Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Marco Arop and others could get close to the Kenyan’s long-standing mark in Lausanne, while Jakob Ingebrigtsen has chance for revenge on Cole Hocker
David Rudisha’s world 800m record could be under threat when Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi leads a strong line-up at the Diamond League in Lausanne on Thursday (Aug 22).
Rudisha’s mark of 1:40.91 has stood for 12 years but Kenya’s Wanyonyi ran 1:41.19 to win in Paris from Marco Arop of Canada, the 2023 world champion who clocked 1:41.20 for silver in Paris.
Also in the field are Gabriel Tual of France, who has a best of 1:41.61 this season, plus 1:41.67 runner Bryce Hoppel of the Uniyed States, 1:42.04 man Mohamed Attaoui of Spain and Britain’s Elliot Giles.
If Rudisha’s mark survives, it will likely come under attack again three days later when the Diamond League moves to Silesia in Poland. On that occasion Ben Pattison and Max Burgin are also in the field, with half an eye on Seb Coe’s long-standing UK record of 1:41.73.
The men’s 800m rankings have undergone a big rewrite this year with Coe tumbling from third to eighth on the world all-time lists.
The women’s 800m in Lausanne, meanwhile, is missing Keely Hodgkinson as she gets back into training after her well-deserved post-Olympic break, but in her absence there is still a strong line up with Mary Moraa of Kenya and Brits Georgia Bell and Jemma Reekie.
Cole Hocker (Getty)
The Athletissima meeting also sees the chance for Jakob Ingebrigtsen to get back on track as he faces Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker of the United States in the 1500m.
Also in the line-up are Hobbs Kessler of the United States, Azeddine Habz of France, Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya and George Mills of Britain.
Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo of Botswana is one of the headline athletes in the sprints. With Noah Lyles having already shut his season down, Tebogo faces Americans Fred Kerley and Erriyon Knighton.
Letsile Tebogo (Getty)
Brits Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith take on Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith of the Ivory Coast and Swiss star Mujinga Kambundji in the women’s 100m, while Matt Hudson-Smith and Charlie Dobson are in the men’s 400m against Muzala Samukonga of Zambia and Vernon Norwood of the United States.
In the field, the men’s long jump features double Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece against Wayne Pinnock of Jamaica, Mattia Furlani of Italy and Simon Ehammer of Switzerland.
READ MORE: David Rudisha on his greatest race
More than 13,000 spectators are expected at a sold-out stadium at La Pontaise with a couple of thousand fans expected at Ouchy for the free-to-watch street pole vault event on August 21 with Mondo Duplantis among others.
Elsewhere, Olympic champions Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Grant Holloway and Yemisi Ogunleye are in action in the high jump, sprint hurdles and shot put.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Getty)
The meeting will be live on BBC2 from 7-9pm on Thursday August 22.
Timetable and results here
