But with Asbel Kiprop hoping to improve upon his stunning 1500m best of 3:27.72 last time round, and six \u2013 yes, six \u2013 male high jumpers who have cleared 2.40m or higher this year, plus an 800m that brings together Olympic champion and world record-holder David Rudisha, world indoor and outdoor champion Mohammed Aman and 20-year-old Olympic silver medallist NIjel Amos, who beat both last time they met on 31 May in Eugene, the 2014 Herculis meeting looks ready for the challenge.<\/p>\n
Kiprop\u2019s effort \u2013 which saw him record the fourth fastest time in history ahead of Britain\u2019s Mo Farah, who set a European record of 3:28.81 \u2013 was one of the four IAAF Diamond League records at the Stade Louis II stadium last July, the others coming from Amantle Montsho in the 400m (49.33), Renaud Lavillenie in the pole vault (5.96m) and the US women\u2019s 4x100m team (41.75).<\/p>\n
At the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris on 5 July, Kiprop undertook a \u201cwarm-up\u201d for his Monaco 1500m over 800m, beating Amos into second place as he set a world-leading time of 1:43.34.<\/p>\n
But the Kenyan double world champion could yet find his plans frustrated by Djibouti\u2019s world indoor 1500m champion Ayanleh Souleiman, or the current Diamond Race leader, fellow Kenyan Silas Kiplagat, whose season\u2019s best of 3:29.70 is only slightly slower than that of Kiprop\u2019s 3:29.18.<\/p>\n
Rudisha, feeling his way back this season after the knee injury which kept him out of action for a year, gave his strongest indication yet that he is heading back to his best form as he won last weekend\u2019s IAAF Diamond League event in Glasgow, equalling Kiprop\u2019s 2014 best in so doing.<\/p>\n
But despite his defeat by Kiprop, Amos still looks a severe danger in the 800m. He clocked 1:43.70 in Paris, and 1:43.63 in Eugene. Aman\u2019s best this year is 1:43.99.<\/p>\n
French runner Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, the fastest European this year, will also pose a threat, as will Duane Solomon of the United States, who won this event in Monaco last year, and former world indoor champion Abubaker Kaki of Sudan.<\/p>\n
High jump greats do battle once more<\/strong><\/p>\n The men\u2019s high jump has been the outstanding single event so far this year on the athletics calendar, and Monaco could raise the level to even more dizzying heights.<\/p>\n All the big names are here \u2013 Mutaz Essa Barshim, Qatar\u2019s world indoor champion who set an Asian record of 2.42m at the New York IAAF Diamond League meeting, despite being beaten on count-back by Ukraine\u2019s world champion Bogdan Bondarenko. Russia\u2019s Ivan Ukhov, who cleared 2.42m indoors this year and has a 2.41m from the opening IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha, will also be in Monaco, as will three other jumpers who have cleared 2.40m: Canada\u2019s Olympic bronze medallist Derek Drouin, Russia\u2019s Aleksey Dmitrik and Ukraine\u2019s Andrey Protsenko.<\/p>\n Also in the mix will be Erik Kynard, the Olympic silver medallist from the United States, who managed a personal best of 2.37m this year.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s put it this way: the meeting record of 2.37m by Russia\u2019s Andrey Silnov in 2006 could be under threat.<\/p>\n Despite the withdrawal of Jamaica\u2019s World silver medallist Warren Weir, who leads this year\u2019s world lists with 19.82 but is now concentrating on the impending Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and the man who stands second in those rankings with 19.84, Alonso Edward of Panama, who has a minor hamstring niggle, the men\u2019s 200m features a very strong field.<\/p>\n Tyson Gay, the former world champion, continues his comeback with his first race at this distance this year, and faces the former Olympic 100m champion, his fellow US sprinter Justin Gatlin. Also in the mix, the US runner who took bronze at last year\u2019s World Championships in Moscow, Curtis Mitchell, France\u2019s European 100m champion Christophe Lemaitre, and the in-form Nickel Ashmeade of Jamaica, who has a 2014 best of 19.95.<\/p>\n Hejnova returns<\/strong><\/p>\n In the women\u2019s 400m hurdles, world champion Zuzana Hejnova makes her first major appearance of the season. She faces the 2014 leader Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica, who has a season\u2019s best of 53.41, and US champion Kori Carter, who has run 53.84 this year.<\/p>\n World 400m champion LaShawn Merritt of the United States is the favourite here after clocking 43.92 in his Lausanne defeat by Olympic champion Kirani James. But he faces strong opposition in the form of the athlete who set an African record of 44.01 earlier this month, Isaac Makwala of Botswana. Luguelin Santos, the 20-year-old Olympic silver medallist from the Dominican Republic, should also not be written off.<\/p>\n The women\u2019s 100m is stacked with talent, although world and Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is still below her best this year, with a fastest 2014 time of 11.10, as she recovers from a foot injury.<\/p>\n Also in the race will be the US Olympic 200m champion Allyson Felix, and her compatriot Tori Bowie, who heads this year\u2019s world lists with 22.18. Blessing Okagbare, the Diamond Race leader over 200m, is also in the field along with world 100m and 200m silver medallist Murielle Ahoure and Jamaica\u2019s double Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown.<\/p>\n Valerie Adams of New Zealand, with 52 consecutive shot put victories to her credit, will be keen to avoid emulating Croatia\u2019s world and Olympic discus champion Sandra Perkovic, whose IAAF Diamond League winning run was broken in Glasgow last weekend.<\/p>\n Adams will be mindful of the threat posed by Michelle Carter of the United States, who pushed her close in New York, and Germany\u2019s world silver medallist Christina Schwanitz, whose season\u2019s best of 20.22m is only 24cm short of that of Adams.<\/p>\n In the women\u2019s triple jump, Caterine Ibarguen will also find her dominant position challenged by a field which includes Russia\u2019s world indoor champion Yekaterina Koneva, whose season\u2019s best of 14.83m is only four centimetres behind hers.<\/p>\n Double Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova, back in action after taking last year out to have a child, has already indicated she will soon be back at full power, having won in Lausanne with 66.72m. Kimberley Mickle of Australia and Linda Stahl of Germany look capable of offering her the strongest challenge.<\/p>\n Genzebe Dibaba, who set three world indoor records this winter, will be running the first Monaco IAAF Diamond League race over 5000m for women. Having won in Rome, where she clocked 14:34.99, she will be confident against a field which includes the winner of the two miles in Eugene and the 3000m in Lausanne, Mercy Cherono of Kenya.<\/p>\n But fellow Ethiopian Almaz Ayana, with a personal best of 14:25.84, could challenge, along with 21-year-old former Ethiopian Sifan Hassan, now running for the Netherlands, who has the best 2014 1500m time of 3:57.00 and a personal best this year of 14:59.23.<\/p>\n In the men\u2019s long jump, the job of Russia\u2019s world champion Aleksandr Menkov has been simplified by the withdrawal through injury of Jeff Henderson of the United States, who has jumped 8.43m this year. But China\u2019s Li Jinzhe, the world indoor silver medallist with a 2014 best of 8.47m, remains.<\/p>\n Hansle Parchment, this year\u2019s world leader in the 110m hurdles with 12.94, has been forced out with injury, which makes life easier for France\u2019s Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, who has a 2014 best of 13.05. World champion David Oliver of the United States is looking to improve his season\u2019s best of 13.21, and his compatriot Aries Merritt, the world record-holder, will also be seeking to better his season\u2019s best of 13.78.<\/p>\n Kenya\u2019s world champion Eunice Sum faces US champion Ajee Wilson in the women\u2019s 800m.<\/p>\n The men\u2019s 3000m steeplechase has lost Kenya\u2019s world and Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi with a slight hamstring strain, but the field remains hugely strong on a track where Kemboi\u2019s compatriot Brimin Kipruto set an African record in 2011 of 7:53.64, only one hundredth of a second away from the world record held by Qatar\u2019s Saif Saaeed Shaheen.<\/p>\n Jairus Birech, winner in Rome and Oslo and leader of the 2014 listings with 8:02.37, looks the favourite.<\/p>\n In the men\u2019s discus, Poland\u2019s Piotr Malachowski leads this year\u2019s world lists with 69.28m and wants to make an impact in what will be his last competition before next month\u2019s European Championships in Zurich. Estonia\u2019s former Olympic champion Gerd Kanter, with a season\u2019s best of 64.91m, and Iran\u2019s Ehsan Haddadi, who has thrown 65.23m this year, may have different ideas.<\/p>\n The women\u2019s pole vault offers the prospect of the Olympic gold and silver medallists, respectively Jenn Suhr of the United States and Yarisley Silva of Cuba, facing each other, with Brazil\u2019s former world champion Fabiana Murer, who has cleared 4.80m this year, also likely to figure.<\/p>\n Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF and the IAAF Diamond League<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Monaco\u2019s IAAF Diamond League meeting on Friday (18) has much to live up to this year after...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-461","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\/461","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=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondleague.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}