2026 Gyulai István Memorial Preview: Duplantis, Alfred, Russell and Tentoglou Lead Stellar Field
The Gyulai István Memorial returns to Budapest on Tuesday, bringing together many of the world's biggest athletics stars for the final World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting of the 2026 season before attention turns to the championship campaign. Held at the National Athletics Centre, the venue of the 2023 World Championships and future home of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships, the prestigious Hungarian meeting features an outstanding programme led by pole vault world record holder Armand Duplantis, Olympic champions Julien Alfred, Masai Russell and Nina Kennedy, world record holder Ja'Kobe Tharp, Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou, and a host of Olympic and world medallists across the track and field events.
Men’s pole vault:
Armand Duplantis set the 13th world record of his career at last year’s edition of the Memorial Gyulai clearing 6.29m, in the venue where he won the second of his three world outdoor titles in 2023 with 6.10m. Duplantis improved his world record to 6.31m in Uppsala last March ten days before winning the world indoor title in Torun with 6.25m. The 26-year-old Swedish star recently won in Paris with 6.13m and Monaco with 6.07m improving the meeting record both times.
Emmanouil Karalis cleared 6.02m to finish second to Duplantis at last year’s edition of the Memorial Gyulai. The Greek vaulter cleared 6.17m at the Greek indoor Championships to move to second on the world all-time list. During the current outdoor season Karalis cleared 6.00m twice in Limassol and Turku and won in Ostrava with 5.82m and at the Diamond League meeting in Doha with 5.92m.
Kurtis Marshall won his first Diamond League meeting in Stockholm with 5.90m beating Duplantis. Marshall handed the Swedish star the first defeat in nearly three years. The Australian pole vaulter won his second back-to-back competition in Oslo with 5.82m three days later. Marshall won the world indoor bronze medal in Torun with 6.00m last March. It was the first time in indoor pole vault history that three athletes cleared 6.00 metres in the same competition. He also claimed two world outdoor bronze medals in Budapest 2023 and Tokyo 2025 with 5.95m.
The field also features Sondre Guttormsen from Norway, Sam Kendricks and Ernest John Obiena, who have cleared 6.00m in their careers. Guttormsen cleared a national record of 6.06m in Rouen last March moving to sixth place on the world indoor all-time list and finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Torun. He set an outdoor seasonal best of 5.92m at the Diamond League meeting in Doha.
Kendricks won the Olympic silver medal in Paris 2024 and two world titles in London 2017 and Doha 2019. He set a seasonal best of 5.90m in Uppsala and finished third at the Diamond League meeting in Doha with 5.82m.
Obiena won the world silver medal in Budapest setting the Asian record with 6.00m.
Women’s pole vault:
Olympic champion Nina Kennedy will lead the women’s pole vault. Kenney improved Eliza McCartney’s Oceanian record by one cm to 4.95m at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco. Kennedy returned to Budapest where she shared the world gold medal with Katie Moon with 4.90m in 2023.
Kennedy will be joined by Imogen Ayris from New Zealand and Tina Sutej from Slovenia. Ayris improved her PB to 4.81m in Turku and won in Ostrava with 4.75m. She secured her first top three spot in the Diamond League in Rabat with 4.70m.
Sutej won her second consecutive world indoor silver medal with 4.80m in Torun and finished fourth with her outdoor seasonal best 4.70m in Rome.
Women’s 100 metres:
Olympic 100 metres champion Julien Alfred will line up in the 100 metres four days after storming to third on the world all-time list in the 200 metres at the Monaco Diamond League meeting with 21.51. Alfred also claimed two more Diamond League wins in the 200m in Rome with 21.93 and in the 100 metres in Oslo with 10.76.
Alfred will go head to head against world silver medallist Tina Clayton, winner at the Rabat Diamond League meeting with 10.85 and second at the Jamaican Championships in 2026 with the same time, and five-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson, who won the 100m in 10.91 at the Continental Tour Gold in Zagreb breaking the long-standing meeting record that had been unbeaten since 1988.
Women’s 100 metres hurdles:
Olympic champion Masai Russell won her four 100 metres hurdles races in the Diamond League this season in Keqiao with 12.25, Xiamen with 12.14 (the second fastest time in history, just 0.02 off Tobi Amusan’s world record), in Eugene in 12.24 and Monaco with 12.20. Russell has remained unbeaten this year and holds four of the top seven performances in history.
Russell will take on her compatriot Alaysha Johnson, third in Paris in 12.39 and Monaco in a seasonal best of 12.38, Nadine Visser, world indoor silver medallist in Torun 2026 with 7.73, winner in Ostrava in 12.65 and third at the Monaco Diamond League meeting in 12.49, Cyrena Samba Mayela from France, European champion in Rome in 12.31 and Olympic silver medallist in Paris in 2024, and 2022 European silver medallist Luca Kozak, who set the Hungarian record with 12.66 in Bydgoszcz this year.
Men’s 110 metres hurdles:
World record holder Ja’Kobe Tharp will clash against world champion Cordell Tinch, Trey Cunningham, Jamal Britt and Rasheed Broadbell from Jamaica.
Tharp broke Aries Merritt’s 14-year-old world record clocking 12.75 in the semifinal of the NCAA Championships in Eugene becoming the second athlete to set a world record during the NCAA Outdoor Championships 50 years after Dwight Stones cleared 2.31m in Philadelphia in 1976. Tharp won the 110m hurdles NCAA final in 12.90. Last winter he also claimed the NCAA indoor title in the 60 metres hurdles in a world leading time of 7.32 moving to third on the world all-time list behind Grant Holloway and Colin Jackson. The 20-year-old US hurdler won the world under 20 title in Lima 2024 in 13.05, the US senior national title in 2025 in 13.01 and finished sixth in the World Championships final in Tokyo.
Jamal Britt secured consecutive wins on Asian soil in Shanghai and Xiamen, clocking 13.07 in both races. Britt continued his great season with two more Diamond League wins in Paris in 12.89 and at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in 12.86 breaking the previous meeting record held by David Oliver. One week later he clocked a wind-assisted 12.91 at the Ed Murphey meeting in Memphis.
Cordell Tinch won the world title in Tokyo in 12.99, the Diamond League final in Zurich in 12.92 equalling Roger Kingdom’s meeting record and moved to fourth on the world all-time list with 12.87. Tinch won his first Diamond League race of the season in Doha in 13.23.
Trey Cunnningham won at the Diamond League meeting in Rome in 12.98 breaking the 13 seconds barrier for the first time in his career. He smashed the 27-year-old meeting record previously held by Allen Johnson since 1999 with 13.01.
Rasheed Broadbell from Jamaica will make his seasonal debut. Broadbell won the Olympic bronze medal in Paris 2024 and became the third fastest Jamaican hurdler when he dipped under the 13 seconds with his PB of 12.94 set in 2023 and won his first Diamond League in Lausanne with 12.99 in 2022 beating Grant Holloway.
Women’s 200 metres:
Gabby Thomas, three-time Olympic champion in the 200m and 4x100 and 4x400 relay in Paris 2024, will lead the women’s 200 metres. Thomas won the 200m in College Station in a seasonal best of 21.70. This time was even faster than her gold winning performance at the Olympic Games in Paris. Thomas finished third in 21.84 at the Diamond League in Monaco last Friday.
Thomas will face Anavia Battle, third in the 200m in 22.39 in Rome behind Julien Alfred and Melissa Jefferson Wooden, and Kayla White, fourth in Monaco in 22.04.
Men’s long jump:
The men’s long jump field features the top three finishers of the World Championships in Budapest 2023 in the men’s long jump: Miltiadis Tentoglou from Greece, who won his first world gold medal in the Hungarian capital with 8.52m, and Jamaican jumpers Wayne Pinnock (silver) and Tajay Gayle (bronze).
Tentoglou claimed the win at the Monaco Diamond League meeting with 8.61m. With this mark the Greek athlete set a world lead and broke a 31-year-old record set by Ivan Pedroso in 1995. Tentoglou set the second best performance of his career, just four cm of his PB of 8.65m set at the European Championships in Rome 2024.
Pinnock set a PB of 8.54m in the qualifying round of the World Championships in Budapest 2023. He led the final until the final round, when Tentoglou jumped 8.52m to clinch the world title by just two cm. Pinnock secured the Olympic silver medal in Paris 2024 with 8.36m. Pinnock placed second in Monaco with 8.39m last week.
Gayle completed a full set of world medals winning gold in Doha 2019 with a national record of 8.69m, in Budapest 2023 with 8.27m and Tokyo 2025 with 8.34m.
Men’s hammer throw:
The men’s hammer throw will feature the top six athletes in the world seasonal list. Two-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist Ethan Katzberg will take on French record holder Yann Chaussinand, Mykhaylo Kokhan from Ukraine, Olympic bronze medallist in Paris 2024, five-time world champion Pawel Fajdek from Poland, Bence Halazsz from Hungary, three-time world bronze medalist in Doha 2019, in Budapest 2023 and Tokyo 2025 and Olympic silver medallist in Paris 2024, Merlin Hummel from Germany, world silver medallist with 82.77m in Tokyo 2025.
Katzberg set a world seasonal lead of 83.33m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene this year, won at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi with 82.43m and claimed his fourth consecutive national title with 81.13m.
Chaussinand set the French record with 82.44m in Los Angeles and finished second with 81.23m in Nancy.
Kokhan improved his PB to 82.38m at the Los Angeles Grand Prix last month.
Fajdek claimed the win at the Continental Tour Gold in Zagreb with a seasonal best of 81.89m.
Men’s shot put:
Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri returns to Budapest where he won the world silver medal with 22.34m. Fabbri claimed his second world medal when he finished third in Tokyo in 2025. The Italian record holder won two Diamond League competitions in Rome with 22.14m and Eugene with a world lead of 22.74m. He also won in Ostrava with 21.91m and finished second with 22.21m in Zagreb.
Fabbri will take on Rajindra Campbell from Jamaica, Olympic bronze medallist in Paris 2024, and Tom Walsh from New Zealand.
Campbell won his first Diamond League in Xiamen with 22.34 and at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Zagreb with a Jamaican record of 22.44m. He also secured a second place in Eugene with 22.16m.
Three-time Olympic bronze medallist Walsh won his fourth world indoor gold medal with 21.82m in Torun last March.
Women’s high jump:
Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers, world champion in Tokyo 2025, will go head to head against her compatriot Eleanor Patterson, world gold medallist in Eugene 2022. Olyslagers and Patterson won silver and bronze medals respectively in Budapest 2023.
Olyslagers won her first Diamond League title in Zurich with the Oceanian record of 2.04m and the world title in Tokyo with 2.00m. She shared the world indoor silver medal with Angelina Topic and Yuliya Levchenko with 1.99m at the World Indoor Championships in Torun.
Patterson cleared 2.00m at the Tage der Uberflieger in Essen setting the world outdoor seasonal lead. The Australian high jumper finished second in Rabat with 1.94m.
Men’s 100 metres:
Akani Simbine from South Africa will clash against Emmanuel Eseme and Ackeem Blake in the men’s 100 metres. Simbine broke the African record at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial in 2021 with 9.84. Ferdinand Omanyala later improved the African record to 9.77. Simbine finished fourth in the Olympic final with a PB of 9.82 and won the silver medal with the 4x100 relay at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Eseme finished second in two Diamond League races in Rome with a national record of 9.94 and Monaco in 10.00.
Blake won the Diamond League final in Brussels in 9.94 in 2024. The Jamaican sprinter finished third in 9.94 at the Jamaican Championships in Kingston last June. He finished fourth in 10.04 in last year’s edition of the Memorial Gyulai.
Men’s 200 metres:
Olympic finalist Makanakaishe Charamba smashed the 20 seconds barrier twice in the 200m during the 2026 season. He set a PB of 19.88 in College Station and equalled his PB to finish second at the Doha Diamond League meeting behind Sinesipho Dambile. He clocked 20.11 to finish third at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.
Men’s 400 metres:
Olympic bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga will go head to head against Zakhiti Nene and Hungarian record holder Attila Molnar.
Samukonka improved her Zambian record to 43.74 to win the Olympic bronze medal in Paris. He opened his 2026 season with a second place in Xiamen in 44.04 and finished fifth in Paris with 44.29.
Nene won the second Diamond League race of his career in Stockholm in 44.48 and finished second in Paris in 43.89 missing his PB by 13 hundredths of a second. He finished third in Xiamen in 44.40, fourth in Rabat in 44.41 and fifth in Monaco in 44.24.
Molnar improved the European Indoor record in Ostrava held by Thomas Schoenlebe and Karsten Warholm clocking 45.01 at the Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava. He set the national outdoor record with 44.47 at the Monaco Diamond League meeting.
Men’s 400 metres hurdles:
Matheus Lima from Brazil will face Abderrahaman Samba in the men’s 400 metres hurdles.
Lima finished second behind his compatriot Alison Dos Santos at the Diamond League in Stockholm setting a PB of 47.37 and claimed the win at the Continental Tour meeting in Ostrava in 47.64.
Samba won two world bronze medals in Doha 2019 and Tokyo 2025 and finished fifth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 with 47.12. He finished third at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen in 47.93 and fifth in Oslo with 48.40.
Women’s 400 metres hurdles:
Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton, two-time world bronze medallist in Doha 2019 and Budapest 2023 will line up in the women’s 400 metres hurdles against Jasmine Jones, fourth at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and world silver medallist in Tokyo 2025 in a PB of 52.08, Shiann Salmon from Jamaica, and Kemi Adekoya, fourth at the World Championships in Budapest 2023.
Clayton finished third at two editions of the Memorial Gyulai in 2022 in 54.45 and 2023 in 53.79.
Men’s 800 metres:
Djamel Sedjati from Algeria, Olympic bronze medallist in Paris 2024, will make his seasonal debut in the 800 metres after finishing third in the 1000m in 2:13.94 at the Diamond League in Monaco in the race won by Emmanuel Wanyonyi in a world record of 2:11.83.
Sedjati will face Gabriel Tual, European champion in Rome and sixth at the Olympic Games in Paris and French record holder with 1:41.61, Bryce Hoppel, world indoor champion in Glasgow 2024 and fourth at the Olympic Games in a North American record of 1:41.67, and Laban Chepkwony, winner at last year’s edition of the Memorial Gyulai in 1:42.96.
Women’s 1500 metres:
Olympic 800m silver medallist Tsige Duguma will step up to clash against Abbey Caldwell in the 1500 metres.
Caldwell won in the 1500m in Xiamen with 3:57.26 and finished third in Keqiao in a PB of 3:56.12.
Duguma finished second ahead of Caldwell in the 1500m in Keqiao in 3:55.71 and claimed two second places in the 800m in Rabat in 1:57.24 and Doha in 1:58.08.
