Diamond finale in Brussels
Twenty-four hours after Zurich stages the first Diamond League final, the action continues in Brussels as the Belgian city stages part two of the lucrative finals.
Zurich took place on August 30 with Brussels 24 hours later as the world’s leading athletes battle for prestige and prize money.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo, the world No.1 this year at 200m and 400m, has chosen to race the shortest distance in the finals. Christian Coleman and Reece Prescod, who were almost inseparable in the Birmingham Diamond League 100m (pictured), clash again, while the two Lauras – Muir and Weightman – feature in a strong 1500m final.
A little end-of-season fatigue might be showing for some, but not everybody as a handful of athletes have chosen to compete in both Zurich and Brussels in the same 24-hour period.
Highlights include…
» Shaunae Miller-Uibo tackles the 200m and faces Shericka Jackson, Jenna Prandini and Dafne Schippers – the latter of whom also raced 100m in Zurich on Thursday.
» Laura Muir and Laura Weightman (pictured below) are in a tough 1500m race that includes Americans Shelby Houlihan and Jenny Simpson, Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay and Dutch runner Sifan Hassan, who will be due to compete 24 hours after racing 1500m in Zurich.
» Three Brits – Lorraine Ugen, Shara Proctor and Jazmin Sawyers – are in the women’s long jump against European champion Malaika Mihambo and Olympic triple jump champion Caterine Ibarguen.
» Reece Prescod and CJ Ujah tackle Americans Christian Coleman and Ronnie Baker in a strong men’s 100m final.
» Kenyans Emmanuel Korir, Wycliffe Kinyamal and Jonathan Kitilit will be tough to beat in the men’s 800m. Jake Wightman is among their rivals.
» European champion Armand Duplantis has a rematch with Renaud Lavillenie in the men’s pole vault in Brussels, while Briton Adam Hague also competes.
» Keni Harrison and Brianna McNeal lead a women’s 100m hurdles line-up which is dominated by US athletes.
» Yomif Kejelcha, Hagos Gebrhiwet, Muktar Edris and Selemon Barega could ensure an Ethiopian victory in the men’s 5000m.
» In the absence of Miller-Uibo, Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain leads the women’s 400m line-up fresh from victory at the Asian Games this week.
» Beatrice Chepkoech smashed the world 3000m steeplechase record earlier this season with 8:44.32 and the Kenyan leads the entries in Brussels.
» Sergey Shubenkov will hope to turn the tables on Pascal Martinot-Lagarde in the 110m hurdles after the Frenchman’s win in Birmingham this month.
Events in Brussels: Men – 100m, 800m, 5000m, 110m hurdles, high jump, pole vault, triple jump, discus. Women – 200m, 400m, 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, 100m hurdles, long jump, shot put
(Aug 30), discus.
Read our report on the Zurich action here.
» Full coverage from the Diamond League finals in the September 6 issue of AW
