Juan Miguel Echevarria, Mike Norman, Dina Asher-Smith and Laura Muir are among the athletes in action as the Diamond League moves on to Sweden
A venue that has seen 83 world records will be hoping for more in the third Diamond League meeting of the series on Thursday, thanks in part to the appearance of Juan Miguel Echevarria.
It was here at the BAUHAUS-galan meeting in the 1912 Olympic stadium last year that the Cuban jumped a magnificent 8.83m, which was just 12cm below Mike Powell’s long-standing world record, albeit with a marginally illegal wind assistance of 2.1m/sec.
The @BAUHAUSGALAN long jump pit is now #Echevarria proof and WR ready ?#DiamondLeague #StockholmDL ??#RoadToTheFinal pic.twitter.com/JDNp6rtnak
— IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) May 29, 2019
In March, he soared out to 8.92m, aided by a wind of 3.3m/sec.
Hoping to challenge him in Stockholm this year are Olympic champion Jeff Henderson, world champion Luvo Manyonga and European champion Miltiadis Tentóglou.
Mike Norman could also get close to Wayde van Niekerk’s 400m world record of 43.03 in the one-lap race, and beat his Diamond League record of 43.62, with the American having opened his season with a time of 43.45 in California last month and followed that up with a 200m PB of 19.84 in Osaka.
The 21-year-old will go up against his training partner Rai Benjamin, Bralon Taplin of Grenada and Botswana’s Baboloki Thebe.
A world-record holder goes in the 100m hurdles as Kendra Harrison, who ran a world-leading 12.47 earlier this month, goes up against Sharika Nelvis, Cindy Roleder and Nadine Visser.
The women’s 200m looks set to be an exciting affair as it features Jamaica’s double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson, Netherlands’ world champion Dafne Schippers and Britain’s triple 2018 European champion Dina Asher-Smith, who ran a 22.26 200m in Doha.
The men’s line-up includes Turkey’s world champion Ramil Guliyev, Alonso Edward of Panama and Canada’s Aaron Brown.
In the high jump, world champion Mariya Lasitskene will be hoping to stay dominant against a top field. Among them will be Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the 17-year-old who became the youngest winner of a Diamond League event in Doha, and Olympic silver medallist Mirela Demireva. The men’s pole vault includes world gold medallists champions in Sam Kendricks, Pawel Wojciechowski and Raphael Holzdeppe, plus Olympic champion Thiago Braz.
Double European outdoor champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen will highlight the men’s 1500m with brothers Henrik and Filip, plus Kenyans Timothy Cheruiyot, Elijah and George Manangoi, while Kenya’s Hellen Obiri stars in the women’s 5000m alongside Britain’s recent Vitality Westminster Mile winner Melissa Courtney and Eilish McColgan.
The Ingebrigtsens’ fellow Norwegian Karsten Warholm goes in the men’s 400m hurdles along with Britain’s Seb Rodger and Jacob Paul, while in the men’s discus, Olympic champion Christoph Harting takes on Diamond League champion Fedrick Dacres and the in-form Daniel Stahl. The women’s event sees Sandra Perkovic open her season.
The women’s 800m features Americans Ajee Wilson and Raevyn Rogers, plus Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu, Kenya’s Nelly Jepkosgei and Britain’s Lynsey Sharp. Following the introduction of the IAAF’s new rules on female classification, the field is missing two-time Olympic and three-time world 800m champion Caster Semenya, who is set to race 2000m at the Montreuil Meet on June 11.
Looking ahead to the Stockholm 800m, 2012 European champion Sharp said: “It’s a bit of a different field than we have had over the last couple of years so it will be interesting to see how it’s run, whether people have different tactics or whether people are a bit nervous because they might have to lead which they haven’t had to do for a few years. So I think it will be a really interesting race and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Interview with Lynsey Sharp in Stockholm as she speaks to @stuartweir about tomorrow’s @BAUHAUSGALAN 800m and her coaching switch to David Harmer in Loughborough. @scotathletics pic.twitter.com/9iIkkw8op8
— Athletics Weekly (@AthleticsWeekly) May 29, 2019
Non-Diamond League events include the women’s 1500m, where British record-holder Laura Muir returns to track action after her third place at the Westminster Mile on Sunday.
She will be joined by four fellow Britons – Jemma Reekie, Sarah McDonald, Amy Griffiths and Kerry McAngus.
A timetable and entry lists can be found here.