Track and field luminaries such as Noah Lyles, Femke Bol, Ryan Crouser, and Alison Dos Santos are set to hone their skills in preparation for the upcoming Paris Olympic Games at the London Diamond League Meet. This prestigious event, marking the 10th stage of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League series, will also feature British sensations Keely Hodgkinson, Dina Asher-Smith, Molly Caudery, Daryll Neita, and Zharnel Hughes. These athletes will compete against the world's elite before a capacity crowd at the iconic London Stadium. The eagerly anticipated meet is scheduled for Saturday, July 20, at the London Olympic Stadium.
Men’s 100 metres:
Five-time Diamond League champion Noah Lyles returns to the London Olympic Stadium to run the 100 metres against Letsile Tebogo and Zharnel Hughes in a race that reunites the entire podium of the World Championships in Budapest.
Last year Lyles won a hat-trick of gold medals at the World Championships in Budapest in the 100m in 9.83, 200m in 19.52 and 4x100 relay in 37.38. Lyles broke Michael Johnson’s US record with 19.31 in the 200 metres when he won the world gold medal in Eugene 2022.
This season The US star won the 200 metres at the New York Continental Tour Gold meeting in 19.77 into a headwind of -1.6 m/s and qualified in both the 100 metres and the 200 metres at the US Olympic Trials clocking 9.83 and 19.53 respectively. Lyles will make his first appearance in the 2024 Diamond League this year.
In last year’s edition of the London Athletics Meet Lyles won the 200 metres in a world seasonal best of 19.47 beating Letsile Tebogo, who clocked 19.50 breaking the African record held by Frankie Fredericks, and Zharnel Hughes, who finished third in 19.73 coming very close to Pietro Mennea’s European record. Tebogo won the world silver medal in the 100 metres ahead of Hughes in 9.88 and the bronze medal in the 200 metres in 19.81 in Budapest. The Botswanan sprinter finished second in the 100 metres in Szekesfehrvar in 9.99 and won his second Diamond League race in the 200 metres in the Diamond League in 19.87 in Monaco.
Hughes broke Linford Christie’s British record in the 100 metres in New York with 9.83 in 2023 and finished fourth in the 200 metres in 20.02 at the World Championships in Budapest. The British sprinter coached by Glen Mills set seasonal best times of 10.09 in the 100m and 19.96 in the 200m.
The other British sprinters in the line-up are Jeremiah Azu, who won the European under 23 gold medal in Espoo 2023 and set his PB of 9.97 in Leverkusen, and Louis Hinchliffe, who became the first British sprinter to win the men’s 100 metres at the NCAA Championships in Eugene in 9.95 and stormed to win in the final of the British Championships in Manchester. Hinchliffe is coached by US sprint and long jump legend Carl Lewis.
South Africa’s Akani Simbine, two-time Olympic finalist, is bidding to win his third Diamond League race of the season after his victories in Suzhou in 10.01 and Oslo in 9.94. He also finished third in 10.01 in Szekesfehrvar in his most recent race.
Ackeem Blake returns to Europe after finishing third in 9.92 in the final of the Jamaican Championships in Kingston. Blake won the bronze medal in the 4x100 relay at the World Championships in Budapest and set a PB of 9.89 in the 100 metres.
Women’s 400 metres hurdles:
Femke Bol won the women’s 400 metres hurdles at last year’s edition of the London Athletics Meet in 51.45 setting the third fastest time in history, the European record and the Diamond League record. A few weeks later Bol won two world gold medals in the 400 metres hurdles in 51.70 and in the 4x400 relay with 3:20.72 in Budapest.
Bol improved her European record to 50.95 in La Chaux de Fonds last Sunday becoming the second woman in history to break the 51 seconds barrier after world record holder Sydney McLaughlin Levrone. Bol started her Diamond League campaign with a win in Stockolm in 53.07. With a win in London Bol would make a step towards a fourth consecutive Diamond League title.
Bol won the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo 2021 and went on to win a double silver medal in the 400 metres hurdles and in the 4x400 relay at the World Championships in Eugene 2022 and three European gold medals in the 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400 relay in Munich 2022
Bol will face the Jamaican trio formed by Rushell Clayton, Andrenette Knight and Shiann Salmon and USA’s Shamier Little.
Clayton won two world bronze medals in Doha 2019 and Budapest 2023 and claimed the win at the Jamaican Trials in her PB of 52.51. Salmon and Knight finished third and fourth in 53.71 and 54.37 at the Jamaican Trials.
Little won the world silver medal in Budapest 2023, but she did not qualify for the Olympic Games after finishing fourth at the US Olympic Trials in 52.98.
The line-up also features Catheljin Peeters from the Netherlands, bronze medallist at the European Championships in Rome in 54.37, Jessie Knight, who set her seasonal best of 54.59 in La Chaux de Fonds, Lina Nielsen, who improved her PB to 54.43 in the semifinal of the European Championships in Rome before finishing seventh in the final.
Men’s 400 metres hurdles:
Alison Dos Santos, world champion in Eugene in a South American record of 46.29 and Diamond League winner in 2022, will chase his fifth Diamond League win this season after finishing first in Doha (46.86), Oslo (46.63), Stockolm (47.01) and Paris (47.78). The Brazilian hurdler finished third at the Monaco Diamond League meeting last week in 47.18 behind Raj Benjamin and Karsten Warholm.
Dos Santos will take on Kyron McMaster from British Virgin Islands, world silver medallist in Budapest in 47.34 and fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in a national record of 47.08. McMaster finished third in Oslo in 48.49 and second in Stockolm in 48.05.
The other sub-48 seconds performers are Roshawn Clarke from Jamaica, winner at the National Championships in his PB of 47.42, CJ Allen, second at the US Trials in 47.81, and Wilfried Happio from France, fourth at the World Championships in Eugene in 47.41 and European silver medallist in Munich in 2022.
The line-up is completed by Gerald Drummond from Costarica, winner at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in 48.56, Alaistar Chalmers, British champion in Manchester in 48.54, and Ismail Ababakar from Qatar, who improved his PB to 48.68 in Potchefstroom this year.
Men’s shot put:
Olympic champion and world record holder Ryan Crouser leads the men’s shot put line-up. Crouser broke the world record with 23.56m at the Los Angeles Grand Prix in May 2023 and won back-to-back world outdoor titles in Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023 and was successful in his most recent trips to Great Britain, winning at the 2023 edition of the London Athletics Meet with 23.07m and at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow with 22.77m . Crouser will make his first appearance in the Diamond League this season after winning the US Olympic Trials final with 22.84m in his only outdoor competition of the season after being sidelined by an injury.
Crouser will take on world seasonal leader Joe Kovacs, Leonardo Fabbri, Tom Walsh and Payton Otterdahl.
Kovacs set the world seasonal lead with 23.13m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene and finished second at the US Olympic Trials with 22.43m. The US shot putter won five world medals (gold in Beijing 2015 and Doha 2019, silver in London 2017 and Eugene 2022 and bronze in Budapest 2023) and two Olympic silver medals in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2021.
Fabbri broke Alessandro Andrei’s Italian record with 22.95m in Savona and won the gold medal at the European Championships in Rome in front of his home fans. Fabbri won at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Szekesfehrvar with 22.43m extending his winning streak to elevent competitions with a throw over the 22 metres barrier this season. He recently came close to his Italian record at the Pergine Valsugana meeting with 22.90m.
Otterdahl finished third at the US Trials in Eugene with 22.26m and won in Lucerne with 21.95m.
Walsh won the world title in London 2017, the world indoor bronze medal in Glasgow 2024 and two Olympic bronze medals in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2021.
The other athletes to watch are Roger Steen, sixth at the US Trials with 21.51m, Jacko Gill from New Zealand, sixth at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 and fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow 2024, and Scott Lincoln from Great Britain, fourth at the European Championships in Rome 2024 and ten-time British champion.
Women’s 200 metres :
The London meeting will end with a star-studded women’s 200 metres race featuring five sprinters who have broken the 22 seconds barrier in their career: Gabby Thomas (21.60), Dina Asher Smith (21.88), Jenna Prandini (21.89), Julien Alfred (21.91) and Tamara Clark (21.92).
Thomas set the fastest time in the world this year with 21.78 in the 200 metres semifinal of the US Olympic Trials in Eugene before winning the final in 21.81. The US sprinter set her 200 metres PB of 21.60 at the US Championships in Eugene in 2023 and won the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo 2021 in 21.87 and the world silver in Budapest 2023 in 21.81.
Alfred won two NCAA outdoor titles in the 100 and 200 metres in 2023 and finished fourth in the 200 metres and fifth in the 100 metres at the World Championships in Budapest last August. This season the sprinter from Santa Lucia won the world indoor gold medal in the 60 metres in 6.98 in Glasgow and the first Diamond League race of her career in Monaco in 10.85 into a headwind of -1.0 m/s.
This year’s European 100 metres champion Dina Asher Smith from Great Britain will race in the 200 metres in front of her home fans at the London Athletics Meet.
The 28-year-old British sprint star split with her first coach and moved to the USA at the end of the 2023 season to be coached by Edrick Floreal. She has joined a training group that includes Julien Alfred and Rhasidat Adeleke.
Asher Smith won her second European gold medal in Rome in the 100 metres in 10.99 after clocking a seasonal best of 10.96 in the semifinal. During the Diamond League season she finished third in the 100 metres at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in 10.98 and in Monaco in 10.99.
Asher Smith won the world 200m title in Doha and set the British records of 10.83 in the 100 metres and 21.88 in the 200 metres in 2019. In her previous appearances at the London meeting Asher Smith became the first British woman to run a legal time under 11 seconds with 10.99 in the 100m in 2015 and finished third in 10.92 in 2019.
Dina Asher Smith: “Coming home in London to race in the Diamond League is going to be pretty special for me. Last year’s performance gave me a lot of confidence going into the World Championships and with big goals for Paris. I hope I can do the same over the 200 metres this time around. Obviously I am not alone in my ambition to win an Olympic title, but I am doing everything I can to put myself in the best possible position to make it happen. I am loving it in Austin and I have an incredibly talented group of athletes to train with. We have made some changes to my training and I am already seeing the benefits. I am in really good shape and I am genuinely excited for the rest of the season”.
British fans will also cheer on Daryll Neita and Amy Hunt. Neita won the European silver medal in Rome in 22.50, two Diamond League races in Suzhou in the 200m (22.62) and in the 100m in Doha (10.98) and the British title in the 100m in Manchester in 11.24 into a headwind of -1.5 m/s. Hunt won the European under 20 title in 2019 and finished seventh in the 100 metres at the European Championships in Rome 2024.
Rhasidat Adeleke from Ireland will step down in distance to run the 200 metres. The Irish athlete won the European silver medal in Rome in the 400 metres in a national record of 49.07 and claimed her first Diamond League win in Monaco in 49.17.
The other US sprinters in the field are Tamara Clark, fifth in the 200 metres in 22.20 and sixth in the 100m in 10.95, and Jenna Prandini, world champion with the 4x100 relay and seventh in the 200m at the US Trials this year in 22.58.
Women’s 400 metres:
Natalia Kaczmarek from Poland and Nickisha Pryce from Jamaica will lead the line-up in the women’s 400 metres.
Kaczmarek won the world silver medal in Budapest 2023 and the European gold medal in the women’s 400 metres in 48.98 improving Irena Szewinska’s Polish record of 49.28 set at the Olympic Games in Montreal. Kaczmarek finished second in three Diamond League in Xiamen (50.29), Oslo (49.30) and Paris (49.82).
Nickisha Pryce will make her debut in the Diamond League after winning the NCAA title in Eugene in a world lead of 48.89 and the Jamaican title with 50.01 in Kingston.
Lieke Klaver will be looking to dip again under the 50 seconds barrier after improving her PB to 49.64 in the Diamond League meeting in Monaco. The Dutch athlete won the world indoor silver medal in Glasgow and the European bronze medal in Munich.
The line-up also features British athletes Amber Anning, third at the NCAA Finals in 49.59 and winner and the National Championships in Manchester in 50.47, Laviai Nielsen, fifth at the Paris Diamond League meeting in her PB of 50.67, and Victoria Ohruogou, fourth in the 400m at the European Championships in Munich and third with the 4x400m at the World Championships in Eugene in 2022, Talitha Diggs, NCAA champion and winner at the US Championships in Eugene 2022.
Men’s 400 metres:
European 400 metres record holder Matthew Hudson Smith from Great Britain will take on his compatriot Charles Dobson, this year’s European silver medallist in Rome, London 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James, this year’s NCAA champion Christopher Morales Williams from Canada, Vernon Norwood and Bayapo Ndori from Botswana.
Hudson Smith, a multiple European champion in the 400 metres and in the 4x400 relay, improved Thomas Schoenlebe’s European record with 44.26 in the semifinal of the World Championships in Budapest before winning the silver medal. The two-time world medallist smashed his own European record to 44.07 when he finished second at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo.
Matthew Hudson Smith: “Things are going great this year. I have been working hard on and off the track to stay injury free. My win at the Oslo Diamond League showed that I am in good shape and I hope to build further on that performance as the season develops. I won silver at last year’s World Championships in Budapest and bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene. It would be amazing to win gold at the Olympic Games in Paris. The key is to stay healthy and keep working hard”
Dobson improved his PB twice to 44.46 in Savona and to 44.38 in the European Championships final in Rome, where he won the silver medal. The British 24-year-old athlete won the national title in Manchester in 44.56.
James returns to the track of the London Stadium where he won the Olympic gold medal in 2012 in 43.94. The Grenadan athlete set his seasonal best of 44.55 in New York and finished second to Hudson Smith in Oslo in 44.58.
Morales Williams won the NCAA outdoor title in 44.47 in 2024 and finished sixth in 45.11 in his Diamond League debut in Monaco.
Norwood finished fourth at the US Olympic Trials in 44.47 and second in Monaco Diamond League meeting in 44.34.
Women’s pole vault:
World indoor gold medallist Molly Caudery will clash against Nina Kennedy and Katie Moon, who shared the gold medal with 4.90m at the World Championships in Budapest and European champion Angelica Moser from Swizterland.
Kennedy claimed her first world gold medal one year after winning the Commonwealth title in Birmingham in 2022. The Australian vaulter won at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco with her seasonal best of 4.88m beating Angelica Moser on countback.
Moon won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021, back-to-back world titles in Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023 and the world indoor gold After an Achilles tendon injury the US pole vaulter finished second at the Olympic Trials and fifth at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco with 4.66m.
Caudery set a world indoor lead with 4.86m in Rouen before winning the world indoor title in Glasgow with 4.80m. The British vaulter won the European bronze medal with 4.73m in Rome and set a world outdoor lead of 4.92m in Toulouse and finished third at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco with 4.83m.
Moser won the European gold medal in Rome setting the Swiss record with 4.78m. She improved it by 10 cm to 4.88m in Monaco last week.
Sandi Morris will be looking to bounce back from her fourth place at the US Trials in Eugene with 4.68m. Morris, three-time world silver medallist in 2017, 2019 and 2019 and second at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016, set her outdoor seasonal best of 4.75m in Chula Vista.
Eliza McCartney from New Zealand won the world indoor silver medal in Glasgow with 4.80m and the national title with 4.70m.
Alysha Newman from Canada, Commonwealth Games champion in Gold Coast 2018, improved her outdoor seasonal to 4.76m in Monaco. The line-up also features Italian record holder Roberta Bruni, who cleared 4.66m in Monaco, and Olivia McTaggart from New Zealand, national champion in 2022.
Men’s high jump:
Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim will return to the London Stadium where he won the Olympic silver medal in 2012 and the first of his three world gold medals in 2017 with 2.35m. Barshim, who shared the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo with Gianmarco Tamberi, finished second in Xiamen and Suzhou and equalled his seasonal best by jumping 2.31m in the German high jump meeting in Heilbronn.
Barshim will go head-to-head against Hamish Kerr from New Zealand, who won the world indoor gold medal in Glasgow with an Oceanian record of 2.36m and two Diamond League competitions in Suzhou with 2.31m and Monaco equalling his Oceanian outdoor record with 2.33m.
The line-up will also feature Ju’Vaughn Harrison, world silver medallist in Budapest 2023 with 2.36m and fourth at this year’s US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Tobias Potye from Germany, European silver medallist in Munich 2022, Norbert Kobielski from Poland, second at the Diamond League final in Eugene with 2.33m, Thomas Carmoy from Belgium, European indoor bronze medallist in Torun 2021 and fourth at the European Championships in Rome 2024, Yulian Reath from Australia, national champion with 2.29m in 2024.
Women’s long jump:
Olympic and European champion Malaika Mihambo from Germany will go head to head against European indoor and outdoor silver medallist Larissa Iapichino from Italy and world champion Katarina Johnson Thompson from Great Britain.
Mihambo won her second European outdoor gold medal in Rome with a world seasonal lead of 7.22m. The German long jumper collected the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo with 7.00m and two world titles in Doha 2019 with her PB of 7.30m and in Eugene 2022 with 7.12m. Mihambo won at the London meeting in 2019 with 7.07m.
Iapichino won two silver medals at the European indoor Championships in Istanbul with the Italian indoor record of 6.97m and at the European outdoor Championships in Rome with 6.94m in front of her home fans. The Italian long jump star won four Diamond League competitions in her career in Florence, Stockolm and Monaco in 2023 and Paris in 2024.
Two-time world heptathlon champion and British record holder Katarina Johnson Thompson will compete in the long jump at the London Athletics Meet in preparation for the Olympic Games in Paris. KJT will return to the London Stadium where she set a seasonal best of 6.60m to finish fifth at last year’s edition of the London Athletics Meet, her best performance since 2019. She won her second world title in the heptathlon in Budapest last August.
The line-up also features Agate De Sousa from Portugal, European bronze medallist with 6.91m in Rome, Quanesha Burks from the USA, fourth at both the World Championships in Eugene and at this year’s US Trials, Milica Gardasevic from Serbia, European under 20 champion in Grosseto 2017, Tiffany Flynn, fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade 2022 and winner at the Lignano Sabbiadoro meeting, and Jade O’Dowda from Great Britain, bronze medallist in the heptathlon at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022.
Women’s 800 metres:
Olympic, world and European medallist Keely Hodgkinson will compete at the London Olympic Stadium lining up in the women’s 800 metres. Hodgkinson won her three 800 metres races in Eugene in a world seasonal lead of 1:55.78, at the European Championships in Rome in 1:58.65 and at the Fanny Blankers Koen Games in Hengelo. The British athlete was forced to withdraw from last year’s edition of the London Athletics Meet, but she enjoyed a successful 2023 season, in which she won the world silver medal in Budapest and improved her national record to 1:55.19 at the Diamond League Final in Eugene.
Keely Hodgkinson: “Even since I was a little girl, I have dreamt of racing in the Olympic Stadium. I was so disappointed to miss out on competing in London last year after I fell ill in warm-up, but that makes this year extra special. This year I chose not to do an indoor season and instead I had a longer period of training in South Africa over the winter. That was a tough decision for me, but it was about laying the foundations to perform at my best this summer. The goal is Paris and everything I do between now and then, including lining up at the London Athletics Meet”.
Hodgkinson will clash against her compatriots Laura Muir, Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo 2021 and World bronze medallist, Georgia Bell and Jemma Reekie.
Muir won the 1500 metres in Stockolm in 3:57.99 and finished third in Paris improving her national record to 3:53.79. The Scottish star won two 1500 metres at the London Diamond League meeting in 2016 in 3:57.49 and in 2019 in 3:58.25.
Bell won the European silver medal in Rome and improved her PB to 3:56.54 at the Paris Diamond League on 7 July.
Reekie won the world indoor silver medal in the 800 metres in Glasgow 2024 and finished first in Stockolm in 1:57.49, second in Doha in 1:58.42 and third in Eugene in 1:57.45. The Scottish athlete won the 800m at last year’s edition of the London Athletics Meet in 1:57.30.
Another British athlete in the field is Erin Wallace, who won the European under 23 bronze medal in Tallin in 2021.
The British middle distance runners will face Allie Wilson, second at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene in 1:58.32, Natoya Goule Toppin from Jamaica, who finished second in Oslo in 1:59.10 and won the National Trials in Kingston in 1:59.02, Catriona Bisset from Australia, who set the Oceanian record of 1:57.78 at last year’s edition of the London Athletics Meet, Halimah Naakayi from Uganda, world champion in Doha 2019, Renelle Lamote from France, three-time European silver medallist, and Elena Bellò from Italy, who set a seasonal best of 1:59.83 at the Diamond League meeting in Doha.
Women’s javelin throw:
Reigning world champion Haruka Kitaguchi from Japan will headline the women’s javelin throw line-up.
Kitaguchi moved from fourth to second in the final round to win the world gold medal in Budapest last year. The Japanese thrower set a national record of 67.38m at the Brussels Diamond League meeting and won the Diamond League Final in Eugene with 63.78m. She won two Diamond League competitions this year in Suzhou with 62.97m and Monaco with 65.21m pulling out the winning throw in the sixth round. This will be Kitaguchi’s first competition in London.
Kitaguchi will take on Mackenzie Little from Australia, world bronze medallist in Budapest 2023 and second in Monaco with 64.74m, Victoria Hudson from Austria, European champion in Rome with 64.62m, Adriana Vilagos from Serbia, two-time European silver medallist in Munich 2022 and Rome 2024, Lina Muze Sirma from Latvia, sixth at the World Championships in Eugene, Anete Sjetina from Latvia, third at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
Emsley Carr Mile:
The Emsley Carr Mile returns to the London meeting for the first time since 2019. British 1500 metres champion Neil Gourley, reigning Commonwealth Games champion Oliver Hoare, European under 20 champion Niels Laros, former Emsley Carr Miles winners Stewart McSweyn and Elliot Giles, European 5000 metres silver medallist George Mills and last year’s winner Adam Fogg line up on Saturday with the goal to add his name to the prestigious past winners, which includes middle distance legends Kipchoge Keino, Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Haile Gebrselassie and Hicham El Guerrouj. The Emsley Carr Mile was inaugurated in 1953 by Sir William Carr in memory of his father Sir Emsley Carr, a former editor of the News of the World.
Hoare clocked seasonal best times of 3:31.07 in the 1500m and 3:49.11 in the mile in Oslo. Laros set the world under 20 record in the 1000m in Hengelo with 2:14.37 and a national record of 3:31.25 at the World Championships in Budapest.
Mills, son of former football player David Mills, won the European silver medal in the 5000 metres in Rome this year and set PBs of 3:30.95 in the 1500m in Zurich and 3:47.65 in the mile at the 2023 Diamond League meeting in Eugene.
Men’s 3000 metres:
Grant Fisher, winner in the 5000m and in the 10000m at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, will face this year’s European 10000 metres champion Dominic Lobalu, who will attack the Swiss 3000 metres record. Fisher set US records clocking 7:25.47 in the 3000m in Eugene in 2023, 12:46.96 in the 5000m in Brussels in 2022 and 26:33.84 in the 10000m in San Juan Capistrano 2022. Lobalu set a 3000m PB of 7:29.48 when he won his first Diamond League race in Stockolm
The line-up also features Telahun Haile Bekele from Ethiopia, who won the 5000m in Hengelo in 13:01.12 this year and holds PBs of 7:25.48 in the 3000m and 12:42.70 in the 5000m, Cornelius Kemboi from Kenya, who set PBs of 7:31.28 in the 3000m and 13:00.88 in the 5000m.