Photo: Ed Hall
The world's best athletes have one last chance to pick up points and qualify for the Wanda Diamond League Final when they compete at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme in Brussels this week. Here are five things to look out for at the last qualification meeting of 2023.
The main programme may be taking place on Friday evening, but the action in Brussels begins on Thursday with the women's shot put street event at the Place de la Monnaie. The biggest names in the discipline - including reigning world and Diamond League champion Chase Ealey - are all on the entry list, and there is still plenty to play for in the final competition before the Diamond League Final in Eugene. Portugal's Auriol Dongmo has already secured qualification thanks to early-season wins in Rabat and Paris, but the remaining five berths to the final are still up for grabs. With only four points separating her from the likes of Jessica Schilder and Jessica Woodward in seventh and eighth, Ealey in particular will know that she cannot afford to slip up on the streets of Brussels.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen's defeat to Josh Kerr in the men's 1500m final was one of the biggest shocks of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, and the Norwegian ace will be desperate to set the record straight when he makes his first appearance since the championships in Brussels. Last year, he overcame World Championship disappointment by storming to the Diamond League title, and he will no doubt be hoping to do so again at next week's final in Eugene. The men's 2000m in Brussels will count towards 1500m qualification, but with his place in the final already secured, Ingebrigtsen will be running for pride. He may also have half an eye on the world record over two kilometres, which currently stands at 4:44.79.
With 18 Diamond League victories under her belt since she burst onto the scene in 2020, there are very few cities on the circuit in which Femke Bol has yet to win a race. Brussels is one of them, and the Dutch 400m hurdles star will no doubt want to change that when she makes the short journey to the Belgian capital this week. After her brilliant gold medal in Budapest, it will also be Bol's first Diamond League appearance as reigning world champion, though there seems little chance that she will buckle under the pressure. With wins in Florence, Oslo, Lausanne and London this year, she continues to dominate the Diamond League circuit, and even against Xiamen winner Rushell Clayton, she is firm favourite to take eight points on Friday.
World 200m champioon Shericka Jackson has already booked her place in the 100m and 200m finals in Eugene, so the pressure is off as she looks to pick up a fourth Diamond League win of the season in the 200m in Brussels. The Jamaican star has hit her stride in the second half of the season, and in Zurich, she was confident that she had another big performance in the tank before the season was up. In Eugene, it will be all about the Diamond Trophy. In Brussels, it may well be about the time.
The women's high jump is one of the few disciplines where there are still some big qualification questions to be answered in Brussels, with World Championships silver medallist Eleanor Patterson needing a win to guarantee herself a place in the final. Reigning world and Diamond League champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, meanwhile, can rest easy after securing qualification with victory in Xiamen, and can focus entirely on her form ahead of Eugene. After equalling the world lead with 2.02m in China, she is hitting her stride at the right time, and will be keen to emulate last year's performance in Brussels, where she fell just short of the world record.
