London Diamond League Event by Event Preview
US sprint stars Noah Lyles, Fred Kerley and Erryion Knighton will line up against European 200 metres champion Zharnel Hughes in a star-studded 200 metres.
Two-time 200 metres world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Noah Lyles set the world seasonal list of 19.67 at the Racers Grand Prix in Kingston and won the 100 metres at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Paris Charlety with 9.97. Lyles claimed four 200 metres Diamond League titles in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022. He won his second world title in Eugene in 19.31 improving Michael Johnson’s US record by 0.01.
Noah Lyles: “This will be my first time racing in the London Stadium so I am very excited to putting a show for the fans. We have all had a great start to the season, so this will a close and very entertaining race. I have heard a lot of good things about the atmosphere generated in the stadium, so I look forward to performing on front of the 45000 fans later this month”.
Kerley won the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo 2021 in 9.84, the world title in Eugene in 9.86. The Texas-born sprinter started his Diamond League season with a win in the 200 metres in Doha in 19.92 and took two Diamond League in Rabat and Florence with the same time of 9.94. He won two Diamond League Trophies in the 400 metres in 2018 in 44.80 and in the 100 metres in 2021 in 9.87.
Knighton is the youngest of the US trio in the line-up. The 19-year-old former American player finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 in 19.93 and won the world bronze medal in Eugene 2021 in 19.80. He won his first three 200 metres races of the season in Florence in 19.89, in Bydgoszcz in 19.95 and in Oslo breaking Usain Bolt’s meeting record with 19.77.
Hughes won two European titles in the 100 meters in Berlin 2018 and in the 200 metres in Munich 2022. He won the 100m at the New York Grand Prix with 9.83 breaking the long standing British 100m record set by Linford Christie at the World Championships in Stuttgart 1993.
Hughes moved the third in the national all-time list in the 100 list. The 27-year-old British sprinter won a Diamond League race in the 200 metres in London in 2015. He set a 200m PB of 20.02. The British record is held by John Regis with 19.94 since 1994.
Zharnel Hughes: “It will be amazing to be back competing in front of all the British fans at the London Stadium this summer. To do it as the new British 100m record holder will make it even more special. I am so happy to have broken the British record this year. I had a lot of respect for the previous record. I am very proud to have achieved that milestone. I will be racing over the 200 metres in London, a distance I have enjoyed a lot of success in during my career. I know it will be very fast and entertaining race, so I am excited to see what I am capable of producing on the day. I want to put on a show for the 45000 plus people in the stadium”.
Letsile Tebogo will return to the track just two days after finishing second in 9.93 in Monaco, just 0.02 of a second. Tebogo won his first Diamond League race in the 200 metres in Lausanne and improved his PB to 44.75 in the 400 metres in Lignano Sabbiadoro.
The other sprinter to watch is Alexander Ogando, who won the 200 metres in Szekesfehrvar in 19.99 ahead of Erriyon Knighton.
Women’s 100 metres:
World 200 metres champion Shericka Jackson will line up against Marie Josée Ta Lou, local star Dina Asher Smith and Sha’Carri Richardson in the women’s 100 metres.
Jackson will compete for the third time in the past week after finishing second in the 100 metres in 10”78 in Chorzow and winning the 200 metres in Monaco in 21.85. She set seasonal best times of 10.65 in the 100 metres and 21.71 in the 200 metres at the Jamaican Championships in Kingston. In the Diamond League she finished second in Doha in 10.85 and third in Oslo in 10.98 and won the 200 metres in Rabat in 21.98. At last year’s World Championships in Eugene the Jamaican sprinter won the silver medal in in the 100 metres in 10.73 and the gold medal in the 200 metres in 21.45 setting the second fastest time in history. Jackson won the 400 metres in 50.69 in her previous appearance at the London meeting in 2019.
Shericka Jackson: “I am excited to be competing back in London, and for the first time over the 100 metres in this stadium. The last time I ran there in 2019, I won the 400 metres so I have good memories on that track”.
Jackson will clash against Former NCAA 100 metres champion Sha’Carri Richardson, who won the 100 metres in 10.82 after improving her PB to 10.71 in the semifinal and finished second in the 200m in 21.94 at the US Championships in Eugene. Richardson won two Diamond League races in the 100m in Doha and Chorzow with the same time of 10.76.
Richardson and Jackson have drawn to 3-3 in their six head-to-head clashes during their career.
Sha’Carri Richardson: “I am excited and looking forward to running at the London Diamond League. It will be be my first time visiting London. I hope to run very well for the fans”.
Marie Josée Ta Lou is in the form of her life this year and won three Diamond League races in the 100 metres in Florence in 10.97, Oslo in 10.75 and Lausanne with 10.88. The 34-year-old Ivorian sprinter returns to the London Stadium, where she won two world silver medals at the World Championships in 2017.
Asher Smith will return to track of the London Stadium in her home city. The 27-year-old British sprinter made a major breakthrough, when she broke a then British record of 10.99 in the 2015 edition of the London Diamond League meeting. Since then Asher Smith has won three European medals in the 100m, 200m and in the 4x100 relay in Berlin 2018 and the world title in the 200 metres. Asher Smith will compete for the first time on the track of the London Stadium, when she finished second to Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce in 10.92.
Dina Asher Smith: “To be back competing in the London Stadium will be very special, and I cannot wait to race in front of the amazing home crowd. It is always great to compete on this stage in the UK, after four years away from the stadium, all the athletes are really looking forward to putting a show for the fans on 23rd July. I have some fantastic memories in the stadium, so it will be amazing to hopefully add more to those in July. With the event only a few weeks before Budapest, it will be a key race in my preparation, so expect a really exciting race. You will not want to miss it”.
Asher Smith will renew her domestic battle with her relay teammate Daryll Neita from Great Britain, who won the European indoor bronze medal in the 60m in Istanbul. Neita dipped under the 11 seconds barrier twice with 10.97 in Savona and 10.98 in Oslo and won the British title in Manchester in the 200 metres in 22.25.
The line-up also features Aleia Hobbs, US indoor champion in the 60 metres in a national record of 6.94, Anthonique Strachan from the Bahamas, who finished second with 10.92 in Oslo, and USA’s Twanisha Terry, who finished sixth at the US Championships in 11.05 and fourth at the Memorial Skolimowska in Chorzow in 10.99.
Men’s 110 metres hurdles:
Grant Holloway will compete for the first time in his career in London Holloway won two Diamond League races this year in the men’s 110 metres hurdles in Florence in 13.04 and in Paris in 12.98, the second fastest time in the world this year. Only emerging star Cordell Tinch ran faster than Holloway this year with his world seasonal best of 12.96. He was beaten only once this season by Rasheed Broadbell in Rabat.
Holloway took the win at the World Championships in Eugene in 13.03 becoming the first 110 metres hurdler to clinch back-to-back world titles since four-time world champion Allen Johnson in 2001 and 2003. Last year he 25-year-old US hurdler won his first Diamond League title in Zurich.
Grant Holloway: “To win the world indoor title and my second world outdoor gold medal made last year pretty special. This will be my first time competing in London and it means a lot as I build towards another World Championships. There have been incredible performances in the stadium over the years. I was only 14 during the 2012 Olympic Games but I still remember Aries Merritt winning the world gold medal. I just missed out on making the US team for the London 2017 World Championships, but I have continued to work hard towards my dreams, and for 2023, it’s about winning my third world title in Budapest”.
Holloway will face three compatriots Daniel Roberts, Trey Cunningham and Freddie Crittenden, who hold the same PB of 13.00. Roberts won the US title in 13.05 and the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Szekesfehrvar. Cunningham won the world silver medal in Eugene. Crittenden won the US indoor title in the 60 metres hurdles in 7.49 and finished third at the US Championships in Eugene in 13.23.
Women’s 400 metres hurdles:
Femke Bol from the Netherlands will take on this year’s US champion Shamier Little, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Janieve Russell and 2019 world medallist Rushell Clayton from Jamaica.
Bol holds the European record with his PB of 52.03 set at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and set the fastest time in the 400m hurdles in the world this year with 52.30 at the Bislett Games in Oslo and won more Diamond League races this year with 52.43 in Florence and 52.76 in Lausanne. The Dutch star won three European titles in the 400m hurdles, in the 400m and in the 4x400 relay and set the world indoor record with 49.26 in Apeldoorn last February.
Bol will renew her rivalry against Shamier Little, who improved her PB to 49.68 in the 400 metres flat distance in Monaco on Friday and won the US title in 53.34.
The best British hurdler in the field is Jessie Knight, who improved her PB to 54.09 in May 2009 and won the world bronze medal in the 4x400 relay in Eugene.
The line up also features Olympic and world finalist Gianna Woodruff from Panama, Viktoriya Tkachuk and Anna Ryzhikova, who won the European silver and bronze medals in Munich respectively.
Men’s discus throw:
Reigning world champion Kristjan Ceh will clash against Olympic gold medallist Daniel Stahl in a star-studded men’s discus throw competition.
Ceh won three Diamond League competitions this year in Doha with 70.89m, Rabat with 70.32m and Stockolm with 69.83m and set the fourth furthest throw in history with 71.86m at the Memorial Heino Lipp in Johvi, where Stahl threw over the 71m barrier with 71.45m.
Ceh has already competed on British soil in Birmingham in 2022, where he set the Diamond League record with 71.27m.
Stahl won the world title in Doha 2019 and the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021. The Swedish thrower claimed three Diamond League Trophies in 2016, 2019 and 2021 and took two wins at the London Diamond League meetings in 2017 and 2019. He threw over the 70 metres in four meetings this year (70.93m in Sollentuna, 70.38m in Turku, 71,45m in Johvi and 70.25m in Karlstad) and won in Szekesfehrvar with 68.98m ahead of Gudzius and Ceh.
Mykolas Alekna won the world silver medal in Eugene with 69.27m and the European gold medal in Munich with 69.78m. The young Lithuanian thrower, son of two-time Olympic gold medallist Virgilius Alekna, improved his PB to 71.00m in Berkeley last April and finished fourth with 66.91m in his first Diamond League competition of the season in Stockolm.
Another Lithuanian in the field is Andrius Gudzius, who returns to the London stadium, where he won the world gold medal in 2017. Gudzius improved his PB to 67.19m when he finished third at the Diamond League meeting in Stockolm.
The line-up also features 2021 Olympic silver medallist Simon Petterson from Sweden, Lawrence Okoye, second at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and third at the European Championships in Munich last year, Matthew Denny from Australia, Commonwealth Games champion in 2022, and 2021 Olympic finalist Sam Mattis.
Women’s 800 metres:
European indoor and outdoor champion Keely Hodgkinson from Great Britain is aiming to win the 800 metres in front of her home fans in the race, which ends the programme of the meeting.
Hodgkinson opened her outdoor season with a British record of 1:55.77 in Paris. The British athlete finished second to world bronze medallist Mary Moraa in Lausanne and won the British title in 1:58.26. At last week’s European under 23 Championships in Espoo she won the bronze medal in the 400 metres improving her PB to 51.76.
Hodgkinson will face 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi from Uganda. Diribe Welteji from Ethiopia, who finished third in Chorzow in 3:55.09 in the 1500 metres, Jamaican record holder and Olympic finalist Natoya Goule Toppin, Oceanian record holder Catriona Bisset from Australia,
Women’s long jump:
Former world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson Thompson will join this year’s US champion Ivana Vuleta from Serbia, European indoor champion Jazmin Sawyers in the women’s long jump, 2021 European indoor champion Maryna Bekh Romanchuk, world bronze medallist Leticia Oro Melo from Brazil.
Vuleta showed her good form this week improving her seasonal best to 6.86m at the Monaco Diamond League meeting. The Serbian athlete won the European outdoor gold in Munich with 7.06m and the European indoor bronze medal in Istanbul with 6.91m last March.
Sawyers won the gold medal at the European Indoor Championships improving the national indoor to 7.00m in Istanbul. The British jumper also won two European outdoor bronze medals in Amsterdam 2016 and Munich 2022.
Johnson Thompson made a successful come-back last May, when she she finished second in the heptathlon at the Hypo meeting in Goetzis with 6556 points, her best performance since 2019 when she won the world title in Doha breaking the British record with 6981 points. The British athlete took two wins in the long jump at Wanda Diamond League meetings in London in 2013 and 2016.
Davis Woodhall won the US title with 6.97m in Eugene and finished second at the Monaco Diamond League meeting with 6.88m.
Men’s 400 metres:
World 400 metres record holder Wayde Van Niekerk will return to compete for the first time since August 2017, when he won his second world title in the 400 metres in 43.98 and the silver medal in the 200 metres.
Van Niekerk won the Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro 2016 breaking Michael Johnson’s world record with 43.03.
This season the South African star won the national title in Potchefstroom in 44.27 and two Diamond League races at the Bislett Games in Oslo in 44.38 and at the Memeorial Kamila Skolimowska in his seasonal best of 44.08. He achieved one of these wins at the 2015 edition of the London meeting.
Wayde Van Niekerk: “I have so many special memories of competing in London, so I am really looking forward to racing over the 400 metres in the London Stadium. The world title in 2017 will live long in my memory. It was an extra special championship to win silver in the 200m. I enjoy racing in front of the British fans. They create a special atmosphere, so I cannot wait to see everyone there on 23rd July”.
Van Niekerk will face Matthew Hudson Smith from Great Britain, who broke Iwan Thomas’ long standing national record with 44.35 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene last year. Hudson Smith went on to win the world bronze medal in Eugene and the European title in Munich.
The US challenge is led by Bryce Deadmon and Vernon Norwood, who finished first and second at the US Championships in Eugene in 44.22 and 44.39 respectively, and Ryan Willie, fifth at the US Championships in 44.87.
Men’s shot put:
Ryan Crouser is looking to extend his unbeaten streak this year in the men’s shot put. The US shot putter improved his own world record to 23.56m in Los Angeles last May and won at the US Championships in Eugene with 22.86m and four European competitions in Ostrava with 22.63m, in Lausanne with 22.29m, in Chorzow with 22.55m, in Szekesfehrvar with 22.51m. Crouser won 10 Diamond League competitions during his career.
Crouser will take on two-time world champion and reigning Diamond League champion Joe Kovacs, 2017 world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Tom Walsh, who set a seasonal best of 22.2m in Bydgoszcz and finished second in Ostrava with 22.15 and in Lausanne with 21.99m, Jacko Gill, Commonwealth Games silver medallist in Birmingham 2022 with 21.90m, Josh Awotunde, world bronze medallist in Eugene with 22.29m and second at the US Championships this year with 22.10m, Payton Otterdahl, who finished third at the US Championships in Eugene with 22.09m and won at the Banska Bystrika with 22.11m, Leonardo Fabbri from Italy, who won his first Diamond League competition in home city Florence with 21.73m and won at the Triveneto meeting in Trieste with 21.71 on Saturday, reigning European champion Filip Mihaljevic from Croatia, third in Lausanne with 21.42m, Tomas Stanek from Czech Republic, European bronze medallist in Munich 2022, and Scott Lincoln from Great Britain, second at the European Team Championships in Chorzow with 21.10m.
The top eight athletes in the world ranking will compete in London.
Women’s pole vault:
Olympic and world champion Katie Moon won the world title in Eugene setting the world leading mark of 4.90m. She set her third US indoor title last February and set the world indoor leading mark with 4.83m. During the current summer season she won three Diamond League competitions in Doha with 4.81m, Florence with 4.82m and Lausanne with 4.82m and finished third in Paris Charlety with 4.71m.
Moon will face her training partner Sandi Morris, world silver medallist in Eugene and world indoor champion in Belgrade in 2022. Morris, US record holder with 5.00m, set a seasonal best of 4.71m in Doha and finished second at the US Championships in Eugene with 4.61m this year.
Olympic bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw is returning to her best shape after being forced to withdraw from the opening meeting of the Wanda Diamond League in Doha due to stiffness in her Achilles tendon during the warm-up.
The line-up features Nina Kennedy, world bronze medallist in Eugene and Diamond League champion in 2022, European indoor and outdoor champion Wilma Murto from Finland, who finished second in Lausanne with her seasonal best of 4.77m, 2016 Olympic champion and 2017 world gold medallist Katerina Stefanidi, Tina Sutej from Slovenia, third at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade and at the European Championships in Munich 2022 and second at the European indoor Championships in Istanbul 2023, Roberta Bruni, Italian record holder with 4.72m in Rovereto and fourth at the Diamond League final in Zurich 2022.
Men’s high jump:
Olympic and world champion Mutaz Barshim will be seeking a second Diamond League win this season with 2.36m in Chorzow.
Barshim returns to the London Stadium, where he won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in 2012 and his first world gold medal in 2017. Barshim won an unprecedented third world gold medal in Eugene last year with 2.37m. He was crowned joint Olympic champion with his long-time friend and rival Gianmarco Tamberi at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021.
Mutaz Barshim: “Returning to London, where I won my first world title, is always close to my heart. I know I have achieved a lot, but I am still chasing and aiming for me. I have set my own goals and targets for 2023. The World Championships and the Asian Games are at the top of the list. Competing in London is the perfect preparation for Budapest where I am aiming to win my fourth world title”.
Barshim will renew his rivalry with Tobias Potye, who cleared 2.34m at the Diamond League meeting in Chorzow last week.
The other top names are Ju’Vaughn Harrison, who won two Diamond League meetings in Doha and Florence with 2.32m and the US title with 2.26m in Eugene, Hamish Kerr from New Zealand, world indoor bronze medallist in Belgrade 2022, Jael Baden from Australia, who won the national title with 2.32m in Sydney last April, Thomas Carmoy from Belgium, European indoor bronze medallist in Torun 2021, Andiy Protsenko from the Ukraine, bronze medallist at the European Championships in Munich and at the World Championships in Eugene 2022.
Women’s 5000 metres:
Olympic champion Siffan Hassan will clash against 5000 metres world gold medallist Gudaf Tsegay, Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet, winner in the 5000 metres at the Diamond League final, the African Championships and at the Commonwealth Games last year and at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst in 2023.
Hassan is undefeated this year across four distances, as she won the London Marathon in 2:18:33 on her debut over this distance last April the 5000 metres in Portland, both the 1500 metres and the 10000 metres at the Fanny Blankers Koen meeting in Hengelo on two consecutive days.
Tsegay won the world title in the 5000 metres in Eugene last year in 14:46.29. The Ethiopian athlete set world leading times in the 1500m with 3:57.47 in Liévin, in the mile with 4:16.16 in Chorzow and in the 3000 metres with 8:16.69 in Birmingham during the indoor season last winter. Tsegay won the 1500m in 3:54.03 in Rabat and the 10000 metres at the Ethiopian Trials setting a PB of 29:29.73.
Chebet also performed very well this year winning the 5000 metres at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in 15:15.82, the 3000 metres at the Bislett Games in Oslo in 8:25.01 and the 5000 metres in Stockolm in 14:36.52.
World under 20 1500 metres champion Birke Haylom will make her debut in the 5000 metres. Haylom broke Zola Budd’s world under 20 mile record of 4:17.13 at the Bislett Games in Oslo and Faith Kipyegon’s African under 20 record with 3:54.93 in Chorzow.
The line-up also features world under 20 champion Medina Eisa from Ethiopia, world under 20 5000 metres champion Mizan Alem from Ethiopia, who improved her PB to 29:59.03 in the 10000 metres, three-time world under 20 medallist Melknat Wudu, USA’s Alicia Monson, who clocked 14:34.88 in the 5000 metres in Paris and 30:03.82 in the 10000 metres, world 3000 metres steeplechase silver medallist Werkuha Getachew from Ethiopia, Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal from Norway, double bronze European medallist in the 10000m in Amsterdam 2016 and in the 3000 metres steeplechase in Berlin 2018 and European Cross Country Championships in Venaria Reale 2022, and Nadia Battocletti from Italy, European Under 23 champion in the 5000m in Tallin 2021 and in the cross country in 2021 and 2022.
Men’s 1500 metres:
Fresh 1500 metres US champion Yared Nuguse set the third fastest time in the world this year with his PB of 3:29.02 set at the Bislett Games in Oslo. The former NCAA champion leads a star-studded line-up.
Nuguse will go head-to-head against 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, who finished fourth in Oslo in 3:29.08. Cheruiyot will return to the London Stadium, where he won the silver medal at the World Championships. Cheruiyot set his PB with 3:28.28 at the Monaco Diamond League meeting in 2021.
The line-up also features Mario Garcia from Spain, fourth at the World Championships in Eugene and European bronze medallist in Munich 2022, Azeddine Habz from France, European Indoor bronze medallist in Istanbul 2023, Oliver Hoare from Australia, Commonwealth Games gold medallist in Birmingham and Australian record holder, Norway’s Narve Gilje Nordas, fifth at the 2021 European Indoor Championships in the 3000m in Torun. Garcia, Habz, Hoare and Nordas are currently ranked sixth (3:29.18), seventh (3:29.26), eighth (3:29.43) and ninth (3:29.47) fastest so far in 2023 thanks to their PBs at the Bislett Games in Oslo.
Andrew Coscoran from Ireland will return to the track one week after finishing fourth in a national record of 3:30.42 at the Diamond League in Chorzow. Coscoran improved his previous lifetime best by two seconds. In the Diamond League meeting in Silesia Coscoran beat Samuel Tanner from New Zealand, who will also line up in London after setting his PB with 3:31.24.
The line-up is completed by Adel Mechaal from Spain, Cole Hocker from the USA and Sebastian McSweyn from Australia, who finished fifth, sixth and seventh in the in the final of the Olympic Games. McSweyn holds a PB of 3:29.51 and set a seasonal best of 3:32.85.
British fans will cheer on 2023 European indoor silver medallist Neil Gourley, who is currently 14th in the world seasonal list. The domestic line-up also features 2016 European bronze medallist Elliot Giles, who broke the British Indoor record with 1:43.63 in Torun 2021 and improved his PB to 3:31.56 in the 1500 metres in Lausanne on 30th June, former European under 18 champion George Mills, who set a lifetime best of 3:31.54 in Silesia, and Matt Stonier, who finished fifth at the 2022 European Championships in Munich and seventh at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in a PB of 3:32.50.
Women’s 3000 metres steeplechase:
World record holder Beatrice Chepkoech will chase her second Diamond League of the season after taking victory in Lausanne in 9.05.98. Chepkoech also clinched the Kenyan Trials title in Nairobi. She will take on Zerfe Wondemagegn from Ethiopia, US champion Kristin Gear, and Courtney Wayment, who finished third at the US Championships.
