Monaco Diamond League 2025 Preview: 800m World Record Under Threat, Noah Lyles Returns + More Storylines To Watch Live

Presented by Olipop

All-new OLIPOP Variety Packs are here! Stock up on your favorite fruity and fizzy flavors—now in convenient, pantry-ready packs. Choose the Fruity Fun Pack for bold sips like Cherry Cola and Lemon Lime, or grab the Favorites Pack with classic hits like Root Beer and Cream Soda. No fridge needed—just full-on flavor, anytime you want it. Now available at drinkolipop.com. Use code CITIUS25 for the best deal and to get 25% off all your orders online.

By Chris Chavez and Paul Hof-Mahoney

The Diamond League continues on Friday, July 11th with a stop at the Herculis Meeting at Stade Louis II in Monaco. This is the penultimate stop before athletes shift their focus to their respective national championships.

This year’s meet feels a bit odd since there is no marquee men’s or women’s 1500m or mile for the first time since the start of the Diamond League in 2010.

How to watch: The action starts at 12:55 p.m. ET. You can watch all of it live on Flotrack with a subscription or watch like we do by utilizing NordVPN and setting your location to Australia or any of the countries that allow you to watch it on the Wanda Diamond League YouTube channel. (You can sort through various countries here and set your location to one of the territories broadcasting on YouTube.) NordVPN is just $3.99/month.

You can find a full entry list and results here.

Here is a full preview of every event (all times listed ET):

Women’s Shot Put | 12:55 p.m. ET

Nearly every woman from the Pre Classic—the best competition since the 1988 Olympic final—will be crossing the Atlantic to compete in Monaco. Chase Jackson and her attack on the 21m barrier will take center stage. She’s come up just 5 and 6 cm short in her last two meets. But she’ll face stiff competition from the five other women in the field who have broken 20m in their careers. Sarah Mitton and Jessica Schilder continued their strong form in Eugene, but keep an eye on Olympic fourth-placer Jaida Ross, who threw a PB of 20.13m on Saturday—the first time she’s set a PB since establishing the NCAA record at 20.01m last May.

Men’s Pole Vault | 1 p.m. ET

After competing against five Americans at Pre, Mondo Duplantis is back to butting heads with his best buddies from around the world this time around. Manolo Karalis and Kurtis Marschall are back in the fold, as well as EJ Obiena. Obiena, the two-time global medalist, hasn’t quite looked like himself this year, posting a SB of only 5.80m, so this meet would be a good time to start turning his season around. The U.S. contingent is still strong, featuring Sam Kendricks, KC Lightfoot, and Chris Nilsen in his biggest competition since breaking his hand at U.S. Indoors.

Men’s High Jump | 1:55 p.m. ET

24-year-old Jan Štefela of Czechia is fresh off an outdoor world lead of 2.33m for the win at the European Team Championships and may be the favorite now to pick up his first Diamond League win in his seventh meet on the circuit. World Indoor champ Sanghyeok Woo took home the last Diamond League win in Rome, clearing 2.32m, and is undefeated in 2025. Despite winning in Rabat and finishing second in Doha, Olympic champ Hamish Kerr hasn’t cleared 2.30m since February and could really use a good showing to instill some confidence as the summer continues to heat up.

Women’s 400m Hurdles | 2:04 p.m. ET

2/3rds of the Olympic podium will be on the track as bronze medalist Femke Bol and silver medalist Anna Cockrell meet for the first time since the Paris Olympics and six of the top 10 ranked 400m hurdlers are set to race. Bol is ranked No. 1 in the world and is No. 2 on the world list with her 52.11 season’s best. This will be the toughest field that Cockrell faces this season since she has only run a season’s best of 53.84 in early May and then 54.04 to win the 400m hurdles at Grand Slam Track: Philadelphia.

If Dalilah Muhammad finds a way to beat Cockrell, it adds a bit more intrigue heading into the U.S. Championships. Muhammad has already said 2025 will be her final season but is the second-fastest American woman on the year with her 52.46 season’s best from the Stockholm Diamond League. Between Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Muhammad, Rachel Glenn (53.48 SB), Akala Garrett (53.73), Cockrell and Jasmine Jones (54.65 SB), it might be the toughest squad to make in recent years.

Women’s 400m | 2:15 p.m. ET

Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino has not lost a Diamond League 400m since July 2023 and she’ll look to continue that streak against Olympic bronze medalist Natalia Bukowiecka, Rhasidat Adeleke, NCAA champion Aaliyah Butler, and Lieke Klaver.

Men’s 800m | 2:23 p.m. ET

This will probably be the longest section of the preview since it’s the best race of the meet. David Rudisha’s 1:40.91 world record is on watch as seven of the eight Olympic finalists line up for the race. Let’s go through each of these guys:

– Emmanuel Wanyonyi: The Olympic champion has clocked a season’s best each time out in his four 800m races of the year. Most recently, he was the first man to get under 1:42 on the year with his 1:41.95 dominant win at the Stockholm Diamond League.

– Marco Arop: One of the saddest parts about the cancellation of Grand Slam Track: Los Angeles was that we never got one more 1500m race out of the Olympic 800m silver medalist. He was progressing each time out and ran 3:35.38 for a personal best in Philadelphia so we know he’s strong. Now with a month layoff from 1500m training and maybe more of a sole focus on the 800m, he’ll get to go all-out for the first time this season. His season’s best is an impressive 1:43.38, where he negative split it and dominated the field, which included World Indoor champion Josh Hoey. This is Arop’s first meeting with Wanyonyi since he beat him at Grand Slam Track: Kingston.

– Djamel Sedjati: The Olympic bronze medalist was a bit banged up in the early parts of the year, which meant he opened up his year at the Oslo Diamond League and busted the rust with a 1:43.06 for third place behind Wanyonyi and Mohamed Attaoui (more on him shortly). He has not beaten Wanyonyi since their first contest against each other at the Paris Diamond League last year so he’s riding a four-race losing streak but each time out, he’s been within .33 seconds each time. 

– Josh Hoey: It would be a remarkable upset for Hoey to get his first career Diamond League victory over this field, but he’s managed to string together podium finishes in Stockholm (where he ran a 1:42.43 personal best for third place) and Paris (1:43.00 for second place).

– Bryce Hoppel: If this is a race for the world record and the American record (1:41.67) falls in the process, Hoppel is in it to defend his. He was just .11s behind Hoey in Paris, which is his best showing of all year. Hoppel is rounding into form just ahead of the U.S. Championships, which is great to see.

– Slimane Moula: If you recall, 2023 was a breakout year for Moula and he finished second at the Monaco Diamond League that year. He ended up fifth at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest and then failed to run faster than 1:44.55 in 2024 and didn’t make it out of the repechage rounds in Paris. He’s having a bit of a resurgence in 2025 and clocked a personal best of 1:42.77 when he was 5th at the Stockholm Diamond League. He’s No. 3 on the Algerian all-time list behind Sedjati and 2016 Olympic silver medalist Taoufik Makhloufi.

– Peter Bol: Joseph Deng’s 1:43.99 800m national record went down in April with Bol’s 1:43.79 at the Australian National Championships and Bol’s continued to pour it on with a 1:43.80 at the Ostrava Golden Spike Meet on June 24th and then a 1:43.88 at the Meeting National Est Lyonnais 2025 in France this past weekend.

–  Max Burgin: He ran a personal best of 1:43.34 for second place at the Rabat Diamond League. He took fourth at the Paris Diamond League in 1:43.61.

– Gabriel Tual: At this time last year, the Frenchman was looking like a contender for gold and ran 1:41.61 at the Paris Diamond League behind Sedjati and Wanyonyi. He ended up sixth in the Olympic final and fourth in the Diamond League final. He hasn’t looked as good in 2025 with his best showing being a fourth place finish in 1:42.72 at the Stockholm Diamond League. Still, he was vocal about believing Rudisha’s world record would fall in the pre-race press conference in Paris.

– Mohamed Attaoui: The Spaniard is one of the event’s breakout stars of 2025. He just won the Paris Diamond League in a personal best of 1:42.73 and beat the likes of Hoey, Hoppel, Burgin and Tual. Similar to Wanyonyi, he’s getting faster each time out.

– Patryk Sieradzki: 1:44.56 guy. I wonder if he’s the pacer.

Men’s 110m Hurdles | 2:33 p.m. ET

We’re looking for a rebound race here from Grant Holloway. The Olympic champion spoke out about a knee injury at the end of the indoor season. As a result, he delayed his start to the outdoor season and is winless thus far. He was fifth in 13.11 at the Paris Diamond League and was then run down by Dylan Beard, who is also in Monaco, at the Ostrava Golden Spike Meet on June 23rd. He shared on Instagram afterward: “Imma double down on being me. My team & I are looking forward to the future and whatever comes with it.” He has time and the benefit of the reigning champion bye for Tokyo. Outside Holloway, Beard, Trey Cunningham, and Cordell Tinch serve up one final preview ahead of the U.S. Championships.

Men’s Triple Jump | 2:35 p.m. ET

It’s not unfair to say that men’s triple jump has been one of the sport’s most disappointing events this season. As of July 7, three and a half weeks from most national championships and 74 days from the final in Tokyo, the outdoor world lead is only 17.37m. Jordan Scott has looked like the best jumper in the world in recent months, posting three of the five best jumps of his life since June 12th with two Diamond League wins to his name in that span. World Indoor champ Andy Díaz Hernández will look to break that streak in his first Diamond League of the season, while Pedro Pichardo, Hugues Fabrice Zango and Max Heß will all be seeking to break through after frustrating outdoor campaigns to this point.

Women’s 1000m | 2:43 p.m. ET

Last year, Jess Hull ran a 2000m world record in 5:19.70 and now she returns for half the work. Svetlana Masterkova’s 2:28.98 world record has stood since 1996 and Faith Kipyegon fell short of it with a 2:29.21 back in April. Kipyegon gave it a try at the Stade Louis II track back in 2020 and ran 2:29.15 for the No. 2 all-time performance. It’s fast. Hull ran 2:34.71 on the University of Washington’s oversized indoor track last year but is in much better form now with 1:58.58 800m speed and is coming off a 3:52.67 for 1500m (her third-best performance of her career). 

The field also includes Nelly Jepchirchir (2:31.24 PB), Jemma Reekie (2:31.11 PB), Sinclaire Johnson, Addy Wiley, and 800m World champion Mary Moraa. Moraa’s 1500m performances at Grand Slam Track were just short of disastrous, but she’s better at running an extra 200m more than her speciality event with a 2:33.43 personal best from last year’s Silesia Diamond League.

Women’s 100m Hurdles | 2:58 p.m. ET

Olympic champion Masai Russell returned to racing for the first time in two months following a slight ankle injury stemming from her 12.17 American record-setting run at Grand Slam Track: Miami. She was content with her 12.50, fourth place showing at the Prefontaine Classic this past weekend. A win could be a good confidence booster ahead of the U.S. Championships.

Men’s 5000m | 3:05 p.m. ET

This race promises to be a fast one with seven men entered who have already run under 12:50 this season. Ethiopia’s 18-year-old star Biniam Mehary is coming off a big 26:43.82 win at the Pre Classic 10,000m. Because most of our attention was fixated on Nico Young’s U.S. outdoor record at the Oslo Diamond League, we may have overlooked that Mehary also ran 12:45.93 to finish second there. Andreas Almgren will follow up his 12:44.27 European record, which is the world-leading time right now.

The Ethiopian Athletics Federation could also be watching this race closely because in addition to Mehary, Yomif Kejelcha (12:47.84), Hagos Gebrhiwet (12:46.82 SB), Telahun Bekele, and Mezgebu Sime (12:49.80) are entered.

Men’s 200m | 3:27 p.m. ET

Letsile Tebogo marked his return to the Diamond League circuit with a 19.76 season’s best, world lead and win at the Prefontaine Classic. He suffered a grade 2 hamstring injury that forced him to miss a few weeks of training. Unlike in his early-season Diamond League appearance, where he would showboat or ease up across the finish line, it appears Tebogo is entering the portion of the season where he intends to run fast and assert himself. He crowned himself in his celebration in Eugene to remind us. 

However, on Tuesday morning, meet organizers announced reigning World champion and Olympic bronze medalist Noah Lyles will return to racing on Friday. Lyles ran 45.87 for 400m back in April and then pulled out of a meet in Atlanta due to an ankle injury. The match race with Tyreek Hill also never happened. This will be the fourth time Letsile Tebogo and Noah Lyles go head-to-head in the 200m – only the second time outside a global championship. Lyles owns a slight 2–1 head-to-head advantage. The last time they raced was the Paris Olympic final, where Tebogo claimed gold and Lyles took bronze but later revealed he was dealing with COVID.

Note: Disappointingly, Australian sprint sensation Gout Gout has opted to race in a separate 200m race for U23 athletes at the meet. He has yet to race against Tebogo or Lyles.

Men’s 3000m Steeplechase | 3:34 p.m. ET

Monaco meet organizers assembled a big field for the men’s steeplechase and although it lacks Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali, three of the top five ranked men in the world are in it: Samuel Firewu (8:05.61 SB), Abraham Kibiwot (8:10.13 SB), and Mohamed Amin Jhinaoui (8:10.55 SB).

Mostly of interest to the American audience will be how the U.S. Olympians Kenneth Rooks, James Corrigan, and Matt Wilkinson look. 

– Olympic silver medalist Kenneth Rooks is rounding into form. He ran a 3:37.66 personal best for 1500m back in May. He followed that up with a 8:14.25 in his first steeplechase race since last August on May 24th. This is his first big test of the year.

– James Corrigan is coming off winning the NCAA title in a season’s best of 8:16.41. He kicked off his European tour with a 3:42.89 win in the “B” heat of a small meet in Tomblaine, France.

– Wilkinson ran a personal best of 8:11.11 when he finished 7th at the Rabat Diamond League and then won a lowkey meet in 8:14.08 in Nice, France just six days later.

One person watching this race closely could be Isaac Updike since the 33-year-old is coming off a 8:13.64 personal best at the Portland Track Festival and could be a factor to break up those three for a spot in Tokyo. 

Women’s 100m | 3:52 p.m. ET

Although it’s still the women’s 100m—one of the sports most exciting events currently—this field is not as good as the one that just assembled at the Prefontaine Classic. It’s hard to follow up Olympic bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden beating Julien Alfred in 10.75 into a -1.5m/s headwind at Hayward Field. Alfred will try to get back to her winning ways in Monaco.

Jacious Sears, who popped off a 10.85 season’s best in the “B” section of the women’s 100m, will get the call-up for her second Diamond League of the year. Sears is the third-fastest American woman this year and is looking like a contender to make the U.S. team for Japan.

Keep up with all things track and field by following us across Instagram, X, Bluesky, Threads, and YouTube. Catch the latest episodes of the CITIUS MAG Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. For more, subscribe to The Lap Count and CITIUS MAG Newsletter for the top running news delivered straight to your inbox.