Mondo Duplantis (Photo © Getty Images/World Athletics)
Pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis will headline the Athletissima Wanda Diamond League meeting in Lausanne in August.
Fresh from winning his fourth world indoor title in Poland last weekend, pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis has added another stop to his 2026 Wanda Diamond League campaign in Lausanne on August 20.
Swedish star Duplantis has been in scintillating form already this year, breaking the world record for a 15th time in February before securing a fourth career gold medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Kujawy Pomorze last weekend.
He will be hoping to take that form into the new Diamond League season, as he chases a sixth successive title in athletics’ premier global one-day series.
Already signed up for meetings in Doha, Keqiao, Stockholm, Paris, London and Silesia, Duplantis has now also confirmed his attendance at Athletissima in Lausanne.
The Olympic and world champion will jump at a city event on the shores of Lake Geneva in Ouchy on August 20, one day before the main meeting in Stade de la Pontaise on August 21.
He will be hoping to attack his own meeting record of 6.15m, which he set at the same venue in 2024.
Lausanne is the 12th leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League, which begins in Doha on May 8 and ends at the two-day series final in Brussels on September 4-5.
Global champions lock horns in Xiamen 400m
The world’s best 400m runners are set to go head to head at the third Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season in Xiamen in May.
The reigning Olympic, world and Diamond League champions in the men’s 400m will go head to head in a clash of the titans at the the third leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League on May 23.
Olympic champion Quincy Hall, world champion Busang Collen Kebinatshipi and Diamond League champion Jacory Patterson will all be eyeing an early-season victory when they line up alongside world number two Bayapo Ndori and Olympic bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga in a world-class 400m field.
The race will be a eagerly anticipated return to Diamond League action for US star Hall, who has struggled with injury since his Olympic gold medal in Paris in 2024.
His compatriot Patterson heads into the season as the defending champion in the Diamond League, after he swept to the series titles with some brilliant late-season form in 2025.
Motswana athletes Ndori and Kebinatshipi won gold and bronze respectively at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last September, while both claimed gold in the men’s 4x400m relay.
Zambia’s Samukonga has also been a regular fixture on Diamond League podiums in recent years, claiming victory in Rome en route to his Olympic bronze in 2024.
Xiamen is the third leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League, which begins in Doha on May 8 and ends at the two-day series final in Brussels on September 4-5.
Kerr to headline mile on home soil in London
British distance star Josh Kerr will line up in the men’s mile at his home Wanda Diamond League meeting in London in July.
Newly crowned 3000m world indoor champion Josh Kerr will return to action in the mile at the London leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League.
Kerr, who was one of several British athletes to win gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun last weekend, will headline the Emsley Carr Mile at the Novuna London Athletics Meet on July 18.
The Scottish distance star already holds the British record over the distance, which he set with 3:45.34 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene in 2024.
The 2023 world 1500m champion will be hoping to go even faster when he lines up in front of his home crowd at the London Stadium.
“The Emsley Carr Mile has an incredible history and to have the opportunity to compete in that event in London is special,” said the 28-year-old.
“I have some big goals this summer – it’s no secret that I want to compete for Scotland in the mile at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow too – and this fits my schedule perfectly. It’s a Diamond League race so I know it’ll be a strong field, but I’m not concerned about who will or won’t be there. I can only control my own performance so I want to go out there and run fast. I want to make it memorable.”
London is the 11th leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League, which begins in Doha on May 8 and ends at the two-day series final in Brussels on September 4-5.
The series unites the biggest names in track and field in some of the world’s most iconic arenas, crossing four continents and 15 cities over the course of the season.
