Sha’Carri Richardson and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone are each entered in two races at the Diamond League Final in Brussels this week.
Peacock airs live coverage on Friday and Saturday from 1:53-4 p.m. ET, starting with McLaughlin-Levrone’s races. CNBC airs highlights Saturday from 12-2 p.m. and Sunday from 1-3.
The winner of each Diamond League Final event is dubbed the Diamond League season champion, the yearly international circuit for track and field.
Julien Alfred, the Olympic gold medalist, and Richardson, the silver medalist, will compete in the women’s 100 metres on Friday. Richardson aims to become the first American to win a Diamond League Final 100m since Carmelita Jeter in 2011.
Richardson edged Alfred by four hundredths last Thursday in a Diamond League meet in Zurich, Switzerland, their first meeting since the Paris Games.
Richardson is also entered in Saturday’s 200m, part of a field that includes Olympic bronze medalist Brittany Brown.
McLaughlin-Levrone did not qualify for the Diamond League Final as she did not race any Diamond League regular season meets this year.
So the two-time Olympic 400m hurdles gold medalist, ditching the barriers, headlines an invitational 400m on Friday and invitational 200m on Saturday. Each race takes place shortly before the Diamond League Final event in those distances.
Who is competing at Diamond League Brussels?
Here are five events to watch:
Men’s Pole Vault — Friday, 1:45 p.m. ET
Mondo Duplantis already repeated as Olympic champion and broke his world record three times this year. Now, he can become the first male pole vaulter to win Olympic gold and go undefeated in the same season in at least 60 years, according to Tilastopaja. Olympic silver and bronze medalists Sam Kendricks and Emmanouil Karalis will try to prevent that.
Women’s 400m — Friday, 1:53 p.m. ET, 2:04 p.m. ET
McLaughlin-Levrone goes first. The Final race is second, including Olympic gold medalist Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic and silver medalist Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain. McLaughlin-Levrone’s personal best is 48.74 seconds, which is four hundredths shy of Sanya Richards-Ross’ American record. Many wonder how McLaughlin-Levrone would have fared in the Olympic flat 400m final. Paulino won gold in 48.17, making her the fourth-fastest woman in history.
Women’s 100m — Friday, 3:01 p.m. ET
The last American woman to be the outright 100m world leader in a year was Tori Bowie in 2014. Richardson, who in 2023 shared the top time with Jamaican Shericka Jackson, currently has the world’s best time of 2024 by one hundredth over Alfred — 10.71 to 10.72.
Men’s 1500m — Friday, 3:29 p.m. ET
This event keeps getting more competitive. After Cole Hocker’s stunning Olympic title, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Yared Nuguse won the next two Diamond League races. Then Brit Josh Kerr, the 2023 World champion, broke a 43-year-old course record in the 5th Avenue Mile on the road last Sunday. Kerr isn’t in Friday’s race, but it could still determine, to some, the world’s best miler going into 2025.
Men’s 800m — Saturday, 3:40 p.m. ET
Three months ago, Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Canadian Marco Arop, Algerian Djamel Sedjati and Frenchman Gabriel Tual all ranked outside the 25 fastest men in history in this event. Now, they are four of the six fastest men in history. Wanyonyi edged Arop for Olympic gold, then three weeks ago tied retired Dane Wilson Kipketer as the second-fastest man in history (1:41.11). Kenyan David Rudisha’s world record from 2012 may be under threat (1:40.91).
Who qualifies for the Diamond League Final?
To qualify for the Diamond League Final, athletes accrued points from the 14 Diamond League regular season meets from April to September.
Across the 32 track and field events, the top six in the field events, the top eight for 100m through 800m on the track and the top ten for distances 1500m and longer qualified for the Diamond League Final.
What’s the format for the Diamond League Final 2024?
The Diamond League Final is a two-day competition on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 13-14, at the Memorial Van Damme meet in Brussels, Belgium.
Each day features 16 Diamond League Final events, making it the busiest weekend of track and field of the season.
