After Devon Allen ran the third-fastest 110m hurdles in history on Sunday, he’s on world record watch for his next race, a Diamond League meet in Oslo on Thursday.
The meet airs live on Peacock from 2-4 p.m. ET. CNBC airs coverage Saturday from 8-10 a.m. ET.
Allen, a two-time Olympian who will convert full-time to football after July’s world championships, lowered his personal best from 12.99 to 12.84 at the NYC Grand Prix on Sunday.
The only men to run faster were 2012 Olympic champion Aries Merritt (12.80 world record) and reigning world champion Grant Holloway (12.81), who was a distant second to Allen on Sunday.
Allen’s time was all the more impressive given he missed about 10 days of training leading up to the meet after testing positive for COVID-19. He attributed the performance to having fresh legs.
In Oslo, Allen could be pushed by 2016 Olympic champion Omar McLeod of Jamaica. Allen’s focus is on next week’s USATF Outdoor Championships, where he must finish top three (excluding Holloway, who has a bye into worlds as defending champion) to make the world team.
Both nationals and worlds will be in Eugene, Oregon, where Allen played football and ran track for the Ducks.
Here are the Oslo entry lists. Here’s the schedule of events (all times Eastern):
11:31 a.m. ET — Women’s Shot Put
12:45 p.m. – Men’s Pole Vault
2:04 — Women’s 400m Hurdles
2:14 — Men’s 400m
2:15 — Men’s Long Jump
2:19 — Women’s 5000m
2:39 — Men’s 100m
2:44 — Women’s 200m
2:48 — Women’s Discus
2:49 — Men’s 5000m
3:13 — Men’s 110m Hurdles
3:25 — Women’s 800m
3:38 — Men’s 400m Hurdles
3:50 — Men’s Mile
Here are five events to watch (statistics via Tilastopaja.org and World Athletics):
Men’s Pole Vault — 12:45 p.m. ET
Four men who own a combined 14 Olympic and world championships medalists are on the start list: Mondo Duplantis, the reigning Olympic champion and world-record holder, Sam Kendricks, the reigning world champion, and Thiago Braz and Renaud Lavillenie, both Olympic gold medalists. Eyes will be on Duplantis, who has upped the world record four times over the last two and a half years. Kendricks, who has a bye into worlds, competes on the Diamond League for the first time this season.
Women’s 5000m — 2:19 p.m. ET
A gathering of Ethiopia’s top female distance stars: Letesenbet Gidey, the world record holder at 5000m and 10,000m; Gudaf Tsegay, the Olympic 5000m bronze medalist and world 1500m bronze medalist and Almaz Ayana, the 2016 Olympic 10,000m champion and former world record holder. Absent: Tokyo Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who has yet to race this year. Gidey and Tsegay rank Nos. 2 and 3 in the world this year behind another Ethiopian, Ejgayehu Taye. Last week, Ayana ran her first track race in nearly three years and since childbirth.
Women’s Discus — 2:48 p.m. ET
The world’s top three this year face off for the second time in three weeks. American Valarie Allman, the Tokyo Olympic champion, got the win at the Pre Classic in May over two-time gold medalist Sandra Perkovic of Croatia and German Kristin Pudenz. Allman has competed at five meets this year, and in all of them threw farther than anybody else in the world has this year. She broke her American record in April with the world’s best throw in 30 years.
Men’s 110m Hurdles — 3:13 p.m. ET
Allen has few shots left at the world record this summer given his plan to join the Eagles after July’s worlds, though he hopes to return to hurdling after the NFL season. Oslo is a low-pressure meet without a team to make or a medal at stake. And he could be spurred by McLeod, the Rio Olympic gold medalist looking to break 13 seconds for the first time since 2017.
Women’s 800m — 3:25 p.m. ET
A chance for Olympic silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson to respond to Olympic gold medalist Athing Mu‘s 2022 world-leading time set last week, Hodgkinson had the top time this year of 1:57.72 before Mu ran 1:57.01 in Rome. Mu won’t be in Oslo, but the field includes Hodgkinson’s fellow Brit Jemma Reekie, who was fourth in Tokyo, and world champion Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda. Plus Brit Laura Muir, the Olympic 1500m bronze medalist who ranks sixth in the world in the 800m by best time since the start of 2021.
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