Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) - Sweden's Armand "Mondo" Duplantis, the world and Olympic pole vault champion, and Jamaica's Oobleck Seville, the 100-meter world champion, lead the opening day of the two-day IAAF Diamond League final in Brussels on Friday.

Published on: 09/03/2026 - 16:31

Agence France-Presse reviews five prominent competitions worth following:

Men's pole vault

Duplantis, a two-time Olympic and three-time world champion and holder of 15 world records, continues his dominance in the men's pole vault.

But the American-born Swede admitted after his victory in the Diamond League meeting in Zurich last week that he will have to perform at his best in order to confront his Greek competitor, Emanuel Karalis.

Duplantis won in Switzerland after scoring 6.25 metres, while Karalis achieved a new personal best of 6.20 metres, in a competition characterized by true competition.

“This is the highest level of competition this sport has ever seen,” Duplantis said. “Manolo’s jumps are amazing right now, so I have to give my best.”

Karales added, "I hope that we will witness great confrontations in the future. I hope that I will be able to achieve victory one day."

100 meters for men

Civil achieved a remarkable victory in the Silesian Diamond League meet, beating Americans Kenny Bednarek and Christian Coleman, and setting a record for the meeting of 9.83 seconds, in a race in which all nine runners fell under the ten-second barrier.

While Bednarek is focusing on the 200 meters race on Saturday in Brussels, Coleman and Trayvon Brummel will be among the participants in the most important race, along with Nigerian Kensola Ajayi, Cameroonian Emmanuel Esimi, and the dangerous South African duo Gift Lyotlela and Akane Sembene.

“Great things await me,” Civil said. “In the remainder of the season I want to continue winning, and the next victory must be in Brussels.”

200 meters for women

Olympic champion Julienne Alfred tops the list of participants in the most important women's speed race.

Alfred arrives in Brussels after getting some revenge on American world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden with a landslide victory in the 100 meters in Zurich.

Jefferson-Wooden may be absent from Brussels, but four of her American colleagues are participating in the race: Anavia Patel, Gina Prandini, Cambria Sturgess and Kayla White.

Newly crowned European champion British Amy Hunt will also participate.

“My only goal is to win on Friday and lift the Diamond League Cup,” said Alfred, from Saint Lucia. “I want to win as many titles and trophies as possible during my career.”

800 meters for men

Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the world and Olympic champion, achieved a major victory in Zurich ahead of Algerian Djamel Sjati, recording a time of 1:41.76 minutes, which he described as “amazing.”

“This result shows that my physical fitness is improving,” Wanyonyi said. “When I see world records being broken, I know that my time will come. Everything has its time.”

His compatriot David Rudisha holds the world record for the 800 meters at 1:40.91 minutes, which he set when he won gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

Wanyonyi, who set a world record in the one-kilometre race in Monaco last month, said trying to break Rudisha's record was like running a marathon in less than two hours.

The race includes Wanyoni, Canadian Marco Arup, whose predecessor was a world champion, Sjatti, and Frenchman Gabriel Toal, who failed to reach the European Championship final, and they have the four fastest times among active runners in the history of the 800 metres, and all of them will be present in Brussels.

1500 meters for men

Jakob Ingebrigtsen tests himself again against a strong group that includes a number of prominent Americans: Olympic champion Cole Hooker, Jared Nogus, Hobbs Kessler, and Ethan Strand, the surprise winner in the Silesian meeting.

Ingebrigtsen's participation in Poland was his first race over this distance in the Diamond League in two years, as part of his gradual return after an Achilles tendon injury due to which he underwent surgery.

After finishing fourth in Silesia and fifth in Zurich, the Norwegian, who achieved an amazing 20 victories in the Diamond League between 2020 and 2024, showed that he is once again capable of competing with the best in one of the most difficult competitions.

© 2026 AFP

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