Athletissima Lausanne Diamond League Event by Event Preview
The Wanda Diamond League resumes on Friday 26 August on the shores of the Lake Leman for the 47th edition of the Athletissima meeting at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in Lausanne.
The line-up of Athletissima will feature 18 world champions in Eugene 2022 (including 12 individual gold medallists), 12 Olympic gold medallists and nine Diamond League champions from last year. The best athletes in the world will seek points to secure their spot in the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (7-8 September). Organizers announced that all available 12700 tickets have been sold. The Athletissima meeting has been sold out the last time in 2012 when Usain Bolt won the 200m in 19.58 and in 2015.
“We have not had such a high concentration of athletes of the highest level since 2012, the year when the meeting was sold out”, said Jacky Delapierre, the Meeting Director and founder of Athletissima.
Women’s 100 metres:
The women’s 100 metres line-up is a re-match of last July’s World Championships in Eugene. It features the Jamaican trio formed by Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson Herah, the three medallists of the Olympic Games s in Tokyo 2021 and the World Championships in Eugene 2022. The field will bring together almost all finalists of the World Championships in Eugene, including Swiss record holder Mujinga Kambundji (fifth in 10.91), US Aleia Hobbs (sixth in 10.92) and Ivory Coast’s Marie Josée Ta Lou (seventh in 10.93).
Fraser Pryce has become the first sprinter to win five world gold medals in the 100 metres in 10.67 and two silver medal in the 200 metres in 21.81 and in the 4x100 relay in 41.18 in Eugene. She dipped under the 10.70 seconds barrier six times, clocking 10.62 in Monaco, 10.66 in Chorzow and 10.67 four times in Nairobi, Paris, in the final of the World Championships in Eugene and in Szekesfehrvar. The 35-year-old Jamaican sprint star returns to Lausanne, where she won the 100m in 10.60 in last year’s edition of the Athletissima meeting setting the third fastest time in the world in history behind Florence Griffith Joyner’s 10.49 world record set in Indianapolis 1988 and Elaine Thompson’s 10.54 set in last year’s edition of the Prefontaine Classic. The Lausanne race in 2021 was the last time Fraser Pryce, Jackson and Thompson Herah all clashed in a Diamond League race. Thompson Herah placed second in that race in 10.64 beating Jackson (10.92).
Jackson won the world 200 metres title in 21.45 setting the second fastest time in history in Eugene and placed second to Fraser Pryce in the 100m in 10.73. The Jamaican 28-year-old sprinter moved up to sixth in the world all-time list with her PB of 10.71 to finish second behind Fraser Pryce in the Monaco Diamond League meeting. Last weekend Jackson won the NACAC Championships in Nassau in 10.83. In the 200m she won the Jamaican Trials title in Kingston in 21.55, two Diamond League races in Rome in 21.91 and Chorzow in 21.84 and the Continental Tour Gold race in Szekesfehrvar in 22.02.
Thompson Herah won the 100m in Lausanne in 10.78 in 2016 a few weeks after her Olympic titles in the 100m and 200m in Rio de Janeiro 2016. The five-time Olympic champion won her first Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 10.95 and two Diamond League races in Eugene in a seasonal best of 10.79 and in Rabat in 10.83.
Three-time world medallist Marie Josée Ta Lou improved her African record to 10.72 in the Monaco Diamond League meeting
Mujinga Kambundji will compete in front of her home fans after winning the gold medal in the 200 metres in 22.32 and the silver in the 100m in 10.99 behind Gina Luckenkemper. The Swiss record holder finished fifth in the 100 metres in 10.91 at the World Championships in Eugene. She also improved her Swiss record in the 200m to 22.05 in the semifinal of the World Championships in Eugene.
Aleia Hobbs set her PB clocking 10.81 at the US Championships in Eugene and equalled this time in Monaco on 10th August. The 2018 US champion finished sixth in the World Championships in Eugene in 10.92.
The other sprinters to watch are 19-year-old US rising star Tamari Davis, who broke the world under 20 record twice clocking 10.87 and 10.83 in Memphis on 30 July and finished in Szekesfehrvar in 10.92 behind Fraser Pryce, and Twanisha Terry, who finished third at the National Chammpionships in Eugene in a wind-assisted 10.74.
Men’s 200 metres:
Noah Lyles will line-up in the men’s 200 metres against Eriyon Knighton and Michael Norman in a star-studded 200 metres on the fast Lausanne track, which has traditionally produced very fast times. Seven entrants have broken the 20 second barrier this year.
Lyles will be looking to continue his winning streak after claiming his second consecutive world 200 metres title in Eugene. In the World Championships final Lyles broke Michael Johnson’s US record by 0.01 clocking 19.31. Lyles has won the Lausanne 200 metres twice in his career in 2018 in 19.68 and in 2019 improving Usain Bolt’s meeting record to 19.50.
After the World Championships in Eugene Lyles won the 200 metres in the Monaco Diamond League in a meeting record of 19.46.
Knighton won the world silver medal at the World Championships in 19.80 after clocking 19.77in in the semifinal. Knighton won the 200m in Szekesfehrvar in 19.88 and placed second in Monaco in 19.84.
Norman finished second to Lyles in Lausanne in 19.88 on his debut as a professional athlete. Norman will run his third 200 metres race this year after finishing third in Walnut in 19.83 and third in the Monaco Diamond League in 19.95. Norman won two world titles in the 400 metres in 44.29 and in the 4x400 relay in 2:56.17 at the World Championships in Eugene. This season Norman dipped twice under the 44 seconds in the 400m clocking 43.56 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene and 43.60 at the US Championships on the same Hayward Field in Eugene. He also won the 400m Diamond League race in Chorzow in 44.11. Norman set his PB of 19.70 at the Golden Gala in Rome in 2019 beating Lyles by 0.02.
Joseph Fahnbulleh from Liberia will run his second race in the Diamond League after finishing fourth in the 200m at the World Chmpionships in Eugene in 19.84. This season the US-born sprinter won two NCAA outdoor titles in the 100 metres in 10.00 and in the 200 metres with a national record of 19.83.
The other two sprinters with a PB under the 20 seconds are Alexander Ogando from Dominican Republic, who finished fifth at the World Championships in Eugene with 19.93 and finished fourth in Monaco in 20.02, and Jereem Richards from Trinidad and Tobago, who won the world bronze medal in London 2017 and claimed the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 19.80.
Women’s 400 metres:
Olympic silver medallist Marileidy Paulino is back in action after the World Championshios in Eugene, where she won the silver medal in the 400 metres and the gold medal in the mixed 4x400 relay. Paulino will be seeking her second consecutive win in Lausanne after finishing first in 50.40. Paulino will face world bronze medallist Sada Williams from Barbados, world finalists Stephanie Ann McPherson and Candice McLeod from Jamaica and Natalia Kaczmarek, who improved her PB to 49.86 at the Diamond League in Chorzow.
Women’s triple jump:
Yulimar Rojas won her third world indoor gold medal with an outright world record of 15.74m in Belgrade last March and jumped to 15.47m to win her third world outdoor gold medal in Eugene last July. Rojas won in last year’s edition of Athletissima with a wind assisted 15.56m a few weeks after setting the world record of 15.67m in Tokyo. She crowned a successful 2021 season with the win in the Diamond League in Zurich with 15.48m.
Rojas will make her second appearance in the Diamond League this year after winning in Monaco with 15.01m. The Venezuelan jumper will take on Maryna Beck Romanchuk, who won the European gold medal with a PB of 15.02m in Munich and the world indoor silver medal in Belgrade, Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts, who won her second world silver medal in Eugene, the Commonwealth Games gold medal and claimed the Diamond League title in Zurich 2019, world bronze medallist Tori Franklin, Thea Lafond from Dominica, who won the NACAC Championships with 14.49m earlier this month, and Patricia Mamona from Portugal, Olympic silver medallist with 15.01m in Tokyo.
Women’s 100 metres hurdles:
All three Eugene world medallists Tobi Amusan, Britany Anderson and Jasmine Camacho Quinn and former workd record holder Kendra Harrison will compete on the fast Lausanne track.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan returns to the track after winning the world and Commonwealth Games titles in the women’s 100m hurdles. Amusan broke the world record clocking 12.12 in the semifinal of the World Championships in Eugene before winning the final in a wind-assisted 12.06. She went to win the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 12.29. Last year she claimed the win in the Diamond League final in Zurich in 12.40. In this year’s edition of the Diamond League she finished first in Paris in 12.41 and Stockolm in 12.50 and second in Doha in 12.44 and Eugene in 12.58.
Britany Anderson won the world silver medal beating Olympic champion Camacho Quinn with the same time of 12.23 in a close photo-finish and finished second in two Diamond League meetings in Doha in 12.44 and Rome in 12.50.
Jasmine Camacho Quinn won four Diamond League races in 2022 in Eugene in 12.45, in Rome in 12.37, in Stockolm in 12.46 and Chorzow in 12.34.
Olympic silver medallist Kendra Harrison returns to Lausanne where she won the 2016 edition in 12.42. The former world record holder finished first in the US Championships in 12.34 and came close to her PB by clocking 12.27 in the semifinal of the World Championships in Eugene. The line-up features 2019 world champion Nia Ali, who finished third in two Diamond League races this year in Rome in 12.71 and Stockolm in 12.53, and Tia Jones, fifth at the US Trials in Eugene in 12.59 and third in the Diamond League meeting in Chorzow in 12.49.
Swiss twenty-year-old hurdler Ditaji Kambundji will carry the hopes of the home fans five days after winning the bronze medal at the European Championships in Munich in 12.74 ahead of European Indoor gold medal Nadine Visser, who will also line up in Lausanne.
Men’s 110 metres hurdles:
The 110 metres hurdles race has always been one of the highlights in Lausanne. Liu Xiang broke his world record in 12.88 at Athletissima in 2006.
Grant Holloway will seek his second sub-13 seconds time this year after winning in 12.99 at the Herculis meeting in Monaco ahead of Trey Cunningham and Hansle Parchment. Holloway won his second world title in Eugene in 13.03 and holds the second fastest time in history with his PB of 12.81 set at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene last year.
Holloway will renew his rivalry against Cunningham, who claimed the NCAA title in 13.00 and won the world silver medal in 13.08 in Eugene. The young hurdler finished second in Monaco in 13.03.
Olympic champion Hansle Parchment, who got injured during the warm-up a few minutes before the World Championships in Eugene, came back with a third place in the Monaco Diamond League in 13.08. Another Jamaican hurdler to watch is Rasheed Broadbell, who won the Commonwealth Games title in Birmingham in 13.08 and beat Holloway in a close photo-finish in Szekesfehrvar in 13.12.
The line-up is rounded out by Frenchman Pascal Martinot Lagarde and Swiss record holder Jason Joseph, who finished second and fourth at the European Championships in Munich, Rafael Pereira from Brazil, second in Paris Charlety meeting in 13.25, and Damian Czykier from Poland, fourth in the World Championships final in Eugene.
Women’s 400 metres hurdles:
Femke Bol will return to the track just one week after winning three European gold medals in the 400 metres in 49.44, in the 400 metres hurdles in 52.67 and in the 4x400 relay in 3:20.87. The 22-year-old “Flying Dutchwoman” emulated her compatriot Fanny Blankers Koen, who won three European gold medals in the 100 and 200 metres and in in the 4x100 in Brussels in 1950.
Bol won the 400m hurdles at last year’s edition of Athletissima in 53.05 before winning the Diamond League final in Zurich. She won three Diamond League races this year in Rome in 53.02, in Oslo in 52.61 and Stockolm in 52.67.
Bol will take on US Dalilah Muhammad, Olympic silver in Tokyo in 51.58 and world bronze in Eugene in 53.13, Ukrainian hurdlers Viktoriya Tkachuk and Anna Ryzhykova, who won the silver and bronze medals at the European Championships in Munich, Jamaican hurdlers Rushell Clayton and Janieve Russell, who finished first and second respectively in the Monaco Diamond League meeting, and Gianna Woodruff, seventh in the World Championships in Eugene.
Men’s high jump:
Mutaz Barshim will renew his rivalry against his friend Gianmarco Tamberi in a re-match of the Olympic final, where they shared the gold medal with 2.37m. Barshim beat Tamberi in their three head-to-head clashes this year in Doha with 2.30m, in the World Championships in Eugene with 2.37m and in Monaco with 2.32m.
Barshim has a fond memory of Lausanne, as he won twice at this meeting in 2012 with 2.39m and in 2018 with 2.35m.
Tamberi returns to Lausanne one year after finishing fifth in the City Event competition held in the city centre following his triumph at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. This summer Tamberi finished fourth at the World Championships in Eugene with his seasonal best of 2.33m and won the second European outdoor gold medal of his career with 2.30m. He became the first Italian athlete in history to win the Diamond Trophy in Zurich last year.
Sanghyeok Woo from South Korea will seek his second Diamond League win this season after taking victory ahead of Barshim in Doha with 2.33m. The 26-year-old Asian jumper won the world indoor title in Belgrade with 2.34m and the world outdoor silver medal in Eugene with 2.35m. He lost to Barshim after the jump-off in Monaco.
Ukraine’s Andiy Protsenko made his breakthrough in Lausanne in 2014 when he cleared 2.40m, but he finished runner-up to his compatriot Bogdan Bondarenko on countback. Despite a difficult season Protsenko won two bronze medals at the World Championships in Eugene and at the European Championships in Munich.
The other names to watch are Canada’s Django Lovett, winner in the Diamond League in Birmingham with 2.28m and sixth placer at the World Championships in Eugene with 2.27m, Hamish Kerr from New Zealand, who shared the world indoor bronze medal with Tamberi in Belgrade, Ju’Vaughn Harrison, seventh at the Olympic Games in Tokyo with 2.33m, and Shelby McEwen, fifth at the World Championships in Eugene with 2.30m and second at last year’s edition of Athletissima with 2.27m, and Germany’s Mateusz Przbylko, European champion in Belgrade in 2018 wth 2.35m.
Men’s shot put:
The Lausanne competition will reunite the three medallists of the World Championships.
Double Olympic champion Ryan Crouser is still unbeaten this outdoor season. The world champion and record holder is seeking his second consecutive win at Athletissima after taking victory last year with 22.81m. Crouser threw over the 23 metres twice this year with 23.12m at the US Championshiips and 23.02m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene and won his first world outdoor gold medal with 22.94m at Hayward Field beating Joe Kovacs (22.89m) and Josh Awotunde (22.29m).
The field also features Tom Walsh and Jacko Gill from New Zealand, who won gold and silver medals at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham., Filiip Mihaljevic from Croatia and Armin Sinancevic from Serbia, gold and silver medallists at the European Championships in Munich, and Nick Ponzio, who finished ninth at the World Championships in Eugene and fourth and fourth at the European Championships in Munich.
Women’s pole vault:
World under 20 record holder Wilma Murto from Finland claimed the European outdoor gold medal improving the Finnish record to 4.85. Murto will renew her rivalry against European silver and bronze medallists Katerina Stefanidi from Greece and Tina Sutej from Slovenia. The line-up will feature Nina Kennedy, who cleared 4.80m to win the world bronze medal in Eugene, European Under 23 champion Angelica Moser from Switzerland and Caroline Holm Bonde, who shared fourth place at the European Championships in Munich with 4.65m, Italian record holder Roberta Bruni, who finished seventh at the European Championships and second at the Golden Gala in Rome this year, Lene Onsrud Retzis from Norway, who ste the national record with 4.70m.
Men’s triple jump:
World silver and Olympic bronze medallist Fabrice Zango will take on Jordan Fortun Diaz, who won the Paris Diamond League competition with 17.66m and set the second best performance in the world this year with 17.87m at the Spanish Championships, Andy Diaz, who improved his PB to 17.68 in Rieti and took his first Diamond League win in Chorzow with 17.53m, world indoor champion Lazaro Martinez from Cuba and two-time Olympic champion Christian Taylor., and Jean Marc Pontvianne from France, European bronze medallist in Munich.
Men’s 1500 metres:
Olympic 1500 metres champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen will be back in action in the 1500 metres one week after winning both the 1500 metres and the 5000 metres at the European Championships in Munich four years after scoring the same double triumph over the same distances in Berlin when he was 17. The 21-year-old Norwegian star also won the gold medal in the 5000 metres and silver medal in the 1500 metres in a seasonal best of 3:29.47 at the World Championships in Eugene.
Ingebrigtsen will take on reigning Diamond League champion and Olympic silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot and Abel Kipsang. Cheuiyot won the 1500m in Lausanne in 3:28.77 beating Ingebrigtsen in 2019. Last year Ingebrigtsen won the Olympic finalahead of Cheruiyot in a European record of 3:28.32, but the Kenyan athlete avenged this defeat by defeating his Norwegian rival in the Diamond League final in Zurich in 3:31.37. Cheruiyot leads 11-3 in his head-to-head clashes against Ingebrigsen.
Kipsang won the world indoor bronze medal in Belgrade in 3:33.36 and placed seventh at the World Championships in Eugene in 3:31.21. The Olympic podium is completed by Josh Kerr from Great Britain, who won the bronze medal in Tokyo in a PB of 3:29.05 and finished fifth at the World Championships in Eugene in 3:30.60.
Another athlete to watch is Australia’s Oliver Hoare, who won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham breaking Filbert Bayi’s championship record with 3:30.12.
The line-up is completed by Stewart McSweyn, who set the Australian record with 3:29.51 in Monaco in 2021, Jake Heyward from Great Britain and Mario Garcia, who won the silver and bronze medal at the European Championships in Munich, and other European Championships finalists Gonzalo Garcia from Poland (sixth), Michal Rozmys from Poland (seventh) and Neil Gourley from Great Britain (eighth).
Women’s 3000 metres:
Sifan Hassan will make her second appearance in the Diamond League this season after winning the 3000m in Chorzow in 8:39.27. The Dutch athlete ran sparingly this year after a busy 2021 season in which she won two Olympic gold medals in the 5000m and in the 10000m and the bronze in the 1500m in Tokyo. Hassan finished fourth in the 10000m and sixth in the 5000m at the World Championships in Eugene.
Hassan will line up against Laura Muir from Great Britain, who won two gold medals in the 1500 at the European Championships in Munich and at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the world bronze over this distance in Eugene, world indoor 3000m bronze medallist Ejgayehu Taye from Ethiopia, European 5000m gold medallist Konstanze Klosterhalfen from Germany, 10000m world bronze medallist Margaret Kiipkemboi Chelimo, 2021 Diamond League champion Fancine Nyonsaba from Burundi, Caroline Chepkurui Kipkurui from Kenya, Fantu Worku from Ethiopia and Jessica Hull from Australia.
Men’s 3000 metres steeplechase:
Soufiane El Bakkali from Morocco won the gold medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the world title in Eugene and is set to continue his dominance in Lausanne. El Bakkali won two Diamond League competitions this year in Doha (8:09.66) and Rabat (7:58.28).
The line-up will also feature Getnet Wale, fourth at the World Championships in Eugene. Hailemaryam Amare, who finished third in Rabat in 8.06.29, Abraham Kibiwott, fifth at the World Championships in Eugene and Commonwealth Games champion in Birmingham, Amos Serem, world under 20 champion in Nairobi 2021, Leonard Bett, world under 20 silver medallist in Tampere 2018, Evan Jager, Olympic silver medallist in Rio de Janiero 2016 and US record holder with 8:00.45, and Osama Zoghlami from Italy, who won the European bronze medal in Munich and improved his PB to 8:11.00 in Rome.
