Photo: Matthew Quine
The Wanda Diamond League continues in Paris this Friday in what is shaping up to be a meeting for the ages as some of the titans of world athletics clash at the Stade Charléty.
Noah Lyles and Miltiadis Tentoglou are among the reigning Diamond League champions launching their defence of the Diamond Trophy, while Marcell Jacobs and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone return to the circuit for the first time in several years. Here are five things to look out for at the Meeting de Paris.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will make her first Wanda Diamond League appearance since her 2019 title win when she hits the track in Paris on Friday. The American has since established herself as the undisputed queen of the 400m hurdles, breaking the world record twice and storming to gold medals at both the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships. At the Stade Charléty, she will be competing in her first 400m-flat race in two years as she eyes another potential world record. While Marita Koch's 47.60 may still be a long way off, both McLaughlin-Levrone and her coach have been bullish about her prospects in the 400m and Paris may give some indication of what is to come in the next few years.
Fresh from her 1500m world record at the Florence Diamond League last weekend, Faith Kipyegon returns to action in Paris with her sights set on a different goal. Having got 16 points on the board in the middle distance event and taken a huge step towards the final already, Kipyegon will be hoping to open her account in the 5000m, a title she is yet to win on the Diamond League circuit. She will have her work cut out in Paris, with the likes of world record holder Letesenbet Gidey, compatriot Beatrice Chepkoech and British rival Laura Muir also featuring in a star-studded line-up.
Muir will be just one of several British stars who are making the short journey across the British channel this week. After a bout of cramp saw her pull out of the 100m in Florence last week, sprint star Dina Asher-Smith will be keen to bounce back in the women's 200m in Paris. 2021 Diamond League 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson gets her 2023 campaign out of the blocks as she bids to regain her title this summer. World 1500m champion Jake Wightman, meanwhile, will compete in the headline 800m race against reigning Diamond League champion Emmanuel Korir.
The men's sprints are shaping up to be one of the most exciting narratives of the 2023 season, with world champion Fred Kerley in imperious form and fellow American Erriyon Knighton continuing his good early-season form with a win in Florence last weekend. Another heavyweight enters the ring in Paris, as five-time Diamond Trophy winner and current 200m champion Noah Lyles makes his first Diamond League appearance of the season in the men's 100m. While Kerley will be absent, Lyles faces a high-class field with the likes of Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala, Jamaica's Yohan Blake and Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs.
One of the few disciplines which has yet to feature in the 2023 season is the men's long jump, and for the likes of reigning Diamond League champion Miltiadis Tentoglou and India's Murali Sreeshankar, the Road to the Final begins in Paris on Friday. Tentoglou completed an almost perfect season in 2022 with five wins out of a possible six and will be out to extend his dominance into the current season as he faces Sreeshankar, Thobias Montler, Maykel Masso and others in an intriguing competition in the French capital.
