Tianna Bartoletta in the long jump at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne (© Victah Sailer)
Thirty-one medallists, including 10 Olympic champions, will compete at the Athletissima meeting on Thursday (25) for the first IAAF Diamond League meeting following the Olympics.
In the 100m hurdles, Olympic champion Brianna Rollins will take on world record-holder Kendra Harrison, who did not qualify for the US Olympic team. The addition of Sharika Nelvis and Jasmin Stowers means the race in Lausanne will have four of the five fastest US women of all time.
Swiss hurdler Clelia Rard-Reuse, who finished fourth at the European Championships and was a semi-finalist in Rio, could not dream of any better way to finish her career. “My fan club, my family and many people from my region will come and cheer for me,” she said. “It will be very emotional.”
Her teammate Lea Sprunger missed out on the 400m hurdles Olympic final, but in Lausanne she will face the three medallists from Rio: Dalilah Muhammad of the USA, Sara Slott Petersen of Denmark and USA’s Ashley Spencer.
The men’s 110m hurdles will also be a highlight as the top four from the Olympics have been confirmed with Omar McLeod, Orlando Ortega, Dimitri Bascou and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde all set to compete.
Elsewhere, world and Olympic champion Tianna Bartoletta will compete in the long jump, Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya lines up for the 800m, and Olympic silver medallist Boniface Tumuti headlines the 400m hurdles field.
Organisers for the IAAF
2016 IAAF Diamond League calendar
6 May – Doha, QAT
14 May – Shanghai, CHN
22 May – Rabat, MAR
28 May – Eugene, USA
2 Jun – Rome, ITA
5 Jun – Birmingham, GBR
9 Jun – Oslo, NOR
16 Jun – Stockholm, SWE
15 Jul – Monaco, MON
22-23 Jul – London, GBR
25 Aug – Lausanne, SUI
27 Aug – Paris, FRA
1 Sep – Zurich, SUI
9 Sep – Brussels, BEL
