Brussels Diamond League Final Day 2 preview

BRUSSELS, Belgium—The second day of the Diamond League Final begins tonight at 7:30 PM. Though the weather looks to be similar to that which contributed to slow times on the opening night, hope remains that this season finale will deliver memorable performances. 

Will Sydney spoil (again) from the B heat?

On Friday night, 400m hurdles world record holder Sydney McGlaughlin-Levrone ran a non-Diamond League 400m race minutes before the “real” race. Her time of 49.11, though not the personal best she sought, was considerably faster than Mariledy Paulino’s 49.45 in the final.

Tonight, Sydney will line up in a special 200m race that may again overshadow make it so that the Diamond League race is seen as the “B” heat.

Sydney’s PR is 22.07 and she has the fitness capable to break 22 and win outright. The meeting record, Shericka Jackson’s all-time mark of 21.48 from last season, is out of reach.

Crouser and Kovacs will duel for title

Americans Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs will face off in the six-man shot put final to decide who takes the Diamond League title this year. Crouser won in 2021, but the last two finals have belonged to Kovacs.

For Crouser, the world record holder who earned his third consecutive Olympic gold in Paris this summer, the Diamond League final has little significance. The hope here is that the two men turn the meet into an exhibition of throws exceeding 23 meters.

Chasing the world lead in the men’s 200m

The post-Olympic period for the men’s 200m has been electric even without Noah Lyles. It’s primarily been a story of Letsile Tebogo, the man who earned gold in Paris in a race where Lyles was ill.

His performance, still the world lead, was 19.46.

Tebogo has run a seriously fast 100m to add to his portfolio of sprinting excellence. Additionally, Fred Kerley logged a season’s best in the event that he hasn’t quite figured out yet. American Kenny Bednarek recently ran a personal best of 19.57.

American wunderkind Erriyon Knighton has pulled out of the race, so it’ll be Bednarek and Kerley attempting to knock off Tebogo. With the conditions not conducive to sprinting, a new world lead would be monumental, and new personal bests for Bednarek or Kerley would generate meaningful debate heading into the off season.

World record watch in the 800m and 1500m

The two track events with the most favorable odds for world records being broken are the men’s 800m and women’s 1500m.

Faith Kipyegon holds the world record in the 1500m. Lowering her best is in play each time she touches the track. Tonight might be the night that the women’s 1500m is brought to a new height: sub 3:49. If this proves to be possible, talk of the first women’s sub-four-minute mile will intensify. 

In the men’s 800m, record holder David Rudisha is no longer competing. Until this season, his 1:40.91 looked untouchable. Now, the 99 Project—running 800m in under 100 seconds—is gaining traction. 

Nobody will be running under 1:40 tonight, but the men who have the best shot at it will all be lining up for the first time since the Olympics. The four sub-1:42 men in the race are Marco Arop, Djamel Sedjati, Gabriel Tual, and Emmanuel Wanyonyi. Wanyonyi and Arop are the late season favorites.