OSLO, Norway (April 12) — Long-time rivals, Sandra Perkovic, Croatia’s two-time Olympic and world gold medalist, will face off against Valarie Allman, the American Olympic champion, at the Bislett Games, the fifth stop in the 2023 Wanda Diamond League series, on June 15, the organizers revealed this week.
The field includes several of the world’s top athletes, including world record-holders Wayde van Niekerk, Karsten Warholm, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Read more: World record holder Wayde van Niekerk set for Bislett Games Diamond League meet
Perkovic has won six consecutive Diamond League titles from 2012 to 2017, while Allman has won twice, claiming victories in 2021 and 2022. Allman lost only one Diamond League meet in 2022, to Perkovic at the Bislett Games.
At the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, last summer, Both athlete finished behind China’s Feng Bin. Perkovic picked up the silver medal, while Allman finished behind her with the bronze –one year after the American took the Olympic victory in Tokyo 2021.
Meanwhile, in a busy campaign that includes the Diamond League final in Eugene in September and a World Championships in Budapest in August, both throwers are aiming for further Diamond League success.
Allman has already shown her strength this season, throwing 67.90m at the beginning of the month and then 70.25m a week later, which was the third-best mark of her career.
The Bislett Games 2023 will feature a competitive field, including Olympic silver medalist Kristin Pudenz, fourth-place world finisher Jorinde van Klinken, European bronze medalist Claudine Vita, and Olympic fifth-place finisher Liliana Ca.
Sondre Guttormsen, who will compete in the pole vault alongside his brother Simen and Pal Haugen Lillefosse, and Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal, who will participate in the 3000m, are among the other confirmed athletes for the Bislett Games 2023 meet.
Report Information: World Athletics and the Organizers
