{"id":1801,"date":"2018-08-31T08:43:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-31T08:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/brussels-press-conference-highlights-3\/"},"modified":"2018-08-31T08:43:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T08:43:29","slug":"brussels-press-conference-highlights-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/brussels-press-conference-highlights-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Brussels: Press Conference Highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>12 Olympic champions and 28 world champions will compete in the Belgian capital tonight as part of the Memorial Van Damme event and Meeting Director C\u00e9dric Van Branteghem is suitably excited. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p>The <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/MVDbrussels?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>@MVDbrussels<\/link> Meeting Director says 12 Olympic champions, 28 world champions and 16 European champions (from 2018 alone!) will feature as par of the <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BrusselsDL?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#BrusselsDL<\/link> <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DLFinal?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#DLFinal<\/link>. <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DiamondLeague?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#DiamondLeague<\/link> <link https:\/\/t.co\/Yy6IUEapnu>pic.twitter.com\/Yy6IUEapnu<\/link>\n<p>\u2014 IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/Diamond_League\/status\/1035137618386726913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>August 30, 2018<\/link><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"\u201cutf-8&quot;\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As ever, the men\u2019s 100m will be an exciting match up between some of the world\u2019s fastest sprinters.<\/p>\n<p>24-year-old American Ronnie Baker &#8211; who is the world leader in the 100m with a time of 9.87s &#8211; is one of the leading contenders to become Diamond League champion.<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"lazyload smush-lazyload-video smush-lazyload-youtube\" style=\"--smush-video-aspect-ratio: 560\/315\" data-bg-image=\"url(https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?action=smush_video_thumbnail&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FIuXXv_9Z238&#038;video_width=560&#038;video_height=315)\" ><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IuXXv_9Z238\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\"><\/iframe><span class=\"smush-play-btn\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Play video\">\r\n\t\t\t\t<span tabindex=\"0\" class=\"smush-play-btn-inner\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Play<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/div><\/p>\n<p>Competing for the Diamond Trophy in the men\u2019s pole vault will be 18-year-old Swede Mondo Duplantis. The European champion cleared a sensational 6.05m in Berlin and admits his latest achievement doesn\u2019t feel real just yet.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p>Newly crowned <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/EuroAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>@EuroAthletics<\/link> champion <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/mondohoss600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>@mondohoss600<\/link> says his gold medal performance in Berlin was a &quot;perfect night&quot; as he admits it hasn&#8217;t quite sunk in yet.<link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BrusselsDL?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#BrusselsDL<\/link> <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DiamondLeague?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#DiamondLeague<\/link> <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DLFinal?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#DLFinal<\/link> <link https:\/\/t.co\/VA1YgvtjPK>pic.twitter.com\/VA1YgvtjPK<\/link>\n<p>\u2014 IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/Diamond_League\/status\/1035138832910319617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>August 30, 2018<\/link><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The standard of vaulting has been incredibly high this year, with Sam Kendricks the most consistent victor. Renaud Lavillenie took maximum points in Shanghai and Duplantis triumphed in front of home fans in Stockholm. <\/p>\n<p>The teenager knows he\u2019ll have to go some to repeat that feat this evening and he feels the competition will go the way of whoever finds the best rhythm on the night. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p>We can&#8217;t wait for this!<link https:\/\/twitter.com\/mondohoss600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>@mondohoss600<\/link> knows that competition in the <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/MVDbrussels?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>@MVDbrussels<\/link> pole vault will be very close and high in quality.<link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BrusselsDL?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#BrusselsDL<\/link> <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DiamondLeague?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#DiamondLeague<\/link> <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DLFinal?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#DLFinal<\/link> <link https:\/\/t.co\/Ot5HkNoX8Y>pic.twitter.com\/Ot5HkNoX8Y<\/link>\n<p>\u2014 IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/Diamond_League\/status\/1035139342547603458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>August 30, 2018<\/link><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"\u201cutf-8&quot;\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>One athlete who\u2019ll face a warm welcome from the crowd is Olympic and world heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam. <\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old, who is competing in the high jump, says she loves the enthusiasm of supporters at the meet. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\"><p>.<link https:\/\/twitter.com\/thiam_nafi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>@thiam_nafi<\/link> says the <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/MVDbrussels?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>@MVDbrussels<\/link> <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BrusselsDL?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#BrusselsDL<\/link> event is always a special one to return to and compete in. <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DiamondLeague?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#DiamondLeague<\/link> <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DLFinal?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>#DLFinal<\/link> <link https:\/\/t.co\/ZtdDjmGWre>pic.twitter.com\/ZtdDjmGWre<\/link>\n<p>\u2014 IAAF Diamond League (@Diamond_League) <link https:\/\/twitter.com\/Diamond_League\/status\/1035146594272796673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>August 30, 2018<\/link><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Watch the press conference back in <link https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xm6lcb59CCM - external-link-new-window \"Opens internal link in current window\">full here<\/link>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A star-studded line-up awaits as Brussels prepares to round off the 2018 Diamond League season....","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-1801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1801"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=1801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}