Pole vault winner Sam Kendricks at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha (© Jiro Mochizuki)
A world champion, a European champion and four other competitors with personal bests of six metres or better have been confirmed for the Oslo Bislett Games on 13 June, organisers of the IAAF Diamond League meeting have announced.
USA's Sam Kendricks, the reigning world champion and currently ranked No.1 in the world, heads the field. Although Kendricks has the world title, all eyes in Bislett stadium will be firmly focused on the 19-year-old Swede Armand Duplantis, who took the European crown last summer with a 6.05m leap. The teenager leads the world this season after topping 6.00m in Fayetteville, USA, on 11 May.
Poland's strong tradition in the event will be represented by Pawel Wojciechowski, the 2011 world champion who took the European indoor title in March. He'll be joined by compatriot Piotr Lisek, a member of the six-metre club, who took world silver in 2017.
Another strong competitor is authorised neutral athlete Timur Mogunov, who burst onto the circuit last season and ended the campaign as another member of the six-metre fraternity.
Meanwhile, Norwegian fans will be keeping an eye on rising stars Sondre Guttormsen and Pål Haugen Lillefosse. Guttormsen, 19, topped a 5.75m senior national record last year while Lillefosse, 17, cleared a 5.57m best indoors in February.
Organisers for the IAAF
2019 IAAF Diamond League calendar
3 May – Doha, QAT
18 May – Shanghai, CHN
30 May – Stockholm, SWE
6 Jun – Rome, ITA
13 Jun – Oslo, NOR
16 Jun – Rabat, MAR
30 Jun – Stanford, USA
5 Jul – Lausanne, SUI
12 Jul – Monaco, MON
20-21 Jul – London, GBR
18 Aug – Birmingham, GBR
24 Aug – Paris, FRA
29 Aug – Zurich, SUI
6 Sep – Brussels, BEL
