By Paul Hof-Mahoney
July 5, 2024
Continental and national championships have come and gone, and after a month-long hiatus, the Diamond League is back on. Sunday’s Meeting de Paris won’t be taking place on the purple Olympic track of Stade de France, but there are several events on the schedule where the clashes we’ll see in Stade Charléty could very well be previews of podium battles come August.
Last year’s meet was one of the best ever, as Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Faith Kipyegon, and Lamecha Girma treated us to a world best and two world records in a little over two hours. 2023 set a high bar, but the assembled fields this year have potential to meet it.
The meet will be streamed on Peacock (subscription required) for U.S. fans beginning at 7am E.T. and on the World Athletics YouTube channel for most other countries. You can follow along with live results and a full entry list here.
Kevin Morris / @KevMoFoto
Here are some the athletes and events to keep a close eye on:
Clash Of The Titans Over 800m
The men’s two-lap race has been one of the most exciting events on the track to this point in 2024, and the Olympic medal picture feels wide open right now. A handful of the top contenders will be racing on Sunday to attempt to stake their claim and clear some of the murkiness in the favorite conversation for Paris.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi is coming off the ninth-fastest performance in history, 1:41.70, en route to winning the Kenyan Trials title. The 19-year-old, who already has a World silver and is a two-time World Championship finalist, definitely has run times becoming of an Olympic favorite, but reigning World champ Marco Arop’s pair of solo 1:43s at the Canadian Championships last week proved he’s still the man to beat next month. Arop won’t be racing this weekend, but Wanyonyi will be facing off against Kenyan Trials runner-up Wyclife Kinyamal and fifth-placer Aaron Kemei, who ran 1:43.55 earlier in the season.
Djamel Sedjati won the 800m at the last Diamond League meet in Stockholm in the second-fastest time of his career in 1:43.23. Both of his runs over two laps this season have been very fast wins against strong fields, but he also runs these races in the most entertaining fashion possible. He has flat-out dominated the closing 200m in both races, and could take anyone down if he’s close coming into the last curve.
The home fans will have plenty to root for in this race, as four of the seven fastest Frenchmen in history will be running this weekend. Gabriel Tual will be taking the track in his first Diamond League race since winning both the European and French titles in June.
Kevin Morris / @KevMoFoto
Španović vs. Mihambo Highlights Stacked Jump Fields
Two of the most decorated long jumpers in history will be facing off for the 39th time in their careers on Sunday, but it’s their first showdown in over a year. Ivana Španović has yet to open her 2024 campaign after winning her first outdoor World title last year, while reigning Olympic champ Malaika Mihambo is coming off of her second European crown last month with a world-leading performance of 7.22m (into a -1.4 headwind!). It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Mihambo this season though, as she had to pull out of last week’s German Championships after contracting COVID in the wake of Euros. So the two champions in the field may be a bit shy of the peak of their powers, but it’s still something special any time this pair matches up.
Behind those two stalwarts, the young Italian superstar Larissa Iapachino and Fátima Diame, bronze medallist from Glasgow, always have big-jump potential. Quanesha Burks will also be back on the runway for the first time since getting clipped in round six at the U.S. Olympic Trials, missing out on her second Olympic team by only 6cm.
The high jump competition will be a who’s who of podium favorites for Paris. Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Nicola Olyslagers will be squaring off for the third time this year, but the field also includes 2022 World champion Eleanor Patterson and 18-year-old Serbian Angelina Topić, who’s won two Diamond League contests already this year. Reigning double Olympic heptathlon champion Nafi Thiam will be competing on Sunday too. With her season’s best of 1.95m, Thiam sits at T-14th on the world list this year in the open high jump.
The only jumping event on the men’s side is pole vault, and the field is similarly stacked. Mondo Duplantis has cleared 6m in his last seven straight competitions and will be returning to the runway where he holds the meet record at 6.01m and will almost assuredly be taking another crack at 6.25m. He’ll be pushed by the entirety of the U.S. Olympic team plus American record holder KC Lightfoot, as well as Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, who has been on an absolute tear this season. Along with Duplantis and Chris Nilsen, the other two members of the Budapest podium, EJ Obiena and Kurtis Marschall, will be in Paris as well. It’s almost a guarantee that the entire Olympic podium will be in the same pit this weekend.
Kevin Morris / @KevMoFoto
Kenyan Superstars Lead Women’s Distance Races
Faith Kipyegon opened her Olympic title defense last month with wins in both the 1500m and 5000m at the Kenyan Trials. Her 1500m win was particularly impressive, as she won by nearly five seconds, running 3:53.98 in Nairobi’s high altitude. Her history at this meet is great, having broken the 5000m world record last June, and she will be far more challenged than she was in her opener.
The staple “strong Ethiopian contingent at Diamond Leagues” is represented by Freweyni Hailu and Hirut Meshesha in this field. Laura Muir, Jess Hull, and Ciara Mageean have all run well this year and will be toeing the line on Sunday. Mageean’s times this season haven’t necessarily raised any eyebrows, but the fourth-place finisher from Budapest is undefeated in 2024 and is fresh off a European title. For American fans, Cory McGee will be racing for the first time since her run at Trials where she broke four minutes for the first time, became the 10th-fastest American ever at 3:57.44, and yet somehow only finished fifth.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Beatrice Chepkoech will be running her seventh steeplechase race of the season. Her 8:55.40 clocking from Xiamen is the second-fastest time in the world this year, but she’s finished second in each of her last two races (granted, it didn’t look like she was pushing down the straightaway at the Kenyan Trials). As the summer wears on, she’ll want to avoid making losing a habit, and that could be a tough task this weekend.
Jackline Chepkoech hasn’t been running very well in 2024, but the 20-year-old has 8:57 credentials from last season. Reigning World champ Winfred Yavi has only raced once this year over her signature distance, a ninth-place finish at the Pre Classic, but in the month-plus since she ran a Bahraini national record in the 5000m, so she could be in much better shape on Sunday than what we saw in Eugene.
In a similar vein to McGee, Gabbi Jennings will be running in Paris coming off a six-second PB at the Trials in 9:12.08, but only managed fourth in the fastest race in American history. For both of these Americans, we’ll see if running scorned against a strong field can produce something even more special than what happened in Oregon.
Kevin Morris / @KevMoFoto
Other Highlights
- The women’s sprint fields for Sunday are very deep. In the 400m, Marileidy Paulino and Natalia Kaczmarek will match up once again. Paulino is 12-1 all-time against Kaczmarek, but Kaczmarek won the European title in 48.98 in the month or so since they last raced. Lieke Klaver is on the start list as well, along with Alexis Holmes fresh off the first sub-50 of her career to finish 3rd at the U.S. Trials. The women’s 100m will feature five of eight finalists from the European Championships, including silver and bronze medallists Ewa Swoboda and Zaynab Dosso. Tamara Clark, who also ran very fast (10.95) in Eugene but failed to make Team USA, will stand a good chance at winning her first Diamond League meet of her career.
- The men’s hurdle races look like they’ll be quick. The 110mH is a rare two-round race on the Diamond League circuit, and it features six men who have run 13.10 or better this year. U.S. Trials fourth-placer Cordell Tinch enters the race with the fastest time in the field this year, followed close behind by European champ Lorenzo Simonelli. In the longer hurdles, Alison dos Santos will be running his fourth Diamond League race of the season, but this race should be just a step on the path to his next showdown with Karsten Warholm next week in Monaco. Newly-minted Jamaican champion Malik James-King ran 47.42 last week and should apply just enough pressure to keep dos Santos honest.
- Fans of throwing will have lots to keep an eye on in Paris, as most of the top contenders in the world will be in Paris in both the women’s discus and the men’s javelin. In javelin, last year’s silver medallist Arshad Nadeem, who competes so infrequently he might as well train with Formula Kersee, will be opening his 2024 season on Sunday in the first Diamond League of his career. Before the Diamond League program gets underway, there will be a mixed hammer competition, where we’ll see Brooke Andersen and Janee’ Kassanavoid compete for the first time since their shocking finishes at Trials.
- Heads up NCAA fans! There will be a handful of collegians competing this weekend. The men’s 200m will feature another epic clash between Penn State’s Cheickna Traore and Alabama’s Tarsis Orogot. Olivia Markezich, formerly of Notre Dame and now of OAC, will be running in her first Diamond League steeplechase. She looked to be on pace for something truly remarkable at Trials before a fall on the last barrier. In a field as great as this one is, Courtney Wayment’s all-dates collegiate record of 9:09.91 is surely under threat. In the field events, Texas A&M’s Lamara Distin and Florida’s Alida van Daalen will be contesting the women’s high jump and discus, respectively.
Thanks for reading! All the action gets underway action Sunday morning at 8am E.T., with streaming beginning on Peacock at 10am E.T.
Paul Hof-Mahoney
Paul is currently a student at the University of Florida (Go Gators) and is incredibly excited to be making his way into the track and field scene. He loves getting the opportunity to showcase the fascinating storylines that build up year-over-year across all events (but especially the throws).
