News03 Jun 2019


Quality Oslo, Stanford and Lausanne fields filling out - IAAF Diamond League

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Faith Kipyegon wins the 1500m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene (© Kirby Lee)

Christian Coleman will lead the 100m field at the Bislett Games in Oslo on 13 June, organisers of the fifth meeting of the 2019 IAAF Diamond League series have announced.

Coleman, the 2018 Diamond League champion in the event, opened his season in blazing fashion, clocking 9.86 in Shanghai where he was narrowly beaten by Noah Lyles in a photo finish. The two were separated by a scant .006.

Coleman will take on British duo of Reece Prescod and CJ Ujah along with US compatriot Mike Rodgers, the winner in Nanjing last month, Su Bingtian of China and Italy's European U20 champion Filippo Tortu. Usain Bolt set the meeting record of 9.79 in 2012.

Stanford announces women's 1500m field 

Meanwhile, organisers of the Prefontaine Classic, set for 30 June, have announced a strong field in the women's 1500m, which features two-time Diamond Trophy winner Laura Muir of Great Britain, reigning world and Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya and Shelby Houlihan of the US, last season's top metric miler.

The field also includes current world leader Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, who clocked 3:59.57 in Nanjing on 21 May; Moroccan record-holder Rababe Arafi, the winner in Shanghai; 2018 IAAF Continental Cup winner Winny Chebet of Kenya; Ethiopia's Axumawit Embaye, the 2014 world indoor silver medallist and more recently the runner-up in Nanjing where she clocked a 4:00.17 lifetime best; Alemaz Samuel of Ethiopia, the 2018 world U20 champion; and 18-year-old Lemlem Hailu, the 2017 world U18 champion who last month raced to the Ethiopian senior title over the distance. Hailu clocked 8:34.03 in the 3000m at the Diamond League opener in Doha last month, the fourth fastest U20 performance of all-time.

Cheruiyot heads Lausanne men's 1500m field

Organisers of Lausanne's Athletissima on 5 July, the series' eighth stop, announced several entrants in their high-powered men's 1500m race headed by Kenya's Timothy Cheruiyot, the 2018 Diamond League champion. The 23-year-old has gotten off to a solid start, opening his season with a runner-up finish in Doha and a victory in Oslo last week.

World indoor 1500m record holder Samuel Tefera of Ethiopia will also race, along with Norwegian brother Jakob and Filip Ingebrigtsen. Jakob, who won't turn 19 until 19 September, famously raced to a 1500/5000m triumph at last summer's European Championships, opened his outdoor season with a third place finish in Oslo.

Another strong battle looms in the men's 110m hurdles, where neutral athlete Sergey Shubenkov, last year’s winner in Lausanne, will take on Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega of Spain, the winner in Nanjing, world indoor champion Andrew Pozzi from Great Britain, China's Xie Wenjun, the recently-minted Asian champion, and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde from France, the 2018 European champion.

Organisers for the IAAF

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