Here’s a main card we're looking forward to seeing on the Diamond League circuit for years to come. 

Noah Lyles and Michael Norman, 21-year-old contemporaries and world-class talents in their marquee events—the 200m and 400m, respectively—will meet on Lyles’ turf tomorrow to race a half-lap in Rome with Diamond League points on the line. 

In their four-year, three-race history of facing each other over 200m, the Lyles vs. Norman record currently stands at 0-3 in Lyles’ favor, but not without spectacular results. In their first matchup at the U20 World Championships, Lyles and Norman went 1-2 for the U.S. A year later, at the 2016 Olympic Trials, the duo again squared off in their high school uniforms and finished just outside the final spot heading to Rio de Janeiro in fourth and fifth. After that, we had to wait two years to see them headline the same race again—this time, in last year's Lausanne Diamond League meeting, where Lyles defeated Norman in his most decisive victory yet.

Though it might be tempting to write this off as another "gimme" for the two-time Diamond League 200m champion, I'll play devil’s advocate. It’s worth keeping in mind that his average margin of victory against Norman is just .1, and his greatest margin of victory occurred while he was in peak form in the middle of his second pro outdoor season and Norman was at the tail end of a laborious year of NCAA competition. 

Yes, Lyles certainly has the edge as a short-sprints specialist, and he showcased stunning closing speed in his 9.86 100m win over Christian Coleman this May in Shanghai. But this will be his 200m season debut, and Norman already proved he’s in ridiculous form. The USC alum ran a 43.45 PR—the fastest debut by any man in history—in April. If Lyles gets caught sleeping at the gun (see his recent race against Christian Coleman in Shanghai), Norman might be strong enough to hold him off. 

Finally, A Women’s 400m Hurdles Race To Get Excited About

Unlike the men’s 400m hurdles, which seemingly brings the current world record to the brink each time Abderrahman Samba races, we haven’t seen a ton of action in the women’s long hurdles this season.

But that’s about to change with this star-studded cast. 

The U.S. will be represented by a triumvirate of talent in Dalilah Muhammad, 2016 Olympic champion and current world leader (53.61, the only sub-54 performance so far in 2019); Kori Carter, 2017 world champion; and Shamier Little, 2015 world silver medalist. 

They’ll be up against familiar international foes in European champion Lea Sprunger of Sweden; Jamaica’s Commonwealth champion, Janieve Russell; 2017 NCAA champion Sage Watson of Canada, and the always-dangerous Zuzana Hejnova, the two-time world champion from the Czech Republic.

We’ll definitely see a few sub-54s, but given how competitive this field is, I’m hopeful we’ll see someone crack 53. Four women in the field have done it, and I know it might be a lot to ask for with the World Championships so late in October, but Sydney McLaughlin is the only woman in the world to go sub-53 in the past year—it’s time she had some company.  

What’s A European Champion To A World Record Holder?

The women’s 1500m is STACKED, and the headliners are certainly 1500m world record-holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia and Laura Muir, the reigning European champion. In their six meetings, Muir only got the best of Dibaba once, getting fourth place to Dibaba’s 12th, at home when London hosted the 2017 World Championships—the same race in which silver went to Jenny Simpson, who is also among tomorrow’s entrants. 

Dibaba will be joined by countrywomen Gudaf Tsegay, the 2016 indoor bronze medalist who ran the world lead (3:59.57) two weeks prior, and Axumawit Embaye, 2014 indoor silver medalist. Although Muir will be Great Britain’s lone representative, she'll race alongside her Canadian training partner, Gabriela Debues-Stafford. But wait—there’s more! Rabab Arrafi, who won May’s Shanghai Diamond League 1500m, and Alemaz Samuel, the world U20 champion, should also be in the mix.

If Dibaba wants to take it out hard, my money’s on her—duh, she’s the world record-holder, and she opened her outdoor season with a 3000m PR (8:26.20). But if the race goes tactical, Muir, who easily won last week’s race in Stockholm amid adverse conditions, and 2011 world champion Simpson, who got the 5000m world standard in May but has yet to run the 1500m this season, will have a shot at closing her out. Regardless of what strategy prevails, this will be one to watch.

Are Intra-Team Rivalries A Thing?

During On The Run yesterday, my teammate Lincoln Shryack opined that athletes cannot be rivals if they run for the same team, but I disagree. Let’s not kid ourselves: aside from the relays, track and field is an individual sport, and when you’re on the starting line, the rest of the field becomes your opponents—teammates included.   

And there’s nothing wrong with that. Without rivals and strong competition, races are nothing but time trials. And who said rivalries couldn’t be friendly?

One possible rivalry we’d like to see mature is within the Nike Oregon Project: Donavan Brazier, more of a 400m-800m runner, vs. Clayton Murphy, an 800m-1500m specialist. Head to head in the 800m, they’re currently 4-1 in Brazier’s favor, but Murphy’s top accolade and PR are more impressive: 2016 Olympic bronze and 1:42.93, both from his astonishing performance in the Rio final. 

In January, the last time they met over 800m, Brazier edged Murphy 1:45.91 to 1:45.94. Who will get the upper hand outdoors? Probably whoever can hang longest with 2012 Olympic silver medalist and 1:41 PR-owner Nijel Amos of Botswana, who took down Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir in Doha last month in a world-leading 1:44.29. They’ll be joined by astute strategist and world indoor champion Adam Kszczot of Poland, as well as Asian champion Abubaker Haydar Abdalla.

Will Dina Asher-Smith Make It Three In A Row?

Fresh off her second Diamond League win of the year and her fastest non-championships 200m ever (22.18) despite chilling temperatures in Stockholm, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith is set to race her first 100m of the season in Rome. 

Asher-Smith, who lowered her own world lead from 22.26 last week in the first sub-22.20 200m of the year, is the class of the field, and that’s saying a lot when you look at the kind of company that will surround her: two-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson of Jamaica (who hasn’t looked like herself yet this season after being left in Asher-Smith’s dust last week); world silver medalist (in three sprint events!) Marie-Josee Ta Lou; former LSU standout Aleia Hobbs, who just ran an 11.07 season’s best in Shanghai; and English Gardner in her first international 100m appearance since running 11.02 in Rovereto last year.