by Alfonz Juck
CHORZOW (POL): Organisers of Silesia DL, Kamila Skolimowska Memorial, reported on X that already 35 000 tickets are sold for this year’s edition on Saturday. It starts on Friday with new city event in Katowice Market Square, dedicated to women. Non-DL competitions will take place in the high jump, pole vault and shot put. Super fields in most of the events for the next day, WR attempt in women 3000 m and classical expectations in men pole vault. Spectators waiting for women 400 m. And Lyles vs Thompson will be something special. And yes, Bednarek is also there. In women 100 m Jefferson-Wooden first competition of the year in Europe.Short previews
FRIDAY
HJ: Olympic Champion and World Record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh headlines the field and wants to break series of losses at DL (Stockholm, Paris, London). She is joined by fellow medallists from Paris Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson both of Australia. Czech Michaela Hruba, Imke Onnen from Germany (1.98m PB last weekend), Charity Hufnagel of the USA and home athlete Paulina Borys also compete.
SP: Yemisi Ogunleye leads the field, with the Olympic Champion joined by American duo Maggie Ewen and Abby Moore, Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands, Sweden’s Fanny Roos and Danniel Thomas-Dodd of Jamaica.
PV: Americans Hana Moll, Amanda Moll and Brynn King have the best PBs in the field. They compete alongside World Indoor Champion Marie-Julie Bonnin, Hanga Klekner of Hungary, Gabriela Leon also of the USA and Elien Vekemans of Belgium. Johanna Duplantis competes also, with her brother Mondo headlining the men’s field on Saturday.
SATURDAY
Women
100m: Jefferson-Wooden against Clayton twins, Budapest winner Ta Lou and Richardson, in her fifth race only this year and still waiting for victory.
200m: Brown, Ofili and Hunt will test Jackson’s current form.
400m: Paulino and Naser for victory, but home star Bukowiecka will be against.
800m (non-DL): Highly anticipated premiere of Hodgkinson after more than one year, Nowe is the season fastest in the line-up, Hollingsworth and European runner-up Gajanová also in the field.
1500m: Chebet, stepping down for her first ever international 1500m (PB 4:06.09), but has it difficult against Ethiopians (led by Tsegay and Welteji), and strong Europeans (Hunter-Bell, Healy) and US champion Hiltz.
3000m (non-DL): Kipyegon in a WR attack (her PB is 8:23.55 from 2014, more than 15s shy of the world best), paced by Jessica Hull, Ethiopia’s pack led by Amebaw is also fast.
100m hurdles: Visser defeated Nugent in Budapest, but Russell, Johnson, Tapper, Amusan and Charlton are also in the line-up.
400m hurdles: Bol is a clear favourite, world lead in danger, behind her open. Sutherland had minor issue at the warm-up and did not run in Budapest.
Long jump: European leaders Mihambo, Iapichino and Kpatcha against Americans led by Bryant.
Hammer (non-DL): Rogers faces Andersen and Kosonen, with whom she suffered her last two losses, Tervo also in the line-up.
Men
100m: One of the highlights, Lyles against Thompson and Bednarek, Olympic champion is 2:0 head-to-head vs Jamaican, and 3:2 (finals only, both defeats in 2021) vs Bednarek.
1500m: Looks quite open, fast Kenyans led by T.Cheruiyot against Americans who remained out of Tokyo squads so far (Nuguse, Kessler and Hoey), and young guns (Myers, Nillessen), steeple ace El Bakkali in his first international 1500m since 2021. Nuguse might have a chance for Tokyo when winning DL, needs points to qualify first.
110m hurdles (non-DL): Holloway, after almost two months back in Europe, for his first outdoor win of the season, Tinch and Parchment were two fastest in Budapest, Austria’s Diessl making DL debut.
400m hurdles: Warholm in his first race since mid-June, against Samba, Dean, Robinson and Nathaniel.
High jump: Fresh Ukrainian champion Doroshchuk to be considered, Hasegawa won in Budapest. Big names waiting behind (Tamberi, Kerr).
Pole vault: Mondo at the place of 626 WR. Karalis at the place of his 1st 6m.
Shot put: Excellent field with 2-10 ranked (Kovacs, Fabbri, Campbell, …), only injured Crouser and US champion Awotunde are missing.
Hammer (non-DL): Olympic (and Gyulai Memorial) rematch, will Halász defeat Katzberg again? Could both target a world lead?
Javelin: First DL competition since Paris in June, but Weber wants to confirm his ambitions, Peters, Walcott, Yego and Mrzyglod (ahead of home crowds) to challenge him.
