Charismatic track star Karsten Warholm will make a welcome return to the London Stadium when he competes at the Novuna London Athletics Meet on Saturday 18 July.
The world record holder in the 400m hurdles – the only athlete in history to have run under 46 seconds for the event (45.94) – is a multiple world, European and Diamond League champion and won the Olympic title in Tokyo (2021). He holds four of the ten fastest times ever.
He was the European indoor 400m champion in Glasgow 2019 and world indoor silver medallist in Glasgow 2024 but hasn’t raced in London since his 47.12 victory at the ‘Anniversary Games’ 2019, a European record at the time and the long-standing meeting record. Memorably, his first senior global title came at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in the capital.
“I can’t wait to race again in London,” said the 30-year-old crowd pleaser who clocked a Diamond League record of 46.28 – the third-fastest time in history – in Silesia in last summer.
“All my memories of the London Stadium are good ones – winning gold at the World Champs in 2017, setting a meeting record and Norwegian national record (at the time) in 2018, and setting a European record (at the time) and meeting record in 2019. I love that place and I’m excited to get back out there. I really want to set another meeting record and I want to have fun doing it!”
Organisers have also now confirmed the final discipline allocation for London. The historic Emsley Carr Mile is back in London, after the 2024 edition saw Oliver Hoare (AUS) claim the title in front of a sell-out crowd.
The race was inaugurated in 1953 by Sir William Carr in memory of his father, Sir Emsley Carr, a former editor of the News of the World. The newspaper was then a major sponsor of athletics in Britain and has run every single year except 2020 due to the covid pandemic. Some of the illustrious former winners include greats of the sport such as Kip Keino, Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Haile Gebrselassie and Hicham El Guerrouj.
The three standard Diamond disciplines for men are 400m, 800m and 110mH, while the four Diamond+ disciplines are 100m, the mile, 400mH and pole vault. This will mark the first time the men’s pole vault has been contested at the London Stadium since 2018, when Mondo Duplantis (SWE) last jumped in London.
The three standard Diamond disciplines for women are 3000m, high jump and discus, while the four Diamond+ disciplines are 200m, 400m, 800m and long jump. This year also marks the first appearance of the women’s 3000m at the London Stadium since 2013. The women’s discus returns for the first time since 2018, when Croatian legend and multiple global champion Sandra Perković (CRO) claimed victory.
In addition to the Diamond League events, the programme will also feature both men’s and women’s 4 x 100m relays, adding further excitement to an already world‑class line‑up.
The Novuna London Athletics Meet – the world’s biggest one-day athletics event – is the eleventh meeting of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League. The series comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field across four different continents and begins in Doha on 8 May. It concludes with a single final across two days in Brussels (4-5 September).
