Mo Farah after winning the 5000m at the 2011 Monaco Diamond League (© Philippe Fitte)
Olympic champions Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Anna Chicherova and Sandra Perkovic are among the latest names added to the star-studded field for Herculis 2013, the IAAF Diamond League meeting held in Monaco on July 19.
Farah, who is also the reigning World and European champion over 5000m, is very familiar with the Louis II Stadium, having set personal bests in his past two races in the principality.
In 2009 he ran 3:33.98 for 1500m, then two years later in the 5000m he established a meeting and national record of 12:53.11, which remained the world’s fastest time for 2011. He will once again compete in that event next month in a bid to improve on that time.
Farah’s British team-mate Ennis-Hill has similarly won all the major titles: Olympic, World and European. Like many combined events athletes, Ennis-Hill rarely competes on the Diamond League circuit, but this year she will make her Herculis debut in the 100m Hurdles, an event in which she holds the national record with her 12.54 from last year’s Olympic Games.
The times of the last three winners at the Herculis meeting were 12.51, 12.50 and 12.49, so Ennis-Hill will need to be close to her best if she aims to win.
For World High Jump champion Chicherova, Herculis will be one of her last competitions before heading to the World Championships in her home country. The Russian has a personal best of 2.07m, and if everything goes right she might have her eyes on the meeting record of 2.04m, property of both Heike Henkel and Hestrie Cloete.
The current world leader in the women’s Discus, Sandra Perkovic is unbeaten in her past 10 competitions. The Croatian also leads the Diamond Race and she will compete in Monaco with her mind set on winning the overall contest with the maximum points.
In addition, European champion and 2013 Diamond Race leader Vitezslav Vesely leads the Javelin entries, World champion David Greene goes in the 400m Hurdles, European champion Ruth Beitia will be up against Chicherova in the High Jump, European indoor champion Daniele Greco will feature in the Triple Jump and European indoor champion Darya Klishina heads the Long Jump.
Organisers for the IAAF
2013 IAAF Diamond League calendar
Doha, QAT – 10 May
Shanghai, CHN – 18 May
New York, USA – 25 May
Eugene, USA – 1 Jun
Rome, ITA – 6 Jun
Oslo, NOR – 13 Jun
Birmingham, GBR – 30 Jun
Lausanne, SUI – 4 Jul
Paris, FRA – 6 Jul
Monaco, MON – 19 Jul
London, GBR – 26-27 Jul
Stockholm, SWE – 22 Aug
Zürich, SUI – 29 Aug
Brussels, BEL – 6 Sep
