Karsten Warholm on his way to a Diamond League record in the 400m hurdles in Oslo (© Marta Gorczynska / Diamond League AG)
Wanda Diamond League action returns to the Norwegian capital of Oslo on Thursday (30), when a host of global champions and world record-holders will battle at the Bislett Games.
Home stars Karsten Warholm and Jakob Ingebrigtsen contest two of the many top-class match ups, while Shericka Jackson heads the 200m line up, Joshua Cheptegei stars in a strong 5000m field, Prudence Sekgodiso has the chance to make another statement in the 800m and Mykolas Alekna forms part of another impressive discus clash.
Norway’s Warholm set the first of his two world 400m hurdles records in Oslo, clocking 46.70 in 2021. He went even faster one month later, improving the record to 45.94 to win the Olympic title in Tokyo.
It was also in 2021 that Warholm claimed the second of his two Diamond Trophies and now, as he works towards his Olympic title defence, the Bislett Games is where he kicks off his 2024 Diamond League campaign. After an indoor season that featured just the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, where he secured 400m silver, Warholm opened his outdoor season in Bergen last week. Running 33.28 for the 300m hurdles, he missed his own world best from 2021 by just 0.02.
In Oslo, the three-time world champion contests the 400m hurdles for the first time since finishing second in the Diamond League final in Eugene in September. He’s got some fierce competition as he faces Brazil’s Alison dos Santos, the world and Diamond League champion in 2022, who opened his own 400m hurdles season with a 46.86 win in Doha. Looking to challenge them both will be world silver medallist Kyron McMaster.
While Warholm races in the Diamond League for the first time this year, his compatriot Ingebrigtsen started his season by finishing second in a thrilling mile in Eugene and will now look to go one better in the 1500m on home soil. The Olympic champion, who won both the 1500m and 5000m Diamond League titles last year, this time goes up against the likes of his compatriot Narve Gilje Nordas, the world bronze medallist last year, plus 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, Azeddine Habz and Stewart McSweyn, as Ingebrigtsen returns to a meeting at which he ran 3:27.95 last year.
The men’s 5000m is also highly competitive as Uganda’s Cheptegei, the world record-holder and Olympic champion, goes up against his compatriots Jacob Kiplimo and Oscar Chelimo, plus Olympic and world medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet and his Ethiopian compatriots Yomif Kejelcha, Samuel Tefera and Biniam Mehary, Switzerland’s Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu and Spain’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo.
In the women’s 800m, South Africa’s Sekgodiso has the chance to double her number of Diamond League meeting wins, following her breakthrough victory in Marrakech. There she ran a PB of 1:57.26 to beat Habitam Alemu and Noelie Yarigo, and Yarigo is also in action in Oslo, as is world indoor champion Tsige Duguma, who was second in Los Angeles in a PB of 1:57.56. Jess Hull, who ran 8:37.18 to win in Sydney in March, races the 3000m against Caroline Nyaga and Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal.
Jackson and Jacobs in sprints, Alekna heads discus clash
Jamaica’s world champion Jackson got her season off to a winning start with a 200m victory in Marrakech in 22.82 to maintain a winning streak of 16 finals that dates back to June 2022. Having won Diamond Trophies in both the 100m and 200m last year, she’ll look to build on that opener in Oslo, where she will face USA’s Jenna Prandini, Anavia Battle and Brittany Brown, plus Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith and Daryll Neita, who won the 200m in Suzhou and 100m in Doha.
In the men’s 100m, Italy’s Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs will clash with Akani Simbine, who won in Suzhou, plus Marrakech winner Emmanuel Eseme and Abdul Hakim Sani Brown. Brandon Hicklin and Jeremiah Azu, who have both run sub-10.00 PBs this season, join them in the line up.
Dominican Republic’s world champion Marileidy Paulino will race against world bronze medallist Sada Williams and world indoor silver medallist Lieke Klaver in the 400m, while the men’s event features Grenada’s multiple Olympic and world medallist Kirani James, world silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith and home favourite Havard Bentdal Ingvaldsen. Jamaica’s world bronze medallist Rushell Clayton leads the entries for the women’s 400m hurdles.
After setting a world record of 74.35m in Ramona in April, Mykolas Alekna won the discus clash in Marrakech, surpassing 70 metres again with a 70.70m throw to beat Australian record-holder Matthew Denny and Sweden’s Olympic and world champion Daniel Stahl.
That trio clash again in Oslo as part of a stacked field – one which also includes 2022 world gold medallist Kristjan Ceh, Andrius Gudzius, Fedrick Dacres and Lukas Weisshaidinger. The women’s discus competition gets the Diamond League action under way in Oslo and that contest will see 2022 world champion Feng Bin go up against world fourth-place finisher Jorinde van Klinken. Both have clinched third-place finishes in the Diamond League so far this season, Feng in Xiamen and Van Klinken in Eugene.
The top two from the World Championships in Budapest clash in the men’s triple jump as Hugues Fabrice Zango goes up against Lazaro Martinez. In the men’s pole vault, USA’s Olympic and world medallist Chris Nilsen, KC Lightfoot and two-time world champion Sam Kendricks take on Ernest John Obiena and home star Simen Guttormsen.
