Marco Arop headlines Canadians racing at Stockholm Diamond League

The Golden Gala in Rome delivered several standout performances, and track fans won’t have to wait long for the next Diamond League meeting. The series continues on Sunday at the Bauhaus-Galan meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, where Canada’s 800m star, Marco Arop, is making his season debut in a stacked 800m race. Fellow Canadian Sadé McCreath of Ajax, Ont., is set to make her Diamond League debut against a fast women’s 100m field.

Canadians in Stockholm

Arop hasn’t run in 2026 yet, and one of Canada’s most consistent medal contenders is starting his season against a strong 800m field. France’s Gabriel Tual won the 800m in Rome, clocking 1:43.66 and is making a quick turnaround to line up in Stockholm. American Cooper Lutkenhaus, 17, is making his much-anticipated debut after winning the 800m gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, in March.

In the sprints, McCreath chose a competitive field to make her Diamond League debut. The Olympian established herself as one of the key members of Canada’s mixed and women’s 4x100m relay teams, and Sunday’s 100m will provide an opportunity to see how she stacks up against elite international competition.

McCreath is lining up in a very fast field led by the 2025 100m and 200m world champion, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the U.S. and Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith.

Rome was electric

The women’s 400m was highly anticipated, with Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson stepping down in distance. Despite running a PB of 51.14, she found herself in unfamiliar territory, finishing seventh as 400m specialists took control from the start. Four women dipped under 50 seconds, with Norway’s Henriette Jæger surging to the win in the final metres in 49.60. Hodgkinson returns to her signature event in Stockholm this weekend as she gets ready for her 800m world record attempt in London on July 18.

American sprint star Noah Lyles is back on top after a commanding 100m win, clocking 9.88. His training partner, Jordan Anthony, ran 9.96 in his Diamond League debut, but finished fourth after Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo edged him out for third in 9.95.

 

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Lyles’s confidence stood out after the race, and he let everyone know he’s back where he belongs. “I am not showing up anywhere to lose. I am here to win,” he said in a post-race interview. “10 metres before the finish line, I knew the race was over, and I had already won it. I was thinking about how I was going to celebrate it.”