PREVIEW | Monaco Diamond League

Entries are in for the Monaco Diamond League and the meet is shaping up as an Olympic Games dress rehearsal for six Australians, with Olympic-final caliber fields assembled to compete on Stade Louis II – a track riddled throughout the record books as a happy hunting ground for athletes.

Women’s Javelin (3:20am AEST):

Reigning world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber (Mike Barber) has made a strong impression in her first two competitions on the international circuit in 2021, securing a win in Finland before a third place finish at the Oslo Diamond League.

The strong performances will bolster the confidence of Barber, who has recently returned to throwing over the 60-metre mark consistently to form the solid foundation of her Olympic campaign.

Arguably the most exciting feature of Barber’s javelin prowess is her ability to summon her best under pressure – demonstrated by her sixth-round throw of 66.56m at the 2019 World Championships which propelled her to the top of the podium.

Barber comes up against a similar field to that of Oslo, where she will look to even the ledger with Germany’s Christin Hussong and Poland’s Maria Andrejczyk who both threw 62-metres to defeat Barber in their first encounter.

Men’s High Jump (3:50am AEST):

Brandon Starc (Alex Stewart) recently piled on 4cm to his season’s best when securing the Olympic standard of 2.33m in Italy, suggesting that the equal national record holder is fine form ahead of his second Olympic Games.

Starc showed strong form at the most recent major championships with a sixth place finish in Doha, with three of the five men who beat him on that occasion also entered to compete in Monaco. The competition will be welcomed by the 27-year-old Australian who was regularly without company throughout the domestic season.

Starc backed up with his 2.33m performance with a 2.27m clearance in Hungary this week, an improvement in establishing the consistency required to take him deep into the Olympic final.

Women’s 800m (4:18am AEST):

Catriona Bisset (Peter Fortune) recently crushed her own 800m national record in Poland when running a scorching 1:58.09 to surpass her previous mark of 1:58.78.

The performance was the first of a series of strong runs from Bisset, who has since run 1:59.30 and 1:59.13 at the Oslo and Stockholm Diamond League legs respectively – placing fourth and fifth against slick fields.

The national record holder is agonisingly close to becoming the first Australian woman in history to enter 1:57 territory, and with a world-class lineup assembled in Monaco – the feat may be achievable sooner than most would think.

The Australian will be up against three of the top five fastest women in the world this year - Cuba’s Rose Mary Almanza (1:56.28), Jamaica’s Natoya Goule (1:56.44) and the USA’s Kate Grace (1:57.36). Bisset currently holds the ninth fastest time in the world in 2021.

Men’s 1500m (4:32am AEST):

This race looms as the main event on the card with Stewart McSweyn (Nic Bideau) and Jye Edwards (Dick Telford) set to do battle with reigning world champion Timothy Cheruiyot and Norwegian sensation Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

The Australians enter the encounter boasting the prestige of their results at last week’s Svein Arne Hansen Dream Mile, where McSweyn shattered Craig Mottram’s Australian and Oceania record in a time of 3:48.37 and Edwards finished in third place in 3:49.27.

McSweyn’s time is the fastest mile time globally since 2014 and Edwards’ performance moved him to third on the Australian all-time list, with the pair primed to challenge for the win in Monaco.

The race features names prominent in medal discussions for the 1500m final in Tokyo, providing an opportunity for the Australians to gauge how their tactics and skillsets weigh up against the world’s best just weeks out from the Olympic Games.

The two are likely to vary in their methods, with McSweyn having established a reputation on the world scene as an aggressive and fearless front-runner whilst Edwards has shown a capacity to wind it up in the later stages of the race.

McSweyn’s 1500m national record is 3:30.51 – that is worth noting.

Women’s 3000m Steeplechase (5:36am AEST):

Australian record holder in the 3000m steeplechase Genevieve Gregson (Nic Bideau) took a solid step forward when clocking 9:23.24 at Sunday’s Stockholm Diamond League – her fastest time since 2016.

Having only competed over the barriers four times since October of last year, the performance leaves significant room for improvement for the versatile Australian who has rediscovered the form that carried her to a ninth place finish in the 3000m steeplechase final at the Rio Olympics.

The 31-year-old Australian faded over the final lap in Stockholm, with her potential when sharpened by races under her belt an exciting prospect that places her within reach of her own national record of 9:14.06.

Monaco will be a case of Gregson sticking to her race plan and being dragged along by the talented field, which includes the complete podium from the 2019 World Championships 3000m steeplechase final– Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech, the USA’s Emma Coburn and Germany’s Gesa Felicitas Krause.

Watch live on Fox Sports from 4am AEST.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 9/7/2021