As usual, Monaco Diamond League delivers some mouth-watering head to heads as stars sharpen up ahead of the Olympic Games. Here Trackstaa previews all the main action.
If you were ever in doubt as to the quality of the field assembling in Monaco, then look no further than the statistic that there are no less than 10 reigning world champions lining up alongside lots of Olympic and world medallists. Monaco always delivers fast races, particularly over the middle distance events and this event looks set to be no different.
Women’s 1500m
In-form Sifan Hassan returns to continue her rivalry with Faith Kipyegeon. Might we see another world record? Hassan is undoubtedly using this race as a sharpener given that she’ll be running the 5,000m and 10,000m in Tokyo but she’ll want to cement her dominance on the distance nontheless.
Men’s 1500
The men’s field is equally impressive and despite initial worries from fans that European Record Holder, Jakob Ingebrigsten wouldn’t be racing, it appears he’s recovered from his illness to rekindle one of the great head to heads in modern athletics when he takes on Timothy Cheruiyot, fresh off the disappointment of failing to qualify for the Olympics but he’s in good form after winning in Stockholm last week. Stewy McSweyn will be looking to spoil the party after he ran the fastest mile by anyone in the world for the last 7 years in Oslo last week. After hugely impressive 5,000m in his last race, is this finally the time that Jakob beats Cheruiyot over the metric mile?
Men’s and women’s 800m
The line-up over the 800m is equally impressive in both men’s and women’s fields. Turning to the men’s first, Nijel Amos lines up against Ferguson Rotich and the fastest American athlete over 800m right now, Clayton Murphy who still has a world lead this year of 1:43.17. Britain’s Jamie Webb will also be racing alongside the dangerous Ferguson Rotich.
The women’s race is arguably even more stacked. It contains the 5 of the seven fastest women int he world, including winner in Stockholm Rose Mary Almanza and, Jamaican, Natasha Goule. It will also be interesting to see how reigning world champion Halimah Nakaayi performs with the Olympics coming up.
Sprints
The sprint events have some of the most exciting athletes in the world. The fastest female runner in the world, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce runs in the 200m alongside Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, serial racer Marie-Josee Ta Lou and Nigerian, Blessing Okagbare.
The men’s 100m field is arguably the best field we’ve seen all season, with the fastest man in the world right now, Trayvon Brommell (9.77) racing compatriots Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker. Andre De Grasse will also run, as will African record-holder, Akani Simbine.
The men’s 400m hurdles will feature the new world record holder, Karsten Warholm but Rai Benjamin decided not to travel to Monaco for this race to take part in what would have been a brilliant warm-up for Olympic final. Many people will be wondering whether, on the fast track that is Monaco, Warholm can go even quicker than he ran in Oslo (46.70). Kyron McMaster is involved tomorrow night and Alison Dos Santos runs again and he will be looking to get a little bit closer to Warholm after setting the South American record in Oslo.
Other events to look out for
3,000m steeplechase races look set to be intriguing too, especially the women’s with the top women in the world all competing. Emma Coburn races in this meet and she’ll be hoping to upset the form of reigning world champion Beatrice Chepkoech. But it’s Hyvin Kiyeng who will go into the race as the favourite. Lamecha Girma is the favourite in the men’s event.
In the field, the jumps will make for interesting viewing as world champion Tajay Gayle takes on Miltiadis Tentoglou who’s 8.60m is a world lead this year. Yulimar Rojas will be expected to continue her dominance in the triple jump, having jumped 15.43 so far this year.
When is it on?
The Monaco Diamond League gets underway tomorrow, 9th July at 19:05 (local time), 18:05 in the UK or 13:05 (USET). The full schedule, in local time, is available here.
How can I watch?
Fans can either watch live on the Diamond League official YouTube channel. For fans in the UK, the event will be live on BBC Four or the BBC iPlayer from 19:00 UK time.
For those in the USA, you can watch on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock.