Star clashes to light up Lausanne as Diamond League resumes

Audrey Werro, Mondo Duplantis, Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Masai Russell will be among the stars in action when Wanda Diamond League action resumes in Lausanne this week.

World pole vault record-holder Duplantis headlines the city event on the shores of Lake Geneva on Thursday (20) before the main Athletissima meeting at the Pontaise Olympic Stadium on Friday (21).

Sweden’s Duplantis makes his eighth appearance in Lausanne, fresh off clearing a championship record of 6.15m to win his fourth successive European pole vault title in Birmingham. That height also stands as the Athletissima record, set by Duplantis in 2024. He will again be challenged by Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, who added European silver to his major medal collection on Sunday, and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall, who handed Duplantis his first defeat in almost three years in Stockholm in June.

It was also in Stockholm that Swiss star Werro ran 1:53.98 to move to third on the world 800m all-time list. She strengthened that position by clocking 1:53.80 in Paris later that month and most recently beat Keely Hodgkinson and Femke Broeders-Bol to the European title in Birmingham.

Werro and Broeders-Bol clash again in Lausanne and this time they face Kenya’s world champion Lilian Odira, winner at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene.

Beyond victory in Lausanne, athletes will be competing for places at the Diamond League Final in Brussels where Werro will want to retain her Diamond League title. A win in Brussels also secures guaranteed entry for events contested at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, making the Diamond League Final the last opportunity for athletes to book their place in Budapest automatically.

The men’s 800m sees Kenya’s Olympic and world champion Wanyonyi return to the scene of his 1:41.11 from 2024 – a performance that places him joint second on the world all-time list. He goes on the hunt for his first Diamond League 800m win of the year, following the world 1000m record of 2:11.83 he set in Monaco last month. His competition includes Canada’s world leader Marco Arop, who won at the Paris Diamond League in 1:41.84, and USA’s Brandon Miller, the winner of the London Diamond League.

Díaz set to soar

Italy’s Andy Díaz Hernández soared to fourth on the world triple jump all-time list at the European Championships and the world indoor champion will want to maintain the momentum in Lausanne as he competes for the first time since that 18.15m leap.

Portugal’s world champion Pedro Pichardo was runner-up in that high-quality contest, while Díaz’s compatriot Andrea Dallavalle was third and they all compete again, up against Jamaica’s Jordan Scott who beat Díaz during the Diamond League in Oslo. Christian Taylor’s meeting record, set in 2015, stands at 18.06m.

The top three in the European long jump final also renew their rivalry as Olympic champion Miltiádis Tentóglou again meets Swiss favourite Simon Ehammer and Bulgaria’s Bozhidar Sarâboyukov.

Another home star goes in the pole vault as two-time world indoor medallist Angelica Moser returns to action after winning European gold with a 4.80m clearance. Finland’s Wilma Heltelä secured European silver behind her and in Lausanne they face multiple global champions Nina Kennedy and Katie Moon.

Two athletes who have surpassed 90 metres this season – Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage and Germany’s Julian Weber – will clash in a javelin contest that also brings together the winners of the past four world titles: Keshorn Walcott, Neeraj Chopra and Anderson Peters.

The women’s event features Colombia’s Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado who improved her own South American record to 67.34m to retain her title at the Central American and Caribbean Games earlier this month. She competes for her first Diamond League win of the year against Sigrid Borge, who threw 65.00m to finish second in Xiamen, and Adriana Vilagoš, the runner-up in Paris, as well as Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi.

Sprint showdowns

The 100m hurdles stars a clash between the Olympic champion and the world champion as USA’s Masai Russell goes up against home star Ditaji Kambundji. Russell is unbeaten in the 100m hurdles this year and she ran 12.14 in Xiamen in May – a performance just 0.02 off the world record. Adding further strength to the field are Monaco runner-up Alaysha Johnson, Nadine Visser and Pia Skrzyszowska.

The 110m hurdles is not a Diamond discipline in Lausanne but it still features a formidable field led by USA’s world record-holder Ja'Kobe Tharp.

The men’s 200m is the final Diamond discipline on the programme and it brings together Botswana’s Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo, Puerto Rico’s José Figueroa and South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile, who have all broken 19.85 this season.

Jamaica’s two-time world 200m champion Shericka Jackson takes on Favour Ofili, Kayla White and Amy Hunt in the women’s race, Jackson looking to add to her two Diamond League victories this year in China. Hunt returns to Diamond League action after winning a record four gold medals at the European Championships.

Emma Zapletalová goes for her fifth Diamond League win this year in the 400m hurdles, while the men’s non-Diamond League event includes Olympic and world champion Rai Benjamin in what looks to be his sole hurdles outing in a season in which he is focused on the 400m. His most recent race was the London Diamond League 400m, which he won in a PB of 44.05.

Olympic champion Winfred Yavi goes up against world champion Faith Cherotich in the 3000m steeplechase, both athletes having clocked 8:51 this season. Switzerland’s Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu will target back-to-back Diamond League wins following his 5000m victory in Monaco but will line up after a busy week at the European Championships where he contested the 5000m and 10,000m, getting silver in the latter. He faces Birhanu Balew, Parker Wolfe and Grant Fisher.