London Diamond League: Paris 2024 athletes including Noah Lyles compete before Olympics (2024)

Published

19 July 2024

With just days to go until the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, the world's top athletes have headed to London to complete their Olympic preparations.

The London Athletics Meet is the final Diamond League event before this summer's Games and a last opportunity for medal contenders to fine-tune before making their bid for sporting immortality.

Several of Great Britain's medal hopes including Keely Hodgkinson, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Molly Caudery and Katarina Johnson-Thompson will be in action at London Stadium, which last year hosted a sell-out 50,000 crowd.

Global stars such as Noah Lyles and Femke Bol will also take to the track before travelling to the French capital, where the athletics programme begins on 1 August.

Follow the action live from London on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app from 13:15 BST on Saturday, 20 July.

The men's 100m will be the last event of the day in London - and it should provide a sensational finale.

World champion Lyles returns after beating Letsile Tebogo and Great Britain's Zharnel Hughes over 200m last year, a result repeated one month later in the world 100m final.

World bronze represented a breakthrough first global medal for Hughes, who will be joined on Saturday's start line by British 100m champion Louie Hinchliffe and another home hope in Jeremiah Azu.

In Hughes' injury-enforced absence, Hinchliffe secured a fairytale Olympic qualification by winning the British 100m title last month as the 22-year-old continues his remarkable rise under the guidance of American legend Carl Lewis.

That race follows what promises to be a thrilling women's 200m, in which Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita and Amy Hunt will aim to star in front of a home crowd.

European 100m champion Asher-Smith and 200m silver medallist Neita will contest both sprint events in Paris and have a chance to test themselves beforehand against American world 200m silver medallist Gabrielle Thomas, plus Asher-Smith's training partners Julien Alfred, of St Lucia, and Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke.

British teams will also contest the men's and women's 4x100m relay events.

Illness last year robbed Hodgkinson of the opportunity to race at London Stadium - the home of iconic Team GB moments at London 2012 - before she won a third successive global silver at the World Championships.

The 22-year-old made the podium as a teenager at the Tokyo Games - but this time it is all about gold for the two-time European champion, who has run the fastest 800m time in the world this year.

Hodgkinson is joined in the two-lap event in London by GB team-mates Jemma Reekie, Georgia Bell and Laura Muir - Bell and Muir will contest the 1500m in Paris - along with Erin Wallace.

Hudson-Smith has made no secret of his gold medal ambitions after taking world silver and joins British champion Charlie Dobson in the men's 400m.

They will face Canada's Christopher Morales-Williams - whose best of 44.05 seconds is ahead of Hudson-Smith's (44.07secs) as the second-fastest in 2024, behind American Quincy Hall.

The women's 400m sees British champion Amber Anning, preparing for her Olympic debut after a breakout year, Laviai Nielsen and Victoria Ohuruogu come up against Jamaican Nickisha Pryce and Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek - the second and third-fastest women this year.

Bol is the headline name in the women's 400m hurdles, which also features Team GB's Lina Nielsen and Jessie Knight. The Dutch star ran the third quickest time in history last week, breaking the European record in a time of 50.95secs.

Caudery is building towards a shot at gold on her Olympic debut after claiming her first global title at the World Indoor Championships, and breaking the British record - that 4.92m clearance remains unmatched in 2024.

The 24-year-old comes up against joint world champions Nina Kennedy, of Australia, and American Katie Moon, while Switzerland's Angelica Moser joined Kennedy in clearing 4.88m at last week's Monaco Diamond League.

Heptathlon world champion Johnson-Thompson finalises her preparations before seeking a first Olympic medal by contesting the women's long jump, which also features British team-mate Jade O'Dowda and Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo.

There is plenty of British interest in the Emsley Carr Mile, with George Mills - set to double up over 1500m and 5,000m in Paris - Neil Gourley, Elliot Giles, Adam Fogg and Archie Davis all involved.

Elsewhere, GB's Alastair Chalmers goes up against Brazil's former world champion Alison dos Santos in the men's 400m hurdles, while the men's 3,000m includes Britons Ellis Cross, Jack Rowe, James West, Rory Leonard, Scott Beattie and Will Barnicoat.

Americans Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs go head to head in a men's shot put featuring Scott Lincoln.

William Grimsey is joined by Olympic champion Mutaz Essa Barshim in the men's high jump, and Bekah Walton contests the women's javelin.

Home athletes including Eugene Amo-Dadzie and Imani-Lara Lansiquot will be in action in British national races earlier in the programme.

The day will also include ambulant and wheelchair events as the Paris Paralympics approach.

The wheelchair women's 800m features Britain's seven-time Paralympic champion Hannah co*ckroft, six-time Games gold medallist David Weir is in the wheelchair men's 1500m, while Sophie Hahn, winner of nine global titles, contests the ambulant women's 100m.

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