Olyslagers and Patterson to flex muscles in Brussels

The international athletics season enters the home straight this weekend, with the best athletes across the world flying into Brussels for one of the most coveted meets of the year – the Diamond League finals.

Over two days of global athletics action, nine Australians will have one last opportunity to leave their mark on 2024 as they battle it out for the win.

Victors don’t just get to hold the coveted Diamond Trophy in the air, they take home US$30,000 in prize money and earn a wildcard spot for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Japan.

Australian fans can watch live on Stan Sport from 4am AEST on each day of the finals.

Full program:

Saturday, 14 September:

• 4.29am – Women’s High Jump – Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson
• 4.35am – Men’s Discus Throw – Matt Denny
• 4.37am – Men’s 5000m – Stewart McSweyn
• 5.29am – Men’s 1500m – Olli Hoare

Sunday, 15 September:

• 2.52am – Women’s Javelin Throw  – Mackenzie Little
• 3:51am – Women’s Pole Vault  – Nina Kennedy
• 4.54am – Women’s 1500 – Jessica Hull and Georgia Griffith

Day 1 – Saturday, 14 September AEST

Women’s High Jump
4:29am AEST

All season long, Ukraine’s Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchickh has dominated headlines with her eight-strong winning streak and her world record jump of 2.10m.

Though the reigning Diamond League champion may be the favourite to win, she will rekindle her rivalry with two Australian greats this weekend, with Olympic silver and bronze medallists Nicola Olyslagers (coached by Matt Horsnell) and Eleanor Patterson (Alex Stewart) ready to topple the Ukranian great in their last match of the season.

Olyslagers, a NSW Institute of Sport scholarship (NSWIS) athlete, led the standing for much of the first half of the year, with a season opener than equalled her Australian record (2.03m) followed world indoor gold and despite being unable to clear her top heights in the latter half of the season due to a foot injury, has showcased a string of stunning performances leading to Olympic silver.

On the contrary, Patterson, also a NSWIS athlete, is still rising with all jumps leading to this moment. With a season’s best of 1.96m at the Lausanne Diamond League, the 2022 world champion remains as one of the biggest threats for the Diamond League title, and as a big stage performer, her competitors know anything is possible for the Leongatha product.

Ukraine’s Olympic bronze medallist Iryna Gerashchenko will look for a place on the podium, as well Serbia’s Angelina Topic – the only other athlete outside of Mahuchikh and Olyslagers that has jumped higher than Patterson this year at 1.98m

Men’s Discus Throw
4.35am AEST

Last year’s Diamond League finals in Oregon mark a significant milestone for discus powerhouse Matthew Denny (Dale Stevenson). Not only did he lift up the glorious diamond trophy, the victory marked one of the first times the Australian was able to bring down all the giants of global discus.

With unmatched self-belief and a change up in his training regime, Denny catapulted himself to an Australian record early in the season, Olympic bronze and now has the 70-metre mark on his mind – a distance that won Olympic bronze and could take the Diamond League title once more.

The ‘Big Four’ of world discus headline the field, with world record holder Mykolas Alekna (LTU) hungry for the final global title after missing gold in Paris, as well as former Olympic champions Kristjan Ceh (SLO) and Daniel Stahl (SWE), who all boast personal best throws of 70m+.

Men’s 5000m
4:37am AEST

It’s the King of King Island vs the Might of East Africa in a battle of Olympic proportions as Stewart McSweyn (Nic Bideau) takes on the 5000m final.

The Olympic finalist has made the 5000m his own this year, speeding to a career-best of 12:56.07 this year to dip significantly under the Olympic qualifying standard in May this year and become Australia’s second fastest athlete over the distance in history.

The field includes Diamond League final winners Hagos Gebrhiwet (12:36.73) and Yomif Kejelcha (12:38.95), with all but one athlete not yet to dip under the 13-minute mark. McSweyn will toe the line as the seventh fastest athlete of 12, but a speedy race will give the Tasmanian another chance this season at dismantling Craig Mottram’s long standing Australian record of 12:55.76. Can he do it? Let’s see.

Men’s 1500m
5:29am AEST

Middle distance fans will know that the depths of Men’s 1500m keeps getting deeper and deeper, and with that, more unpredictable.

Jakob Ingebrigsten (NOR) may still dominate headlines as the world number one, but it was Cole Hocker (USA) who won the Olympic title in Paris, and Yared Nuguse also threw his hat in the ring with another Diamond League win, highlighting that anything can happen.

Commonwealth champion Olli Hoare (Dathan Ritzenhein) will fly the flag for Australia in the race, and although he is the ninth fastest on paper this year with a season’s best of 3:31.07, has proved he has the grit and racing tactics to hoist the trophy in the air.

Hoare won the Emsley Carr Mile at the London Diamond League meet just days before the Paris Olympic Games, crossing the line just 0.03 seconds ahead of Norway’s Narve Gilke Nordas who makes another appearance in the race.

The Australian will also contend Ingebrigsten, Nuguse and Hocker, as well as Kenyan duo Timothy Cheruiyot and Reynold Cheruiyot, adding to the excitement of this race.

Day 2 – Sunday, 15 September AEST

Women’s Javelin Throw
2.52am AEST

This Sunday morning, Dr. Mackenzie Little will swap her scrubs for competition wear once more as she prepares to sail the javelin into the air for a chance at lifting the trophy.

Little has launched large this year, including a 66.27m career best in London, but fell painfully short in the Women’s Javelin final at the Olympic Games, where she placed 12^th with a throw of 60.32m.

With a global medal in tow, Little is no stranger to success on the world stage and can muster up big numbers – featuring as the second seeded athlete behind Colombia’s Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado (66.70), and will also take on Japan’s champion Haruka Kitaguchi who flies in with a season’s best of 65.80m.

Women’s Pole Vault
3:51am AEST

High flying Nina Kennedy (Paul Burgess and James Fitzpatrick) is posed for one final hit out for 2024 before flying home to Perth, approaching Brussels with the intention of breaking her own Australian record to cap off her best year yet.

The Olympic champion has achieved a streak of eight-consecutive wins this year, and despite admitting she was exhausted for the Zurich meet last week, managed to find enough in the tank to clear 4.97m on her first attempt – 5cm higher than Alysha Newman (CAN) and Katie Moon (USA) who both cleared 4.82m.

The 27-year-old will now be eyeing her first Diamond League Trophy and a height of 4.95m which would see her rise up to equal five on the all-time list alongside Moon.

Women’s 1500m
4:54am AEST

A star studded 1500m bout will feature two Australians in Jessica Hull (Simon Hull) and Georgia Griffith (Nic Bideau), with the pair ready to show off the country’s resurgence in middle distance running.

Hull has her eyes on her first Diamond League Finals trophy and if her year is anything to go by, you can’t put it past the Australian great.

Five days after becoming the fifth fastest women in history over 1500m runner, Hull broke the 2000m world record at the Monaco Diamond League. The magic didn’t stop there, with the 27-year-old racing to Australia’s first middle distance at the Olympics since Ralph Doubell in 1968.

Having raced only once in Rome since her rewriting the history books in Paris, and placing fourth, Hull has reset and refocussed and with a familiar crowd which includes her Paris podium pals, world record holder Faith Kipyegon (KEN) and Georgia Bell (GBR) she knows what is coming and exactly how to take on this race.

Griffith too has had a true breakthrough year in 2024, racing to multiple Diamond League podiums, the 3000m national record – an accolade she took from Hull – as well her second Olympic semi-final.

While the Victorian earned enough points to take on the 5000m final in Brussels through her 3000m performances, the Victorian has not yet raced the longer distance in her career and has elected to stick to her specialty, looking for her fourth sub-four minute time this year to hit the qualifying standard for the World Athletics Championships next September.

Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia