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The date is set. Athletics fans will take their seats on Charléty stadium terraces on Friday 26 June for what will be the eighth leg of the Wanda Diamond League 2026. Enjoying the perfect slot between events in Oslo (10 June) and Eugene (4 July), the meeting in Paris will be hosted during early summer, enabling the world’s elite to really show what they’re made of on the magical blue track in preparation for a key meeting in Birmingham (10 to 16 August) for the European championships. As is the case every year, it will also be an opportunity for French athletes to come out in force to compete against the best prior to the French Elite Championships (24 to 26 July in Albi), which is organised exactly one month after the prestigious meeting.
The event schedule is a mouthwatering concoction that notably includes two pole vault competitions, one for men and one for women, which will be a guaranteed showstopper for fans. One year ago, the king of the discipline Mondo Duplantis cleared six metres in the stadium in the south of the capital, just weeks before setting a new world record of 6.25 m during the Paris Games. Since then, he has improved his performance centimetre by centimetre, culminating with a jump of 6.30 m, which earned him the title at the Tokyo Worlds. In Japan, Thibaut Collet and Renaud Lavillenie, two stalwarts of the Meeting de Paris particularly appreciated by the home crowd, made it into the top 8.
High hurdles to take centre stage
The home straight will see a double helping of fences with both a 100 m and 110 m hurdles competition on the programme. Not to be missed, it is a prime example of the continuing legacy of French excellence spanning many years. The 800 m will also serve up a double dose of what promises to be some spectacular races given the phenomenal standard of the competition in this discipline both internationally and on French soil. The same is true in the 400 m, which witnessed some extraordinarily hard-fought battles during the Worlds. The men’s 5,000 m is guaranteed to have the terraces buzzing too as it is a distance which saw Frenchman Jimmy Gressier securing a fantastic bronze medal in Tokyo, just one week after his astounding victory in the 10,000 m. Another middle-distance race to watch will be the women’s 1,500 m, one of the programme’s main events. In 2024, Faith Kipyegon beat her own world record over the distance during the Meeting de Paris, a year on from posting a world best performance of all time in the 5,000 m over this same track, which she just so happens to adore. Equally, the men’s 3,000 m is sure to be crowd-pleaser.
On the track front, it goes without saying that the men’s 100 m and its stellar line-up will make a welcome return to Charléty some three years after victory went to the American star, Noah Lyles.
Among the field events, in addition to two pole vault competitions, the women’s shot put and javelin will be the highlights of the evening of sport in Paris. Suspense is guaranteed in the quest for victory and points for the grand finale of the Diamond League on 4 and 5 September 2026 in Brussels, as there is currently no stand-out leader in either of these throwing events.
Note that this packed programme is set to be fleshed out still further with some additional events, which are not officially part of the Wanda Diamond League but are just as refined. Evidence of this comes from Azeddine Habz, who set a dazzling new national record in the 1,500 m back in June. Stay tuned!
The Wanda Diamond League event schedule
Men
100 m
400 m
800 m
5,000 m
3,000 m steeplechase
110 m hurdles
Pole vault
Women
400 m
800 m
1,500 m
100 m hurdles
Pole vault
Shot put
Javelin