Next Stop on the Diamond League Tour - Stockholm!

The next stop on the IAAF Diamond League Tour for the best track and field athletes in the world is the DN Galan in Stockholm. The new Diamond League is resulting in the best athletes competing at the same meets, which means you can bet on an amazing show when you tune in. Watch the meet LIVE at universalsports.com for just $1.99 starting at 2:00pm EDT. If your cable provider carriers the Universal Sports channel, you can watch it later in the day that way. But there's nothing like live track and field uninterrupted by commercials! 

Here's the schedule of events and athletes to watch for each:

Women's 5000m - 12:25pm EDT

Lauren Fleshman (2010 US Champ) is rabbiting this race as Meseret Defar attempts to break the World Record of 14:11.15 (set by Tirunesh Dibaba in 2008). Fleshman announces her plans to rabbit and adds her thoughts on the ethics of rabbiting HERE.

Meseret Defar will need to average 68-second laps in order to break the world record. Defar's personal best is 14:12.88 from 2008. She has not broken 14:30 outdoors since 2008 however.

Unfortunately, this race falls prior to the 2pm EDT start time of the live broadcast. Hopefully we will get a recap during the live coverage.

Women's Long Jump - 1:00pm EDT

2009 World Champion Brittney Reese and fellow Americans Funmi Jimoh, Women Talk Sports member Brianna Glenn and High Jump star Chaunte Howard-Lowe face a strong Russian contingent that includes the top 3 jumpers so far in 2010 - Olga Kucherenko, Darya Klishina and Luydmila Kolchanova.

Women's Pole Vault - 1:15pm EDT

2010 Indoor World Champ Fabiana Murer of Brazil takes on German duo Carolin Hingst and Silke Spiegelburg not to mention Russia's Svetlana Feofanova, who overtook the Germans to win the European Championships title just last weekend.

Women's High Jump - 1:35pm EDT

Chaunte Howard-Lowe and Blanka Vlasic face off again! Always a fantastic competition to watch, the duals between these two athletes have been epic this year. Although Vlasic has triumphed in all four Diamond League match-ups thus far, Lowe did beat her in Barcelona last month, and none of Vlasic's DL victories have come with ease. 

Women's 400m - 2:00pm EDT

The top 2 women in the world in 2010, Debbie Dunn (USA) and Euro Champ Tatyana Firova (RUS), square off in the one-lapper.

Men's 800m - 2:12pm EDT

Abubaker Kaki is the favorite in this field but American fans will have their eyes on Andrew Wheating, who broke into fame by diving for the line at the 2008 Olympic Trials to make the US Team for the 800m as a college sophomore at Oregon. Fast forward to July 2010, where he ran 3:30.90 in Monaco to become the 4th-fastest American 1500m runner of all time. Also to watch is American Nick Symmonds.

Women's Steeplechase - 2:20pm EDT

Kenya's Milcah Chemos Cheywa and Gladys Kipkemoi have dueled over the barriers many times this year and each race has been a close call. In Shanghai in May, Kipkemoi beat Chemos by almost 4 seconds. Two weeks later in Olso, Chemos ran 9:12.66 to beat Kipkemoi by almost 4 seconds. Six days later in Rome, both Kipekemoi AND Lydia Rotich seemed to have left Chemos in the dust going into the final lap , only to be kicked down by her in the final 200m as she soared to 9:11.71 with Kipkemoi coming in 2nd in 9:13.22.

Chemos then beat World Champ Marta Dominguez of Spain at the Prefontaine Classic in July, as Kipkemoi opted to not make the trip.

This will be a hard-fought battle between Chemos, Kipkemoi and also Rotich and European Champion Yuliya Zarudeva of Russia.

Top Americans Bridget Franek and Lisa Aguilera may be in the perfect race to be carried to their personal and season bests.

Men's 400m Hurdles - 2:42pm EDT

World Leader Bershawn "Batman" Jackson will be challenged by World Silver Medalist Javier Culson of Puerto Rico and USA rival Angelo Taylor, who was just 1/100th of a second behind Jackson in Monaco a couple weeks ago.

Men's 100m - 2:57pm EDT

Usain Bolt vs. Tyson Gay, need I say more??

Women's 1500m - 3:04pm EDT

What a race this will be! 

World Leader Anna Alminova of Russia (who was suspended in March for 3 months after testing positive for pseudoephedrine) will take on World #2 Gelete Burka of Ethiopia as well as Olympic Champion Nancy Langat of Kenya. Langat beat Burka at the African Championships just last week. Alminova won the Russian Championships the night before running the world-leading 3:57 in Paris last month, but finished a disappointing 6th at the European Championships last weekend.

Not far behind these three will be British star Lisa Dobriskey as well as the American contingent of Shannon Rowbury (looking for her 1st sub-4 minute performance), Anna Pierce (wanting to better her disappointing 1500m races at New York and Paris), Christin Wurth-Thomas (the only Amercian to have broken 4:00 this year) and Morgan Uceny, who is having a stellar year, having broken 2:00 for the first time in the 800m and having PR'd in the 1500m in 4:02.40.

Women's 100m Hurdles - 3:19pm

World #1 (12.55) Lolo Jones will be hunted once again by the best in the world. World #2 (12.56) and Olympic Bronze Medalist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada is just 1/100th of a second behind Jones on the 2010 list and had less wind aiding her when she ran that time. Her countrywoman Perdita Felicien (12.58) is also close behind as is American Ginnie Crawford (12.63).

Queen Harrison, NCAA Champ for Virginia Tech who is debuting as a pro in Stockholm, ran 12.61 at the Penn Relays this year and is looking to get her feet wet against the big dogs in this race.

Olympic Champion Dawn Harper will return to the track after having not competed since May, where she placed 7th in Doha.

Women's 200m - 3:30pm EDT

Women Talk Sports member Allyson Felix is the clear favorite in this field. The race will be for 2nd place.

Men's 5000m - 3:38pm EDT

I really hope we get to see every lap of this race. Almost half the guys in the field have broken 13 minutes, including 10K American Record holder Chris Solinsky. This may be the race for Galen Rupp to join the sub-13 club as well.

How to follow the meet:

• Live Results
• Watch Live on UniversalSports.com at 2pm EDT
• Watch on Universal Sports Channel at 5pm EDT
• Follow me on Twitter at @anngaff

View AnnGaff's Profile

• Filed Under:  
• Track & Field, Sports, SportsPLUS, Events

This post is related to an event on our Calendar:

• 2010 Diamond League: DN Galan