Noah Lyles may have just lost to a countryman, but something closer to a world championships preview could come at Friday’s Diamond League meet in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Streaming starts at 1 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Gold, with TV coverage at 2 p.m. on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA.
Lyles is the fastest man in this Olympic cycle in the 200m (19.65 seconds from last year), but he lost for the first time since the 2016 Olympic trials three weeks ago.
Michael Norman edged him, 19.70 to 19.72, but Norman is expected to focus strictly on the 400m at the USATF Outdoor Championships in three weeks. That would keep him out of the 200m at worlds in Doha in late September.
So Lyles must look elsewhere for competition. He will find it in Lausanne by way of 2016 Olympic silver medalist Andre De Grasse of Canada and 2017 World champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey.
The field was even more formidable. But it was hurt by two withdrawals: Nigerian Divine Oduduru, who won the NCAA title for Texas Tech in 19.73, and Akeem Bloomfield, the fastest Jamaican (19.81) since Usain Bolt gave up the 200m after Rio.
Guliyev is 0-6 lifetime against Lyles, according to Tilastopaja.org. De Grasse lost his only head-to-head with the 21-year-old American. If Lyles gets through Lausanne unblemished and then past Christian Coleman and anybody else at USATF Outdoors, it’s hard to imagine him relinquishing the favorite tag at worlds.
Here are the Lausanne entry lists. Here’s the schedule of events (all times Eastern):
Thursday
12:30 p.m. — Women’s Pole Vault
Friday
1 p.m. — Women’s Javelin
1:05 — Women’s Shot Put
1:20 — Women’s Triple Jump
1:54 — Men’s 400m Hurdles
2:03 — Women’s 400m
2:10 — Men’s Pole Vault
2:10 — Women’s 200m
2:18 — Women’s 800m
2:25 — Women’s High Jump
2:28 — Men’s 110m Hurdles
2:37 — Men’s 800m
2:45 — Men’s Long Jump
2:46 — Women’s 100m
2:55 — Men’s 5000m
3:15 — Men’s 100m
3:23 — Women’s 400m Hurdles
3:32 — Men’s 1500m
3:42 — Men’s 200m
Here are five events to watch:
Men’s Pole Vault — 2:10 p.m. ET
For the second straight week, the reigning Olympic, world and European champions and the world-record holder convene. Louisiana-born Swede Mondo Duplantis prevailed at Pre, beating American Sam Kendricks for the second time in 11 head-to-heads. Duplantis and Kendricks are also both entered in next week’s meet in Monaco as they continue to vie for world champs favorite status.
Women’s 100m — 2:46 p.m. ET
Two of the most anticipated events at Pre were the women’s 100m and 200m, but none of the superstars put up an impressive time. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Dafne Schippers and Dina Asher-Smith get another chance here, taking on the surprise 100m winner at Pre — Marie-Josee Ta Lou. The key time is 10.73, the fastest in the world this year shared by 2016 Olympic champion Elaine Thompson (not in this field) and 2008 and 2012 gold medalist Fraser-Pryce.
Men’s 5000m — 2:55 p.m. ET
Couldn’t ask for a much better marquee now that Mo Farah is done track racing. Lausanne pits the Olympic silver medalist behind Farah (American Paul Chelimo), the man who beat Farah at 2017 Worlds (Ethiopian Muktar Edris), the active 5000m runner with the fastest personal best (Ethiopian Selemon Barega) and the fastest in the world this year (Ethiopian Telahun Bekele). Barega, 19, and Bekele, 20, are the favorites. The former has finished first or second in his five Diamond League 5000m the last two seasons. The latter lowered his personal best by 11.65 seconds to edge Barega in Rome on June 6.
Men’s 1500m — 3:32 p.m. ET
What once was shaping up as a two-man fight for best in the world has shifted in the last five weeks. Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot‘s only three losses since the start of 2018 were to countryman Elijah Manangoi at the Commonwealth Games, African Championships and this season’s Diamond League opener in Doha. But Manangoi was 10th and 12th in his last two outings, both won by Cheruiyot, who is now the clear world champs favorite. Manangoi is absent from Lausanne, but Cheruiyot could have his hands full with Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman and Norwegian brothers Filip and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who were second, third and fourth at the Pre Classic.
Men’s 200m — 3:42 p.m. ET
Lyles has to be targeting sub-19.7 to take the fastest time in the world this year from his friend Norman. He ran 19.69 at this meet last year, one of four times he broke 19.7 in 2018 (Bolt is the only other runner to do that in one year). That should easily be enough for the win, given nobody has been faster since Bolt’s 2015 World title. Nobody else in the Lausanne field has broken 19.9 in his career.
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