Monaco Diamond League Preview: Duplantis, Kipyegon, Wanyonyi and Alfred headline star-studded field
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The world’s biggest athletics stars will converge on the Stade Louis II on Friday (10 July) as the Herculis EBS Meeting hosts the tenth stop of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League season. World record holder Armand Duplantis returns to one of his favourite venues for another high-profile pole vault showdown, while Faith Kipyegon, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Julien Alfred, Masai Russell and Oblique Seville headline a programme packed with Olympic and world champions. From an explosive women's 200 metres featuring Alfred and Gabrielle Thomas to Kipyegon's eagerly anticipated return in the 3000m and Russell's continued pursuit of the world record in the 100m hurdles, Monaco promises another unforgettable night at one of the circuit's fastest and most prestigious meetings.
For the first time in its history, the Herculis EBS Meeting in Monaco will feature two pole vault competitions, one men’s and one women’s event.
Frederic Choquard has taken over the management of the Herculis EBS meeting succeeding Jean Pierre Schoebel, who had led the event since the first edition of 1987.
“The women’s 200m will be a thrilling battle, featuring Paris Olympic champion Gabrielle Thomas and her 2024 runner-up Julien Alfred. The best solution for us was to have the women and men compete in two pole vault events in the stadium, not relocate the stadium. This is important to attract as many spectators as possible, so we thought about it and took measurements. We created a second landing mat on the same side of the existing pole vaulting side. There will be 30-45 minutes of overlap where they jump together”, said Frederic Choqard.
Men’s pole vault:
World record holder and champion, Olympic champion Armand Mondo Duplantis will headline a world class men’s pole vault competition. Duplantis returns to the Stade Louis II where he set a meeting record by clearing 6.05m before thrilling the crowd with three attempts at the then world record height of 6.29m. Two months later Duplantis claimed his third consecutive world outdoor gold medal improving his world record to 6.30m.
Last March Duplantis set the 15th world record of his career by clearing 6.31m on his first attempt at the Mondo Classic in Uppsala ten days before winning his fourth straight world indoor in Torun with 6.25m. The 26-year-old Swedish star opened his Diamond League season with a win in Keqiao with 6.12m before suffering his first defeat in nearly three years on 7 June at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, where he was beaten by Australia’s Kurtis Marshall, who claimed his first Diamond League win with 5.90m, while Duplantis had to settle with second place with 5.80m. This defeat snapped a 41-meeting winning streak. Duplantis returned to winning ways at the Diamond League meeting in Paris on 28 June with a meeting record of 6.13m.
Duplantis will make his fifth appearance at the Herculis EBS meeting. The Monaco resident made his debut at the Stade Louis II with a second place in 2019. He claimed two wins in 2020 with 6.00m and 2025 with a meeting record of 6.05m and finished fourth in 2023 with 5.72m.
Kurtis Marshall followed his win over Duplantis in Stockholm with a back-to-back Diamond League victory on Scandinavian soil in Oslo with 5.80m. The Australian pole vaulter won two straight world bronze medals in Budapest 2023 and Tokyo 2025. During the 2026 indoor season he cleared 6.00m for the first time in his career becoming the fourth Australian pole vaulter in history to join the 6 metres club. He cleared 6 metres again to claim the world indoor bronze medal in Torun.
Baptiste Thiery finished second behind Duplantis, clearing a lifetime best of 5.93m at the Paris Diamond League meeting in his breakthrough season. The Frenchman also cleared 5.80m to finish third in Stockholm. Last March he won his first ever French indoor title in Aubière with 5.90m beating Thibaut Collet.
The line-up also features Collet, who finished fifth at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 with 5.90m and set a PB of 5.95m in Grenoble, Renaud Lavilleine, seven-time Diamond League champion and four-time winner at the Herculis meeting in Monaco in 2011 with 5.90m, 2013 with 5.96m, 2014 and 2015 with 5.92m, and Ben Broeders from Belgium, seventh at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 with 5.75m and national outdoor record holder with 5.85m in Merzig 2022.
Women’s pole vault:
The women’s pole vault will bring together a star-studded field worthy of a world final. Three-time world champion Katie Moon will clash against Olympic champion Nina Kennedy, twin sisters Hana and Amanda Moll, Imogen Ayris from New Zealand, Tina Sutej from Slovenia, and Marie Julie Bonnin from France.
Kennedy made a successful come-back this year after missing the entire 2025 season due to hamstring surgery. The Australian pole vaulter cleared a seasonal best of 4.80m to win in Rabat in her first appearance in the Diamond League since 2024 and finished second in Rome with 4.80m behind Molly Caudery on countback. She secured a third place in Paris with 4.70m in her most recent competition. Kennedy cleared 4.90m on her first attempt to become the first Australian Olympic gold medallist in a women’s field event. Kennedy shared the world gold medal with Katie Moon after both cleared 4.90m and agreed to split the title. She cleared 4.81m in the Diamond League final in Zurich in 2022 to become only the fifth Australian athlete in history to win the Diamond Trophy.
Moon won the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2021 with 4.90m, the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo 2025 and three world gold medals in Eugene 2022, Budapest 2023 and Tokyo 2025. The 35-year-old pole vaulter finished second in Eugene with 4.80m and third with 4.70m in Rabat.
Amanda Moll set the NCAA indoor record by clearing 4.91m at the Big Ten indoor Championships in 2026. She claimed the NCAA outdoor title in Eugene by clearing 4.84m, reclaiming the collegiate outdoor record previously held by her sister Hana.
Hana Moll claimed the NCAA indoor title setting a meeting record of 4.82m. The sisters secured a 1-2 double at the NCAA outdoor championships, taking first place (Amanda) with 4.84m and second place (Hana) with 4.74m. They went head-to-head with global stars like Katie Moon and Sandi Morris at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene last Saturday. Hana Moll tied fourth place with 4.70m, while Amanda Moll finished sixth with 4.60m.
Imogen Ayris shared the world indoor bronze medal with Angelica Moser ad Amalie Svabikova in Torun with 4.70m. The pole vaulter from New Zealand placed second in Rabat with 4.70m securing her highest-ever finish in the Diamond League. Just three days after Rabat Ayris improved her PB to 4.81m at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, setting the meeting record. She continued her winning streak by claiming the victory in Ostrava with 4.75m.
Tina Sutej cleared a seasonal best of 4.80m to claim the world indoor title in Torun last March. The 38-year-old Slovenian athlete finished fourth with 4.70m in Rome and fifth in Paris with 4.60m.
The line-up also features Marie Julie Bonnin from France, world indoor champion in Nanjing 2025 with 4.75m and French indoor record with 4.76m in Clermont Ferrand this year, and Emily Grove from the USA, who won at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic with 4.63m and set a PB of 4.70m.
Women’s 200 metres:
The women’s 200 metres promises fireworks as reigning Olympic 100 metres champion Julien Alfred from Santa Lucia will go head-to-head against three time Olympic champion Gabrielle Thomas from the USA and this year’s NCAA 200m champion Adaejah Hodge from British Virgin Islands.
Alfred started her Diamond League season with a win in the 200 metres in Rome ahead of world champion Melissa Jefferson Wooden in 21.93 and claimed the win in the 100 metres in Oslo in 10.76. The Santa Lucian sprinter set a PB of 21.71 at the Diamond League meeting in London and a seasonal best of 21.86 in the 200 metres in Austin last April. She made history by winning Santa Lucia’s first ever Olympic medal when she won gold in the 100 metres in Paris 2024 in a national record of 10.72 and won the silver medal in the 200m in 22.08. Alfred made her Diamond League debut in Monaco in 2023 with a second place in the 200m and claimed back-to-back wins in the 100m at this meeting in 2024 in 10.85 and in 2025 in 10.79.
Thomas won three Olympic gold medals in the 200 metres in 21.83, in the 4x100 relay with 41.78 and in the 4x400 relay with 3:15.27 and the world silver medal in the 200m in Budapest 2023 with 21.83. The US sprinter made a successful come-back from an Achilles tendon injury to win the 200 metres in 21.70 at the Lone Star Grand Prix in Los Angeles, setting the second fastest time in the world this year. She has remained unbeaten in her eight races this year, including wins in the 100 metres in a PB of 10.95 in Gaborone and in the 200 metres in 21.89 in Nairobi.
Adaejah Hodge improved Sha’Carri Richardson’s collegiate record in the 100 metres with 10.63 in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships becoming the fifth fastest woman in history. Hodge bounced back from a second place in the 100m final to claim the NCAA Championships in the 200 metres in 21.68 breaking Abby Steiner’s previous NCAA record. She tied the number 8 spot on the world all-time list. Hodge finished third in 10.80 on her Diamond League debut in Eugene last Saturday.
Cambrea Sturgis won her first Diamond League race in the 200 metres in Rabat in 22.21 and finished second behind Thomas in Nairobi in a PB of 21.93.
The line-up also features Kayla White, who finished second in Rabat in 22.28 and in College Station in a seasonal best of 22.07, and Gémima Joseph from France, second at the Los Angeles Grand Prix in 22.88 into a headwind of -3.1 m/s.
Women’s 3000 metres:
Kenyan middle distance legend Faith Kipyegon will return to the Louis II Stadium where she broke the mile world outdoor record in 2023 with 4:07.64. That was one of the three world records she broke during the 2023 Diamond League season after 3:49.11 in the 1500m Florence and 14:05.20 in the 5000m, and one of the five world records she has set at Diamond League meetings in the past three years. Kipyegon set her most recent world record in the 1500 metres with 3:48.68 at the 2025 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, taking 0.36 off her previous record.
Kipyegon improved the Diamond League record in the 3000 metres in Chorzow with 8:07.04, missing out on Wang Junxia’s 32-year-old world record.
Kipyegon is aiming to make 2026 the fourth year in a row where she has broken a world record.
During her career Kipyegon won three Olympic gold medals In the 1500m in Rio de Janeiro 2016, Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 and five world titles (four in the 1500m in London 2017, Eugene 2022, Budapest 2023 and Tokyo 2025 and in the 5000m in Budapest 2023) and six Diamond League titles (2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024).
Kipyegon started her Diamond League season with a win in the 5000 metres in Keqiao in a seasonal best of 14:24.14 and finished third in 4:17.80 in the mile at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene suffering her first defeat in four years.
Freweyni Hailu won world indoor gold medals in the 1500m in Glasgow 2024 and in the 3000m in Nanjing 2025. This year the Ethiopian athletes won the sixth Diamond League race in her career in Rabat in the 1500m in 3:58.25 and finished third in the 5000m in Rome in a PB of 14:18.94 and second in the 1500m in Paris with an outdoor seasonal best of 3:55.92.
Jessica Hull returns to the track where she set the world record in the 2000 metres with 5:19.70 in 2024 one month before winning the Olympic silver medal in the 1500m. Hull also collected the world bronze medal in the 1500m in Tokyo 2025 and won silver in the 1500m at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Agnes Ngetich will make her Diamond League debut after focusing on road racing and cross country. The Kenyan athlete won the world cross country title in Tallahassee last January. Last year she finished second in the 5000m at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene in 14:01.29 behind world record holder Beatrice Chebet moving to third on the world all-time list and won the 5000m in Brussels in 14:24.99.
Aleshign Baweke claimed her first Diamond League win in the 2 miles race in Eugene in a world leading time of 9:20.02 last week and improved her PB to 14:18.54 in the 5000m in Rome.
Birke Haylom leads the Diamond League standings in the 1500m after winning three races in Keqiao in a world lead of 3:55.56, in Doha in 3:59.89 and Stockolm in 4:00.68 and finishing second in Xiamen in 3:57.79.
Olympic triathlon champion Cassandre Beaugrand will fulfil her childhood dream to compete in her first Diamond League race in Monaco. Beaugrand will be aiming to make her mark after setting the French record of 14:40.77 in the 5000m in Nice.
Men’s 100 metres:
The blue-riband 100 metres race will bring the Monaco Herculis to a close. Jamaica’s Oblique Seville won the 100 metres title at the Jamaican Championships in Kingston in a world seasonal lead of 9.82 and finished second at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in 9.89 in his first Diamond League race of the season. Seville claimed the world gold medal in Tokyo in a PB of 9.77 and two Diamond League wins in London in 9.86 and Lausanne in 9.87 during a successful 2025 season.
Seville will face the 2021 Olympic champion this year’s 60 metres world indoor champion Jordan Anthony and Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo.
Anthony won the world indoor gold medal in the 60 metres in a world lead of 6.41 in Torun last March. The US sprinter opened his outdoor season with a PB of 9.91 in Gainesville, slowing down in the final 15 metres. Anthony finished fourth in 9.96 in Rome and fifth in Paris in 9.99 in his first two Diamond League races of his career.
Tebogo won the 200 metres in the Diamond League in Oslo in 19.84 and finished second in Eugene in 19.93 behind 18-year-old Tate Taylor. The Botswana sprinter set a seasonal best of 9.95. He won the Olympic 200 metres gold medal in Paris setting the African record of 19.46. in his previous appearances in the 200 metres at the Herculis meeting Tebogo won in 2024 in 19.87 and finished behind Noah Lyles in 2025 in 19.97.
The other sprinters to look out for are Emmanuel Eseme from Cameroon, second at the Golden Gala in Rome in 9.94, Ronal Longa from Colombia, winner at the Pan American Championships in Medellin in a PB of 9.85, Sam Blaskovski, who improved his PBs to 9.89 in the 100m and 19.93 in the 200m, and Owen Ansah, the first German sprinter in history to break the 10 seconds barrier with 9.98.
Women’s 100 metres hurdles:
Masai Russell is dominating the 2026 Diamond League season in the women’s 100 metres hurdles. The US hurdler has kicked off her season with a streak of four wins. She triumphed in her opening race of the season in Keqiao setting a meeting record of 12.25. One week later she improved her North American record to 12.14 to become the second fastest woman of all time, missing Tobi Amusan’s world record by just hundredths of a season. She extended her winning streak at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in 12.24 equalling Kendra Harrison’s meeting record that had stood since 2016.
Russell will face world indoor silver medallist Nadine Visser, Pia Skrzyskovska, Olympic finalist Alaysha Johnson, this year’s Jamaican champion Demisha Roswell and Sasha Alessandrini from France.
Visser won the world indoor silver medal in the 60 metres hurdles in Torun in 7.73. During this outdoor season the Dutch hurdler finished third in Rabat in 12.47 and Rome in 12.58 and fourth in Paris in a seasonal best of 12.41 in her four Diamond League races and won two Continental Tour competitions in Ostrava in 12.65 and Hengelo in 12.52.
Skrzyszowska won the world indoor bronze medal in the 60 metres hurdles in a Polish record of 7.73 in front of her home fans. She finished fifth in Paris in 12.46 and won at the Stanislas Meeting in Nancy in a seasonal best 12.44.
Alaysha Johnson stormed to a win in Zagreb setting a meeting record of 12.43 two days before finishing third at the Paris Diamond League in a seasonal best of 12.39. She clocked 12.86 against a strong international field in Eugene.
Rayniah Jones improved her PB to 12.43 in Zagreb and clocked 12.60 at the Diamond League in Paris and 12.67 in Lignano Sabbiadoro.
Demisha Roswell won the Jamaican 100m hurdles title in Kingston in 12.40 and clocked 12.46 in the heats at the Paris Diamond League meeting.
Alessandrini, who is based in Nice, improved her PB to 12.53 in Montgeron and won the French outdoor title in 12.87 in 2025.
Women’s 400 metres:
Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino started her campaign with two wins in Doha in a meeting record of 48.91 and in Paris in a Diamond League record of 48.48. Paulino won the 400 metres at last year’s edition of the Herculis meeting in 49.06. The athlete from Dominican Republic won the world silver medal in Tokyo 2025 in 47.98 setting the second fastest in history and claimed gold medals at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 in 48.76 and at the Olympic Games in Paris in 48.17 improving the Olympic record held by Marie José Pérec since Barcelona 1992.
Paulino will take on NCAA champion Dejanea Oakley from Jamaica, world indoor champion Lurdes Gloria Manuel from Czechia, Nickisha Pryce from Jamaica, Aaliah Butler.
Oakley recently won the NCAA outdoor title setting the collegiate record of 48.79, a mark that had stood as the world-leading time this season before Paulino’s world leading time in Paris. Oakley made her professional debut with a win at the Prefontaine Classic in 49.64 last Saturday.
Nickisha Pryce improved the Jamaican record to 48.57 setting a former Diamond League record in London in 2024. She became the first Jamaican athlete to break the 49 seconds barrier. She won at the Diamond League meeting in Keqiao in 49.75 and finished third in Rome in 49.80.
Manuel won the world indoor title in Torun 2026 in a national record of 50.76. The 19-year-old Czech athlete finished second at the Diamond League in Rome setting a PB with 49.77. She finished second behind Paulino in Paris improving her PB to 49.37.
The other athletes to look out for are Lieke Klaver from the Netherlands, European indoor champion in Apeldoorn 2025 and second in Monaco in 2024 with a PB of 49.64 at that time, Roxana Gomez from Cuba, sixth in the World Championships in Tokyo 2025 in a PB of 49.48, Bassant Hemida from Egypt, winner in the 400m in Hengelo with a national record of 50.10.
Men’s 400 metres:
Collen Busang Kebinatshipi from Botswana will aim to continue his winning streak in the 400 metres in the Diamond League in Xiamen in 43.92, Paris in a Diamond League and meeting record of 43.54 and in Eugene in 44.00. Last April he clocked 9.89 in both the heats and final at the National Championships in Gaborone becoming the fourth sprinter in history to dip under the 10 seconds in the 100m and under the 44 seconds in the 400m. Kebinatshipi won two world gold medals in Tokyo 2025 in the 400m in 43.53 and in the 4x400 relay in 2.57.76, the Olympic silver medal and the gold at the World Relays in Gaborone in the 4x400 in the African record of 2:54.43.
Kebinatshipi renewed his rivalry against Zakhiti Nene from South Africa, who won the second Diamond League race of his career in 44.48 in Stockholm and finished second in 43.89 in Paris, dipping under the 44 seconds for the second time in his career. He also placed third in Xiamen in 44.40.
Raj Benjamin finished second to Kebinatshipi at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene with a 400m PB of 44.11. Benjamin won gold medals in the 400 metres hurdles at the Olympic Games in 46.46 and at the World Championships in Tokyo 2025 in 46.54. He won the 400m hurdles in Monaco in 2022 in 46.67.
The other top contenders are Mathew Hudson Smith from Great Britain and Jacory Patterson from the USA. Hudson Smith won the Olympic silver medal improving the European record to 43.44. The British athlete finished second in Rabat in 44.25 and fourth in Paris in a seasonal best of 44.09. He also claimed the British title in Birmingham in 44.45.
Patterson started his 2026 Diamond League season with a win in Rabat in a meeting record of 44.11 ahead of Hudson Smith and finished second in Stockholm in 44.69. Patterson claimed the win in the Diamond League Final in Zurich in a PB of 43.85.
The other athletes to look out for are Jereem Richards from Trinidad and Tobago, world silver medallist in Tokyo 2025 in a national record of 43.72, third in the 200m in Oslo and sixth in the 400m in Paris this year, Attila Molnar from Hungary, European indoor champion.
In Apeldoorn 2025 and European indoor record holder with 45.01 at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Ostrava, and Muhamad Koonta from France, who set a PB of 44.86 in Montreuil moving to fourth on the French all-time list.
Men’s long jump:
The men’s long jump competition in Monaco is shaping up as a preview of the next European Championships in Birmingham.
Simon Ehammer leads the entry list with his world leading mark and a Swiss record of 8.51m set at the Hypo Meeting in Goetzis. Ehammer recorded the longest jump in history within a decathlon competition. The Swiss athlete won the decathlon in the Austrian meeting setting a world lead and a Swiss record of 8778 points. Last March Ehammer won the world indoor title in the heptathlon breaking Ashton Eaton’s world indoor record with 6670 points.
World champion Mattia Furlani will make his return in Monaco after an injury issue during the Diamond League in Xiamen sidelined him from a highly anticipated appearance in front of his home fans at the Golden Gala in Rome. One week earlier the 21-year-old Italian star opened his outdoor season with a win at the Diamond League in Xiamen with a PB of 8.43m, which equalled Giovanni Evangelisti’s second longest jump in Italian athletics history. Furlani won the world gold medal in Tokyo last September with his PB of 8.39m: At the age of 20 he became the youngest athlete to win the men’s long jump at the World Outdoor Championships surpassing Carl Lewis, who won the gold medal in the inaugural edition at the age of 23 in Helsinki 1983. He also became Italy’s first ever world outdoor champion in the long jump. Furlani won the world indoor silver medal in Torun equalling his PB with 8.39m.
Miltiadis Tentoglou won two consecutive Olympic gold medals in Tokyo 2021 with 8.41m and Paris 2024 with 8.48m, the world outdoor gold medal in Budapest 2023 with 8.52m and three European outdoor gold medals. He improved his PB to 8.65m at the European Championships in Rome 2024. The Greek jumper finished sixth at the World Indoor Championships in Torun, but he bounced back by winning ahead of Tajay Gayle and Mattia Furlani at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen with 8.46m. A few days later he set the second best performance in the world this year with 8.49m in Limassol.
Sarabouyukov improved the Bulgarian indoor record to 8.45m at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Belgrade last February. The Bulgarian athlete won the world indoor bronze medal with 8.31m in Torun. Last February he won three Bulgarian indoor titles in three different events in the long jump, triple jump and high jump. During the Diamond League season he finished third in Xiamen with 8.29m and won the first Diamond League competition of his career in Rome with 8.26m beating Tentoglou.
Gerson Baldé from Portugal won the world indoor title in Torun with a national indoor record of 8.46m beating Furlani in his sixth attempt.
Nineteen-year-old Cuban rising star Jorge Hodelin finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Torun with 8.26m. Last June he broke Furlani’s world under 20 record with a leap of 8.46m in Pierre Benite (France).
Wayne Pinnock won silver medals at the World Championships in Budapest 2023 with 8.50m and at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 with 8.36m.
Men’s 1000 metres:
Emmanuel Wanyonyi won the 800 metres in Monaco last year in 1:41.41 breaking a meeting record that had been set by world and Olympic medallist Djamel Sedjati in 2024 with 1:41.46.
Wanyonyi opened his 2026 season with a win in the 1500 metres at the Kip Keino in Nairobi with a PB of 3:34.11. He placed second behind Max Burgin in 1:43.25 in the 800m in his first 800m race of the season in Rabat. At last June’s Bislett Games in Oslo he finished second in 1:42.09 just one hundredth of a second behind 17-year-old rising star Cooper Lutkenhaus. Wanyonyi won the Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024 in 1:41.19, the world outdoor title in Tokyo 2025 in 1:41.86 and ran the second fastest time with 1:41.11 in Lausanne.
Wanyonyi will step up in distance to run the 1000m against a world class field that features Jack Wightman from Great Britain, Mohamed Attaoui from Spain, Djamel Sedjati from Algeria.
Wightman won the world gold medal in the 1500 metres in Eugene 2022 with a lifetime best of 3:29.23 becoming the first British athlete to win this title since 1983. The British athlete set the Scottish record with 2:13.88 in the 1000m a. the Herculis meeting in 2022. This year he won the British 800m with 1:45.40 in Birmingham and finished third in the 1500m in Paris in 3:29.95.
Attaoui set the Spanish 800m record clocking 1:42.04 in Monaco in 2024. He smashed the long standing European indoor record in the 1000m held by Wilson Kipketer since 2000 clocking 2:14.52 in Madrid and won he world indoor bronze medal in the 800m in Torun. He set his PB in the 1500m with a PB of 3.31.52.
Sedjati won in Monaco in 2024 setting his PB of 1:41.46 one month before claiming the Olympic bronze medal in Paris in 1:41.50. The Algerian athlete won two world silver medals in Eugene 2022 and Tokyo 2025.
French hopes will be carried by Gabriel Tual and Azeddine Habz. Tual finished sixth at the Olympic Games in Paris and improved Pierre Ambroise Bosse’s French record to 1:41.46 at the Paris Diamond League meeting in 2024 moving to second on the European all-time list. The Frenchman won at the Diamond League in Rome in a seasonal best of 1:43.66 and finished sixth in Oslo in 1:43.72.
Habz finished second behind Cameron Myers at the Diamond League meeting in Paris with a seasonal best of 3:29.80 and clocked a seasonal best of 3:48.43 in the Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.
Men’s 5000 metres:
The line-up features Addisu Yihune from Ethiopia and Birhanu Balew, the two fastest performances this season in the 5000m. Yihune, world under 20 champion, won two Diamond League races in the 5000m in Xiamen in 12:57.32 and Oslo with a world leading time of 12.47.62.
Balew set the Asian record of 12:47.73 in Oslo when he finished second behind Yihune.
The other athletes to watch are Jacob Krop from Kenya, two-time world medallist in the 5000m (silver in Eugene 2022 and bronze in Budapest 2023), Biniam Mehary from Ethiopia, who set a seasonal best of 12:54.35 in Oslo, Isaac Kimeli, winner in the 5000m at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne and world silver medallist in the 5000m in Tokyo 2025, US middle distance runner Graham Blanks, who ran a seasonal best of 12:49.99 in Oslo, and Dominic Lobalu from Switzerland, gold medallist in the 10000m in Rome 2024. Etienne Daguinos from France, who set a PB of 12:55.76 at the Monaco Diamond League meeting in 2025 is chasing the qualifying standard for the European Championships in Birmingham.
Alex Yee, Olympic triathlon champion, will aim to improve his PB against a very strong field.
Men’s 3000 metres steeplechase:
World champion Geordie Beamish will seek his first Diamond League win this year against a strong field that includes world bronze medallist Edmund Serem, Olympic bronze medallist Abraham Kibiwot and Simon Koech.
Beamish won the world indoor gold medal in the 1500m in Nanjing 2025 and a surprising world title in the 3000 metres steeplechase in Tokyo 2025 in 8:33.88 edging out two-time Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali, claiming New Zealand’s first ever outdoor World Championships track gold medal. Beamish set a seasonal best of 8:16.80 in Rabat.
Serem won the world bronze medal in Tokyo at the age of 17 and the world under 20 gold medal in Lima 2024. This year he finished fourth in Rabat in a PB of 8:01.61 and second in Stockholm in 8:12 27. He will face his brother Amos Serem, who won the Diamond League final in 2024 and the world under 20 title in Nairobi 2021.
Simon Koech made a successful Diamond League debut in 2023 with a win in Monaco in 8:04.19 and claimed the Diamond League title in Eugene later that year. This year Koech finished third in Rabat breaking the 8 minute barrier with 7:59.44.
Kibiwot won the Olympic bronze medal in Paris 2024 in 8:06.47 and the world bronze medal in Budapest 2023. The Kenyan finished third in Stockholm in 8:12.75. The other Kenyan athlete in the field is Leonard Bett, fourth at the World Championships in Budapest 2023.
Ryuji Miura will return to Monaco where he improved his Japanese record to 8:03.43 last year.
The other athlete to watch is Salah Eddine Ben Yazide from Morocco, who set a PB of 8:06.44 in Monaco in 2025.
Women’s triple jump:
Olympic champion Thea Lafond from Dominica set the world lead and a national record of 15.25m at the Continental Tour in Zagreb producing the best performance in the world for almost four years. Lafond won the Olympic gold medal in Paris with 15.02m and the world indoor title in Glasgow with 15.01m in 2024.
Lafond won by almost half a metre ahead of Cuba’s Leyanis Perez Hernandez from Cuba in Zagreb. Perez Hernandez claimed back-to-back world indoor titles in Nanjing 2025 with 14.93m and Torun 2026 with 14.95m, the world gold medal in Tokyo 2025 with 14.94m, the world bronze medal in Budapest 2023 and two consecutive editions of the Diamond League Finals in 2024 and 2025. The Cuban athlete will chase her second win in Monaco two years after victory in 2024 with 14.96m. She finished third in Oslo with a wind-assisted 14.60m and second in Doha with 14.93m this year.
Cuba’s Davvisleydi Velazco won two back-to-back Diamond League competitions in Oslo with a wind-assisted 14.85m and Doha with a PB of 15.13m beating her compatriot Perez Hernandez both times. She also won in Caguas with 14.85m and Forbach with 14.83m.
Saly Sarr from Senegal will be looking to continue her good season after winning the world bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships with 14.70m. She improved her PB to 14.86m at the Diamond League meeting in Doha and won the African title in Accra.
Dariya Derkach from Italy enjoyed a successful come-back after undergoing three surgical operations on her Achilles tendon. Derkach placed third in Zagreb setting the European lead with 14.51 and second in Essen with 14.39m. Derkach won the European indoor silver medal and finished eighth in the Olympic final in Paris 2024.
The other athletes to watch are Liadagmis Povea from Cuba, who finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 set her seasonal best of 14.58m in Doha, Ackelia Smith from Jamaica, double Jamaican champion in the long jump with 6.81m and triple jump and fourth in Oslo with a seasonal best of 14.50m, and Neja Filipic, who improved her PB to 14.50m in Celje.
Men’s high jump:
The men’s high jump looks like a wide-open competition. Matteo Sioli will aim to win his third consecutive Diamond League competition this season. He started his season with a win in Rome with 2.28m becoming the first Italian high jumper to win the Golden Gala and the youngest Italian athlete ever to win in a single Diamond League discipline. Not even 2021 Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi had ever managed to claim the win in the Golden Gala. Just two weeks later the 20-year-old scored a back-to-back win at the Diamond League meeting in Doha with 2.29m beating Olympic and three-time champion Mutaz Barshim. Sioli won the European indoor silver medal in Apeldoorn with 2.29m and the European under 23 title in Bergen with a PB of 2.30m in 2025.
Barshim made his come-back to the Diamond League stage with a second place in Doha with 2.27m. He won the Asian Championships with 2.23m. Barshim shared the Olympic gold medal with Gianmarco Tamberi with 2.37m, two silver medals in London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 and bronze in Paris 2024 becoming the first high jumper to win four Olympic medals. He is the only jumper in history to win three Olympic gold medals in London 2017, Doha 2019, Eugene 2022.
Oleg Doroshchuk from the Ukraine won the world indoor gold medal in Torun with 2.30m adding this title to the collection that includes the European indoor gold in Apeldoorn 2025. The Ukrainian jumper set the world lead of 2.33m on 27 June in Berdychiv and finished third in Doha with 2.24m.
Jan Stefela from Czechia won the world outdoor silver medal in Tokyo 2025 with 2.31m and the European indoor silver medal in Apeldoorn 2025 with 2.29m. He set a seasonal best of 2.32m in Banska Bystrika last February during the indoor season.
Erick Portillo won the world indoor silver medal in Torun 2026 with 2.30m breaking a 27-year medal drought for Mexico. Portillo placed second at the Golden Gala in Rome and won in Ostrava with 2.27m and in Bydgoszcz with 2.24m.
The other athletes to watch are Kimani Jack from Great Britain, who improved his PB to 2.31m at the Torrin Lawrence Memorial in Athens (Georgia) and won the NCAA outdoor title with 2.28m, and Sarvesh Ali Kushare, who set the Indian record with 2.31m in Bubaneswar on 27 June.
Women’s javelin throw:
Chinese 18-year-old rising star Ziyi Yan will be in the spotlight in the women’s javelin throw. Ziyi Yan came close to Barbora Spotakova’s world record of 72.28m by setting the second best performance in the world all-time list, the world under 20 record and the Asian record with 71.74m at the Diamond League in Xiamen. She continued her dominance in the Diamond League by winning in Oslo with 67.11m and Paris with 67.44m.
Adriana Vilagos from Serbia, Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi from Japan and Sigrid Borge will fight for top three spots.
Vilagos finished third in Oslo with 61.33m and second in Paris with 63.83m. The Serbian athlete coached by her mother Djerdi Vilagos won two back-to-back world under titles in Nairobi 2021 and Cali 2022 and two European silver medals in Munich 2022 and Rome 2024.
Kitaguchi won the Olympic gold medal in Paris 2025 with 65.80m, the world gold medal in Budapest 2023 with 66.73m and two back-to-back Diamond League titles in 2023 and 2024. The Japanese thrower started training under the guidance of javelin throw world record holder Jan Zelezny last May. Kitaguchi set a seasonal best in Paris.
Elina Tzengko from Greece won the European gold medal in Munich 2022 and the Diamond League title in Zurich 2025, Mackenzie Little from Australia, double bronze medallist in Budapest 2023 and Tokyo 2025, Jo Ane Du Plesis, Olympic bronze medallist in Paris 2024, and Anete Sietina from Latvia, world silver medallist in Tokyo 2025.
The other top athletes in the field are Deniz Ruiz Hurtado from Colombia, world silver medallist in Budapest 2023 with 65.47m. Sigrid Borge from Norway set a seasonal best of 65.00m.
