As the last stop on the Wanda Diamond League before the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, it’s no wonder so many of the sport’s big stars are heading to the British capital for the London Athletics Meet on Sunday (21).
Every discipline boasts either a world or Olympic champion or a past winner of a global title of some sort. And most events feature a clash between several of those, perhaps the most enthralling battle being the women’s 5000m, where the Olympic, world and Diamond League champions will collide.
Sifan Hassan is the Olympic champion at that distance – and at the 10,000m. The Dutch runner is undefeated across four distances this year, having won over 5000m in Portland last month, and prior to that winning both the 10,000m and 1500m on successive days at the FBK Games in early June.
Not forgetting, of course, that her last appearance in London was a triumphant one, as she won the London Marathon in April on her debut at the distance, clocking 2:18:33.
But Sunday’s race could be her toughest test of the year so far as she’ll take on world champion Gudaf Tsegay and world cross-country champion Beatrice Chebet, winner of the 5000m at last year’s Diamond League Final, the African Championships and the Commonwealth Games.
Like Hassan, Tsegay is also undefeated this year. The Ethiopian enjoyed a stunning indoor campaign, clocking world-leading times at 1500m, 3000m and the mile. She has raced twice outdoors so far, winning the 1500m in Rabat in 3:54.03 and the 10,000m at Ethiopia’s World Trials in a PB of 29:29.73.
But Chebet is also a formidable contender. Following her well-timed triumph at the World Cross in February, the Kenyan won the 5000m at the Kip Keino Classic in May, the 3000m at the Bislett Games in Oslo in a world-leading 8:25.01, and the 5000m at the Bauhaus Galan in Stockholm in 14:36.52.
All three of these global champions would have watched with interest as Faith Kipyegon broke the world record for this distance in Paris last month. But while all three have the potential to challenge that mark of 14:05.20, their focus in London will be to get one up on their rivals ahead of next month’s World Championships.
They aren’t the only global champions in the field, either. The line-up also includes four highly promising Ethiopians who have won medals at the World U20 Championships in recent years.
World U20 1500m champion Birke Haylom will be making her 5000m debut in London. The 17-year-old has shown incredible form at her specialist discipline this season, breaking Kipyegon’s African U20 record with 3:54.93, and clocking a world U20 mile record of 4:17.13.
She will be joined by world U20 5000m champion Medina Eisa, 2021 world U20 5000m champion Mizan Alem, who clocked a 10,000m PB of 29:59.03 earlier this year, and triple world U20 medallist Melknat Wudu.
Other contenders include USA’s Alicia Monson, Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal and world steeplechase silver medallist Werkuha Getachew.
Story courtesy of World Athletics
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