London Calling | Diamond League Preview
Published Sat 22 Jul 2023
After three long years, the London Diamond League is back. With just over a week left until the Budapest qualification deadline, the prestigious meet with be a pivotal moment for athletes to prove their mettle against some of the best competitors from around the globe.
Australian audiences will be able to watch the London edition of the Diamond League live and free on the Diamond League YouTube channel from 11pm AEST.
Let’s dive into key events and the Aussie stars who are poised to step up at London Stadium:
Men’s Discus (9.54pm AEST)
Stepping into the discus cage with hunger is a formidable force in the field, Matthew Denny.
Steadily building back towards his best form after focussing on the fundamentals with new coach, Dale Stevenson, the gentle giant of Australian athletics will be aiming for a spot on his first Diamond League podium as he looks to edge closer to Benn Harradine’s decade-long national record of 68.20.
With a season’s best of 66.07m and a finish fifth at the Stockholm Diamond League, the Allora product will have his work cut out from him as he takes on the titans of discus throwing. Amongst the line up is reigning Olympic champion Daniel Stahl (Sweden) and world champion Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia – both of whom have unleashed the discus to 71.86m this year.
Women’s Pole Vault (10.36pm AEST)
The Women’s Pole Vault promises to be a spectacle as Australia’s own global medallist Nina Kennedy (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) gets ready to dazzle the 50,000 strong crowd.
With a record of performing when it matters most, the 2022 Diamond League winner is no stranger to the pressure of top-level competition and will be leaning into her experience as she faces her strongest of rivals in 5-metre vaulter Sandi Morris (USA), world leader Katie Moon (USA) and Tina Sutej of Slovenia who sits just 1cm under the Australian in her best jump of the season.
Although Moon goes in as the top-seeded athlete with a best of 4.90m in 2023, the world and Olympic champion has been beaten this year and by none other Kennedy, who will be hunting for her fourth podium finish of the year.
Women’s 4x100m relay (10.39pm AEST)
Not a Diamond League event but a race to watch nonetheless is the 4x100m relay, where an Australian squad of Kirstie Edwards (David Reid), Ella Connolly (Andrew Murphy), Bree Masters (Ryan Hoffman), Torrie Lewis (Andrew Iselin) and Ebony Lane get ready to gain crucial competition experience ahead of the Budapest World Championships.
Currently sitting in 12th position ahead of the qualification deadline, the team’s place in Budapest is seemingly safe but will be looking to maximise the opportunity to compete together for the last time as a team before the major championships.
Men’s 4x100m relay (10.41pm AEST)
The Australian men’s 4x100m relay team currently sits in 16th position, leaving them without any fat as the qualification deadline for Budapest looms large.
The men’s squad will feature World Under 20 Championships representative and rising star Lachlan Kennedy (Russel Hansen), Jacob Despard (Rolf Ohman), Chris Ius (Andrew Murphy), Jake Penny (Mandi Cole & Matt Wade) and Joshua Azzopardi (Rob Marks), and together they will need to run 38.37 or better to move up in ranking and keep their spot safe.
Men’s 1500m (11.14pm AEST)
Arguably the most competitive event in global athletics at this point in history, the Men’s 1500m showcases a hotly-contested field featuring two of Australia’s most prolific middle-distance runners in Olli Hoare (Dathan Ritzenhein) and Stewart McSweyn (Nic Bideau).
Earlier this year in Oslo, Hoare clocked 3:29.41 to better McSweyn’s Australian and Oceania record by 0.1 of a second, but was disappointed to finish in seventh place in the race at Bislett Games, which featured eight of the top-10 ranked men in the world. While a fast time and an early Olympic qualifier (3:33.50) will be the goal for Hoare, the Commonwealth champion will also want to lean on his tactical prowess to finish his London campaign on the podium.
Olympic finalist and World Cross Country medallist McSweyn has had a slower start to the European season after sustaining a calf injury and goes into this race having only completed one race in the Northern Hemisphere, when running 13:23.81 to finish 16th in the 5000m at the Florence Diamond League. McSweyn has been working away at the Melbourne Track Club’s base in Teddington, and is fighting fit, looking to reclaim his status as one of the world’s leading distance athletes.
The only two Australians to shatter the 3:30 barrier over the distance, Hoare and McSweyn face a formidable field headlined by Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot has only been beaten once this year over the distance, when closing out the metric mile at the Oslo Diamond League in 3:29.08 for fourth place. Other athletes for the Australian duo to watch out for are four fellow sub 3:30 stars in Mario Garcia (Spain, 3:29.18), Azeddine Habz (France, 3:29.26), Norway’s Narve Gilje Nordas (3:29.47) and USA’s Yared Nuguse (3:39.02).
Men’s High Jump (11.22pm AEST)
Joel Baden (Sandro Bissetto) is gearing up for a momentous Diamond League debut with high hopes of securing a place on the podium.
Until last week, the Victorian was on top of the world, as the highest jumper of the year thus far with his season and personal best of 2.33m. However as competition intensifies and athletes approach their peak performance levels for Budapest, it comes as no surprise that Baden has fallen to fourth, as world Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar, 2.36m), Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy, 2.34m) and Tobias Potye of Germany (2.34,) stamp their authority on the event.
In London, the Rio Olympian will face a stiff challenge from two of the tree, in Barshim and Potye but will draw on his early 2023 season confidence to seize the opportunity.
Women’s Long Jump (11.49pm AEST)
After a late call up to the Monaco Diamond League where she placed sixth, Brooke Buschkuehl (Russell Stratton) will make another Diamond League appearance as she relishes the opportunity to compete in high level competition ahead of Budapest.
Despite facing three competitors who have leapt her season’s best of 6.77m or more this year, history suggests that the Australian record holder has the potential to deliver outstanding performances in crucial moments as witnessed at major championships and last year when leaping to a new Australian record of 7.13m in Chula Vista, USA.
Some of Buschkuehl’s biggest threats include USA duo, Tara Davis-Woodhall, who has impressed with a leap of 7.07m in 2023, and Quanesha Burks (6.95m) as well as Ivana Vuleta of Serbia, who has equalled Buschkuehl’s best this year.
Women’s 800m (12.51pm AEST)
Catriona Bisset (Ned Brophy-Williams) is determined to make her mark and bunce back from an unfortunate trip at the Silesia Diamond League last week.
Uninjured and motivated for success, Bisset will be gunning for her 10th podium this year as well as a breakthrough in her times ahead of Budapest.
Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson poses as the toughest challenge for Bisset. With a dominant seed time of 1:55.77, more than two seconds ahead of the next fastest athlete in Uganda’s Halimah Nakaayi (1:57.78), as well as a blockbuster season in 2023, Hodgkinson will no doubt command a fast race. Bisset’s season’s best of 1:58.32 places her as the fifth seeded athlete in the field of 12.
By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 22/7/2022
