Lausanne: Five things to look out for

When Mondo Duplantis first won in Lausanne back in 2020, a winning jump of 6.07m was still enough to take the breath away. Back then, the Swedish superstar was still at the start of his astronomical rise to greatness, and his winning height was both a Diamond League record and the best result in the world for 26 years. Four years on, many Swiss fans would be disapppointed to see 6.07m when Duplantis takes the stage once again at the city event at the Place de la Navigation on Wednesday evening. Now a double Olympic gold medallist and three-time Diamond League champion, Duplantis has broken the world record on no fewer than nine occasions, most recently with his 6.24m at the Diamond League season opener in Xiamen and his 6.25m at the Olympic Games in Paris. As he returns to the streets of Lausanne this week, the sky is still very much the limit for one of athletics' biggest stars. 

While Duplantis delivered emphatically in Paris, fellow European champion Femke Bol had a more mixed Olympics, as a brilliant, gold-medal-winning performance in the 4x400m was followed by a disappointing defeat to US rival Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400m hurdles. Bol, who has dominated the Diamond League in recent years, will be hoping to bounce back in Lausanne on Thursday as she eyes a fourth straight title in 2021. She has good memories of the Stade de la Pontaise, having broken the meeting record at Athletissima with 52.76 last season.

Another athlete looking to shake off the Paris blues in Lausanne is Jakob Ingebrigtsen. The Norwegian distance star may have won gold in the 5000m, but will still be feeling the sting of his failure to get on the podium in the 1500m. Lausanne is a chance for revenge, as Ingebrigtsen once again goes toe-to-toe with Olympic champion Cole Hocker of the USA. While the Norwegian is currently on course to defend the 1500m and 5000m Diamond League titles he won last season, Hocker still has some work to do if he is to qualify for the final. The American, who was a surprise victor in Paris, is currently 22nd in the 1500m standings and will need a big performance in Lausanne to help him on his way to Brussels. 

Thursday's action also promises plenty of drama for the home fans, as several Swiss stars go head to head with the very best of their disciplines. Dominic Lobalu will take on Hocker and Ingebrigtsen in the 1500m, while reigning Diamond League champion Simon Ehammer faces OIympic gold medallist Miltiadis Tentoglou in the men's long jump. Few have a tougher test than Ditaji Kambundji in the 100m hurdles, however, with the Swiss facing both world champion Danielle Williams and the bronze and silver medallists from Paris Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and Cyrena Samba-Mayela. In a discipline in which no athlete has yet secured qualification for the final, it's a race which promises to be high stakes as well as high quality. 

When Letsile Tebogo claimed his first ever Diamond League win in Lausanne last season, he was still a rising star in the hugely competitive world of men's sprinting. Just over a year later, the Botswanan star returns to Athletissima as the man to beat, having claimed bronze and silver medals at last year's World Championships in Budapest before storming to 200m gold at the Olympics in Paris this summer. Tebogo's victory in Monaco earlier this season means he is already on course to qualify for the final, but he will want to cement his status as a title favourite against the likes of Fred Kerley, Erriyon Knighton and Alexander Ogando in Lausanne.