Just two days after another record-breaking evening in Lausanne, the world’s best athletes continue their Wanda Diamond League campaigns in Silesia this Sunday.
Here are five things to look out for at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial meeting.
Tamberi resurgent?
The action in Poland actually begins on Saturday afternoon, with a Diamond League double-bill at the city event at Katowice’s market square. While two-time world champion Malaika Mihambo leads a world-class women’s long jump field, Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi returns to action in the men’s high jump against Mutaz Barshim, Oleh Doroshchuk, Woo Sanghyeok and others. The three-time series champion is chasing his first Diamond League win since victory in the final in Brussels back in 2024, but he arrives in Poland on a high, having secured his fourth European Championships gold medal in Birmingham last week with a sensational 2.32m, a full nine centimetres higher than his previous season’s best.
Battle for sprint supremacy
No two athletes have dominated the women’s sprints like Julien Alfred and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in recent years, so direct clashes between the two are always something to look forward to. The reigning Olympic and world champions meet in the 100m on Sunday, their first head-to-head over that distance since the World Championships in Tokyo last September. The American was the clear winner that time out, but there is little to separate them ahead of Silesia. While Alfred beat her rival over 200m in Rome earlier this season, Jefferson-Wooden remains the world number one and is unbeaten over 100m since the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Ingebrigtsen returns
If Tamberi’s victory in Birmingham was impressive, then Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s sprint to gold in the 5000m was perhaps even more so. The Norwegian distance star has spent much of the last two seasons struggling with injury and had not run a single race indoors or outdoors in 2026 ahead of his stunning win in Birmingham. With that breathtaking comeback under his belt, the four-time series champion now turns his attention to the Diamond League, where he makes his first appearance in two years in the 1500m on Sunday. What better place to do it than Silesia, where he broke the 3000m world record with 7:17.55 back in 2024?
Paulino’s revenge
One of the surprise results of last year’s Wanda Diamond League Final came in the women’s 400m, where Marileidy Paulino was beaten by Salwa Eid Naser, suffering only her second defeat in 15 Diamond League races and ending her three-year grip on the Diamond Trophy. The Dominican Republic star has bounced back emphatically this year, winning all four of her Diamond League 400m races and setting a new series record with 48.48 in Paris. On Sunday, she has the chance for revenge as she and Naser meet for the first time in the Diamond League since that clash in Zurich last September.
Wide open 100m
While of some of Sunday’s stars have already booked their ticket to Brussels, others know that Silesia will be the decisive moment in their bid to qualify for this year’s Wanda Diamond League Final. In the men’s 100m, all eight final spots are still up for grabs, with Silesia the last chance to win points. The two-heat field adds even more spice to the situation, with 14 of the current top 20 in the qualification standings on the start list on Sunday. While Trayvon Bromell, Jordan Anthony and Gift Leotlela will all expect to qualify, others like Oblique Seville and Akani Simbine are under pressure, with the likes of Kenny Bednarek and Kayinsola Ajayi breathing down their necks.
