Justin GATLIN, winner of the 100m during the 2014 Diamond League, is on point this year. During the IAAF Diamond League meeting of Doha, he established a new personal best of 9.74 on the 100m; this weekend during the US selections, he performed an outstanding 200m in 19.57, smashing once again his personal best, established in Monaco last year in 19.68. This year, he comes back for a certain 3rd victory in a row after 2014 on the 200m and 2013 on the 100m, event that he will be performing this year. Is the meeting record of 9.82 threatened?
World champion in 2013, German Rafael HOLZDEPPE will be Renaud LAVILLENIE’s greatest challenger, winner of the IAAF Diamond League in pole vault in 2014. After a thrilling competition last week in Cheboksary, they both passed 5.82m, the Frenchman winning the contest thanks to a fewer number of tries. Somehow, Holzdeppe has just set a new personal best of 5.92m in Baku.
On the 1500m event, the two women in form those two previous years will be meeting: the Swedish Abeba AREGAWI and the American Jenny SIMPSON. With a personal best of 3:56.54 and a 2013 world title, the Swedish will nevertheless face a great challenger that is the American. Indeed, Simpson is the 2011 world champion on this event and more importantly the winner of the 2014 IAAF Diamond League with a personal best of 3:57.22, with only a 0.10s difference with the American record… World Leader in 2015 with a 3:59.31 time, Simpson as well as Netherlands’ Sifan HASSAN, the European Champion, will fight to beat Herculis’ meeting record of 3:56.97.
In the women’s high jump contest, Russia will be in the spotlight as the Olympic Champion Anna CHICHEROVA, the World Champion Svtelana SHKOLINA and the winner of the 2014 IAAF Diamond League Maria KUCHINA will all be coming this year. They will confront Ruth BEITIA as well as the Croatian Blanka VLASIC, back to the top of her form in 2015. Monaco’s last women’s high jump event in 2013 ended with a bar at 2.01m, height that these women will certainly want to beat.
To conclude, who could be better than an Olympic, World and European Champion, and winner of the IAAF Diamond League? The pitcher Sandra PERKOVIC, undefeated in 2015, will be coming this year. If ever she leads here in Monaco, she would win the Diamond League after only 5 events (under the condition that she participates to the finals). She will undoubtedly try with great effort to beat the meeting record of 69.30m, set 23 years ago already…
