Olympic Matchups Galore in Lausanne

Published by IAAF on August 18, 2016

The Athletissima meeting will have a strong Olympic theme as several medallists from Rio will be at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Lausanne on 25 August.

“We have already confirmed more than 20 medallists from the Rio Olympic Games, six of whom are Olympic champions,” said meeting director Jacky Delapierre at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday (17). “By the end of the Olympic athletics events, I expect there to be more than 30.

Entries of the short sprint races will only be known after the Olympic relay events. “This will make it easier for us to finalise the line-up,” said Delapierre. “But there will be a men’s 100m and a 200m and a 100m women with the new sprint queen, Olympic champion Elaine Thompson.”

In the 400m, Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt, the silver and bronze medallists in Brazil, will once again face each other after their memorable head-to-head race in 2014, which James won in 43.74, the fastest time in the world that year.