A total of 13 Britons are set to tackle the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Oslo tonight (June 15), as the Bislett Games welcomes the fifth leg of the global athletics series in the Norwegian capital.
A recent victor in the Rome Diamond League, Chijindu Ujah (Jonas Dodoo) again lines up in the 100m, this time looking to consolidate his superb 10.02 season’s best clocking from Italy.
The 23-year-old European 4x100m relay gold medallist – who also finished third in the Eugene event – will be joined by Olympic 200m fourth placer, Adam Gemili (Rana Reider) who has a fine 10.08 best this summer.
Third in Shanghai over the longer discipline and seventh in the Eugene 100m behind Ujah, the 23-year-old is evenly matched with Reece Prescod (Jonas Dodoo) – the 21-year-old training partner of Ujah and British 200m bronze medallist, who recently clocked 10.09.
The British trio will face France’s European bronze medallist, Jimmy Vicaut – who has registered 9.97 this season – and Canada’s Andre De Grasse, the Olympic bronze medallist.
Another threesome looking capable of promise will tackle the long jump competition. World indoor bronze medallist and European indoor silver medallist, Lorraine Ugen (Shawn Jackson) should lead the way, following the 25-year-old’s impressive 6.78m season’s best for third position in Eugene.
Shara Proctor (Rana Reider) – the world indoor silver medallist – has a 6.73m best this summer, courtesy of her win in Boston earlier this month, and the 28-year-old may find Jazmin Sawyers (Kelly Sotherton) biting at her heels.
The 23-year-old European silver medallist has leapt 6.53m this season, and the international challenge will likely arrive in the form of Germany’s Claudia Salman-Rath, the European indoor bronze medallist and heptathlete with a 6.86m season’s best and the USA’s Olympic champion, Tianna Bartoletta.
In the 100m hurdles, Tiffany Porter – the 29-year-old world indoor bronze medallist – will be looking to build on her 12.75 season’s best from Florida last weekend, and she goes up against Germany’s European indoor bronze medallist, Pamela Dutkiewicz who set a 12.61 lifetime best last month.
World indoor silver medallist, Robbie Grabarz (Fuzz Caan) takes on Qatar’s Olympic silver medallist, Mutaz Essa Barshim in the high jump. The 29-year-old finished runner-up in Doha with a 2.31m season’s best but struggled in Shanghai, so he will be aiming to recapture his form.
In place of the Bislett Games’ famous ‘Dream Mile’, a 1500m event will see Olympic finalist Charlie Grice (Jon Bigg) attempt to improve upon his 3:35.72 2017 best. The 23-year-old – who ran a 3:53.62 mile in Eugene – will be joined by 22-year-old Jake Wightman (Geoff Wightman), who recorded a 3:35.93 season’s best recently, in addition to a 1:45.82 800m personal best in Gothenburg last weekend.
The duo will be pulled along by the likes of Kenya’s Silas Kiplagat and Norway’s European champion, Filip Ingebrigtsen.
Matthew Hudson-Smith (Tony Hadley) starts in the 400m against Botswana’s Baboloki Thebe, the only man in the field to have run below 45 seconds this summer, and Czech Republic’s world and European indoor champion, Pavel Maslak.
The 22-year-old Olympic finalist – who was seventh in Eugene – will be aiming to improve his 45.52 season’s best.
800m runner Lynsey Sharp (Terrence Mahon) has a 2:01.13 best this summer, and the 26-year-old Olympic sixth placer – who was eighth in Eugene and fourth in Boston – will do battle with South Africa’s Caster Semenya, the two-time Olympic and world champion.
European 4x100m silver medallist, Bianca Williams (Lloyd Cowan) competes in the 200m following a 22.83 clocking in Florida in April. The 23-year-old races world and European champion, and Olympic silver medallist Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands.
