Middle-distance maestros Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Keely Hodgkinson headline the 800m fields at Athletissima and are among seven Olympic champions set to compete at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Lausanne on Wednesday (20).
The two world 800m leaders head to Lausanne off the back of very different seasons. Wanyonyi has raced every month this year since February and has won his past four Diamond League races, racking up victories in Oslo, Stockholm, Monaco and London.
The 21-year-old Kenyan ran a world-leading 1:41.44 in Monaco last month and returns to Lausanne with fond memories, as it’s where he set his lifetime best of 1:41.11 last year – a performance that consolidated his third-place position on the world all-time list.
The three men who followed Wanyonyi across the line in Lausanne last year are all returning, meaning the Olympic champion will take on world champion Marco Arop, European champion Gabriel Tual and 2024 world indoor champion Bryce Hoppel.
They’re joined by world indoor champion Josh Hoey and Olympic finalists Max Burgin, Mohamed Attaoui and Tshepiso Masalela.
In contrast to Wanyonyi, Hodgkinson heads to Lausanne off the back of just one race this year. But the Briton, who delayed the start to her season due to injury, made that one race count; she won in Silesia recently in a world-leading 1:54.74, just 0.13 shy of her lifetime best.
She won that race by two seconds, but Wednesday’s outing will be another test ahead of next month’s World Championships as she takes on world indoor champion Prudence Sekgodiso, European U23 champion Audrey Werro, Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell and Botswana’s Oratile Nowe.
Like Hodgkinson, USA’s Masai Russell heads to Lausanne off the back of a victory in Silesia. The Olympic champion won the 100m hurdles there in 12.19, equalling the third-fastest time in history, and she’ll once again take on the existing and former world record-holders: Tobi Amusan and Kendra Harrison. Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent and the in-form Nadine Visser add further quality to the field.
In their first clash since the Paris Games, 100m silver medallist Kishane Thompson gained revenge over Olympic champion Noah Lyles in Silesia as the Jamaican won in 9.87 to beat his US rival by 0.03.
The duo will go head to head again in Lausanne in a race that also includes Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, world bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes and world indoor bronze medallist Akani Simbine.
Three world and Olympic champions will be in action in the field events.
World high jump record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh takes on Australian rivals Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson in the women’s high jump. Two-time Olympic heptathlon champion Nafi Thiam is also part of the line-up.
Multiple global champion Miltiadis Tentoglou headlines a men’s long jump field that includes Jamaican trio Wayne Pinnock, Tajay Gayle, Carey McLeod, as well as world indoor champion Mattia Furlani, Australia’s Liam Adcock and Swiss decathlete Simon Ehammer.
The top six women in the world rankings will compete in the javelin, led by world and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi. The Japanese star takes on Serbia’s Adriana Vilagos.
The men’s shot put is also of an exceedingly high quality as it features the top nine athletes on this year’s world list. World leader Leonardo Fabbri takes on, among others, two-time world champion Joe Kovacs and US champion Josh Awotunde.
Fresh from a season’s best of 22.17 to win in Silesia, two-time world 200m champion Shericka Jackson hopes to build on that momentum in Lausanne. Brittany Brown and Favour Ofili, who finished close behind Jackson in Silesia, will also be in action, as will 2019 world champion Dina Asher-Smith and Marie Josee Ta Lou Smith.
US sprint hurdler Cordell Tinch is another recent Silesia winner hoping to pick up another victory in Lausanne. The world leader faces French champion Just Kwao-Mathey, USA’s Trey Cunningham and Dylan Beard.
The past four Diamond League races in the men’s 5000m have all been won with times faster than 12:50, so a similarly swift time could be in store in Lausanne, especially with the likes of Hagos Gebrhiwet, Birhanu Balew, Grant Fisher and Jacob Krop in the field.
Elsewhere on the track, 2022 world champion Norah Jeruto faces Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew and NCAA champion Doris Lemngole in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser contests the women’s 400m alongside Natalia Bukowiecka, Isabella Whittaker and Henriette Jaeger.
The men’s pole vault, which will be held in the city centre on Tuesday (19), features Olympic bronze medallist Emmanouil Karalis, two-time world champion Sam Kendricks and world bronze medallist Kurtis Marschall.