamed the ''Anniversary Games'' as it took place at the
Stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
in
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a sporting complex and public park in Stratford, Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow, in east London. It was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, situated adjacent to the Stratford City developm ...
, exactly one year after the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
were held in the same venue and have been followed by an
IPC London Grand Prix, making it a three-day event. In 2014 the meet was held in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland, as preparation for the
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
held there later that month.
Event names
The 2018 event will continue to be sponsored by
Müller. It was formerly sponsored by Sainsbury's.
Event locations
Emsley Carr Mile
The
Emsley Carr Mile
The Emsley Carr Mile is an annual invitational athletics running event held in the United Kingdom over one mile for men. The race was won in 2022 by the British athlete Matthew Stonier.
History
The race was inaugurated in 1953 by Sir William Ca ...
remains a fixture at the annual meeting, with a history spanning back to 1953 at the
White City Stadium
White City Stadium was a stadium located in White City, London, England. Built for the 1908 Summer Olympics, it hosted the finish of the first modern marathon and other sports like swimming, speedway, boxing, show jumping, athletics, stock car ...
.
Emsley Carr
Sir William Emsley Carr (1 May 1867 – 5 August 1941) was a British newspaper editor, who edited the '' News of the World'' for more than fifty years.
Carr was born and raised in the Hunslet district of Leeds. His uncle, Henry Lascelles Car ...
, an athletics fan and the editor of ''
The News of the World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one o ...
'', created an annual mile race in the hope that the first
four-minute mile
A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1609 m) in four minutes or less. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, at age 25, in 3:59.4. As of April 2021, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by 1,663 athletes, and is n ...
would be achieved on British soil.
Gordon Pirie
Douglas Alistair Gordon Pirie (10 February 1931 – 7 December 1991) was an English long-distance runner. He competed in the 5000 m and 10,000 m events at the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics and won a silver medal in the 5000 m in 1956, placing fo ...
won the first race, but
Roger Bannister
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile.
At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and ...
had run under 4 minutes in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
by time that the second race was competed. However, the tradition continued, with the winner signing his name in a red leather-bound book identical to the Bible used in
Queen Elizabeth II's coronation
The coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being Proclamati ...
.
Derek Ibbotson
George Derek Ibbotson (17 June 1932 – 23 February 2017) was an English runner who excelled in athletics in the 1950s. His most famous achievement was setting a new world record in the mile in 1957.
Biography
Ibbotson was born in Huddersfi ...
achieved the first sub-4-minute run at the race in 1956, and many of the best
middle-distance runner
Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...
s have won at the Emsley Carr Mile since, including
Sebastian Coe
Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...
,
Steve Ovett
Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and the ...
and
Hicham El Guerrouj
Hicham El Guerrouj ( ar, هشام الݣروج, Hishām l-Garrūj; ber, ⵀⵉⵛⴰⵎ ⴻⵍ ⴳⴻⵔⵔⵓⵊ, Hisham El Gerruj; born 14 September 1974) is a retired Moroccan middle-distance runner. El Guerrouj is the current world record ho ...
.
Millicent Fawcett Mile
The
Millicent Fawcett Mile, a women's race, was first held in the 2018 Anniversary Games and won by
Sifan Hassan
Sifan Hassan ( om, Siifan Hassan; born 1 January 1993) is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics winning gold medals in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, ...
in 4:14.71.
It commemorates
suffragist
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
Millicent Fawcett
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for women's suffrage by legal change and in 1897–1919 led Britain's largest women's rights associati ...
.
There had been a women's mile event at previous games, without this title, the previous record being held by
Hellen Obiri
Hellen Onsando Obiri (born 13 December 1989) is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. She is a two-time Olympic 5000 metres silver medallist from the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she also placed fourth over the 10,000 metres. S ...
who ran in 2017 in 4:16.56.
History
In 2009
pole vault
Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...
favourite
Yelena Isinbayeva
Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva ( rus, Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева, p=jɪˈlʲɛnə gɐˈdʐɨjɪvnə ɪsʲɪnˈbajɪvə; born 3 June 1982) is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 20 ...
lost for the first time in 18 competitions, beaten by
Anna Rogowska
Anna Rogowska (born 21 May 1981) is a retired Polish athlete who specialised in the pole vault. She became the World Champion in 2009 in Berlin.
Career
Born in Gdynia, she won the bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics, narrowly beating Monika Pyrek ...
.
Kate Dennison set an eighth
British record in the pole vault.
On 24 January 2013 it was announced that London Grand Prix would be moved to the
Olympic Stadium
''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...
for 2013. The
London Legacy Development Corporation
The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) is an organisation established in 2012, replacing the Olympic Park Legacy Company
The London 2012 Olympic Legacy is the longer-term benefits and effects of the planning, funding, building and st ...
had expressed interest in holding an athletics event at the stadium to coincide with the first anniversary of the start of the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
.
After the 2013 event a return to Crystal Palace was ruled out as according to Ed Warner it would be a backward step.
Hampden Park
Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...
which was due to host the athletics events at the Commonwealth Games and a temporary venue in Horse Guards Parade and the Mall were mooted for the 2014 edition, before a return to the Olympic Stadium in 2015 due to a gap in the reconstruction schedule. A four-year sponsorship deal with
Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...
was announced in January 2014. In February 2014 it was confirmed that the Grand Prix event would move to Hampden Park and be known as the ''Glasgow Grand Prix''. The event returned to London from 2015 and continued to be known as the ''Anniversary Games ''.
The 2021 event, due to be held on 13 July was moved away from London Stadium to Gateshead International Stadium due to the difficulty of reconfiguring the stadium for a single athletics event.
World records
Over the course of its history, a number of
world records
A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
have been set at the London Grand Prix.
Meeting records
Men
Women
References
External links
Diamond League – London Official Web Site
{{Athletics in the UK
Sports competitions in London
Athletics in London
Athletics competitions in England
Diamond League
IAAF Super Grand Prix
Track and field in the United Kingdom
Annual events in London
Recurring sporting events established in 1953
IAAF Grand Prix
IAAF World Outdoor Meetings