by Stuart Weir
Diversity and excellence in London
The UK is officially in drought with restrictions on use of water in several regions. We have also had a national heatwave. So, of course when the London Diamond League , sorry, Novuna London Athletics Meet, Saturday comes along there is heavy rain and temperature in the 60s. By the time the main event started, the rain was past but, the track and run-ups were still wet and the spectators – and the media – cold and wet from the 10 minute walk from the local stations.
The 60,000 seater London Stadium, formerly the London Olympic stadium, was filled to capacity, sold out weeks ago. Tickets for 2026 (18 July) are already on sale. There is nothing like a bit of nostalgia to get the crowd going. The GB 4 by 400 relay team finished second in the world championship in 1997 but have just been upgraded to gold. Roger Black, Iwan Thomas, Jamie Baulch, Mark Richardson and Mark Hylton received their medals from World Athletics president, Seb Coe.
The two hour Diamond League program was preceded by a varied range of track and field disciplines including youth and para events. A highlight was an opportunity to see the GB women’s 4 by 100 (Asher-Smith, Hunt, Henry and Neita) winning in a WL 41.69. The women are serial medal winners, but rarely run in front of a home crowd. Friends in the relay but a couple of hours later, three of them would be competing with each other in the 200.
Noah Lyles was very much himself in the press conference but less so on the track. He talked about the production company in which he has a stake. But on the track he was beaten by Oblique Seville (9.86) to Lyles’ 10.00. At least we had the women’s 100m Olympic champion winning the 200. At her presser she had said that there were a lot of St Lucians in London and she was pleased to be able to put on a show for them.
Sprints, middle and long distance, hurdles, jumps and throws – plus relays and para events – made it a great program to showcase the diversity of our sport. Get in quick before next year’s tickets sell out.
