Olympic champion Kirani James will lead the strong field in the 400m at the 71st Boris Hanžeković Memorial.
James is the only athlete who ran in the Olympic 400m final three times; and he also medalled each time: he won gold in London 2012, silver in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and bronze in Tokyo this year. His personal best is 43.74 and he ran 43.88 in the Tokyo semifinal.
“I’m looking forward to ending my season in Zagreb. It will be my first
experience at the meet and in Croatia. I’m excited to come and try to
run fast, and yes at the level of the current meeting record of 44.94. I
still have two Diamond League races before that in Brussels and the finals
in Zurich hopefully. So far I’m very satisfied with my season and mainly
my third Olympic medal,” Kirani James said.
The race in Zagreb’s Mladost Stadium will also include Isaac Makwala, who also ran in the Tokyo final, and who won the Olympic 4×400 bronze with team Botswana, and Dariusz Kowaluk, who won gold in the mixed 4x400m relay with team Poland.
The Zagreb meeting record of 44.94 was set by US runner Gil Roberts in 2017.