Lausanne Diamond League 2023 preview: Full schedule and how to watch
Olympic 5000m gold medallist Joshua Chepetegei and Norwegian 1500m world leader Jakob Ingebrigsten lead the chase for fast times at the 2023 Athletissima meeting in Lausanne, which takes place on June 30.
Athletics
The sixth meet of the Diamond League athletics series takes place on Friday, June 30 with an impressive list of big names led by Olympic and world gold medallists on parade at the 2023 Athletissima.
The focus in Lausanne will be on the middle and distance running events. We will see the return of the Wavelight technology which will be used to help runners surpass their limits. Expect to see some very quick races and impressive times, possibly even world records.
After ‘one of the greatest nights in athletics’ at the Diamond League event in Paris, where two world records and a world best were set on June 9, Jakob Ingebrigtsen returns to chase the fastest time ever in the 1500m.
World record holder and Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei is the top pick in the men’s 5000m, and Beatrice Chepkoech, world record holder in the women's 3000m women’s steeplechase is hoping to break the 9-minute mark for the first time in nearly a year.
400m hurdles ace Femke Bol returns to the track just days after a fast 400m at the European Team Championships in Silesia. The 100m hurdles will pit Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn against world champion Tobi Amusan, while sprint star Marie-Jose Ta Lou is the favourite to win her third race in the Diamond League Series this season.
The field events are also worth keeping an eye on. World shot put record holder Ryan Crouser and Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra are the headliners.
Athletes to watch at the 2023 Atheltissima in Lausanne
Eyes on record chasers Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Joshua Cheptegei
Can we expect a world record in the men’s 1500m? That will be the big question when Ingebrigsten lines up for another chase of Hicham El Guerrouj’s 3:26.00 mark.
The world record has stood since 1998 and the Norwegian star is the only one of the current crop of runners who has come close to breaking it. His 3:27.95 run in Oslo has cataputled him into sixcth plaxe on the all-time list.
And he will have first-rate competitors pushing him to the finish line in Kenya’s 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, and reigning world gold medallist Jake Wightman.
The meet organisers will be hoping for another stunning night of action like in Paris when Faith Kipyegon set her second world record in the women's 5000m and Lamecha Girma broke the mark in the men's 3000m steeplechase.
Uganda’s Cheptegei will compete in only his second race this season after a fourth place finish in Florence.
The Olympic and world gold medallist is the favourite in a race that also features Ethiopian’s Oslo winner Yomif Kejelcha and Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega.
Jacob Kiplimo, the Ugandan world half-marathon record holder who lost to Kejelcha in a photo-finish in the men’s race at the Bislett Games, will also line up for the 5000m.
Keely Hodgkinson up against Mary Moraa in the 800m rematch, and eyes on Femke Bol in the 400m hurdles
Fresh from winning the National Championships in Nairobi over the weekend, Kenya’s in-form Commonwealth champion Mary Moraa returns to the circuit seeking her second win over the women’s two-lap race.
She opened her outdoor season in Botswana, winning the 400m before crossing the line first in the 800m at the Diamond League stop in Rabat.
She skipped Paris, where Keely Hodgkinson dashed to victory. The two haven’t raced since the world indoors in Torun where the Brit took revenge for her Commonwealth Games defeat to the Kenyan star.
The 400m hurdles should be another Femke Bol show after her dominant win in Oslo. The Dutch Olympic bronze and world silver medallist has been in stellar form since breaking the longest-standing 400m world indoor record last February.
She’s just won the women’s 400m at the European Team Championships on Friday, June 23.
Marie Jose Ta-Lou and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn ready to rock
Yet again, Ivorian Marie-Josée Ta Lou is the front-runner in the women’s 100m as the fastest in the field that also includes Poland’s Ewa Swaboda and Great Britian’s Daryll Neita.
Ta Lou has won all but one of the ten 100m starts this season as she marches towards her fifth consecutive world championships.
Puerto’s Rico sole track gold medallist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn who opened her season with a win in Doha, will be aiming for her sixth win in a row in 2023. She holds the world lead of 12:31 achieved at the Los Angeles Grand Prix on May 27.
Olympic champions in men’s javelin and long jump and women’s pole vault
The thrills should spill over to the field events in Lausanne.
The presence of Olympic gold medallists India’s Neeraj Chopra (men’s javelin), American Ryan Crouser (men’s shot put), Greek’s Miltiadis Tentoglou (men’s long jump) and Katie Nageotte-Moon (women’s pole vault) should provide some exciting action in their respective events.
Lausanne will be the first Diamond League event for Italian prodigy Mattia Furlani christened ‘Mr Jump’. The 18-year-old remains among the list of long jumpers to watch after his longest jump of 8.44m (wind assisted) in May in Savona.
How to watch the 2023 Diamond League in Lausanne
The 2023 Diamond League in Lausanne will be streamed in a number of territories on the Wanda Diamond League YouTube page from 20:00 local time (GMT+2). The livestream will not be available in all territories.
SRG has the broadcasting rights in Switzerland.
For viewers in the U.S., NBC has the rights and will broadcast on CNBC and on Peacock, while the BBC has the rights in the UK and will air it on BBC three.
SuperSport is the rightsholder for the 2023 Diamond League in most of Africa.
2023 Lausanne Diamond League full schedule
30 June 2023 (Diamond leagues events are marked in bold)
All times local in CET (GMT+2)
Time Discipline
19:10 200m Women
19:15 Javelin Women
19:35 Shot Put Men
19:52 400m Men
20:04 800m Women
20:06 Pole Vault Women
20:16 110m Hurdles Men
20:25 3000m Steeple Women
20:35 Long Jump Men
20:42 100m Women
20:48 Javelin Men
20:50 5000m Men
21:13 100m Hurdles Women
21:20 200m Men
21:28 400m Hurdles Women
21:39 1500m Men
21:52 4x100m Women