Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis, Julien Alfred and Oblique Seville headline the Diamond League meet in Monaco on Friday.
The star-studded track and field meet is the 10th of 15 on the elite circuit.
AFP Sport looks at five events to watch at the Stade Louis II stadium.
Men’s pole vault
Pole vault world record holder Duplantis has promised to target a 16th world record in Monaco.
The double Olympic and triple world champion set his first world record of 6.17m back in 2020, and established the most recent mark of 6.31m in Sweden in March.
The 26-year-old recently relocated to Monaco after living in the United States and Sweden, the nation in whose yellow and blue colours he competes.
“Now that I’m here and train here, this is my home stadium and I feel that a world record is needed and it would be fantastic if I was able to do that here,” the newly-married Duplantis said.
“That’s where my mind is at.”
Last year, Duplantis set a new meeting record of 6.05m before three bold attempts at a then-WR of 6.29m.
Women’s 200m
Reigning Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred will face a stiff challenge in the longer sprint.
Alfred, whose gold in Paris in 2024 was the first-ever medal of any colour for her tiny Caribbean island homeland, has recorded 21.86 seconds.
But she finds herself up against American Gabrielle Thomas, the reigning Olympic 200m champion, who has run 21.70sec.
The world leader, however, is Adaejah Hodge, with 21.68 seconds.
Hodge clocked an impressive 10.82sec to win the 100m in last week’s meeting in Eugene and will be sure to be in the running in Monaco.
Men’s 100m
Reigning world champion Oblique Seville of Jamaica races in the men’s 100m.
Seville, the 2026 world leader with 9.82sec, will be the man to beat, despite coming in second in 9.89 behind Nigeria’s Kayinsola Ajayi in Eugene.
His main rivals will include world indoor champion Jordan Anthony, Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, who was second in the Eugene 100m in 19.93 behind American winner Tate Taylor.
A dark horse in the blue-riband event is Italy’s 2021 Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs.
The Italian raced to an astonishing 9.67sec in the 100m at last week’s Austrian Open Eisenstadt, albeit with a tailwind of 4.1m/s.
It was the third fastest men’s 100m in all conditions in history, only surpassed by Usain Bolt’s world record of 9.58 set at the 2009 world championships in Berlin and his Olympic 100m record of 9.63 from London in 2012.
“I’m very happy because I’m improving with every race,” Jacobs said.
“Of course, it was very windy here, but only Bolt in history has managed to beat this time, and I’m really happy to have achieved such a time.”
Men’s 1,000m
The men’s 1,000m, on paper, has all the ingredients required for a spectacular race.
Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya will face Algerian Djamel Sedjati, Britons Jake Wightman and Ben Pattison, and Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui, the world leader over the distance this season.
All five athletes are capable of putting down the hammer.
French two-lap specialists Azeddine Habz and Gabriel Tual will also be hoping their legs can offer up another 200m to make their mark in what promises to be a highly competitive race.
Triathletes in action
The Monaco meet will feature two Olympic triathlon champions testing their running mettle on the track.
Britain’s Alex Yee runs in a loaded men’s 5,000m in a bid to improve his personal best.
French eyes, however, will be on Cassandre Beaugrand in the women’s 3,000m.
Beaugrand, the only female triathlete (and the second ever after Alistair Brownlee) to have won a gold medal in the three major competitions — 2024 Olympics, 2024 world champs and 2022 European champs, competes in Monaco just a few weeks after breaking the French 5,000m record.
The race is headlined by none other than Kenyan legend Faith Kipyegon, along with Australia’s Jessica Hull, Italy’s Nadia Battocletti and Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu, the 2026 world leader.
