2024 Brussels Diamond League Final: Five must-see events
Mondo Duplantis, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Julien Alfred and other superstars from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will vie for Diamond League honours (and wildcard spots for the 2025 World Athletics Championships) this weekend in Belgium.
A number of Olympic champions will seek another global title this weekend (13-14 September) when the 2024 Diamond League concludes in Brussels, Belgium.
Among the star-studded cast of attending athletes are a host of Olympic medallists from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, making this Final must-see viewing for fans of elite sporting competition. Oh, and there's more than just the Diamond League Trophy on offer: winners will earn a wildcard entry to the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Japan.
We did our best to narrow down what promises to be an epic two days of athletics into a top five of unmissable events at the King Baudouin Stadium.
Men's pole vault: Will Mondo Duplantis clear 6.27m?
It's fair to say Mondo Duplantis will have enjoyed 2024.
The 24-year-old collected gold medals at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow and European Championships in Rome, and successfully defended his Olympic title in Paris, setting a new world record (6.25m) in the process.
Just 20 days after winning the second Olympic gold medal of his career, the Swedish-American would set another world record (his 10th) at the Diamond League meet in Chorzów, Poland, clearing 6.26m to firmly establish himself as the greatest pole vaulter of all time.
For the season finale, one will assume that Duplantis, being the showman that he is, will pull out all the stops to surpass his unbelievable standards and clear 6.27m in the Belgian capital—a dizzying height that may only be attainable to the god of pole vaulting.
Duplantis will begin his quest for more history on Friday (13 September) at 19:45 local time.
Women's 100m: Julien Alfred vs Sha’Carri Richardson
Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Brussels meet will be a new chapter in the budding rivalry between Olympic champion Julien Alfred and world champion Sha’Carri Richardson.
Alfred produced an electrifying sprint in Paris last month, stunning the rest of the field and a global audience to win gold in 10.72 seconds ahead of Richardson (10.87 seconds) in second. She would also claim silver in the 200m behind Gabrielle Thomas, earning the first-ever Olympic medals for Saint Lucia.
The 23-year-old has one Diamond League victory under her belt in 2024 (a 10.85 victory in Monaco on 12 July), but in the most recent meet in Zurich it was Richardson who eased past Alfred in 10.84 seconds.
That sets up a tantalising conclusion between the two this Friday, but there are plenty of other women capable of beating both Richardson and Alfred in Brussels; Three-time Olympic 4x100m medallist Dina Asher-Smith has clocked two sub-10.9 finishes since the Olympics and will be eyeing her British record of 10.83 seconds (if conditions are favourable).
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone goes for gold in women's 200m & 400m
In a testament to McLaughlin-Levrone's athletic prowess and championship pedigree, organisers have scheduled unique 200m and 400m races in Brussels to "honour her remarkable achievements" despite the American failing to compete in a Diamond League race this season, meaning she wasn't eligible for a global wild card.
And while she won't be racing in the official Diamond League programme, fans will still be in for a show as they'll witness the world 400m hurdles record-holder and multiple Olympic champion attempt to beat the US record of 48.70 in the 400m, set by Sanya Richards-Ross in 2006.
The 25-year-old McLaughlin-Levrone broke her previous world record to win her second Olympic 400m hurdles gold medal in Paris last month in a time of 50.37 seconds, and was also part of the victorious US women’s 4x400m team at the Games.
But she's also an elite runner in individual flat races, as evidenced by her personal bests of 22.07 and 48.74 in the 200m and 400m respectively.
McLaughlin-Levrone will compete in the women's 400m B race at 19:53 local on Friday (13 September), with the "special" 200m taking place at the same time the following day (Saturday 14 September).
Men's 1500m: Can Cole Hocker beat Jakob Ingebrigtsen again?
Cole Hocker stole the headlines in the 1500m at Paris 2024 by executing his now-famous finishing kick to surge past both Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr — fierce rivals and heavy favourites for the event — to win gold in a new Olympic record time of 3:27.65.
That moment will surely be playing on repeat for double Olympic and world champion Ingebrigtsen, who wound up finishing in fourth behind Yared Nuguse in third and Kerr in second.
The Norwegian is still a force in the event with a personal best of 3:26.73; so if he's fully fit and ready for a fight is there a chance we could see Ingebrigtsen do the unthinkable and break Hicham El Guerrouj's world record of 3:26.00? He'll have to beat Hocker and Nuguse to do it (current world champion and Olympic silver medallist Kerr won't be present), setting the stage for what should be a dramatic race on Friday evening (21:29 start).
Men's 200m: Letsile Tebogo leads stacked 200m field
Letsile Tebogo won his first Olympic medals in Paris with gold in the men's 200m and a silver as part of Botswana's 4x400m relay team. The 21-year-old hasn’t lost a single race over either the 100m or the 200m since, with his Olympic-winning time of 19.46 good for fifth on the 200m all-time list behind only Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Noah Lyles and Michael Johnson.
Tebogo will look to continue that incredible streak in Belgium but will face some elite competition, particularly in the form of Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, who clocked 19.57 — going joint-eighth on the 200m all-time list — to the Motswana’s 19.55 at the Zurich Diamond League last week.
Other threats include 100m double Olympic medallist Fred Kerley and two-time world 200m medallist Erriyon Knighton.