Kenyans race for top honours at London Diamond League meeting

Kenya’s Margaret Akidor leads the field in the women’s 5,000m at the Diamond League Golden Gala Pietro Mennea at Olympic Stadium in Rome last year. She is racing in London today. [AFP]

The men’s 800m is touted as the major highlight in the London Diamond League when a super-fast field converges at today, in a race for glory.

Fewer Kenyans might not be part of the deepest world class fields in London since a big number of distance athletes are preparing for the Commonwealth Games which kick off Glasgow, Scotland on this Thursday.

Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi highlights the men’s two-lap contest, with expectation high after he sensationally smashed a 27-year-old 1,000m record in Monaco last weekend.

But he faces strong 800m stars, who are in London to turn the tables on a man hoping to end the season on a high, probably at the Diamond League final in Brussels and the inaugural World Athletics Challenge, both set for September.

Wanyonyi has Olympic silver medallist (from 2024), Marco Arop of Canada among other powerful stars to contend with in the 800m race that assembles together one of the strongest pedigrees of endurance middle distance runners.

Arop was third behind Wanyonyi at the Oslo meet on June 10 in an 800m showdown won by American teenager Cooper Lutkenhaus.

In Lutkenhause’s absence in today’s 800m event, his countryman Bryce Hoppel, who has established himself as one of the world’s elites with a fourth-place finish at the Paris Olympics, setting a new US record in the process, will be hoping to cause an upset.

The US youngster is not taking part in today’s London show, leaving Wanyonyi battling it out with athletes such as Great Britain’s Max Burgin, an Olympic and World Championships finalist, as he eyes another commanding victory, this time in his specialty – the 800m.

Wanyonyi is not facing Burgin for the first time this season. The reigning world champion had played second-fiddle to Burgin in Rabat.

Burgin’s compatriot Briton Ben Pattison, who claimed bronze at the 2023 World Championships is also lining up in the London contest.

Irish Mark English, who has been a consistent force with multiple European Championship medals, both indoors and outdoors, is looking to deliver a mouthwatering performance in London. English claimed victory in the 800m in Shanghai and a second place in Rome, making him one of the favorites for a podium position.

Wanyonyi is the sole Kenyan star in the race.

Margaret Akidor, a tenth-place finisher in 5,000m at the Rome Diamond League is facing strong opponents in the women’s 3,000m.

The one-time Diamond League meeting winner will be facing competition from strong women among them 1,500m specialist, Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull of Australia and her countrywoman Georgia Griffith. Olympic finalist Medina Eisa of Ethiopia and her compatriots including former two-time World Cross Country Under-20 champion Marta Alemayo and Hawi Abera among others are also in the women’s 3,000m race.

Like Wanyonyi, Akidor is a lonely Kenyan in the women’s contest.