French stars fly the flag in Paris

European 800m champion Gabriel Tual and rising pole vault star Marie-Julie Bonnin will compete in front of their home crowd at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Paris next month.

Tual and Bonnin are the latest stars to sign up for the Meeting de Paris on June 20, which will be the eighth leg of this year’s Road to the Final.

Middle-distance star Tual was part of a historic 800m in Paris last year, which saw three men go under 1:42 in the same race for the first time in history.

Tual finished third behind Djamel Sedjati and Emmanuel Wanyonyi, clocking a French record of 1:41.61.

“Last year’s race is etched on my memory and you can rely on me to give it everything I’ve got again,” he said ahead of his return in 2025. “Beyond the performance aspect, this time I’m going to try to hunt down victory by benefiting from the support of the public. My preparation over the winter has been ideal, I’m hungry for competition and I’m hoping to be in great shape in late June for the Meeting de Paris.”

Pole vault star Bonnin, 24, last competed at the Paris Diamond League in 2023, finishing 11th behind the likes of Nina Kennedy and Katie Moon.

“I have an excellent recollection of it, even though I only cleared a single jump set at 4.31 m,” recalls the European Indoor bronze medallist. “There was a fantastic atmosphere around the jumping pit, with a big crowd who were really driving us forward. The benefit of having completed my competition so much earlier than the other women was that I was able to make the most of the time I had to take loads of photos with the spectators!”

The Wanda Diamond League is the elite one-day meeting series in global athletics. It comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field. Athletes compete for points at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final, which will be held in Zurich on 27 and 28 August 2025.