Norway to host ‘Impossible Games’ Diamond League event in June

Track fans, you can breathe a huge sigh of relief, because it’s been announced that just over a month from now on June 11, an exclusive track and field meet called the Impossible Games will be held in Oslo. The event will only feature a handful of events—including a 300m hurdles world record attempt from Norway’s Karsten Warholm—and there will be no fans present due to social distancing rules, but we’ll take anything at this point. Here’s all you need to know about what could be the biggest (and only) track event of the summer.

Impossible Games at Bislett Stadium June 11. Read more: https://t.co/mBqHFaUXj8 @srmills90 @Statman_Jon @Diamond_League pic.twitter.com/1mpKqJXn59

— Bislett Games (@BislettGames) April 23, 2020

The Impossible Games

The competition lineup for the Impossible Games isn’t set in stone, and many changes could still be made ahead of the June event. As it stands now, the headline events have to be Warholm’s 300mH run and a pole vault showdown between Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, Sondre Guttormsen of Norway and French 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie. For the pole vault, Duplantis and Guttormsen will compete in Oslo, but Lavillenie will teleconference in and jump from his backyard in France.

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Warholm is the defending world champion in the 400mH, having won the event in London in 2017 and in 2019 in Doha. He owns the second-fastest time in the event with a 46.92, which he ran last year in Zurich. The world record is 46.78, run by American Kevin Young in 1992. Warholm won’t be looking to beat Young’s record just yet, though, and in Oslo he’ll aim to better the current 300mH outdoor world record of 34.48. Warholm has run faster, with a PB of 34.26 at the distance, but it was indoors.

As the coronavirus crisis continues, the @nikepreclassic and @MEETINGPARIS are now suspended whilst @BislettGames will be staged under an alternative format.

More ?https://t.co/wuAw4u7RY1

— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League) April 23, 2020

The Impossible Games will also feature a discus competition as well as races over 100m, 200m, 600m and 3,000m. Organizers are also in talks with the Ingebrigsten brothers to see if they will make an appearance at the event.

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2020 Diamond League

The Oslo Diamond League event was scheduled to take place on June 11, and it will be the first series event to take place in 2020, albeit in an adjusted format. The London Diamond League is next on the schedule after Oslo, set for July 4, and at this moment in time organizers are still hopeful it can go ahead as planned. The rest of the Diamond League season, which culminates in Switzerland in September, is still a go for now as well.