More Global Stars Added to Lausanne's Competitive Line-Up

Published by IAAF on June 20, 2014

A total of 19 global champions will compete in Lausanne’s Pontaise Stadium on 3 July at the 39th edition of Athletissima, one of two IAAF Diamond League meetings in Switzerland.

Olympic long jump champion and world leader Greg Rutherford will need to bring his A-game in order to win against the top three finishers from last year’s IAAF World Championships, Aleksandr Menkov, Ignisious Gaisah and Luis Rivera.

The women’s javelin will feature the three best performers of the year: two-time Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova, world leader Linda Stahl and world silver medallist Kim Mickle.

Elsewhere in the field events, world-leading discus thrower Piotr Malachowski and world triple jump champion Caterine Ibarguen will be the favourites in their respective disciplines.

They will all join the star athletes who have been previously announced, including high jumpers Bohdan Bondarenko, Mutaz Essa Barshim, Ivan Ukhov and Derek Drouin, pole vault world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie, and shot put legend Valerie Adams.

There are several fantastic head-to-head clashes on the track, too. A fast time is expected in the 400m as Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt will face each other for the third time this year. In their most recent race, both clocked sub-44-second times as James finished just a few thousandths of a second ahead of Merritt.

In the 200m, Yohan Blake will be up against fellow Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade and Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre, while in the 100m Justin Gatlin, undefeated this year so far, will try to retain his invincibility against Tyson Gay and Jimmy Vicaut.