On July 22nd 2011, in a capacity-crowd stadium (18,000 spectators) and an extraordinary atmosphere, Herculis experienced one of its most exciting editions, which led to the meeting ending the 2011 season at the top of the World Rankings by meeting for the third time since its creation. Indeed, for its second year as part of the Samsung Diamond League, Herculis Monaco is ranked best meeting in the world ahead of prestigious meetings such as Zürich, Brussels and Paris. This achievement generates a natural satisfaction for the Fédération Monégasque d'Athlétisme, which is actively chaired by HSH Prince Albert.
As far as the performances are concerned, the 2011 Herculis edition can boast no fewer than 2 Continental records, 7 National records, 4 Meeting records and 6 World leading performances. We witnessed some astonishing events such as the 3000m Steeplechase where Brimin KIPRUTO failed to break the World record by only one hundredth of second; the 100m where Usain BOLT has to run his then best of the year to narrowly edge Nesta CARTER and Christophe LEMAITRE; but also the 100m Hurdles with the clear victory of Sally PEARSON; the solo race of World record holder David RUDISHA at 800m, Carmelita JETER out-dipping Allyson FELIX in the 200m, the winning jump of Renaud LAVILLENIE at 5.90m in the Pole Vault, Mo FARAH sprinting past Bernard LAGAT to take an exhilarating 5000m, and the stratospheric throw at 69.45m of Barbora SPOTAKOVA in the javelin.
The athletes who competed in the Principality went on to shine at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu (South Korea) where they collected 34 individual medals, basking in the glow of 12 titles of World champion, with among them Usain Bolt, Sally Pearson, Carmelita Jeter and David Rudisha. Also, 4 podiums of the World Championships were exclusively composed of athletes who competed at Herculis. And if the titles of Christian Taylor in the Triple Jump and Jenny Barringer in the 1500m Women, as well as the medals of Matthew Centrowitz and Will Claye might have shocked some people, it was no surprise for those who attended the Herculis as it marked their coming of age on the international circuit.
Herculis is looking forward to welcoming many of you back at Stade Louis II on Friday July 20th 2012 for the final international elite meeting, just two weeks before the best athletes of the world will turn their focus to the Olympic Games in London!
