The 800m race in this 11th stage of the Wanda Diamond League promises to be "hot," twelve days after the Olympic final, which saw four men run under 1’42’’, something never seen before. Four of the top five finishers from the Games will run in Lausanne: Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN), the third fastest man in history, Olympic silver medallist and world champion Marco Arop (CAN), and the 4th and 5th place finishers in Paris, Bryce Hoppel (USA) and Mohamed Attaoui (ESP).
In the 200m, the new Olympic champion from Botswana, Letsile Tebogo, will be the main attraction in a race that is always highly anticipated and very fast at La Pontaise. He will face, among others, triple world champion (100m and relay) and 100m bronze medallist in Paris, Fred Kerley (USA), and young prodigy Erriyon Knighton (USA).
Another highlight, the 100m hurdles, will feature Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, the 2021 Olympic champion, current world champion Danielle Williams (JAM), Paris silver medallist Cyréna Samba-Mayela (FRA), and of course, as previously announced, Swiss athlete Ditaji Kambundji.
The organisers have also gathered a magnificent lineup in the men’s long jump, with double Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE), who will compete against Wayne Pinnock (JAM), Mattia Furlani (ITA), and Simon Ehammer (SUI), who finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively at the Paris Olympics.
Among other stars whose participation had not yet been confirmed are the British athletes Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith, as well as Ivorian Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith in the 100m, Yemisi Ogunleye (GER) and Maddison-Lee Wesche (NZL) in shot put, the current Olympic champion and runner-up, Rushell Clayton (JAM) in the 400m hurdles, Anderson Peters (GRN) in javelin, and Narve Nordas (NOR) in the 1500m.
More than 13’000 spectators are expected at La Pontaise (the stadium is sold out) and probably a couple of thousand at Ouchy (Place de la Navigation) for the City Event, which will bring together all the top pole vault specialists, including, of course, "Mondo" Duplantis, on the 21st of August from 6:00 PM. The City Event is free of charge for the public.
