Monaco Diamond League 2024 400m hurdles Preview: Karsten Warholm, Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos headline mini-Olympic showdown

The 2024 Monaco Diamond League, the ninth leg of the Wanda Diamond League series, is one of the important Track & Field events leading up to the Paris Olympics. With the quadrennial games getting nearer, the Stade Louis 2 stadium in Monaco is poised to host a mini-Olympic showdown in the men’s 400m hurdles.

The star-studded lineup at the Monaco Diamond League is set to feature:

• World record holder Karsten Warholm
• Three-time World Championship medalist Rai Benjamin
• 2022 World Champion Alison dos Santos.

Warholm, who has won the World Championship thrice, will be competing in a Diamond League leg at the Monaco Diamond League for the second time. He made his 400m hurdles outdoor season debut at the Oslo Bislett Games where he came in second behind Dos Santos (46.63s) after a thriller. Warholm clocked a time of 46.70s.

The Norwegian then featured at the 2024 European Athletics Championships where he added another accomplishment to his CV: he won his third consecutive gold medal at the event, clocking 46.98s. The 28-year-old had earned gold medals in the 2022 and 2018 editions.

Meanwhile, USA’s Benjamin displayed solid form at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, producing a dominant win in 46.46s. This time he clocked during the qualification finals is also the world-leading performance in the 2024 season.

Dos Santos has featured in four Diamond League meetings so far in 2024: Doha, Oslo, Stockholm, and Paris. Just like Benjamin, he is yet to lose in the 2024 outdoor season, in distance.

The last time these three faced off, it turned into a nail-biting showdown at the Tokyo Olympics. Warholm took the gold in a world record time of 45.94s, while Benjamin and Santos collected silver and bronze with 46.17s and 46.72s.

Other athletes to watch out for at Monaco Diamond League 2024

Letsile Tebogo is one of the athletes to watch out for at the Monaco Diamond League (IMAGE: GETTY)

Some of the athletes to watch out for in the track events are Letsile Tebogo (men’s 200m), Marco Arop, Djamel Sedjati (men’s 800m), Quincy Hall, Christopher Morales-Williams (men’s 400m), Grant Holloway, Rasheed Broadbell, Trey Cunningham (110m hurdles), Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Yared Nuguse, Timothy Cheruiyot (men’s 1500m), and Julien Alfred, Dina Asher-Smith, and Tamari Davis (women’s 100m).

Meanwhile, the field events will see prominent names like JuVaugh Harrison, Shelby McEwen, Hamish Kerr (men’s high jump), Shanieka Ricketts, Leyanis Pérez, Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (women’s triple jump), Haruka Kitaguchi, Victoria Hudson (women’s javelin throw), Molly Caudery, Nina Kennedy, and Katie Moon (women's pole vault).