Mondo Duplantis in Stockholm (© AFP / Getty Images)
Mondo Duplantis will return to the scene of one of his many world record-breaking performances when he contests the pole vault at the Bauhaus-Galan in Stockholm on Sunday (7), the fifth meeting of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League.
The Swedish star cleared 6.28m at Stockholm’s Olympic Stadium last year, adding another centimetre to his own world record. Since then, the multiple world and Olympic champion and World Athlete of the Year has taken the mark to 6.31m, also achieved on home soil in Uppsala earlier this year.
Duplantis has been undefeated for almost three years and has already added more honours to his remarkable record in 2026. After setting his latest world record in Uppsala in March, he went on to win a fourth world indoor title. He opened his outdoor campaign last month in Shanghai, winning with an outdoor world lead of 6.12m.
Stockholm will be just his second outdoor competition of the year, and he will face three other men who have already scaled 6.00m this season: world bronze medallist Kurtis Marschall of Australia, Norwegian record-holder Sondre Guttormsen and USA’s Zachery Bradford.
Distance fields loaded with global medallists
Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson will make her first outdoor 800m appearance of 2026. The world indoor record-holder takes on Diamond League champion Audrey Werro, who won recently in Rabat with an outdoor world lead of 1:56.56, plus 2025 world indoor champion Prudence Sekgodiso, world finalist Sage Hurta-Klecker and European bronze medallist Anaïs Bourgoin.
The men’s 3000m steeplechase brings together the full podiums from the past three global championships. Two-time Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali heads to Stockholm after winning in Rabat last week in a world-leading 7:57.25, the second-fastest time of his career.
He faces world champion Geordie Beamish, world record-holder Lamecha Girma, 2023 Diamond League champion Simon Kiprop Koech, world bronze medallist Edmund Serem, Olympic silver medallist Kenneth Rooks and Olympic bronze medallist Abraham Kibiwot.
The men’s 1500m could produce one of the races of the meeting, as a deep field takes aim at a meeting record that has stood since 1997. Hicham El Guerrouj’s mark of 3:29.30 remains the Stockholm standard, and no one else has ever broken 3:30 at the meeting. That could change on Sunday, with world 10,000m bronze medallist Andreas Almgren among those lining up in front of a home crowd.
He will face 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, who is a three-time winner in Stockholm, world 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier, French record-holder Azeddine Habz, world road mile champion Hobbs Kessler, Olympic bronze medallist Yared Nuguse and Australia’s Cameron Myers, who is undefeated in eight races this year across distances from 800m to 5000m.
The men’s 800m also has strong global pedigree, with 2023 world champion Marco Arop taking on world indoor champion Cooper Lutkenhaus, still a teenager, and world indoor bronze medallist Mohamed Attaoui.
In the women’s 3000m steeplechase, Tunisia’s Marwa Bouzayani, France’s Alice Finot, USA’s Gabrielle Jennings and Ethiopia’s Kena Tufa are among the contenders.
Jefferson-Wooden opens 100m season
Double world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden will contest her first 100m of the year in Stockholm.
Three days after racing over 200m in Rome, the US sprinter faces British record-holder Dina Asher-Smith, USA’s Jacious Sears and Italy’s world indoor champion Zaynab Dosso.
The men’s 400m features six sub-44 performers. Olympic silver medallist Matt Hudson-Smith, Olympic bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga, world silver medallist Jereem Richards, Diamond League champion Jacory Patterson, world indoor silver medallist Khaleb McRae and South Africa’s Zakithi Nene all line up in a field rich in one-lap quality.
Kenny Bednarek returns to Diamond League action in the men’s 200m after winning in Rabat in 19.69. The world and Olympic silver medallist will face world finalist Sinesipho Dimbile and Cuban record-holder Reynier Mena.
Throws fields packed with champions
With a shot put line-up that features the winners of every global championship from 2022 onwards, Valerie Adams’ meeting record of 20.57m could come under threat.
World champion Jessica Schilder, who recently broke the Diamond League record with 21.09m, takes on world indoor champion Chase Jackson, fresh from a 20.66m victory in Turku, two-time world indoor champion Sarah Mitton and Olympic champion Yemisi Mabry (nee Ogunleye).
The men’s discus brings together 2022 world champion Kristjan Ceh, who won in Turku earlier this week, three-time world champion Daniel Stahl, Olympic bronze medallist Matthew Denny, Olympic champion Roje Stona and world bronze medallist Alex Rose.
The women’s discus features the full podiums from the past two World Championships. World and Olympic champion Valarie Sion takes on the two women who preceded her as world champion: Laulauga Tausaga and Feng Bin. World silver medallist Jorinde van Klinken and Silinda Morales are also in the field.
Two-time world champion Malaika Mihambo heads the women’s long jump field, where she will face Diamond League champion Larissa Iapichino, world indoor champion Agate de Sousa and 2025 world indoor champion Claire Bryant.
The non-Diamond League women’s 1500m is led by three Ethiopian athletes who have broken four minutes this year: Birke Haylom, Worknesh Mesele and Haregeweyni Kalayu.
