At Diamond League Silesia, some newly-crowned Olympic champions will arrive with targets on their backs, while athletes who suffered crushing defeats will be searching for redemption. 

The late season in a championship year means that most athletes have already shown their cards, so to speak, but fans can look to this meet in Poland as an extension of the Olympic Games with peak performances and perhaps even some shots at records.

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Previewing the Field Events

In the field events, Mondo Duplantis is set to compete. Another world record at Silesia is certainly in play, and Mondo could steal the show as the pole vault competition may last until after the track races. 

The next three finishers from Paris will be there to challenge him.

Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser returns in the shot put. He’ll be joined by the rest of the podium from Paris, which includes countryman Joe Kovacs who earned silver. 

Though it’s typical for the world’s top throwers to compete frequently, this field is exciting because it features the top seven finishers from the Olympics.

Women’s 400m Hurdles is Bol vs Cockrell

The women’s 400m hurdles, which just saw Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone lower her own world record, will be without Sydney as she has decided to instead vacation in Europe. 

The story of this race will be the rematch of surprise silver medalist Anna Cockrell and Femke Bol, who was thought to be a strong challenger to Sydney but finished in third behind Cockrell. 

The field also features Dalilah Muhammed, who did not qualify for the US team and may be running a farewell tour here in Silesia.

All of a Sudden, the 800m World Record is in Play

The men’s 800m continues to be a marquee event in the Diamond League this year. It was said that no 800m race would ever eclipse the quality of the men’s final at the 2012 Olympics, where David Rudisha set the world record of 1:40.91. However, the men’s final at the 2024 Paris Olympics rivaled that race. 

Though the world record wasn’t set, Emmanuel Wanyonyi won in 1:41.19, which is awfully close to the record. Behind him, the performances were ridiculous, with the average finishing time being much faster than the so-called “greatest 800m race of all time” from 2012.

The entire final from Paris returns to run in Silesia, excluding 7th place finisher Tshepiso Masaela, and 3rd-place finisher Djamel Sedjati, who was a late scratch. It seems likely that the men will be shooting for national records and the mythical sub 1:41.

Jakob Goes After a Komen Record in the Men’s 3000m

One of the best records in track and field is Daniel Komen’s 7:20.67 in the 3000. Run in 1996, nobody has touched this record, not even a prime Hicham El Guerrouj. Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who just won Olympic gold in the 5k, has the third performance on the all-time list of 7:23.63. Improving 3 whole seconds might sound impossible, but Inbegrigtsen has the fitness to make it happen.

His main challenger will be Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who finished one hundredth of a second behind him in that 2023 race in Eugene in which they both earned spots on the all-time race in this distance that is not contested at the Olympics.

America’s Grant Fisher, who just earned two bronze medals in the 10k and 5k in Paris, has absolutely nothing to lose. He set the American record of 7:25 at the same fast Eugene race and, this year, he could definitely shave a few seconds off that or even challenge a spent Ingebrigtsen or Kejelcha.

In terms of wildcards in this race, look for Mo Ahmed (PR of 7:40.49), Ronald Kwemoi (PR of 7:28.73, silver in the Paris 5k), and George Mills (no PR in the 3k but facing a relatively disappointing season), to make things interesting.

There is no doubt that this race will be paced for the world record.