Norwegian stars could threaten long-standing continental marks at this week’s Diamond League in Switzerland

The Athletissima meeting in Lausanne on Thursday (Aug 26) is part of the Diamond League series. Perhaps the most intriguing event of the night, though, is an event that is not part of the Diamond League programme – the men’s 400m.

Karsten Warholm will enjoy a rare race on the flat with no barriers in his way. His target? Thomas Schönlebe’s long-standing European record of 44.33 which was set when the East German won the 1987 world title in Rome ahead of Innocent Egbunike of Nigeria and Butch Reynolds of the United States.

The mark has stood for 34 years. Warholm’s best time is 44.87 which dates back to 2017. However the 25-year-old Norwegian took down Kevin Young’s long-standing world 400m hurdles record earlier in Oslo this summer and then annihilated his own mark with a further improvement to 45.94 in the Olympic final in Tokyo this month.

What’s more, Warholm equalled Schönlebe’s European indoor 400m record of 45.05 in Glasgow in 2019. The omens are good and in Lausanne he faces a field that is led by Isaac Makwala – a 43.72 man who was seventh in the Olympic final.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen also has a European record in his sights – Mohammed Mourhit’s 3000m mark of 7:26.62 which was set 21 years ago in Monaco and one-year before he was suspended for using EPO. Ingebrigtsen ran 7:27.05 in Rome last year when he finished close behind Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo.

Kiplimo is again in the field on Thursday along with Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega of Ethiopia, Canadian Mohammed Ahmed, American Paul Chelimo, Australian Stewart McSweyn and Ethiopia’s Olympic steeplechase silver medallist Lamecha Girma.

Andy Butchart, meanwhile, will be having a crack at Mo Farah’s UK record of 7:32.62 in what promises to be a fast race.

Fresh from her stunning 10.54 100m run in the Diamond League in Eugene on Saturday, Elaine Thompson-Herah travels back to Europe to race over the distance again. Her rivals include fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, in-form Swiss sprinters Ajla Del Ponte and Mujinga Kambundji, Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast and Britain’s Daryll Neita.

The meeting actually kicks off with a city centre high jump contest between Olympic medallists Mutaz Essa Barshim, Gianmarco Tamberi and Maksim Nedasekau on Wednesday (Aug 25) in Lausanne. It acts as a prelude to the main event on Thursday and will see a rematch of the men who famously shared gold in Tokyo.

Back in the stadium on Thursday, the field events see triple jump world record-holder Yulimar Rojas in action, as well as German javelin star Johannes Vetter and shot put giants Ryan Crouser, Joe Kovacs, Tom Walsh and Darlan Romani.

In the pole vault Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis leads the line-up whereas there is a welcome return for Sam Kendricks, the American two-time world champion who missed the Games due to coronavirus this month.

Ese Brume of Nigeria and Ivana Spanovic of Serbia are part of a strong women’s long jump field along with British Olympic finalists Jazmin Sawyers and Abigail Irozuru.

Whereas Warholm is not in hurdles action, the women’s 400m hurdles features a clash between Olympic silver and bronze medallists Dalilah Muhammad and Femke Bol, while Switzerland’s former European champion Lea Sprunger will enjoy her final race.

At 110m hurdles, Olympic champion Hansle Parchment of Jamaica faces, among others, Britain’s Andy Pozzi.

A strong men’s 200m line-up sees Kenny Bednarek and Fred Kerley of the United States taking on world 400m champion Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas.

Elsewhere, Freweyni Gebreezibeher – the Ethiopian who was fourth in the Olympic 1500m final – heads a metric mile field that sees Britain’s Olympic 800m fourth-placer Jemma Reekie stepping up in distance.

Other Brits in action include Jodie Williams in the 400m and Ellie Baker in the 800m – both being non-Diamond League events.

Surprisingly there are no Brits, though, in the men’s 800m, which includes the top seven in the Olympic final plus Marco Arop of Canada, who won the event in Eugene last weekend.

For viewers in the UK the meeting is on BBC2 from 7-9pm (BST).