London: Five things to look out for

The women's 100m is set to be a show-stopper at the London Stadium on Sunday, with all of the current top four in the Diamond League qualification standings on the startlist. Ivorian legend Marie-Josée Ta Lou has three wins to her name so far, while the USA's Sha'Carri Richardson has two. Reigning 200m champion Shericka Jackson sits second in the standings but will want to get her first 100m win on the board after near misses in Doha and Silesia. Britain's Daryll Neita is in fourth and will be in good spirits after her 200m win in Stockholm. 2019 Diamond League champion Dina Asher-Smith has some work to do in front of her home crowd, meanwhile. She is currently perched somewhat precariously back in seventh.

400m world record holder Wayde Van Niekerk has made a brilliant return to Diamond League action this season after years out with injury trouble. Wins in Oslo and Silesia have put the South African back at the top of the one-lap tree and he can now realistically set his sights on regaining his world title and winning the Diamond Trophy for the first time in his career. His 44.08 in Silesia was the seventh-fastest time of his career, and prompted him to say that he thinks a sub-44 performance is no longer too far away. "Things are going in the right direction," he said in Poland.

On almost any other night, Keely Hodgkinson's British record of 1:55.77 in Paris would have been the headline performance. As it was, her historic new personal best played second fiddle to the astonishing double world record from Faith Kipyegon and Lamecha Girma at the Diamond League meeting in the French capital last week. But as she prepares to compete in front of her home crowd, the British middle distance star and 2021 Wanda Diamond League champion is still the fastest woman in the world this year and knows that another win will lock down her place in the series final. If she does so, she will join both Kenya's Mary Moraa, who beat her in Lausanne, and Jamaica's Natoya Goule-Toppin, who will also start in London. 

Tokyo Olympic champion Katie Moon has dominated the women's pole vault so far this season, with three wins in four meetings so far. That run has given her a clear lead at the top of the qualification standings and made her the only pole vaulter to have her place in the final locked down already. Among those hoping to catch her and potentially qualify themselves when the discipline returns in London will be compatriot Sandi Morris, Slovenia's Tina Sutej and reigning Diamond League champion Nina Kennedy. Four-time Diamond Trophy winner Katerina Stefanidi and local star Holly Bradshaw, meanwhile, will be hoping that a strong showing can push them up the standings and a little closer to a place in Eugene. 

In 2022, Kristjan Ceh not only became the first Slovenian athlete ever to win the Diamond Trophy, he also joined an athlete group of athletes who have won the title with a victory in every single Diamond League meeting of the season. This year, he could be on course to do so for the second year in a row, having already notched up wins in Doha, Rabat and Stockholm. His winning streak now stands at eight meetings in a row in the Diamond League, and it will take something special for someone to beat him in London.