by Larry Eder
Fast times and memorable races have always marked the Monaco Diamond League in the past years, and this Friday’s event is set to be another exciting one.
Of all the top ten world-leading 800m runners this year, six of them will be in action at the Herculis meeting. Kenya’s 2021 world U20 champion, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, leads the deep field and currently has the world-leading time of 1:43.27, which he ran at last month’s Paris Diamond League meeting. Canada’s Marco Arop, with a personal best of 1:43.26, Algeria’s Slimane Moula (1:43.38), and Djamel Dsetjati (1:43.40), who had all finished behind Wanyonyi in Paris, in that order, will be returning for a re-match.
Fastest on the start list, World and Olympic Champion Emmanuel Korir (1:42.05) will also be there, together with Wycliffe KInyamal, who just finished fourth at the competitive Kenyan trials and failed to make the team to Budapest.
However, all eyes will definitely be on Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, who set two world records last month in the 1500m and 5000m events, as she takes her form in a distance between the two distances; the women’s mile. The world record for the distance currently stands at 4:12.33, a time set by Dutch’s Siffan Hassan at the same venue in 2019, a time that is four seconds away from Kipyego’s personal best of 4:16.71.
In the same race will be Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu, who just set a new meeting record for the 3000m at the Silesia Diamond League meeting on Sunday, Great Britain’s Laura Muir, who has a personal best of 4:18.03, and Australia’s Jessica Hull who holds the Australian record of 4:18.24.
In the men’s 3000m steeplechase race, Kenya’s Simon Koech, who won the Kenyan trials, will be hoping to hit the qualification time of under 8:15.00. Abraham Kibiwot, who was second behind Soufiane El Bakkali in Silesia will be here to seek an individual Diamond League win to his name in the absence of the two main protagonists in the event this year. Former world and Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto will also feature. Ethiopia’s Abraham Sime, with a personal best of 8:10.68, will be there to provide a tough external challenge to the Kenyans.
Another one of the most anticipated races of the evening will be the men’s 5000m race which is expected to be a big showdown between Ethiopia’s world leader, Berihu Aregawi, and Uganda’s world cross-country champion, Jacob Kiplimo. This will happen in a deep field of ten runners with personal best times of under 13 minutes.
