Live-blogging on the Diamond League’s debut in Doha didn’t go so well, honestly. In part, that’s because the live stream didn’t give a lot of cues as to what was going on with the field events, and the results feed crashed.

The big stories from a U.S. perspective: Allyson Felix cruised in the 400, Lolo Jones rallied to win the 100 hurdles, Bershawn Jackson and Kerron Clement went 1-2 in the 400 hurdles, and Christian Cantwell unleashed the best throw of the year to win the shot put. Chaunte Howard Lowe tied with Blanka Vlasic in the high jump but took second with more misses.

It was a funny meet in some other respects. The starts were too fast a couple of times, leaving confused sprinters trying to make up time. (Didn’t hurt Asafa Powell too much.) The pacemaker in the 3,000 steeplechase made a dash for glory and is now ranked third in the Diamond League.

But it’s a long season.

My attempt at live-blogging follows …

Latest news first; watching live on Universal Sports and checking results at IAAF.

Women’s 400: No disrespect to the women’s javelin and men’s triple jump, but this is the event to end this meet with a bang, particularly for U.S. fans. Allyson Felix, three-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist at 200 meters, is on the track for this one. She has to come back and close a gap to win, but she makes it look easy nonetheless in a world-leading 50.15 seconds.

Strange start — the gun fired before British favorite Christine Ohorogu was set!

Men’s 5,000: A three-man group pulls away around the 4,000 mark, and it drops to two when Takiru Bekele drops out. Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge shatters the world lead with a time of 12:51.22.

Field check: Germany’s Silke Spiegelburg, sporting some angular bandages on her shoulder and torso, wins the women’s pole vault with a world-leading but not outstanding 4.60 meters. Poland’s Anna Rogowska skipped 4.60 but couldn’t clear 4.65.  Lacy Janson took fifth at 4.55.

Blanka Vlasic takes the high jump over American Chaunte Howard Lowe. Both cleared 1.98 meters; Vlasic had fewer misses.

Men’s 100 final: Strange race. Asafa Powell starts slowly and leans left, almost going out of his lane. Of course, he stills wins with ease in a wind-aided 9.81. Italy’s Simone Collio pulls up early. Jamaican Nesta Carter curiously crashes through some rope barriers rather than going around the bend at the finish. He finished second; American Travis Padgett third in 9.92.

Field check: American Chaunte Howard Lowe is in a showdown with Croatian star Blanca Vlasic, both clearing 1.98 meters, which isn’t bad at all this early in the season.

Women’s 1,500: Olympic champion Langat smashes the world-leading time and meet record in 4:01.64. She and another runner pulled away with 200 meters to go.

Men’s 3,000 steeplechase: The commentators gripe about the pacemaking for a while, and then something unusual happens — the pacemakerPatrick Langat figures that if no one’s catching up to him, he’ll just stay in the race. And he finishes third, racking up some Diamond League points. I can’t check the spellings because the official site is straining under the server demands. Ezekiel Kenboi wins in a world-leading time of 8:06.28. It’s a Kenyan sweep — no Americans or Europeans entered.

Women’s 200: Jamaican 1-2 for Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson, then Jamaican-born Cayman Islands sprinter Cydonie Mothersille. Then two more Jamaicans, followed by American Nathalie Knight.

Men’s 800: The commentators chat for a while about the pacemaking, with the pacemaker being asked to go 49 seconds in the first lap. That’s a 1:38 pace, a couple of seconds under the world record. The pacemaker goes slightly over 49 before turning it over to the leaders, and Kenya’s David Rudisha picks it up and finished in a world-leading 1:43.00.

Field check: Cuba’s Yarelis Barrios won the women’s discus, with Aretha Thurmond missing out on the points in fourth.

American Lacy Janson is out of the women’s pole vault, where Polish star Anna Rogowska came up clutching her right calf.

Women’s high jump is just underway, with the USA’s Chaunte Howard Lowe clearing her first height.

But the big story is Christian Cantwell, who tossed a world-leading 21.82 in his first AND second throws. Germany’s Ralf Bartels and the USA’s Reese Hoffa take the next spots.

Women’s 100-meter hurdles: Great start list here, with all eyes on World Indoor champion Lolo Jones and her cool orange shoes in Lane 5. She was leading in Beijing until she hit a hurdle late. Olympic champion Dawn Harper also is in Lane 8.

Not a great start for Jones, but she picks it up through the hurdles and gets past Canada’s Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and American Virginia Powell-Crawford. That’s 12.63, again with the wind.

Men’s 100-meter heats: Travis Padgett, the defending champion, is the lone American between two Jamaicans in the first heat of six. Jamaicans Michael Frater and Lerone Clark get out fastest and stay there, both breaking 10 seconds (wind-aided). More surprising: Italy’s Simone Collio gets the third automatic qualification spot, so Padgett must wait through the second heat.

And that second heat has the great Jamaican Asafa Powell, who cruises to the finish in a mere 9.75 seconds, also wind-aided. American Rae Edwards is fourth in 10.04. He and Padgett are fast enough to qualify for the final.

Men’s 400-meter hurdles: The three Americans who swept in Beijing (Angelo Taylor, Kerron Clement, Bershawn Jackson) are all here. Jackson has a good start but is overhauled by Taylor and Clement. The Americans come around the last turn together, but Taylor goes over the last hurdle awkwardly. Jackson gets to the line ahead of Clement while South Africa’s Louis van Zyl passes Taylor. Winning time of 48.66 isn’t particularly fast.

We then peek on the shot put, where Christian Cantwell launches the farthest throw in the world this year with 21.82 meters.

Early field events: Christian Cantwell has the early lead in the shot put at 21.32 meters, followed by Germany’s Ralf Bartels and fellow American Reese Hoffa. Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski has no mark through two throws.

Americans haven’t cracked the top three so far in the women’s discus. The women’s pole vault, missing both Yelena Isinbayeva and Jenn Stuczynski, is in the early going.

Here’s how it works: Unlike the Golden League, athletes don’t have to win every single time they compete to get a share of the pot of gold. That was a novel concept, but it shifted focus from the competitive events to the ones in which one person dominated. (“Hey, can Isinbayeva add another millimeter to the pole vault record? No? Oh well — she won again.”) We’re also not focusing on a handful of events — the League has everything, though not every meet will have every event. Athletes get points for top-three finishes, with a season prize at the end.

That ought to keep you interested in a season with no Olympics or World Championships.