Some of the biggest names in long distance running will go head to head in the men's 5000m in Oslo on May 30th, in a battle between the very best of Uganda and Ethiopia.
World record holder Joshua Cheptegei, current world number one Yomif Kejelcha and 2021 Wanda Diamond League champion Berihu Aregawi are all among the starters in what promises to be a race for the ages at the sixth leg of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League season.
Uganda's Cheptegei is hoping to emulate the form which saw him break the world record with 12:35.36 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco in 2020 and take Olympic gold in Tokyo a year later.
He will be joined in Oslo by fellow Ugandan star Jacob Kiplimo, the reigning 5000m Commonwealth champion 10,000m Olympic bronze medallist. Kiplimo will be out to claim only his second Diamond League win, after he cruised to victory in the 3000m in Rome four years ago.
The Ugandans will have their work cut out against a formidable line up of Ethiopian stars, however, with Kejelcha and Aregawi joined by Hagos Gebrhiwet and Telahun Haile Bekele.
World number one Kejelcha is a veteran of the Diamond League circuit, who won the Diamond Trophy at the age of just 18 in 2015 before going on to claim ten victories in various cities since then. Last year, he narrowly missed out on the title in a thrilling battle with Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the final in Eugene.
Aregawi and Gebrhiwet are also former Diamond League champions, with Aregawi having claimed the title at the street event in Zurich in 2021 and Gebrhiwet having stolen Kejelcha's crown back in 2016.
They will be joined by world number four Bekele, who took victory in the 5000m in Oslo two years ago when he clocked 13.03.51 at the 2022 Bislett Games.
Guatemala's Luis Grijalva, Switzerland's Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu and local favourite Henrik Ingebrigtsen are also on the entry list.
The Wanda Diamond League is the premier one-day meeting series in athletics. It comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field. Athletes compete for points at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels on 13th-14th September.
