London Grand Prix

London Grand Prix Müller Anniversary Games
The Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, host of the event from 2013
Date	July – August
Location	London, England (Glasgow, Scotland in 2014)
Event type	Track and field
Established	1953
Official site	London Anniversary Games

The London Athletics Grand Prix is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League. Until 2012 all editions were held at the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace. The 2013 edition was known as the "Anniversary Games" as it took place in the Olympic Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, exactly one year after the Olympic Games were held in the same venue and have been followed by a IPC London Grand Prix. Making a three day event. In 2014 the meet was held in Glasgow, Scotland, as preparation for the Commonwealth Games held there later that month.

Emsley Carr Mile

The Emsley Carr Mile remains a fixture at the annual meeting, with a history spanning back to 1953 at the White City Stadium. Emsley Carr, an athletics fan and the editor of The News of the World, created an annual mile race in the hope that the first four-minute mile would be achieved on British soil. Gordon Pirie won the first race, but Roger Bannister had run under 4 minutes in Oxford 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. Derek Ibbotson achieved the first sub-4-minute run at the race in 1956, and many of the best middle-distance runners have won at the Emsley Carr Mile since, including Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Hicham El Guerrouj.^[1]

History

In 2009 pole vault favourite Yelena Isinbayeva lost for the first time in 18 competitions, beaten by Anna Rogowska. Kate Dennison set an eighth British record in the pole vault.^[2]

On 24 January 2013 it was announced that London Grand Prix would be moved to the Olympic Stadium for 2013. The London Legacy Development Corporation had expressed interest in holding an athletics event at the stadium to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[3] 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 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.^[4] A four-year sponsorship deal with Sainsburys was announced in January 2014.^[5] In February 2014 it was confirmed that the Grand Prix event would move to Hampden Park and be known as the Glasgow Grand Prix.

World records

Over the course of its history, a number of world records has been set at the London Grand Prix.

Year	Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality
2004	Pole vault	4.90 m	Yelena Isinbaeva	Russia
2005	Pole vault	4.96 m	Yelena Isinbaeva	Russia
2005	Pole vault	5.00 m	Yelena Isinbaeva	Russia
2016	100 m hurdles	12.20 (+0.3 m/s)	Kendra Harrison	United States

Meeting records

Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Ref	Video
100 m	9.78 (−0.4 m/s)	Tyson Gay	United States	13 August 2010
200 m	19.76 (−0.4 m/s)	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	26 July 2008
400 m	43.98	Michael Johnson	United States	10 July 1992
800 m	1:42.91	David Rudisha	Kenya	5 August 2011	[6]
Mile	3:45.96	Hicham El Guerrouj	Morocco	5 August 2000
3000 m	7:29.70	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	7 August 1999
5000 m	12:55.51	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	30 July 2004
110 m hurdles	12.93 (+0.6 m/s)	Aries Merritt	United States	13 July 2012	[7]
400 m hurdles	47.74	Derrick Adkins	United States	7 July 1995
3000 m steeplechase	8:06.86	Brimin Kiprop Kipruto	Kenya	27 July 2013	[8]
High jump	2.41 m	Javier Sotomayor	Cuba	15 July 1994
Pole vault	6.03 m	Renaud Lavillenie	France	25 July 2015	[9]
Long jump	8.45 m (+1.4 m/s)	Mitchell Watt	Australia	5 August 2011	[10]
Triple jump	17.78 m (+0.6 m/s)	Christian Taylor	United States	22 July 2016	[11]
Shot put	22.43 m	Reese Hoffa	United States	3 August 2007
Discus throw	67.82 m	Gerd Kanter	Estonia	14 August 2010
Javelin throw	90.81 m	Steve Backley	United Kingdom	22 July 2001
4 × 100 m relay	37.75	Racers Track Club Mario Forsythe Kemar Bailey-Cole Warren Weir Usain Bolt	Jamaica	27 July 2013	[12]
	37.46	Racers Track Club Daniel Bailey Yohan Blake Mario Forsythe Usain Bolt	Antigua and Barbuda /  Jamaica	25 July 2009	[13]

Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Ref
100 m	10.77 (+0.7 m/s)	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	27 July 2013	[14]
200 m	22.10 (−0.3 m/s)	Elaine Thompson	Jamaica	25 July 2015	[15]
400 m	49.05	Sanya Richards-Ross	United States	28 July 2006
800 m	1:58.19	Brenda Martinez	United States	26 July 2013	[16]
1500 m	3:57.49	Laura Muir	Great Britain	22 July 2016	[17]
3000 m	8:21.64	Sonia O'Sullivan	Ireland	15 July 1994
5000 m	14:36.41	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia	13 August 2010
100 m hurdles	12.20 (+0.3 m/s)	Kendra Harrison	United States	22 July 2016	[18]
400 m hurdles	52.79	Kaliese Spencer	Jamaica	5 August 2011	[19]
3000 m steeplechase	9:10.64	Hiwot Ayalew	Ethiopia	12 July 2014	[20]
High jump	2.05 m	Kajsa Bergqvist	Sweden	28 July 2006
Pole vault	5.00 m	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia	22 July 2005
Long jump	6.99 m (+1.9 m/s)	Naide Gomes	Portugal	25 July 2009	[21]
Triple jump	15.27 m (+1.2 m/s)	Yamilé Aldama	Sudan	8 August 2003
Shot put	20.90 m	Valerie Adams	New Zealand	27 July 2013	[22]
Discus throw	69.94 m	Sandra Perković	Croatia	23 July 2016	[23]
Javelin throw	66.74 m	Christina Obergföll	Germany	5 August 2011	[24]
4 × 100 m relay	41.82	Asha Philip Desiree Henry Dina Asher-Smith Daryll Neita	Great Britain	22 July 2016	[25]

Event names

The 2016 event was sponsored by Müller. It was formerly sponsored by Sainsbury's.^[26]

Years	Name	Sponsor
1953–1979	Rotary Watches International Games	Rotary Watches Ltd[27]
1980–1988	Peugeot Talbot Games	Peugeot / Talbot[27]
1989–1991	Royal Mail Parcels Games	Royal Mail[28]
1990-1991	Parcelforce Games
1992	London Grand Prix	none
1993	IAAF Grand Prix Final
1994	TSB Games London Grand Prix	Trustee Savings Bank
1995–1996	KP Games London Grand Prix	KP Nuts
1997–1998	London Grand Prix	none
1999–2001	CGU British Grand Prix	CGU plc[29][30][31]
2002–2007	Norwich Union London Grand Prix
2008–2012	Aviva London Grand Prix
2013, 2015	Sainsbury's Anniversary Games	Sainsbury's
2014	Sainsbury's Glasgow Grand Prix
2016	Müller Anniversary Games	Müller

Event locations

Years	Venue	Region	Country
1953–2012	National Sports Centre	Crystal Palace, Greater London	England
2013, 2015–present	The Stadium, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park	Stratford, London	England
2014	Hampden Park	Mount Florida, Glasgow	Scotland

References

1. Powell, David (2003-08-07). Emsley Carr Mile stands test of time. The Times. Retrieved on 2009-07-31.
2. Brown, Matthew (2009-07-24). Against the wind Bolt blasts 9.91, Isinbayeva's win streak halted at 18 – London Day 1 – IAAF World Athletics Tour. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-07-25.
3. "Olympic Stadium to host Diamond League meeting". BBC News. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
4. "Athletics could return to the Olympic Stadium in 2015 due to a gap in its rebuilding schedule". Retrieved 24 July 2016.
5. http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/media/news/2014-news-page/january-2014/01-01-14-sainsburys-sponsorship/
6. "800m Men: Results" (PDF). Samsung Diamond League. Omega Timing. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
7. "110 Metres Hurdles Results". IAAF. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
8. "3000 m steeplechase Men: Results" (PDF). Samsung Diamond League. Omega Timing. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
9. "Pole Vault Results" (PDF). static.sportresult.com. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
10. "Long Jump Men: Results" (PDF). Samsung Diamond League. Omega Timing. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
11. "Triple Jump Results" (PDF). sportresult.com. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
12. "4x100 m relay Men: Results" (PDF). Samsung Diamond League. Omega Timing. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
13. Matthew Brown (21 July 2009). "Bolt leads Jamaican club's 400-relay team to 37.46". www.bleacherreport.com. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
14. "100 m Women Heat 1 Results" (PDF). Samsung Diamond League. Omega Timing. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
15. "200m Results" (PDF). static.sportresult.com. 25 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
16. "800 m Women: Results" (PDF). Samsung Diamond League. Omega Timing. 26 July 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
17. "1500m Results" (PDF). sportresult.com. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
18. "100m Hurdles Results" (PDF). sportresult.com. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
19. "400m Hurdles Women: Results" (PDF). Samsung Diamond League. Omega Timing. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
20. Matthew Brown (12 July 2014). "Rudisha delivers in Glasgow, Ayalew leads the world over the barriers – IAAF Diamond League". IAAF. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
21. Matthew Brown (25 July 2009). "Bolt and Gay highlight; Demus and Dibaba world leads in London, Day 2 – IAAF World Athletics Tour". IAAF. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
22. "Shot put Women: Results" (PDF). Samsung Diamond League. Omega Timing. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
23. "Women's Discus Throw Results" (PDF). sportresult.com. 23 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
24. "Javelin Women: Results" (PDF). Samsung Diamond League. Omega Timing. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
25. "Women's 4×100m Relay Results" (PDF). sportresult.com. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
26. "Sainsbury's announced as sponsor of Anniversary Games at Olympic Stadium after agreeing deal with UK Athletics". Retrieved 24 July 2016.
27. COMPILATION NOTES GBRathletics. Retrieved on 2013-03-08.
28. Astute Pascoe strikes corporate gold The Herald (1989-07-15). Retrieved on 2013-03-11.
29. Turnbull, Simon (1999-07-18). Athletics: Palace doubt for mile master The Independent. Retrieved on 2013-03-11.
30. Norwich Union London Grand Prix Euromeetings.org Retrieved on 2013-03-08.
31. 2001 Review Brits lining up for victory Diamond League London. Retrieved on 2013-03-08.

External links

• Diamond League – London Official Web Site