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≡ DIAMOND LEAGUE FINAL ≡
After everyone got clear that American star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone was not going to be able to run as an invited entry in the 2024 Diamond League Final at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on Friday and Saturday, special races were set up for her.
But whatever McLaughlin-Levrone is being paid to appear – she is not running for free – may have impacted one Diamond League race significantly.
That would be the Olympic men’s 110 m hurdles champ Grant Holloway of the U.S., the man now with the most legal sub-13.00 clockings in history, who posted Tuesday:
“I will not be participating in the Brussels Diamond League Final due to a failure to reach agreements on the terms of my participation between my team and the meeting directors of the Diamond League. Shame that they doing athletes like that. #BrusselsDL #NeverCompeteForLess”
While Holloway did not agree on an appearance fee, he will be turning away from a possible $30,000 payday if he won his race; the Diamond League Final pays $30,000-12,000-7,000-4,000-2,500-2,000-1,500-1,000 for the top eight places.
The Brussels 110 m hurdles is now headlined by Olympic silver winner Daniel Roberts of the U.S. and European champ Lorenzo Simonelli (ITA).
Meanwhile, invitational races in the men’s and women’s 400 m are set for Friday and a 100 m invitational for men and 200 men invite race for women on Saturday:
● Women/400 m: McLaughlin-Levrone stands no. 4 on the world list for 2024 at 48.75 from the NYC Grand Prix meet in June and will face a modest field, with three who have run under 51 seconds this season.
Jamaica’s Stacey Ann Williams has run a lifetime best of 50.00, in Zagreb (CRO) on 8 September; teammate Stephenie Ann McPherson has run 50.65 this year, but has a best of 49.34 from 2021 and finished fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Romania’s Andrea Miklos set her best at 50.54 this season in the heats in Paris; she got as far as the semifinals.
● Women/200 m: McLaughlin-Levrone is equal-eighth on the 2024 world list with her 22.07 lifetime best at the L.A. Grand Prix at UCLA’s Drake Stadium in May. No one else is under 22.6 this season; next best is Tasa Jiya (NED: 22.62) and Ghana’s Gina Bass Bittaye (22.66).
McLaughlin-Levrone could have been invited to the Diamond League Final if she had run in a Diamond League race this season. The only Diamond League meet in the U.S. was the Prefontaine Classic in late May, which she skipped.
The women’s Diamond League Final in the 400 m will have Paris gold and silver winners Marileidy Paulino (DOM) and Salwa Eid Naser (BRN); the women’s 200 m will have bronze winner Brittany Brown of the U.S. and the women’s 400 m hurdles will have Paris’ 2-3 finishers Anna Cockrell of the U.S. and Dutch star Femke Bol.
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