The Pontaise Stadium will definitely deserve its full name, Pontaise Olympic Stadium. Indeed, 13 London Olympic champions – plus six other gold medallist from the relays – and a total of 53 Olympic medalists are entered for Athletissima 2012.

With such a prestigious participation, the stadium will be rocking throughout the evening. The 100m will feature six London finalists, of which Yohan Blake, Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay will be the main ones to watch out for. Usain Bolt will run the 200m, where he will be facing Warren Weir, Wallace Spearmon, Churandy Martina and Jason Young.

In the 400m, Olympic champion Kirani James will face the London medalists Luguelín Santos and Lalonde Gordon. The 110m Hurdles will also feature the London podium Aries Merritt, Jason Richardson and Hansle Parchment, for what will be an interesting face-off.

Led by Paul Kipsiele Koech and Richard Mateelong, the Kenyans will dominate the 3000m Steeplechase. The field events will also be of Olympic level, with Ivan Ukhov entered in the High Jump and Renaud Lavillenie in the Pole Vault.

In the women’s events, the 100m will also be a highlight of the evening, with the participation of the London top 3, Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, Carmelita Jeter and Veronica Campbell-Brown. The 800m will see a fascinating dual between the Russians Mariya Savinova and Yekaterina Poistogova, gold and bronze medalists in London, and the Kenyans Pamela Jelimo and Janeth Jepkosgei.

In the absence of Sally Pearson, who has ended her season due to injury, the London runner-up Dawn Harper and bronze medalist Kellie Wells will fight for the victory. Let’s also note the following events, which will all feature the London Olympic champion: Natalya Antyukh in the 400m hurdles, Brittney Reese in the Long Jump, Olga Rypakova in the Triple Jump and Valerie Adams in the Shot Put.