Paris: Five things to look out for

Last year's Meeting de Paris had a serious claim to being the greatest Diamond League meeting of all time, and that was in no small part down to Faith Kipyegon. Just a week after breaking the 1500m world record in Florence, the Kenyan distance star repeated the feat over 5000m, becoming the first athlete to break two world records in a single Diamond League season and making Paris the first Diamond League meeting ever to see two world records on one night. Kipyegon went on to break the mile world record in Monaco and claim the 1500m Wanda Diamond League title, and she remains the firm favourite for both the Diamond Trophy and Olympic gold this year. When she returns to Paris in the 1500m this Sunday, it will be her first Diamond League appearance of the season and a key indicator of her form heading into the Olympics later this month. Another world record may be too much to ask for, but with Kipyegon, you never know until you know. 

Whenever there is talk of a world record in the Diamond League, Mondo Duplantis is usually not far away. So it is this weekend, as the Swedish star returns for his fourth appearance of the season hoping to hit his best form in the run up to Paris 2024. Sunday's action will provide the perfect springboard for Duplantis' Olympic preparation, and if his form so far this season is anything to go by, we may yet see another attempt at the world record. Having opened his Diamond League campaign with a world record 6.24m in Xiamen back in April, Duplantis has been nibbling away at 6.25m ever since, and it seems only a matter of time before he makes history once again. 

One of the most anticipated showdowns of this year's Paris Diamond League comes in the women's long jump, where Serbia's Ivana Spanovic takes on long-time German rival Malaika Mihambo. Spanovic is currently the reigning world and Wanda Diamond League champion, and after narrowly missing out on the podium at the last Olympics in Tokyo, she will be determined to show herself in title-winning form ahead of the 2024 Games. Mihambo, though, is also on title-winning form after she beat Spanovic to claim a scintillating victory at the European Championships in Rome earlier this summer. With the German still recovering from a Covid infection, Spanovic may be favourite again in Paris. But either way, Sunday promises to be the next chapter in an enthralling European rivalry. 

Marileidy Paulino delivered one of the standout performances at last year's Meeting de Paris, soaring to a meeting record of 49.12 to claim her second win in three meetings in the women's 400m and dispatching US superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the process. This year, the Dominican star comes to France in even better form, having notched up victories in all of the first three competitions of the season. Victory in Paris would make it four in four and keep Paulino on course for a Diamond League clean sweep, something which few track athletes have ever achieved in the 15 years since the series began. 

The Paris crowd invariably gets behind its local heroes, and they will have plenty to cheer about at the Stade Charléty on Sunday. French multi-eventing legend Kevin Mayer will be in action once again in a non-Diamond League triathlon, while 800m star Azeddine Habz will be hoping to pick up a second Diamond League win of the season after his season's best in Marrakech earlier this year. There will also be a chance for French fans to celebrate their freshly crowned European champions: Gabriel Tual also lines up in the 800m, while Alice Finot takes on world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech and reigning Diamond League champion Winfried Yavi in the women's 3000m steeplechase.