Fred Kerley against the American surprise Cravant Charleston in the 100m, the pole vault phenomenon Armand Duplantis, and the ghosts Wayde Van Niekerk and Alison Dos Santos in the 400m are among the expected highlights of the Diamond League meeting in Chorzow , in Poland, on Sunday.
Freshly arrived from the American selections for the 2023 Worlds in Budapest (August 19-27) without what was in demand, namely a sesame for the half-lap synonymous with a chance of a 100m-200m double in the Hungarian capital , Kerley finds the straight line he had put aside at the “trials” in Eugene (Oregon) to concentrate his efforts on the 200 m. Reigning world champion in the 100m, the 28-year-old Texan knew he was automatically qualified for the queen race in Budapest.
In the Silesia stadium, Kerley will face the fresh surprise champion of the United States, Cravant Charleston (25), winner – without a sponsor for his spikes – in 9 sec 95, five hundredths of his recent personal best.
Kerley, four starts in the 100m in 2023, did a little better than Charleston when he returned at the end of May with 9 sec 88. This makes him the third best performer of the season so far, behind the Briton Zharnel Hugues ( 9.83) and the Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala (9.84). But he is aiming higher: “something around” his personal best, set at 9 sec 76, “in any case faster” than the Polish meeting record, 9 sec 87.
Consistent winner since early 2023, indoors and outdoors, how high will ‘Mondo’ Duplantis rise? Even after a day of pouring rain in Stockholm earlier this month, with a competition delayed by two hours, the 23-year-old Swedish phenom tackled a 6.23m bar for the first time , one centimeter above his world record. In vain.
Will he get back to the game on the Polish saltire, his penultimate stopover in Budapest, before Monaco? In any case, the weather promises to be much more lenient, with more than thirty degrees, but perhaps windy. “It’s a place where you can really jump high, the track is fast, the configuration great, describes the reigning Olympic champion. If I want to do something that nobody has ever done, I need a place where it’s up to it, everything has to be perfect to jump really high, and this is a place where you can.”
The competition will be mainly American, with the disappointed of the recent “trials” KC Lightfoot and Sam Kendricks and the lucky winner Chris Nielsen. Among the untouchables, holders like Duplantis of the world record, the Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas is expected in the triple jump and the American Ryan Crouser in the weight.
Looking since his serious knee injury at the end of 2017 for his best level, that of the 400m world record, Van Niekerk has never come so close to it as in 2023. The South African, who is celebrating his 31 years old this Saturday, will he confirm his renewal, materialized by the second best performance in the world of the season, in 44 sec 17, and a winning return to the Diamond League in Oslo mid-June (44.38)?
Also expected at the start, the reigning world champion in the 400m hurdles, the Brazilian Alison Dos Santos, for his very first race since last September, the fault of an injured and operated knee (meniscus) in the winter. Without forgetting the surprising Zambian Muzala Samukonga, whose ERA (43.91) signed at the end of April holds. On the French side, Rénelle Lamotte is to be followed in the 800m, and Azeddine Habz in the 1500m, promised to the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, reigning Olympic champion.
