2024 Diamond League Final Preview: One Final 1500 Clash, & Could the WR Go Down in the Men’s 800?

The Diamond League final is upon us, which means the 2024 professional track & field season is drawing to a close (although the new Athlos women’s only meet in NYC is on September 26). The two-day affair at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on Friday and Saturday will be the last chance to see many of the sport’s biggest stars like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Cole Hocker, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Letsile Tebogo. The men’s 1500 between Hocker, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and Yared Nuguse should be terrific as usual, the women’s 100 offers a battle between world champ Richardson and Olympic champ Julien Alfred, and 800 men Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Marco Arop, and Djamel Sedjati will get one last crack at David Rudisha‘s 1:40.91 world record.

It is also notable who won’t be in Brussels. Olympic 110 hurdles champion Grant Holloway, who has competed five times since winning gold in Paris, essentially said that Brussels is not paying him enough to show up, referring to it as a “trash ass track meet.” And while McLaughlin-Levrone will be in Brussels, she won’t be running any Diamond League events after the DL held firm to its policy that anyone receiving a global wild card must have competed in at least one DL event during the season (SML did not run any).

Not the smoothest end to the season, but track & field is never dull. Below, a few thoughts about the lineups in Brussels and a preview of the most entertaining races of the meet.

One last thing: this will be the last Diamond League meet broadcast on Peacock. Remember, FloTrack takes over the US streaming rights in 2025.