Bashir Abdi will attempt to set new 10,000-metre records at the Van Damme Memorial on 8 September, Director Kim Gevaert announced on Thursday as she presented the 47th edition of the Brussels meet.
Abdi will need to cover the 10 kms in less than 26:46.57 at the King Baudouin Stadium to break the European record set by Britain’s Mo Farah in 2011 at the Eugene meeting in the United States.
The Belgian record has belonged to Mohammed Mourhit since 1999, when he ran 26:52.30 in Brussels.
Abdi’s best performance over the distance is 27:24.41. He set that mark at the 10,000-metre European Cup in June 2021 in Birmingham, England.
Kim Gevaert also confirmed on Thursday that four other world-class athletes would be competing at the King Baudouin Stadium, in addition to Belgian headliners Bashir Abdi and Nafi Thiam (heptathlon).
They are Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, Norwegian middle-distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen, European high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, and US hurdles specialist Sydney McLaughlin.
The Van Damme Memorial will be the 14th and final Diamond League event before the final in Eugene on 16 and 17 September.
Fifteen Diamond League disciplines are on the programme in Brussels, five for the men (200, 400, 800 and 1,500m and pole vault) and ten for the women (100, 200, 400, 1,500 and 5,000m, 400m hurdles, high jump, triple jump, shot put and javelin).
Abdi’s 10,000m will open the evening.
The Urban Memorial will return on 7 September. In 2022, the shot put competition was held at the Fish Market in the city centre.
