Strong American Presence at Oslo Diamond League Meeting

By Adam Kopet

Sydney McLaughlin is scheduled to race the 400-meter hurdles at Thursday's Bislett Games, the fifth stop on the Diamond League series in Oslo.

ENTRIES

McLaughlin made her Diamond League debut last month in the 400 meters in Shanghai. She finished second to the 2018 Diamond League champion Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain. McLaughlin's time of 50.78, the second-fastest time of her career.

Now McLaughlin is set to race her primary event, the 400-meter hurdles. She has already made her season debut, running 54.14 last month at the Oxy Invitational. That ranks her second in the world this year.

Dalilah Muhammad remains the favorite in the race. She has run the three fastest times in the world this year. Her fastest came in Doha where she ran 53.61. Muhammad is the reigning Olympic champion.

Also in the race are the reigning IAAF World Outdoor champion Kori Carter and Shamier Little.

The men's Dream Mile features a stellar field that includes Clayton Murphy and Johnny Gregorek. Three men in the field have run 3:50 or better outdoors, including Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti, Aman Wote of Ethiopia and Bethwell Birgen of Kenya. Jakob and Filip Ingebrigtsen of Norway are also in the race.

Emma Coburn and Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech are set for the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Last year's steeplechase in Oslo saw one of the barriers set at the men's height of 36 inches instead of the women's height of 30 inches.

The steeplechase also features a strong Kenyan trio of Celliphine Chepteek Chespol, Norah Jeruto and Hyvin Kiyeng, all of whom have run 9 minutes or faster. Mel Lawrence is running her second Diamond League race of her career.

Drew Hunter and Ben True are scheduled to race the 3,000 meters. They will face a strong Ethiopian trio of Selemon Barega, Muktar Edris and Hagos Gebrhiwet. Also in the race is Uganda's IAAF World Cross Country champion Joshua Cheptegei.

The women's triple jump features the top-two American jumpers in Tori Franklin and Keturah Orji. Franklin is the current American record holder, but Orji has held it previously. Colombia's Caterine Ibarguen is the favorite in the competition. She is the only jumper in the field who has gone farther than 15 meters.

Armand "Mondo" Duplantis is making his pro debut in Oslo. He just signed an endorsement deal with Puma. Duplantis is the world leader so far this year, but he will face Sam Kendricks, who has already picked up two Diamond League wins this year. He also cleared 19-4.75 (5.91m) to win Sunday in Hengelo, Netherlands. Sondre Guttormsen, who just finished his freshman year at UCLA and competes for Norway, is also in the field.

Other athletes to watch in Oslo are Christian Coleman in the 100 meters, Karsten Warholm of Norway in the men's 400-meter hurdles, the German trio of Andreas Hoffman, Thomas Rohler and Johannes Vetter in the javelin, the American quartet of Nia Ali, Christina Clemons, Brianna McNeal and Sharika Nelvis in the 100-meter hurdles, Mariya Lasitskene of Russia in the high jump and Americans Michelle Carter, Chase Ealey and Maggie Ewen in the shot put.