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Laussane, Tuesday

There could hardly be a more suitable setting for the Wanda Diamond League’s first European stop after the Tokyo Olympics than the Swiss city that happens to be home to the Olympic Museum.

The glittering array of stellar track and field talent lined up for the main programme of the Athletissima meet in Lausanne on Thursday (26), and the City High Jump that precedes it on Wednesday (25), were responsible for claiming a colossal haul of 19 gold medals in Japan’s capital city, several of them earning their rewards with landmark achievements in the Olympic arena.

Norway’s 400m hurdling Superman Karsten Warholm and the regal Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas did so with world-record-shattering aplomb.

The Jamaican sprint queen Elaine Thompson-Herah, the US big shot Ryan Crouser and the princely Norwegian middle distance master Jakob Ingebritsen did so with Olympic record-breaking marks.

Add the Swedish pole vault phenomenon Armand Duplantis to the mix and you have a magnificent seven (possibly more) capable of making further track and field history in the high-octane, adrenaline-charged melting pot that is sure to be the Stade Olympic de la Pontaise with an expected capacity 12,200 crowd.

The city men’s high jump on Wednesday (25) had been scheduled to reunite the gentlemanly Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim and the grand Italian showman Gianmarco Tamberi, the close friends and rivals who harnessed the kind of Olympic spirit celebrated in Lausanne’s historic showcase to the Games by agreeing to share the gold medal spoils in Tokyo.  – World Athletics