Letsile Tebogo, Julien Alfred Headline Diamond League Final

Botswana's Letsile Tebogo and Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred are among the many Olympic medalists set to compete in Brussels at the Diamond League Final.

Sep 12, 2024 by Maxx Bradley

Letsile Tebogo, Julien Alfred Headline Diamond League Final

Track and field fans around the world have been spoiled over the last few months, and now the 2024 Diamond League Final in Brussels, Belgium is the exclamation point on a historic year.

Over the course of Friday and Saturday, Allianz Memorial Van Damme will play host to the 15-event season finale. From top to bottom, every event is jam-packed with world-class talent, and there will be no shortage of incredible performances as athletes give it one last go before taking a well-deserved break.

Both on and off the track, Olympic champions, medalists and challengers will butt heads one way or another, with plenty of fascinating storylines trending upwards as we get closer to the conclusion of the long season.

Here are four of the top storylines to follow at the 2024 Diamond League Final in Brussels.

Letsile Tebogo & Kenny Bednarek Lead Loaded 200m Final

Currently in the midst of a historic run, Botswanan mega star Letsile Tebogo is eyeing one last electrifying performance. The 21-year-old won Olympic gold in the 200m over a field of favorites, including 100m Olympic champion Noah Lyles. Tebogo also nearly anchored Botswana to gold in the 4x400m, finishing just one tenth of a second off the U.S. and settling for silver.

This weekend, Tebogo won’t have Lyles to deal with, but will face challengers in every lane. Americans Kenny Bednarek, Erriyon Knighton and Courtney Lindsey have clocked 19.57, 19.77 and 19.71 this season, and Bednarek won 200m silver for his second-consecutive Olympics in August.

At the end of the day, Tebogo is the clear favorite for the title, especially following the 9.87 and 19.55 100m and 200m performances he has thrown down within the last two weeks.

Olympic Champions Cole Hocker & Jakob Ingebrigtsen Prepare For One Last Battle

Fans of the 1500m continue to be spoiled this year, with Olympic 1500m gold and bronze medalists Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse set to take on Olympic 5000m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen over 1500m.

Since the beginning of August, each mid-distance star has beaten the other two, though Hocker did it on the sport’s biggest stage in Paris, and Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse stole the wins in Lausanne and Zurich.

This summer alone, the trio has moved toward the very top of the all-time list, with the Norwegian now sitting as the fourth-fastest man of all-time in 3:26.73. Hocker and Nuguse rank No. 7 and No. 9 in world history after running 3:27.65 and 3:27.80 in Paris.

In a race that’s so unpredictable, it’s too tough to tell who is going to leave Brussels with bragging rights, but look for it to be one of these three men.

Julien Alfred & Sha'Carri Richardson Set For 100m Rematch

In perhaps their final matchup of the season, Olympic 100m gold medalist and Saint Lucian star Julien Alfred will clash with silver medalist Sha’Carri Richardson. Recently, the pair met on a rain-soaked track in Zurich, where Richardson took down the Olympic champion and clocked 10.84 to Alfred's 10.88. Head-to-head, the 100m series between the two global champions is tied, with the pair splitting six races down the middle.

As they begin to shift their focus to the upcoming world championship season, one of the two will go out on top, while the other will have to wait until next season for a shot at redemption.

Two-time Olympic Champ Valarie Allman Leads Historically-Great Discus Field

Since the turn of the 19th century, only 27 women have thrown farther than 70 meters in the discus throw, and on Friday, four of them are chasing one last season victory in Belgium’s capital.

Valarie Allman, the American who has been in a world of her own the last few years, is fresh off a second-straight Olympic title, and is on a historic run of 16 consecutive victories in her speciality dating back to September 2023. In that span, Allman won another U.S. championship, the 2023 Diamond League Final and Olympic gold.

Even with her recent stretch of dominance, Allman will have her work cut out for her as Croatia’s Sandra Elkasević, Cuba’s Yaimé Pérez and Dutch sensation Jorinde Van Klinken are looking to end the streak while they still can.

Elkasević, a two-time Olympic and two-time world champion, is geared up for another final, as the 34-year-old and seven-time Diamond League Final winner is coming off of a bronze medal in Paris. As an established veteran and a legend of the sport, it’s never a sure win when the Croatian steps into the ring.

Pérez, who defected to the United States following her seventh-place finish at the 2022 World Championships, is the world leader this year after throwing 73.09m at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational in early April.

Van Klinken is the youngest of the four and joined the 70-meter club at just 21-years old. She continues to chase that coveted global medal, but will have the chance to make a statement against a historic field this weekend.