BRUSSELS, Belgium, April 28 — The Wanda Diamond League Meeting at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme on September 8th will showcase six of the world’s top athletes, including Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Mondo Duplantis, both of whom were named World Athletes of the Year in 2022.
On September 8th, the Wanda Diamond League Meeting at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme will feature six of the world’s top athletes, including world record holders Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Mondo Duplantis. Both athletes were named World Athletes of the Year in 2022. Read more: World record holder Wayde van Niekerk set for Bislett Games Diamond League meet
McLaughlin-Levrone, hailing from the USA, will make her first appearance at the Memorial Van Damme during a season in which she has the chance to retain her world title in Budapest. She won the Diamond Trophy in the 400m hurdles in 2019 and improved her world record to 50.68 seconds when winning the world title in Oregon last July.
Duplantis, the Swedish world and Olympic pole vault champion, took his world record to 6.22m earlier this year in Clermont-Ferrand. He will be looking for another strong performance after setting the 6.05m meeting record in Brussels in 2021.
Other athletes joining the event are Ukraine’s world indoor high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who returns to the scene of her 2.05m outdoor national record achieved last year, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Olympic champion and a world gold medallist in the 5000m, and Olympic and world marathon bronze medallist Bashir Abdi, who hopes for a record-breaking run on home soil targeting the European 10,000m mark held by Mo Farah.
Mahuchikh expressed her excitement for the Memorial in release recently, “The Memorial feels like a home competition to me. I was very well received in Belgium. My ambitions this year lie primarily with the World Championships in Budapest, but I also hope to be able to shine at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme, just like last year.”
Additionally, two-time Olympic and world heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam, who leaped 6.46m to finish fourth in the long jump at last year’s Memorial Van Damme, will compete in front of home fans.
The 2023 Allianz Memorial Van Damme Wanda Diamond League event promises to be a must-watch for sports fans, with some of the world’s top athletes competing on the track and in the field.
