Star-studded field for Monaco Diamond League
What you need to know:
- From Monaco, the series will move to London on July 24-25 then to Stockholm (July 30) and Zurich (September 3) before ending in Brussels on September 11.
Elite Kenyans will be among a galaxy of Olympic, World and African champions who will line up at the Monaco Diamond League on Friday.
Because of the stellar field, Friday’s 10th leg of the 14-meet series that started in Doha in May could turn out to be a dress rehearsal for next month’s World Championships in Beijing, China.
So far, the Diamond League series have been held in Qatar (Doha), China (Shanghai), Eugene (USA), Italy (Rome), Britain (Birmingham), Norway (Oslo), New York (USA), Paris (France) and Lausanne (Switzerland).
From Monaco, the series will move to London on July 24-25 then to Stockholm (July 30) and Zurich (September 3) before ending in Brussels on September 11.
YEGO ON PARADE
Monaco will offer Kenya’s javelin thrower, Julius Yego a chance to race against people he will mostly likely face in Beijing, among them Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago, Finland’s Tero Pitkamaki who has a personal best of 91.53 metres and world champion Viteslay Vesely of the Czech Republic whose PB is 88.34m.
Yego, who is the African champion, has thrown 91.39m, a national and African record, during the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Birmingham.
Monaco Diamond League organising committee has confirmed that 1,500m World champion Asbel Kiprop, 1,500m Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria and the 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic champion Mo Farah to race in 1500m.
Although men’s 1500m race does not count for the Diamond League points in Monaco, it will arguably be the most electrifying race to watch.
Kiprop’s three fastest times in 1,500m and his PB in 800m have all been set at the Stade Louis II Stadium in Monaco, the venue of the Friday’s meeting. He won 1500m in 3:27.72 in 2013, a time that put him fifth on the world all-time list. Monaco is also a good hunting ground for Farah and Makhloufi.
Farah set a European record of 3:28.81 here in 2013 while Makhloufi improved his PB to 3:30.80. Last year’s winner of 3000m in Monaco, Caleb Ndiku, will be in action on Friday to defend his meet title.
