The men’s reigning 800 metre Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi will have all eyes on becoming the first man to break David Rudisha’s Oslo Diamond League stadium record when he lines up for the event on Thursday night.
Kenyan legend David Rudisha holds the stadium record of 1:42.04 from 2010.
A new record in the distance could be set as three of the six fastest runners in history take to the start line.
Wanyonyi headlines that list having dipped under 1:42 and he will be joined by Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati and Gabriel Tual of France who have also managed to better Rudisha’s record.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi eyeing Rudisha’s record
Wanyonyi has a personal best of 1:41.11 while Sedjati and Tual, who clinched silver and bronze behind Wanyonyi in the Paris 2024 Olympics, have personal bests of 1:41.46 and 1:41.61 respectively.
Wanyonyi, Sedjati and Tual also hold the second, fifth and sixth fastest ever times over the two-lap race, making for an interesting race with all eyes on the clock.
Aside from the record, Wanyonyi will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways after finishing in a strange third place in the Rabat Diamond League 2025.
Wanyonyi clocked a slow time of 1:43.37 to finish behind fast-rising Tshepiso Masalela of Botswana and Great Britain’s Max Burgin. Maselala and Burgin clocked 1:42.70 and 1:43.34 respectively.
The Oslo Diamond League will therefore offer Wanyonyi a good opportunity to shine and put his season back on track.
The race will start at 2119EAT.
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Elsewhere, the men’s 5000m record is also being chased down in what could be the 72nd world record set at the venue since Adriaan Paulen established the first one back in 1924.
Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet missed it by just over a second when he clocked 12:36.73 in the Norwegian capital last season.
This year, both Gebrhiwet and his compatriots Yomif Kejelcha, who finished second last year in 12:38.95, and Berihu Aregawi, with a personal best of 12:40.45, are all lining up with one goal in mind: breaking Joshua Cheptegei’s world record of 12:35.36.