Athletics Stars On Display at Lausanne Diamond League

(ATR) A star-studded ensemble of Olympic and world champions headline the field at the 40th edition of Lausanne’s Athletissima meeting.

Elite names expected to compete at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise on July 9 include British distance runner Mo Farah, French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie, U.S. sprinters Tyson Gay, Justin Gatlin, Allyson Felix and Sandra Richards Ross, Kenyan 800-meter world record holder David Rudisha and Jamaican veteran Asafa Powell.

The meeting in the Olympic capital is the 9th of 14 stops on the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League calendar. UBS returns as title sponsor of the Athletissima. The Zurich- and Basel-based financial services group has served as title sponsor of the event since 1982.

The showcase event is the men’s 100-meters featuring Gay, Gatlin and Powell.

Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic champion and 2012 bronze medalist, who served a four-year doping suspension in between his Olympic medals, has the fastest time this season, having clocked 9.74 in Doha in May.

Powell comes off an impressive showing at the Paris Diamond League on Saturday night where he won the 100m in 9.81. It was the third fastest time of the season, only trailing Gatlin.

Gay, who was forced to sit out the 2014 season the result of his own failed drug test, posted a 9.84 in Eugene, Oregon last month. The 32-year-old American sprinter, who along with teammates forfeited his 4x100m silver medal from London as a result of doping, discussed Thursday’s highly anticipated race.

"It’s just another race, the 4th since the season started," Gay said. "I have to run as much as I can before the World Championships in Beijing (August 22-30).

"I’m back from suspension. I’ve worked a lot on my mind to learn how to control my body," he said. "The season best could be beaten."

British double Olympic champion Farah has also been under a cloud of doping suspicion since his coach Alberto Salazar became embroiled in doping allegations. Farah, who admitted to missing two drug tests prior to London 2012, makes his Athletissima debut in the men’s 5000-meters.

Rudisha, who smashed the 800-meter world record running 1:40.91 en route to gold in London 2012, seeks his second Diamond League win of the season, also victorious in New York in June, posting 1:43.58.

French pole vault world record holder Renaud Lavillenie, who uncharacteristically jumped poorly and had a lengthy victory streak broken in Paris on Saturday night, looks to return to form. The Olympic champion headlines a field that includes the ever-improving South American record holder, Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil.

Six-time Olympic medalist Felix could be challenged in the women’s 200-meters by the European champion Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands.

The London 2012 Olympic 400-meter champion Richards-Ross returns to the city where she won her first race on European soil. The veteran U.S. sprinter won in Lausanne back in 2005 clocking 49.95, which coincidentally matches her best time of the season thus far in 2015.

The 40th edition of Athletissima is sold out as the 13,800 available places in the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise were all purchased more than two weeks ago. No tickets will be sold on the evening of the meeting.

Other family friendly events surrounding the Lausanne meet include a kids clinic on Tuesday night (July 7). Kids between the ages of 8 and 14 can join a host of star athletes for an early evening training session.

For the tenth consecutive year, the Mini-Stars Relay took place on Sunday as 100 teams, divided into six categories, raced in the park on the Olympic Museum grounds.

Thursday night’s 40th edition Athletissima opens with the men’s shot put at 18:00 CET. The four-hour program, which includes 16 Diamond League events, is scheduled to conclude at 22:00 CET.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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