Cramming in the Diamond League final before the September World Championship has had two important positive effects: it ensures that the weeks between national championships and Worlds are packed with strong international racing, and it transforms the final itself from an afterthought to a springboard into the championship. Then there’s the format (five field events taking place later today, then the rest of the events stuffed into tomorrow’s window), which virtually ensures a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace of straight final action.

If you’re an U.S.-based track fan, there are likely five main events you’re looking at: the women’s 200m and 100m hurdles and the men’s 400m, 800m, and 1500m. Why? Because those are the events where Americans have a legitimate shot at expanding the roster from three athletes to four via Diamond League wild card.

Actually, scratch that. Team USA jingoists are likely also going to be closely marking the women’s 100m for slightly sadistic reasons: Julien Alfred is returning to the Diamond League circuit after skipping out on Silesia and Lausanne with injury concerns. If your primary interest is getting Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and/or Sha’Carri Richardson and/or Kayla White and/or Aleia Hobbs atop the podium, you want to see one of two things: either Alfred, the Olympics champ, looking vulnerable in her return to racing; or Alfred looking great and denying Tia Clayton, who’s run 10.82 this season but missed out on the Jamaican team, a second chance at Worlds.

Now let’s go back to the events where Americans will be rooting for, rather than against , people. The 100m hurdles features three of the top five finishers from USAs taking on world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, reigning World champion Danielle Williams of Jamaica, and Prefontaine winner Ackera Nugent. But despite their strong credentials, the Americans are in a good spot – Grace Stark is the fastest entrant in the field, and if she or Keni Harrison, the fourth-placer at USAs, wins then Harrison will be added to the U.S. roster for Worlds. But it’s also entirely possible that Tonea Marshall, the fifth placer from USAs, snags the wild card instead coming off a 12.24 PB in Silesia, where she beat five of the women in this field including Harrison.

In the 200m, two different outcomes would lead to Paris bronze medalist Brittany Brown getting the fourth spot on Team USA. If Brown wins the final outright, she’s going. If Anavia Battle, who finished second at USAs, wins instead, Brown is still going as she finished fourth at nationals. But if McKenzie Long—who finished fifth at USAs—or Jenna Prandini beats them both, the victor will leapfrog Brown and get the spot instead. All are realistic possibilities, especially a Battle victory, as she’s been crushing it on the DL circuit all season. And in cool, potentially rainy conditions, sprint results tend to be more unpredictable.

Vernon Norwood fans (Vernals? North Stars? Woodies? We’re taking suggestions.) are likely pleased to see last week’s results, where Norwood and U.S. champ Jacory Patterson finished top two in Brussels and Patterson especially looked strong. If Norwood, Patterson, or USAs runner-up Chris Bailey, who together represent three of the eight lanes, wins in Zurich, Norwood gets to compete in the open 400m in Tokyo in addition to his typical relay duty. Olympic bronze medalist Muzala Samukonga and a pair of Motswana men will do their best to take on the Americans, but with world leader Zakithi Nene of South Africa and the top two finishers from the Olympics absent, things are looking promising for the “Normies.”

Josh Hoey once again takes on the big dogs in the men’s 800m, and he’s coming off a win in Lausanne where he beat six of the eight men lining up next to him just last week. Olympic champ Emmanuel Wanyonyi is 2-1 against Hoey this year, but Hoey is 2-1 against World champ Marco Arop. Hoey is only one for four in Diamond League 800ms this season, but he’s won most recently. He’s the World Indoor champ, but only finished fourth at USAs. Basically, there are as many reasons to predict Hoey for the win as not, so it honestly feels like a coin toss (if it’s somehow a three-sided coin).

And of course there’s the 1500m. This race will be one to watch for a few reasons, not the least of which being the ongoing jockeying for favorite status in Tokyo (more on that below). With neither the reigning Olympic or World champ qualified, the DL final represents an opportunity for someone else to cement his place as a true contender for gold. And for Yared Nuguse, the Olympic bronze medalist who only finished fifth at USAs, it’s one last chance to get back to Worlds. Despite his underperformance at the U.S. champs, Nuguse still has to be considered a contender for a medal should he succeed in qualifying. But surely the Kenyans also want the opportunity to send four athletes to Worlds, and with Timothy Cheruiyot, Phanuel Koech, and Reynold Cheruiyot all in the final, they have more chances than just Nuguse.

In the long jump, the absence of Tara Davis-Woodhall means the U.S.’s odds of sending four leapers to Tokyo are a bit lower. But if Claire Bryant can defeat three European 7-meter jumpers led by three-time global champ Malaika Mihambo, fourth-placer Alyssa Jones gets to go to Tokyo, since Bryant finished second at USAs. Monae’ Nichols is also in the field, and if she pulls off a surprise victory, she’ll be the fourth jumper alongside Davis-Woodhall, Bryant, and Quanesha Burks.

But the Diamond League final isn’t just a battle for bonus spots. Noah Lyles, already the reigning World champ, is making an appearance in the 200m final thanks to a wild-card entry. He’ll get another shot at Olympic champ Letsile Tebogo after their rematch earlier this summer in Monaco. That time, Lyles got the better of Tebogo 19.88 to 19.97. It’ll be interesting to see what Tebogo’s break from racing since July 19th has done, as rumors swirled earlier in the summer that he wasn’t fully healthy.

The women’s 1500m, which doesn’t feature world record holder Faith Kipyegon or Brussels winner Nikki Hiltz, will instead offer up an intriguing preview of who could realistically contend for a medal behind Kipyegon in Tokyo. Olympic silver medalist Jessica Hull comes in with the fastest personal and season’s bests, but if she falls to someone like Nelly Chepchirchir or Birke Haylom, that would arguably make them just as much a medal threat as anyone else. For Americans Sinclaire Johnson and Heather MacLean, it’ll be a shot at redemption from an underwhelming Brussels—particularly for Johnson, who got knocked to the track midway through the race. While it would be a surprise to see either of them emerge victorious, that would be great news for MacLean, the fourth-placer from USAs who would then get a spot on the plane alongside Johnson.

The two biggest locks in the whole meet are the leaders in the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles, Karsten Warholm and Femke Bol. Without their primary rivals entered (the women’s race actually features zero Americans), the only question will be over the size of their margins of victory. In Warholm’s case, it’ll also give him the chance to cement the idea that he’s the guy to beat, not Rai Benjamin, if he can again improve on his Diamond League record of 46.28.

We’ll be on world record watch in the men’s pole vault as usual thanks to Mondo Duplantis, plus you never quite know when the right combination of factors will cause the stars to align in the men’s 800m. The lengthy program had to produce cuts somewhere, and in this instance it’s the last 2ks of the men’s and women’s distance finals, which will only be contested over 3000m this time around. A Grant Fisher or Graham Blanks victory on the men’s side would open the door for Cooper Teare to be added to Team USA (as 5000m fourth-placer Drew Hunter is not in the rankings quota), and given that only one of the six men to win a DL 5000m this year is entered, it’s certainly not out of the question.

Sure, this might be a long one (the main program is 3.5 hours compared with the usual 2), but it’ll be worth every minute as every single event is stacked and the results here could trigger even more fireworks in a few short weeks.

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