Monaco Diamond League Guide: Normality and athletes are back on track

Normality seems to be finally returning to athletic events.

After several months of unofficial and extraordinary competitions, athletics is back on track this coming Friday, August 14 with all the normality that circumstances allow. The Wanda Diamond League opens its tenth edition in Monaco at 7.30 pm. More than a hundred athletes will compete in their respective fourteen events. The Louis II Stadium will not only have the athletes but also 5000 spectators in the stands.

The organization announced months ago that this year the competitive spirit would be preserved in the events. However, no points would be earned for the Diamond. That is the reason why there will be winners in every meeting from now until October, but not champions.

To celebrate these meetings, World Athletics (former IAAF) and Diamond League organizations have to take measures. All athletes have had to be tested before and after taking the plane to Monaco, and also, they are staying in single rooms in a hotel three minutes away from the stadium. Some athletes were going to be there at the beginning, but they have to withdraw when they tested positive or due to injuries while they were training. Once in the stadium, the public and the athletes are forbidden to have any contact during competition.

Measures apart, the Herculis IBS meeting is just around the corner and these are the events, athletes and expectations that are expected to see this Friday, August 14th:

POLE VAULT MEN (19:40h)

Overcoming the six-meter barrier in the pole vault is something that only three athletes in this event have done: The current Olympic champion and record holder Thiago Braz (26), the double world champion Sam Kendricks (27) and the European champion and current world record holder Armand Duplantis (20). On August 12th it was the second anniversary of the Swede's victory in Berlin 2018.

However, the break after the indoor season may cause them trouble to reach that goal but perhaps not to improve on it this season. It is all about how events will play out this Friday.

110m HURDLES MEN (20:03h)

The eyes of the audience are undoubtedly on the current world champion Grant Holloway (22) and Orlando Ortega (29), silver in Rio 2016, and bronze in the 2019 World Cup in Doha. Both have a personal best of less than 13 seconds, which they may try to retake this Friday after the break.

On the other hand, Andrew Pozzi (28), World and European Indoor champion in the 60m hurdles, arrives at the event with the best performance of the season (13.17).

HIGH JUMP WOMEN (20:05h)

Seven female jumpers will compete to overcome the two-meter barrier, a mark that only three of them have in their records: Olympic runner-up Mirela Demireva (30), whose record was set at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin; European U-23 champion in 2017 and silver medalist at the 2019 European Indoor Championships, Yuliya Levchenko (22); and world runner-up in Doha, where she set her personal best and the world junior record, Yaroslava Mahuchikh (18).

Also in the spotlight will be world champion heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson (27) - who will only participate as a jumper due to the impossibility of celebrating the combined events this year - and debutant Erika Furlani (24) who has the best performance of the season.

800m MEN (20:12h)

The current world champion in this race, Donavan Brazier (23) is in the spotlight as he arrives in Monaco with the best performance of the season and the best personal record against his fellow competitors. And looking at those marks, it seems that the podium of Doha 2019 can be repeated in this event since Brazier will compete against Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich (31), who was bronze medalist last October, and Amel Tuka (29), who got silver medal.

TRIPLE JUMP WOMEN (20:17h)

This event will have seven athletes competing. The main focus is on Portuguese national record holder Patrícia Mamona (31); on Bulgarian athlete Gabriela Petrova (28), who arrives in Monaco with the best performance of the season; and on double world champion and Olympic silver medallist Yulimar Rojas (24), who also owns the world indoor record.

5000m WOMEN (20:19h)

The three favorites in this event will duel this Friday. Doha 2019 silver medalist in the 10000m race, Letesenbet Gidey (22) will run together with Sifan Hassan (27), current European record holder in this event and gold medalist in Doha 2019 in the 10000m and 1500m races. The other favorite one is Hellen Obiri (30), a double world champion and Olympic silver medalist runner.

400m HURDLES MEN (20:42h)

It is undeniable that Karsten Warholm (24), after breaking the 300m hurdles record at the Impossible Games in Oslo last June, has all the public's attention for this event. The double World and European indoor champion comes to Monaco to try to prove that he is still in the same shape as always. To do so, he will compete with four other athletes, including his great rival: Yasmani Copello (31), who has a third place at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, a silver medal at the 2017 World Cup in London and the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, and a gold one at Amsterdam 2016.

100m WOMEN (20:50h)

Initially, there were to be nine competing athletes, but last Tuesday, the Swiss Mujinga Kabundji withdrew from the competition due to an ischium injury during training.

However, the race is still going on. The athletes with a personal best below 11 seconds will run on the Monaco track: American Aleia Hobbs (24), whose record was beaten in a competition at the LSU; European silver medalist Gina Lückenkemper (23); and double world winner of silver and bronze medalist, Marie-Josée Ta Lou (31).

1500m MEN (20:57h)

Below the 3:30 mark is only the current world champion, Timothy Cheruiyot (25); but he has several opponents who can overshadow him: Britain's Charlie Grice (36), Australian record holder Ryan Gregson (30), the Norwegian brothers Ingebrigtsen, Filip (27) and Jakob (20), the 2019 Doha bronze medalist, Marcin Lewandowski (30), and fifth-ranked world champion Jake Wightman (26).

400m WOMEN (21:07h)

In this event, the two youngest athletes in the table and fellow citizens stand out with marks below 50 seconds: Lynna Irby (21), world junior runner-up in 2015, and world junior runner-up in 2016; and Wadeline Jonathas (22), fourth classified in Doha 2019.

5000m MEN (21:13h)

The 13-minute barrier in the 5,000m race could be breached again. Joshua Cheptegei (23), the current world 10000m champion, who broke the 5km world record this year, has a personal best very similar to Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli (21), who finished eighth at the Doha 2019 final. The best mark of the season was set by the third Ingebrigtsen brother, Henrik (29).

200m MEN (21:32h)

French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre (30) was initially scheduled to compete, but last Tuesday at the competition in Turku, Finland, the Olympic bronze medalist stopped midway through the race with a limp and holding his right adductor.

However, the competition continues with a battle between the fastest sprinters of the moment: London 2017 world champion Ramil Guliyev (31); Britain's Adam Gemili (27); and the world champion and three-time Diamond League champion Noah Lyles (23)

1000m WOMEN (21:39h)

British Laura Muir is the one who sets all her teammates apart in personal best. The winner of two Diamond Awards in the 1500 and 3000m and gold medal in Berlin 2018, will compete against eight other athletes this Friday, August 14th in the 1000m women's race.

3000m STEEPLECHASE MEN (21:47h)

The big names for this event are fifth-ranked world champion Djilali Bedrani (26), world bronze medalist, and fourth-ranked Olympian Soufiane El Bakkali (24) - who has a personal best of under eight minutes - and world silver medalist Lamecha Girma (19). The fourth-place finisher in Doha, Getnet Wale (20), and the European silver medalist Fernando Carro (28) will also attend the competition.

Athletics returns to the Stadium Louis II in Monaco this Friday, August 14th, with normality, within all measures.  A hundred athletes will return to the track to compete and show that the pandemic cannot stop them.