Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles and Wanda Diamond League 200m champion Kenneth Bednarek will resume their fiery rivalry at Athletissima on August 20 as the cream of the crop of men’s and women’s sprinting descends on Lausanne for the penultimate leg of the Road to the Final.
Tempers flared when Lyles and Bednarek clashed in the 200m at the US Championships earlier this week, and all eyes will be on the two men when they lock horns again in the 100m in Lausanne.
There will be plenty on the line for both Lyles and Bednarek, as they look to secure qualification for the Wanda Diamond League Final in Zurich on August 27-28.
Yet the two Americans will not be the only big name sprinters at the Stade de la Pontaise.
They go up against Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville in the men’s 100m, in a thrilling battle between the best of the US and Jamaica.
Thompson only narrowly lost to Lyles in the 100m final at Paris 2024, and will be out for revenge at Diamond League rematches in both Silesia and Lausanne, while Seville has already stunned the Olympic champion once this season at the Diamond League meeting in London last month.
Courtney Lindsey, Timothée Mumenthaler and 2021 Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs complete a world-class field at Athletissima.
The women’s 200m will also see a clash of the titans as the USA’s Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas goes up against Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred.
Alfred has already secured qualification to the final in the 100m, and will be hoping to make her mark in the longer distance, while Thomas makes her first Diamond League appearance of the season in Lausanne.
Both face a stern test in a field which also includes Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson and Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith.
There are also plenty of high-profile clashes elsewhere in the Lausanne line-up, as the world’s best look to get in shape for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.
American stars Cordell Tinch and Trey Cunningham continue their rivalry in the men’s 110m hurdles, alongside Spain’s Henrique Llopis, France’s Just Kwaou-Mathey and Switzerland’s Jason Joseph.
Meanwhile in the women’s high jump, world record holder and Olympic and Diamond League champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh will be looking to return to winning form after back-to-back Diamond League defeats when she takes on Australian rivals Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson and Serbia’s Angelina Topic.
About the Wanda Diamond League
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.
