August 26 -
19 reigning Olympic champions and 13 Swiss athletes in the main program, Athletissima will flirt with records on August 26 in Lausanne. The full podium of the Tokyo Olympics will be represented in five events, for a sumptuous line-up!
The list of stars present for this 9th stage of the Wanda Diamond League (WDL) is impressive! Among the stars: Mariya Lasitskene, Nicola McDermott and Yaroslava Mahuchikh, respectively gold, silver and bronze medalists in the high jump in Tokyo.
Among the last confirmed athletes are also the three medalists of the 800m from Tokyo: Kenyans Emmanuel Korir (gold) and Ferguson Rotich (silver) and Pole Patryk Dobek (bronze). All the strong men in the shot put will also make the trip, namely Olympic champion and world record holder Ryan Crouser (USA), his compatriot Joe Kovacs and New Zealander Tom Walsh.
Threatened records
The Norwegian Karsten Warholm, after his supersonic world record over 400m hurdles in Tokyo, will be measured on 400m flat, with in the sights the "old" European record of Thomas Schönlebe (44''33 in 1987).
Jakob Ingebrigtsen will tackle Belgium’s Mohammed Mourhit’s 3000m European record (7’26’62). But the Norwegian did not win by far against Ethiopian Selemon Barega, crowned over 10,000m in Japan.
The Swede Armand Duplantis will be looking to pass the 6m bar for the 27th time in his young career, or even much more if it fits. His world record is 6.18m. The competition will be led by Tokyo runner-up, American Chris Nilsen, Renaud Lavillenie and world champion Sam Kendricks (USA), back after being deprived of the Games for having
caught the Covid.
Other highlights: the women's 400m hurdles, with a farewell from European champion Lea Sprunger. She will race in front of her home crowd against rising star Femke Bol (NED), but also American Dalilah Muhammad, the second fastest woman in the world.
Johannes Vetter's return to the javelin is also promising. He will be keen to show the new Olympic champion, Indian Neeraj Chopra, what he is doing. Chopra will also be in the competition.
The day before the meeting, the men's height organized in the form of a “City Event” in the city center promises a great reunion between Mutaz Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi. Tokyo bronze medalist Belarusian Maksim Nedasekau looks formidable again.
Among the 13 Swiss athletes competing, a record in the history of the meeting, Jason Joseph could aspire to a podium in 110 m hurdles. At the end of the meeting, the Swiss 4x100m relay runners, 4th in Tokyo, will aim for victory and perhaps a first time under 42 seconds.
