{"id":117074,"date":"2026-08-18T17:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T17:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/117074\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T17:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T17:45:08","slug":"diamond-league-is-back-and-marco-arop-is-headlining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/117074\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamond League is back, and Marco Arop is headlining"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Diamond League has been on a month-long break since Great Britain\u2019s Josh Kerr broke the mile world record at the London meeting on July 18. Following the meet, athletes have competed at a series of global and national championships, including the Commonwealth Games and European Athletics Championships. With the European Championships<\/a> concluding Sunday, the elite track season returns Aug. 21 at the Athletissima Lausanne meeting in Switzerland, where Canada\u2019s Marco Arop will headline a stacked 800m field.<\/p>\n

Arop faces 800m rivals<\/p>\n

Much of the attention has been on the Aug. 27 Zurich Diamond League meeting, which has attracted some of the world\u2019s best competitors across a number of events, but Lausanne also boasts a strong field and intriguing races.<\/p>\n

Arop holds the men\u2019s 800m world lead of 1:41.84 and is the only athlete to break 1:42 this season, but four other runners in the field also have PBs under 1:42, setting the stage for a highly competitive race.<\/p>\n

Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya will face Arop for the first time since defeating him at Oslo Diamond League<\/a>. Although Arop still holds the world lead, the Lausanne race will be the first in a series of high-profile clashes between the two as the season winds down. Also on the start list is Djamel Sedjati of Algeria. The three athletes have fought for top-three spots over the past two years, sharing podium spots<\/a> at the 2024 Paris Games and the 2025 Tokyo World Championships.<\/p>\n

\"men'sMen\u2019s 800m podium at Tokyo 2025. Djamel Sedjati (silver), Emmanuel Wanyonyi (gold), Marco Arop (bronze). Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn
\nWomen\u2019s 800m<\/p>\n

Swiss star Audrey Werro will ride her 800m European gold right into Friday\u2019s race and will face bronze medallist Femke Broeders-Bol. Both have been consistent contenders on the international circuit, while reigning world champion Lilian Odira of Kenya adds another major threat to the field.<\/p>\n

The three will meet in Lausanne ahead of a much-anticipated showdown<\/a> in Zurich on Aug. 27, which is expected to feature an even deeper field of 800m stars.<\/p>\n

\"SwitzerlandsSwitzerland\u2019s Audrey Werro at 2025 Tokyo World Championships. Photo: Kevin Morris
\nSprint excitement<\/p>\n

The return of the Diamond League also brings a pair of strong 200m races. The women\u2019s event features 2025 World Championships bronze medallist Shericka Jackson <\/a>of Jamaica, who has yet to lose a 200m race this year. She faces\u00a0Great Britain\u2019s\u00a0Amy Hunt, who enters the race with plenty of momentum after a triple-gold performance at the European Championships. Hunt also edged out Jackson<\/a> for 200m silver at the 2025 World Championships.<\/p>\n

U.S. sprinter Anavia Battle will also compete and has been one of the most consistent performers this season, collecting many top-three finishes on the world stage.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s 200m features similar talent, led by Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo <\/a>of Botswana. He has competed in nearly every Diamond League sprint event this season, but after a month away from competition, it will be interesting to see how the rest has affected his form.<\/p>\n

\"LetsileParis 2024 Olympic Games. Photo: Kevin Morris<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s Sinesipho\u00a0<\/a>Dambile <\/a>won Commonwealth gold in the 200m on July 31 in 19.96 (his third consecutive sub-20 performance of the season), and will be another athlete to watch.<\/p>\n

Great Britain\u2019s Zharnell Hughes has had a down year, but enters Lausanne after winning silver in the 200m at the European Championships, along with gold medals in the men\u2019s 4x100m and mixed 4x100m relays. Zimbabwe\u2019s 200m specialist, Makanakaishe Charamba, meanwhile, in his first full season as a professional, has been a consistent top-three performer who may test the field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Diamond League has been on a month-long break since Great Britain\u2019s Josh Kerr broke the mile world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[46860,5420,52154,94,10667,56918,5279,6223],"class_list":["post-117074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lausanne","tag-audrey-werro","tag-diamond-league","tag-emmanuel-wanyonyi","tag-lausanne","tag-lausanne-diamond-league","tag-letsile-tebogo","tag-marco-arop","tag-running-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117117761924949158","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}