Gyulai Istvan Memorial Preview: McLaughlin, Duplantis, Fraser-Pryce and Jackson in the Spotlight
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Sydney McLaughlin, Armand Duplantis, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Sherika Jackson are set to highlight the Istvan Gyulai Memorial in Szekesfehervar in Hungary, with just over one year to go to the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
The Memorial Gyulai has attracted 13 gold medallists from last July’s World Championships in Eugene.
Women’s 400 metres hurdles:
McLaughlin will run her first 400 metres hurdles race since her sensational world record of 50.68 in the World Championships in Eugene. McLaughlin set four world records in her career, clocking 51.90 in the 2021 US Olympic Trials in Eugene, 51.46 in last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, 51.41 in the US Championships and 50.68 in the World Championships finals in Eugene in 2022.
McLaughlin celebrates her 23rd birthday on Sunday, one day before the Szekesfehrvar meeting.
McLaughlin will face Jamaica’s Janieve Russell, who won the national title in Kingston last June in 53.63 and won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on 6 August in 54.14.
Men’s pole vault:
Armand Duplantis won his first world outdoor gold medal in Eugene breaking the world record with 6.21m. The Swedish star continued his campaign with a 6.10m win in Chorzow on Saturday. Duplantis has cleared the 6 metres barrier 49 times in his career and has remained unbeaten this season, clearing 6.02m in Doha, 5.91m in Eugene, 6.02m in Oslo, 6.16m in Stockholm in his other competitions.
Duplantis will face this year’s World silver and bronze medallists Christopher Nilsen and Ernest John Obiena. Both vaulters cleared 5.94m in Eugene, but Nilsen finished second on countback. Obiena improved his Asian record by 1 cm in the World Championships final.
Women’s 100 metres:
Five-time 100 metres world champion Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce broke the 10.7 barrier four times this season, clocking 10.66 in Chorzow and 10.67 three times in Nairobi, Paris and in the World Championships final. Fraser Pryce is ranked third in the all-time list with her PB of 10.60 set in Lausanne.
In last year’s edition of the Hungarian meeting, the Jamaican “Pocket Rocket” placed second to her compatriot Elaine Thompson Herah in 10.82.
Fraser Pryce will face Mujinga Kambundji, world indoor gold medallist in the 60m in Belgrade with 6.96 and Swiss record holder in the 100m with 10.89 and in the 200m with 22.05, US sprinters Twanisha Terry, third at the US Championships in a wind-assisted 10.74 in Eugene, and Tamari Davis, who set the second fastest under 20 time in history with her PB of 10.83 set in Memphis on 30 July.
Women’s 200 metres:
Shericka Jackson won the 200 metres world gold medal in Eugene in 21.45, becoming the second fastest sprinter in history over the half-lap distance. Jackson missed Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record by 0.11. The Jamaican sprinter also won the Jamaican title in 21.55 and two Diamond League in Rome in 21.91 and in Chorzow in 21.84 and improved her 100m PB to 10.73, when she won the world silver medal in Eugene.
Jackson will line up against US sprinters Tamara Clarke, Jenna Prandini and Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas. Clarke improved her PB to 21.92 in the US Championships final in Eugene last June and clocked 21.95 in the World Championships semifinal before finishing sixth in the final in 22.32. Prandini finished third in the US Championships final In 22.01 and clocked 22.08 in the World Championships semifinal, but she did not get through to the final. Last Saturday, Prandini finished third in Chorzow in 22.39, beating Clarke. Gabby Thomas showed her good form at the start of the season, clocking 21.98 in Walnut, but she finished eighth at the US Championships in 22.47 after suffering an injury.
Men’s 200 metres:
Olympic and world silver medallist Kenny Bednarek will face the world bronze medal, Erryion Knighton.
Bednarek beat Knighton in 19.77 by 0.03 in the World Championships final in Eugene. Bednarek broke the 20 seconds barrier 12 times in 2021 and 3 times in 2022 and won the Diamond League final in Zurich in 19.70 last year.
Knighton improved Usain Bolt’s world under 20 record twice with 19.88 in the semifinal and 19.84 in the final at last year’s US Olympic Trials. The US 18-year-old star finished fourth in the Olympic final in 19.93 and third in the World Championships final in 19.88 after clocking 19.77 in the semifinal. He improved his PB to 19.49 in Baton Rouge last April, becoming the fourth fastest 200m sprinter in history and placed second to Noah Lyles in 19.69 at the US Trials. Knighton finished third in 20.03 in his debut on the European circuit last year.
Men’s 100 metres:
World silver medallist Marvin Bracy Williams will take on world bronze medallist Trayvon Bromell, former 100 metres world champions Christian Coleman and Yohan Blake, and Akani Simbine, who set the former African record with 9.84 at last year’s edition of the Szekesfehervar meeting and finished fifth in the World Championships final in Eugene,
Bracy Williams finished second at the US Championships in 9.85 and won the world silver in 9.88, beating Bromell with the same time. Bromell won two Diamond League races in Eugene in 9.93 and Chorzow in 9.88 and set his seasonal best of 9.81 in the semifinal of the US Championships in Eugene.
Coleman set his seasonal best of 9.87 in the US Championships semifinal and finished sixth at the World Championships in Eugene in 10.01.
Blake returned to his best shape at last June’s Jamaican Championships, winning the national title in 9.85.
Men’s 400 metres:
World 400m hurdles champion Alison Dos Santos will test his speed over the 400 flat distance against Champion Allison, who improved his PB to 43.70 at the US Championships and finished fourth in the 400m at the World Championships in 44.77, Michael Cherry, fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and Diamond League winner last year. Dos Santos won the world 400m hurdles title in 46.29 setting the third fastest time in history. Dos Santos set his PB of 44.54 in the 400m in Walnut at the start of a very successful season in which he won five Diamond League races in Doha in 47.24, Eugene in 47.23, Oslo in 47.26, Stockolm in 46.80 and Chorzow in 47.80.
Men’s 110 metres hurdles:
Double world champion Grant Holloway will return to Szekesfehervar, where he ran his first European race in 13.16 in 2019. Holloway competed in the Hungarian meeting in 2020, finishing second in 13.22. Holloway will face Rasheed Broadbell from Jamaica, who won the Commonwealth gold medal in 13.08 in Birmingham.
Women’s 100 metres hurdles:
Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho Quinn will take on Olympic silver medallist and former world record holder Kendra Harrison and 2019 world champion Nia Ali.
Camacho Quinn returns to the Hungarian meeting where she won in 12.34 a few weeks before winning the Olympic title in 12.37. The Puerto-Rican hurdler won the world bronze medal in Eugene in a wind-assisted 12.23 and was unbeaten in Diamond League and Continental Tour races this year, winning in Eugene in 12.45, Ostrava in 12.56, in the Chorzow Continental Tour meeting in 12.43, in Rome in 12.37, Stockholm in 12.46 and Chorzow Diamond League in 12.34.
Harrison won the US title in 12.34 and clocked her seasonal best of 12.27 in the World Championships semifinal in Eugene. Ali won the US National Championships in 12.49, but she hit a hurdle and crashed out of the heats.
Men’s high jump:
Gianmarco Tamberi returns to Szejesfehrvar, where he finished fourth with 2.30m just one month before sharing the Olympic gold medal with his close friend Mutaz Barshim. Tamberi placed fourth at the World Championships in Eugene with 2.33m. losing the bronze medal to Andriy Protsenko on countback. After the World Championships, Tamberi suffered from a bout of covid and felt tired in his first training sessions.
Tamberi will renew his rivalry against Protsenko in the Hungarian meeting. Protsenko and Tamberi won the past two editions of the Diamond League in 2019 and 2021 and have the best seasonal mark among the entrants. The line-up also features Mateusz Przybylko and Tobias Potye, who cleared 2.30m at the German Championships in Berlin last June, and Edgar Rivera from Mexico, who finished fourth at the World Championships in London 2017.
Men’s discus throw:
Fresh world champion Kristjan Ceh from Slovenia will take on Olympic champion Daniel Stahl, Olympic silver medallist Simon Petterson in a competition that features three 70 metres throwers. Ceh won his first world title with 71.13m in Eugene and four Diamond League competitions in Birmingham with his lifetime best of 71.27m, Rabat with 69.68m, Rome with 70.72m, and Stockholm with 70.72m. Stahl finished fourth at the World Championships in Eugene with 67.10m and threw over the 70 metres three times this year with 71.47m in Upssala and 70.62m in Turku and 70.29m at the Swedish Championships, where he was beaten by Petterson, who improved his PB to 70.42m in an outstanding competition.
Men’s shot put:
The high-quality line-up features Joe Kovacs and Josh Awotundem, world silver and bronze medallist in Eugene with 22.89m and 22.29m, respectively, and Olympic bronze medallist Tom Walsh from New Zealand, who won the Commonwealth Games gold medal with 22.26m, and Nick Ponzio from Italy, who finished ninth in the World Championships with 20.81m and fourth in the Diamond League meeting in Chorzow with the same mark.
Kovacs showed his good form on Saturday by winning in the Chorzow Diamond League with 21.79m.
Men’s hammer throw:
Five-time world champion Pawel Fajdek from Poland will go up against Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki and Elvind Henriksen from Norway, who won the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo and the world bronze medal in Eugene. Fajdek set the world lead at the World Championships in Eugene with 80.98m and won in the Diamond League meeting in Chorzow with 81.27m. Nowicki beat Fajdek in the Memorial Kusocinski in Chorzow with 81.58m last June.
Women’s hammer throw:
World champion Brooke Andersen will take world bronze medallist Janee Kassanavoid and Olympic bronze medallist Malwina Kopron from Poland. Anderson won the world gold medal in Eugene with 78.96m, narrowly missing his world lead by just 5 cm and won in the Chorzow Diamond League meeting with 75.76m.
Women’s 800 metres:
Diribe Welteji will run the two-lap race two days after her win in the Diamond League meeting in the 1500m I Chorzow in 3:56.91. Welteji finished fourth in the 800m in 1:57.02 in the World Championships final.
