A total of 17 Olympic and world champions will be part of the line-up of the 39th edition of the IAAF Diamond League event Athletissima, at the Pontaise Stadium on July 3. Both the track and the field events will offer a great show in all the corners of the stadium.
The high jump has been one of the most exciting events this year so far, both because of the many excellent jumpers and the various winners. Athletissima will gather the dominators of this season Bohdan Bondarenko (2.42 m), Moutaz Essa Barshim (2.42 m), Ivan Ukhov (2.41 m) and Derek Drouin (2.40 m). A first, as Lausanne has never gathered so many high level jumpers in one single event.
In the pole vault, the new world record holder Renaud Lavillenie will aim at winning his fourth Diamond League event of the year. In the women’s shotput, Valérie Adams will try to add a 51st victory to her incredible strike of 50 back-to-back victories. In the long jump, Greg Rutherford, reigning Olympic champion and leader of the world ranking this year (8.51m), will need to bring his A-game in order to win against the podium of the last world championships Aleksandr Menkov, Ignisious Geisah and Luis Rivera Morales. The women’s javelin throw will feature the 3 best performers of the year, Barbora Spotakova, Linda Stahl and Kimberley Mickle. Piotr Malachowski (discus throw) and Caterine Ibarguen (triple jump), both topping the world rankings of their event, will be the favourites of their events.
As for the races, they will offer several fantastic head-to-head races. Justin Gatlin, undefeated this year so far, will try to retain his invincibility in the 100m against Tyson Gay and Jimmy Vicaut. In the 200m, Yohan Blake will be up against fellow Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade and Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre. The 400m will be a very fast event, with Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt facing each other for the second time this year. Last time, both clocked sub 44 second times, and James was just a few thousandths of a second fast the Merritt. In the 1500m, Rome winner Silas Kiplagat will face Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi. In the 3000m steeple, Brimin Kiprop Kipruto and Paul Kipsiele Koech will fight for the victory.
The hurdle races will be just as exciting, as they will feature the two world best performers of the year Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and Hansle Parchment in the 110m h, and Javier Culson and Michael Tinsley in the 400m h.
As for world lead holder Veronica Campbell-Brown, she will try to win the 100m event for the first time in Lausanne. Kenyan athlete and reigning world champion Eunice Jepkoech Sum will have a similar objective in the 800m. In the 3000m, Genzebe Dibaba, who beat 3 indoor world records this year (1500 – 3000 – 2 miles) will offer a fantastic show.
The Athletissima main programme has never featured as many Swiss athletes as this year. This is mostly due to the Swiss athletes’ aim to chase a qualification spot for the European Championships in Zurich in August. They will be led by Kariem Hussein (400m h), Selina Büchel (800 m) and Mujinga Kambundji, who has just beat the 100m Swiss record. Other Swiss athletes are entered in the sprint races, long jump, pole vault and women’s 4 x 100m relay.
19 June, 2014
