The Diamond League continues to stay hot, both literally and metaphorically! This time we're in Paris and the the record temperatures in Paris got to the point where there was talk of cancelling the meet. Thankfully, it still happened and we got some amazing performances! Let's take a look at some of the hot performances that poetically matched conditions in Paris.
Men's 400m:
Big Names in the Race:
Busang Collen Kebinatshipi - reigning world champion in the open 400m
Zakithi Nene - 2025 World 4x400 bronze medalist in the 4x4 relay
Chris Bailey - 2024 Olympic gold, 2023 world gold, 2025 silver medalist in the 4x4 relay
Matthew Hudson-Smith - 2024 Olympic silver medalist in the open 400 and olympic bronze in the 4x4, 2023 world silver in the 4x4 relay
Muzala Samukonga - 2024 Olympic bronze medalist in the open 400
Jereem Richards - 2 x World gold medalist, 1 x world silver medalist, 3 x world bronze medalist
What's Happening: After Hudson-Smith reaches the final bend with a slight lead, Kebinatshipi passes him and pulls away from the field to a diamond league and meet record with a time of 43.54.
Callout: Kebinatshipi seems to be back towards the form he had at the last world championship. For context, he is the reigning world champion and has run a 43.53 at the last world championships, so this isn't completely unusual. Jereem Richards was second in that race, but a bit further back on this one. (Maybe he's peaking later?)
Let's talk about lane staggers and speed endurance. Last time, we talked about how the lanes have to be staggered so the distance is the same for everyone. And that both dictates how to watch it and makes it a bit challenging to eyeball the race until the 300m mark. One thing to look out for is if an athlete from an inner lane catches up to other athletes in outer lanes early on as that's the equivalent of being ahead of them. You see this a lot when, say, Marileidy Paulino runs like she did back in Doha.
Another thing to keep in mind when watching a 400m is that it's a game of speed endurance, so the final stretch comes down to slowing down the least. You'll see Matt Hudson-Smith makes up a stagger early on, but then succumbs to fatigue and falls back in the last 100m. They can't all be Marileidy Paulino, it seems. In Kebinatshipi's case, it almost deceivingly looks like a "sit and kick" 400m. He's behind Hudson-Smith at 300m and then drops him, but that's because he only slows down by a second in the second half. His first 200 was 21.29 and his second 22.25, which is still remarkable endurance!
Definitions:
"Stagger" refers to a staggered start line. Since the outside lanes cover more distance due a larger radius, they shift the starting lines for each lane accordingly.
"Meeting Record" is just the formal version of "meet record." It's the best performance in a specific event for a certain meet's history.
"Speed endurance" refers to the ability to hold max speed (or close to it) as long as possible. You're only physiologically able to hold your max speed for a handful of seconds.
"Reigning World Champion" refers to an athlete who won the last World Championship in an event.
Women's 800m:
Big Names in the Race:
Audrey Werro - 2026 World silver medalist in the 800m
Femke Broeders-Bol - 4x Olympic medalist (1 gold), 11 x World medalist (5 golds). Up until this year, she specialized in the 400m hurdles until she switched to the 800m.
What's Happening: In a paced 800m with wavelights, Audrey Werro sets a new world lead and a Diamond League record with a time of 1:53.80. Femke Broeders-Bol sets a big personal best with a time of 1:55.60.
Callout: In terms of pacing, it's very common for 800m races to run more like a 400m than, say, a 1500m. In that it's more about an aggressive start and then controlling the deceleration instead of even splits or a negative split. The napkin math is frequently (but not always) somewhere in the 2-3 second range for a deceleration. So, you'll notice that the pacer takes them through 55 even though Werro is aiming for ~1:53, for example.
Let's also keep an eye on Femke Broeders-Bol, who is still learning this distance yet suddenly in the mix. She was focused on the 400m hurdles up until this season and this has been a surprising pivot to the 800m, but it's been a successful pivot nonetheless. 1:55.60 is an incredible feat for just a handful of attempts at this distance.
Definitions:
"Wavelight" refers to a pacing system where there is a series of lights set up on the curb of the track and usually move at prescribed speed. The idea is that it's mentally easier for athletes to just follow a light.
"Even splits" refer to running certain segments at a consistent pace. The segments could be miles, laps, or fractions of a lap. In this case, we are referring to laps.
"Negative splits" refer to running the first half of a race slower than the second half. In other words, you pick up the pace.
Men's 800m:
Big Names in the Race:
Marco Arop - 2023 World champion, 2024 Olympic silver medalist in the 800m
Niels Laros - 5th at the 2025 World Championship 1500m
What's Happening: Marco Arop wins in a dominant fashion with a world leading time of 1:41.86.
Callout: This is the most significant counter to Cooper Lutkenhaus's dominance so far this season. The concept of Marco Arop taking the world lead is not shocking per se (once you get over the concept of a 17 year old leading the world before this) because he has a world title and a 1:41.20 PB to his name. It's also worth noting that Arop both outran the pace lights and put almost 2 seconds ahead of 2nd place, which is not something you normally see in a diamond league 800m!
I also think it is worth keeping an eye on Niels Laros, who is an up-and-coming talent in the middle distances. He doesn't have a senior world or Olympic title yet, but he's only 21 years old and seems to be in the mix already at this level. That 1:43.60 PB he just set here is a good sign for him!
Overall Thoughts
I'm going to go so far as to say that the 800m is the race of the year and that goes for both the men's and the women's divisions. I think we are close to a world record in the women's division with Werro consistently being so close, but you can also see emerging challengers beneath the surface. It will be interesting to see how Georgia Hunter-Bell stacks up against Hodgkinson and Werro in addition to the seemingly meteoric rise of Femke Broeders-Bol. In the men's division, Rudisha's 1:40.91 world record still seems so far away, but we're in a situation with multiple men with world and Olympic titles in their top form, which should be ripe conditions for more records and great competition (and possibly a future American winning a title?)
We'll find out either way. Perhaps I am too early!
The next Diamond League meet will be the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday, July 4th. If you want to follow along with more track and field observations or bad puns between now and then, you can follow me at @predamame on Twitter. See you then!
The Diamond League continues to stay hot, both literally and metaphorically! This time we're in Paris and the the record temperatures in Paris got to the point where there was talk of cancelling the meet. Thankfully, it still happened and we got some amazing performances! Let's take a look at some of the hot performances that poetically matched conditions in Paris.
Men's 400m:
Big Names in the Race: