The men’s discus and pole vault will provide two of the expected highlights of Berlin’s famous ISTAF meeting on 13 September, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting.
The discus line-up is headed by the last three world champions in the discipline including the reigning world champion Daniel Stahl from Sweden who leads the 2020 world list with 71.37m. He faces a line-up which includes previous world champions Andrius Gudzius from Lithuania and Piotr Malachowski from Poland.
Gudzius beat Stahl for the world title by two centimetres in 2017 before triumphing ahead of the Swede again at the following year’s European Championships which were held in Berlin.
Malachowski preceded Gudzius as world champion in Beijing although the Pole came tantalisingly close to landing his first world title in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium some eleven years ago when Robert Harting famously defeated Malachowski with his last throw of the final.
“We are really happy that so many exceptional discus throwers are coming to the ISTAF in Berlin. This discipline has a very special status in Berlin - and this time the competition is spectacularly strong,' said meeting director Martin Seeber.
The line-up also features reigning European U23 champion and record-holder Kristjan Ceh from Slovenia and Colombia’s Mauricio Ortega, the only other thrower to surpass the 70 metre-line in 2020 with 70.29m.
The previously announced Armand Duplantis, who soared to stardom as an 18-year-old in this arena at the 2018 European Championships, faces strong opposition in the pole vault in the form of reigning two-time world champion Sam Kendricks from the United States and world bronze medallist Piotr Lisek from Poland.
Olympic champion Thiago Braz from Brazil also competes along with the in-form German champion Bo Kanda Lita Baehre who finished fourth at the World Championships in Doha.
This year’s programme is made up of nine events and each event features the reigning German champion. As previously announced reigning world champion Malaika Mihambo will compete in the long jump and 2017 world champion Johannes Vetter is targeting the meeting record of 91.30m in the javelin.
In other events Laura Muir, who won her first European outdoor title in Berlin in 2018, has been confirmed for the 1500m but two-time European champion Gesa Felicitas Krause has pulled out of the 3000m steeplechase in order to rest ahead of the 2021 season.
In line with social distancing and hygiene guidelines, 3500 spectators will be granted access to the Olympic Stadium for this year’s meeting.