Monaco Diamond League Herculis 2023 Preview
Double 1500 metres Olympic and world champion Faith Kipyegon will make an attempt to break the mile world record.
The mile will be held at the Monaco Herculis meeting for the first time since 2019, when Sifan Hassan broke the world record with 4:12.33 improving the previous mark set by Svetlana Masterkova in Zurich in 2016 with 4:12.56.
Kipyegon returns to the track of the Stade Louis II where she won the 1500m last year in 3:50.37 missing Genzebe Dibaba’s then world record by 0.30.
Kipyegon broke two world records at the start of a dream 2023 season in the 1500 metres with 3:49.11 at the Golden Gala in Florence and in the 5000 metres with 14:05.20 in Paris. She also won the 1500 metres in Doha with 3:58.57.
The Kenyan star holds a mile PB of 4:16.17 at the 2015 Brussels Diamond League meeting. She has not run a mile race since the Oslo Diamond League in 2016, where she ran 4:18.60 just two months before she won her first Olympic gold medal in the 1500m in Rio de Janeiro 2016.
Kipyegon will line up against 1500 metres Olympic silver medallist and European champion Laura Muir, who won the 800m in her lifetime best of 1:56.23 in 2021 and finished second in 2:30.82 in the 1000m in 2020 in her previous two appearances at the Herculis meeting.
The line-up also features Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu, who finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in her PB of 3:57.60 and at the World Championships in Eugene 2022, Clara Mageean from Ireland, European and Commonwealth Games silver medallist behind Muir and winner at the Brussels Diamond League meeting in the 1500 metres in 3:56.63 last year, Nicki Hiltz, US champion in the 1500m in Eugene this year, Jessica Hull from Australia, Oceanian record holder with 3:57.29 at the Diamond League meeting in Florence, Winnie Nanyondo, fourth in the 800 metres at the World Championships in Doha 2019, and Abbey Caldwell from Australia, who improved her 800m PB to 1:58.48 in Chorzow last Sunday.
Men’s pole vault:
World pole vault record Armand Mondo Duplantis will compete for the third time at the Herculis Monaco after finishing second to Piotr Lisek in 2019 with 5.92m and first in 2020 with 6.00m.
Duplantis cleared the 6 metres barrier five times in this outdoor season in Hengelo (6.11m), Oslo (6.01m), Ostrava (6.12m), Stockolm (6.05m) and Chorzow (6.01m). He is aiming to set his ninth meeting record in the Wanda Diamond League. He currently holds the meeting record at eight of the 14 Wanda Diamond League meetings. The Monaco Herculis is one of the few meetings which has eluded him so far. His goal is to break the meeting record set by Piotr Lisek in 2019 with 6.02m.
Armand Duplantis: “I am looking forward to coming back to the Herculis meeting in Monaco on 21 July. I know that the meeting record is 6.02m. We will see if I can do better. Monaco is an ideal place to jump high, especially to the Mediterranean weather, which puts us in the best possible position. I like when it is warm., when we are jumping at night. We have not much sun but it is still nice. The meeting record will be one of the goals. This is my last start before Budapest, as there are not so many meetings after this. It is nice to have a couple of more trainings before the World Championships. In 2020 that was still Covid times. It was a special event, even if there were only 5000 spectators. We normally had 200 people watching us at other meetings, so it was very exciting to see some fans”.
Duplantis improved the world record to 6.22m at the Indoor meeting in Clermont Ferrand organized by his rival Renaud Lavillenie.
The 23-year-old is chasing his third consecutive Diamond League Trophy after winning the past two editions of the Zurich final in 2021 with 6.06m and 2022 with 6.07m.
Duplantis will face Olympic silver medallist Christopher Nilsen and double Commonwealth Games champion Kurtis Marshall.
Nilsen set his seasonal best in Bydgoszcz with 5.92m and won the US title in Eugene with 5.91. In the Diamond League Nilsen performed well finishing second in Oslo with 5.91m and third in Chorzow with 5.81m.
Marshall finished second in Ostrava with 5.90m and improved his PB to 5.95m in Sotteville le Rouen.
World bronze medallist Ernest Obiena from the Philippines and KC Lightfoot are the newcomers to the 6 metres club. Obiena beat Duplantis in Brussels and cleared this height improving his Asian record to 6.00m in Bergen. Lightfoot, who finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, improved the North American record clearing 6.07m.
Lightfoot and two-time world champion Sam Kendricks finished fourth at the US Championships with 5.81m and will not be in the US team at the World Championships in Budapest. Kendricks bounced back last weekend in Chorzow, where he finished second with 5.91m.
The best French pole vaulters are former world record holder Renaud Lavilllenie, who won in Monaco three times in 2011, 2013 and 2015, and Thibaut Collet, who finished third at the European Team Championships in Chorzow with 5.80m.
The line-up will also feature Norwegian vaulters Sondre Guttormsen, European Indoor champion in Istanbul with 5.80m and NCAA indoor champion with 6.00m, Pal Haugen Lillefosse, European bronze medallist in Munich, Bo Kanda Lita Baehre, European silver medallist and this year’s German champion with 5.82m and Ben Broeders, fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade 2022 and Belgian record holder with 5.85m.
Men’s 400 metres hurdles:
The men’s 400 metres hurdles will be one of the most eagerly awaited races of the evening, as it features Olympic champion Karten Warholm and reigning world champion Alison Dos Santos.
World record holder and Olympic champion Karsten Warholm will run his third 400 metres hurdles race this year in Monaco after winning in Oslo in world leading time and Diamond League record of 46.52 at the Bislett Games in Oslo and in Stockolm in 47.57.
Warholm set the Herculis meeting record of 47.08 in 2021 a few weeks before setting the world record with a sensational 45.94 in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Norwegian star made his first appearance at the Herculis meeting in 2020 when he won in 47.10. This year he could run the first sub-47 seconds in the history of the Monaco meeting. Warholm won two Diamond League Trophies in 2019 in 46.92 and 2021 in 47.35.
Karsten Warholm: “It is going to be tough in the line-up. I am going to give it my all. We run for the win but the other guys are doing the same. I never cath victories beforehand. I know it is going to be tough. I cannto give you a guarantee but every time I step on the track, I am trying to win. There is a new era are going faster than in the past so we need to get used to it. I am proud of it. You have to push the limits and that is how you achieve the greatness”
World champion Alison Dos Santos will make his come-back from a serious knee injury. Dos Santos won the world gold medal in Eugene setting a South American record and the third fastest time in history of 46.29. During a great 2022 season Dos Santos won seven Diamond League races in Doha (47.24), Eugene (47.23), Oslo (47.26), Stockolm (46.80), Chorzow (47.80), Brussels (47.54) and Zurich (46.98) claiming his first Diamond League Trophy.
Alison Dos Santos: “If I want to be one the great athletes, you need to beat the great athletes. It is going to great. I am healthy and ready, so it is going to be great I do not think I would believe a couple of years ago that I would run that fast but just the doors were opened and I took the chance. The injury happened with plank.We took the recovery slowly and it was possible to come back on the track and we were smartWe knew I was ready to come back again”
CJ Allen has been one of the most consistent hurdlers this season. The US athlete took the win at the Diamond League meeting in Paris in 47.92 and finished second in Oslo in 47.58 and at the US Championships in Eugene in 48.18.
Olympic finalist Alessandro Sibilio made a come-back from injury this year and set the third fastest time in Europe in 2023 with 48.14 when he won the European Team Championships in Chorzow improving Warholm’s championships record. Sibilio won the European Under 23 gold in Tallin in 48.42 and finished eighth in the Olympic final in Tokyo after setting his PB of 47.93 in the semifinal.
Wilfried Happio from France finished third in the Oslo Diamond League meeting in his seasonal best of 48.13, the second fastest time in Europe this year. Happio came to the fore in 2017 when he won the European under 20 title in Grosseto beating Sibilio. The Frenchman placed fourth at the World Championships in Eugene in 47.41 just missing Stephane Diagana’s national record by four hundredths of a second and won the European silver medal in Munich in 48.56 behind Warholm.
Women’s 400 metres:
Olympic 400m hurdles champion and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin Levrone is focusing on the 400 metres. The US star won the US title in 48.74 setting the second fastest US time in history, just 0.04 slower than US record holder Sanya Richards Ross. McLaughlin Levrone also finished second in Paris in 49.71 and won in New York in 49.51. She won the world title in the 400 metres hurdles setting the fourth world record of her career in this discipline with 50.68.
Sydney McLaughlin: “I have not run here since 2019. I just came her here to suck the atmosphere last year. I remember the crowd pumped it up. I also remember it was fun in 2019 with the hurdles. I want to show something in the 400m. For this year to be able to take a step from the hurdles was huge for us to become a bit faster. It is the perfect year to try and have some fun with it. I am still a freshman in high school terminology in the 400m. I still have a few years to learn to call myself a 400m specialist. The best way to learn it is by doing it”.
Irish rising star Rhasidat Adeleke finished second in the NCAA final in Austin setting the national record with 49.20. Adeleke won two European Under 20 titles in the 100 and 200 metres in Tallin.
Natalia Kaczmarek started the season with a win at the Golden Gala in Florence in 50.41 and went on to win her second Diamond League race in Chorzow in a PB of 49.48 in front of her home fans.
Kaczmarek will face again Lieke Klaver from the Netherlands, who improved her PB to 49.81 in Chorzow last week.
Mary Moraa from Kenya, world bronze medallist and Diamond League champion in the 800, also showed her very good form recently setting the Kenyan record in the 400 metres with 50.38 at the National Trials in Nairobi. She won three 800m races in the Diamond League this year in Rabat, Lausanne and Chorzow.
Women’s 200 metres:
World champion Shericka Jackson will go head-to-head against Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas, this year’s NCAA champion Julien Alfred and 2019 world champion Dina Asher Smith.
Jackson won the 200 metres gold medal at the World Championships in Eugene setting the second fastest time in history with 21.45. Jackson missed Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record by 11 hundredths of a second. Jackson returns to the track of the Louis II Stadium where she improved her previous PB in the 100 metres with 10.71 last year. Last year she won the Diamond League final in Zurich in 21.80.
The Jamaican sprinter won her only 200 metres race in the Diamond League this season in 21.98 in Rabat. This month Jackson won two Jamaican titles in the 100m with a lifetime best of 10.65 and in the 200m with 21.71 and finished second in Chorzow in the 100m in 10.78 and first in the 200m in Szekesfehrvar in 22.02.
Shericka Jackson: “I don’t think there will be some fireworks tomorrow so I want to have a good race. I do not expect 21.50 tomorrow, but it is a stepping stone towards the World Championships in Budapest”.
Thomas won the US 200m title in Eugene this year improving her PB by one hundredth of a second to 21.60. The US sprinter won the bronze medal in the 200m in 21.87 and the silver medal in the 4x100 relay in Tokyo. The other US sprinter in the line-up is Kayla White, who improved her PB to 22.17 in the semifinal of the US Championships.
Gabby Thomas: “To run a new PB and do it at US Nationals, that is impressive.We learned a lot from last year but I was injured so I am excited of what happens in Budapest. I am not looking for WL at the moment. The goal is Budapest. I wanted to be in Monaco. I love this place, but like other athletes we are preparing for Budapest. I arrived yesterday and I am still jetlagged. I had a lot of quotations in French at Harvard. It has been 5 years since then so it is now a bit rusty”
Alfred will make her debut in the Diamond League after winning four NCAA titles in the 60 metres in 6.94 and the 200 metres in 22.01 and in the 100 metres in 10.72 and in the 200 metres in 21.73 (both wind-assisted times). She won the silver medal in the 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Alfred won her first European race in the 100 metres in 10.89 in Szekesfehrvar.
Asher Smith finished fourth in Paris in 22.57 and second in Stockolm in 22.58. The British sprinter set her seasonal best of 10.98 in the 100m in Doha and Oslo and won the national title in Manchester.
Neita improved her PB to 22.23 in Bydgoszcz and won her first Diamond League race in Stockolm in 22.50. She won the European indoor bronze medal in the 60 metres in Istanbul and the British 200 metres in Manchester in 22.25 this year.
Anthonique Strachan is also looking to continue her good period of form after improving her PBs this year in the 100m to 10.92 in Oslo and 22.15 in the 200m in Rabat.
Women’s 100 metres hurdles:
US hurdlers Nia Ali and Kendra Harrison will go head-to-head in a re-match of the US Championships final.
Ali showed her good form winning the first US title of her career in Eugene in 12.34 beating Harrison by one hundredth of a second. Ali won the world title in Doha 2019 ahead of Harrison.
Harrison took the win at the New York Grand Prix in a wind-assisted 12.29 and finished second at the US Championships in Eugene in 12.35 and at the Memorial Kamila Skolimowska in Chorzow in 12.35 during a consistent 2023 season. Harrison won twice in her career in Monaco in 2017 with 12.51 and in 2019 in 12.43.
The other US hurdlers to watch are Alaysha Johnson and Tia Jones, who finished fourth and fifth at the National Championships in Eugene in 12.46 and 12.50.
The best European hurdlers are Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska, European champion in Munich last year in 12.53 and winner at the European Team Championships in Munich in 12.77, Laeticia Bapté from France, fifth at the European Indoor Championships in Instanbul in the 60 metres hurdles in 7.97, and Elena Carraro from Italy, European Under 23 silver medallist and Italian under 23 record holder with 12.89.
Men’s 100 metres:
The men’s 100 metres will round off the meeting in style with a clash between Akani Simbine from South Africa, Letsile Tebogo from Botswana, Ferdinand Omanyala from Kenya and Ackeem Blake from Jamaica.
Two-time Olympic finalist Simbine showed his consistency this year winning two Diamond League races in Stockolm in 10.03 and Chorzow in 9.97 ahead of world champion Fred Kerley and the Continental Tour Gold competition in Ostrava in 9.98.
Tebogo won his first Diamond League race in the 200 metres in Lausanne in 20.01 into a headwind of -1.4 m/s. The Botswanan sprinter showed his versatility this year improving his PBs in the 200 metres with 19.87 in Gaborone and in the 400 metres in 44.75 in Lignano Sabbiadoro. He won the world under 20 gold medal in Cali 2022 improving the world under 20 record with 9.91.
Omanyala, Commonwealth Games champion and African record holder with 9.76, took the win in the 100 metres in 9.84 at the Kip Keino in Nairobi and finished second in Paris Charlety in 9.98. He won the Kenyan Trials Final in 9.85 in Nairobi earlier this month.
The line-up features four sprinters with a PB under 10 seconds: Akeem Blake from Jamaica, winner at the Los Angeles Grand Prix with 9.89, Courtney Lindsey from the USA, NCAA champion in his PB of 9.89, Kishane Thompson, who set his PB of 9.91 at the Jamaican Trials in Kingston, and Yohan Blake, who holds a PB of 9.69 and won in Szekesfehrvar in 10.04. The top European sprinter in the field is Joshua Hartmann, who won the German title in the 200m in Kassel with a national record with 20.02.
Men’s triple jump:
Jamaican 18-year-old rising star Jaydon Hibbert will make his debut in the Diamond League circuit. Hibbert won the world under 20 gold medal with 17.27m in Cali 2022. This year Hibbert won the NCAA outdoor title in Austin with 17.56m and improved his PB to 17.87m in Baton Rouge.
World silver medallist Fabrice Zango will be aiming to win his first Diamond League competition of the season after finishing second in Doha with 17.81m and Florence with 17.68m
Double Olympic champion and four-time world gold medallist Christian Taylor returns to Monaco, where he has held the meeting record since 2019 with 17.82m.
The French crowd will cheer on Jean Marc Pontvianne, who won the European bronze medal in Munich 2022 and improved his PB to 17.20m in Amiens this year.
Women’s long jump:
European indoor silver medallist Larissa Iapichino from Italy will face European outdoor champion Ivana Vuleta, world silver medallist Ese Brume from Nigeria, European Indoor champion Jasmine Sawyers from Great Britain and Hilary Kpatcha from France.
Iapichino had a dream start to her Diamond League campaign with two wins in her home city Florence with 6.79m and in Stockolm with 6.69m in rainy weather conditions. Iapichino, who turned 21 on Tuesday, is the second most successful Italian in history Diamond League behind high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi, who won in Montecarlo in 2016 and the past editions of the Diamond League Final in 2021 and 2022. The daughter of Fiona May and Gianni Iapichino won the European Under 23 gold medal with her outdoor PB of 6.93m in Espoo.
Vuleta won the world indoor title in Belgrade, the European gold medal in Munich 2022 with 7.06m, the Olympic bronze medal in Rio 2016, two world bronze medals in 2013 and 2015 and five Diamond League Trophies. The Serbian athlete won the European Indoor bronze medal with 6.91m. She improved her seasonal best to 6.77m in Lignano Sabbiadoro last week.
Rojas will try to set the qualifying standard of 6.85m to fulfil her goal of doubling up in the long jump and in the triple jump at the World Championships in Budapest. Rojas won the triple jump three time in Monaco in 2019 (14.98m), 2020 (14.27m) and 2022 (15.01m).
Jasmin Sawyers won the European Indoor title in Istanbul improving the British indoor record with 7.00m. The British athlete also won two European outdoor bronze medals in Amsterdam 2016 and Munich 2022.
Tara Davis Woodhall, who finished sixth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, won the US Championships in Eugene with 6.87m and set the second best performance in the world this year with 7.07m in Fayetteville.
Ese Brume won two world medals (bronze in Doha 2019 and in Eugene with 7.02m) and the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo 2021 with 6.97m.
Kpatcha took the win at the European Team Championships in Chorzow with 6.76m in 2023 beating Iapichino two years after rupturing her Achilles tendon in the warm-up for the 2021 European Team Championships in the same venue.
The new generation is led by Jamaica’s Ackelia Smith, who set the world seasonal lead with 7.08 in Norman. Smith won the NCAA title in Austin with 6.88m and finished third at the National Championships in Kingston.
Women’s high jump:
The women’s high jump line-up is worthy of a World Championships final, as it features Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers from Australia, European indoor and outdoor champion Yaroslava Mahuchik and Iryna Gerashchenko from the Ukraine.
Olyslagers won two Diamond League competitions in Paris with 2.00m and in Lausanne with 2.02m and a Continental Tour event in Turku with 2.01m.
Mahuchik won the first three competitions of the outdoor season in Nairobi with 2.00m, Rabat with 2.01m and Hengelo with 2.00m and finished third in Lausanne with 1.97m
Gerashchenko, who finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and at the World Championships in Eugene, placed second in Lausanne and won in Chorzow with 2.00m.
Morgan Lake and Angelina Topic both cleared the same height of 1.97m in Paris. Topic, European Under 18 champion in Jerusalem and European bronze medallist in Munich, showed her consistency by clearing 1.94m in Lausanne and 1.95m in Chorzow.
Australia’s Eleanor Patterson will compete for the second time this outdoor season. The 2022 world outdoor champion made her come-back from injury by clearing 1.89m in Chorzow.
Two-time Olympic and world champion Nafissatou Thiam from Belgium will take part in her second high jump competition in the Diamond League this season after finishing seventh in Lausanne with 1.91m. Thiam is coming to Monaco to build up her confidence one month before the World Championships in Budapest where he is aiming to win her third world title in the heptathlon. Thiam set her high jump PB of 2.02 in Talence in 2019 setting a world all-time for high jump in a heptathlon competition.
The line-up is completed by Lia Apostolovski from Slovenia, European Under 23 bronze medalllist in Tallin 2021.
Men’s 5000 metres:
Four of the top ten performers of all-time will line up on the fast track of the Louis II Stadium where Joshua Cheptegei broke the world record with 12:35.36 in 2020.
Cheptegei’s compatriot Jacob Kiplimo will go head-to-head against Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi. Kiplimo was narrowly beaten by Yomif Kejelcha in a very close photo-finish in 12:41.73 at the Bislett Games in Oslo setting the sixth fastest time in history. Aregawi, who clinched the Diamond League title in Zurich 2021 took the win in the 5000m in Lausanne running the fifth fastest time in history with 12.40.45.
Jacob Krop, who won the world silver medal in Eugene in 2022, set the ninth fastest time in history with 12:45.71 in Brussels and finished second in 12:46.79 in Rome behind Nicholas Kipkorir, who ran that race in 12:46.33 and will also line-up in Monaco.
Mohamed Katir from Spain showed his consistent form winning a close 5000 metres race at the Golden Gala in Florence in 12:52.79. Katir returns to Monaco where he broke the Spanish record in the 1500m with 3:28.76 in 2021.
The other top athletes in the line-up are Mohamed Ahmed from Canada, Olympic silver medallist in the 5000m in Tokyo and national record holder with 12:47.20, Hale Telahun Bekele from Ethiopia, who improved his PB to 12:46.21 in Oslo and finished fourth in Lausanne in 12:49.81, Hagos Gebrhiwet from Ethiopia, third in Lausanne in 12:49.60, Stanley Mburu Wathaka from Kenya, world silver medallist in the 10000m in Eugene 2022,Yemaneberhan Crippa from Italy, gold medallist in the 10000m and bronze in the 5000m at the European Championships in Munich, Jimmy Gressier from France, who finished fourth in the 10000m at the European Championships and ran a PB of 13:08.75 in the 5000m, and Yann Schrub, European bronze medallist in the 10000m in Munich.
Men’s 800 metres:
The line-up features the three medallists of the World Championships in Eugene and six of the season’s top performances. Fast times are expected on the Stade Louis II track, which has traditionally produced great performances.
Emmanuel Korir from Kenya has always performed very well in the big championships winning the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 1:45.06, the world title in Eugene in 1:43.71 and three Diamond League Trophies in 2018, 2021 and 2022. Korir won at the Monaco Herculis in 1:43.10 in 2017.
Korir will face Marco Arop from Canada and Djamel Sedjati from Algeria, who have already run very fast times. Sedjati, who finished second at the World Championships in Eugene in 1:44.14, set his PB of 1:43.40 when he finished fourth in Paris Charlety and won his first Diamond League race in Stockolm in 1:44.59.
Arop finished third at the World Championships in Eugene in 1:44.28 and took second place in Paris in 1:43.30 this year. The Canadian athlete set his PB of 1:43.26 in Monaco in 2021.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi, world under 20 champion in Nairobi, is in the form of his life this year and set the world season lead of 1:43.27 in Paris. The 18-year-old Kenyan athlete also won at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in 1:43.32, in Rabat in 1:44.36 and at the Kenyan Trials in 1:44.09.
Wycliffe Kinyamal is a good performer of the international circuit with wins in five Diamond League races during his career and dipped under 1:44 seconds this year twice clocking 1:43.56 in Paris and 1:43.66 in Nairobi.
The line-up also features world indoor bronze medallist Bryce Hoppel, who won at the New York Grand Prix in a seasonal best of 1:44.55 and at the US Championships in Eugene, Slimane Moula from Algeria, winner in Doha in 1:46.06 and third in Paris Charlety in 1:43.38, and Joseph Deng, who improved the Australian record to 1:43.99 in Decines (France) earlier this month.
Men’s javelin throw:
Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch starts as the favourite. The Czech thrower set the world seasonal best of 89.51m at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku and finished second in Doha with 88.63m and third in Lausanne with 86.13m.
Vadlejch will take on reigning European champion Julian Weber from Germany, who set a seasonal best of 88.37m in Rehlingen and won in Hengelo with 87.14m, at the European Team Championships in Chorzow with 86.26m and at the German Championships in Kassel with 88.72m.
Double world champion Anderson Peters will chase his first win in the Diamond League this season after finishing third in Doha with 85.88m and fifth in Lausanne with 82.23m.
The other athlete to watch is Timothy Herman from Belgium, who improved his PB to 87.35m at the Continental Tour Gold in Nairobi.
Men’s 3000 metres steeplechase:
Reigning Commonwealth Games champion Abraham Kibiwot from Kenya will face 2021 world under 20 champion Amos Serem, 2016 Olympic champion and 2017 world gold medallist Conseslus Kipruto and Abraham Sime from Ethiopia, who improved his PB to 8:10.68 this year.
