This is Stuart Weir’s third and final article on the Oslo Bislett Games, held June 12. Stuart will next be at Stockholm on June 15.
Morning after thoughts on Bislett
1 Atmosphere
It was a great meet, great atmosphere. Several athletes said to me afterwards (of their first visit to Oslo) that they could not believe the level of noise. 15,000 in a 15,000 capacity stadium is totally different from a similar number in the 50,000 capacity Rome Olympic Stadium. And that the crowd is very close to the track adds to the atmosphere.
2 Tradition
The Dream Mile is one of the iconic events on the program with so much history. The 2025 race did not disappoint with its 10 PRs and 5 NRs out of 13. Yet for people of my age, remembering Coe and Ovett, Cram and Walker, it was noteworthy the none of the top 6 in the Paris Olympic 1500 were in Oslo.
3 Women’s 100m
Julien Alfred, the Olympic champion, went sub 11 to beat a high class field. Great to see 36 year old Marie-Josée Ta-Lou Smith beating her younger competitors to take second place.
4 Mondo
Mondo cleared 6 meters twice (best 6.15) ut I confess that I did not see either. The pole vault was at completely the opposite end of the stadium from my seat and there didn’t seem to be any prompts from this stadium announcer. I know it is the nature of our sport that several things are happening simultaneously but it does too often result in field events being marginalised.
5 Two for one
Great idea to have a few events the previous night with free admission, not to mention free strawberries for spectators (and writers!) including a high class 10K race and interviews with some legendary athletes broadcast to the crowd.
6 A 5000m
I enjoyed the paced men’s 5K race, which enabled 8 athletes to run a PR (and two national records). A year or two back it looked as if the 5K was going out of favour in the Diamond League program. It definitely has a place.
7 The 300m hurdles
I’m afraid I didn’t really see the point of this. A 300 meter flat race between the speed of the 200 men and the stamina of the 400 – or a 600m race – is always intriguing. But to see a group of 400 hurdlers running a race to show which of them can be fastest 3/4 of the way through their normal race left me bemused. At least Karsten Warholm won.
