41 world and 22 Olympic champions as well as 13 London 2012 Paralympic champions will re-open the Olympic Stadium with a fantastic weekend of athletics at the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games on 24-26 July. Usain Bolt will be the star attraction on the Friday night of the three-day event and he will be joined by British Olympic champions Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill amongst a host of other global superstars.

New British 100m champion Chijindu Ujah (Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo) will face Bolt alongside GB & NI teammates European champion James Dasaolu (Steve Fudge), world and European indoor champion Richard Kilty (Linford Christie), Harry Aikines-Aryeetey (Rana Reider), Ojie Edoburun (Tawiah-Dodoo), James Ellington (Christie) and Andrew Robertson (Dan Cossins).

In the 100m hurdles, London 2012 heptathlon champion Ennis-Hill will go up against the in-form 2008 Olympic champion Dawn Harper-Nelson, world champion Brianna Rollins, the top two from the Sainsbury’s British Championships, Tiffany Porter (Reider) and her sister Cindy Ofili (James Henry), and the top two ranked athletes in 2015; Sharika Nelvis and Jasmin Stowers.

Double Olympic, world and European champion Farah will have his own stadium record of 7:36.85 in his sights when he runs over 3000m to close the Friday night’s proceedings.

Bohdan Bondarenko and Mutaz Essa Barshim will go head to head in the high jump and could threaten the 2.38m stadium record. Also competing on the Friday night will be world pole vault record holder Renaud Lavillenie of France and USA’s 110m hurdles world record holder Aries Merritt.

After running under 44 seconds for the first time in Paris, Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa could threaten the stadium record of 43.94. New British champion Rabah Yousif (Carol Williams) and European gold and silver medallists Martyn Rooney (Reider) and Matthew Hudson-Smith (Tony Hadley) will lead the British challenge. In the women’s 400m, Britain’s world champion and local girl Christine Ohuruogu (Christine Bowmaker), who finished second at the London 2012 Olympics, will have a good test against new British champion Anyika Onuora (Reider) the likes of Francena McCorory, Regina George, Stephenie Ann-McPhereson and Shaunae Miller, who ran sub-50 seconds in Lausanne.

Saturday 25 July will again be headlined by Ennis-Hill as she competes against Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Mike Holmes) for the first time this season in the long jump, before lining up in the 200m a couple of hours later. Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford (Tawiah-Dodoo) is the standout name in the men’s long jump but he will face American Marquis Dendy, who has jumped a windy 8.68m this season, and Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor in a world class field.

Kenya’s David Rudisha will return to the scene of his incredible Olympic gold medal winning world record run from 2012 as he lines up in the 800m against the man who finished second in the Olympics, Nijel Amos of Botswana.


The female sprints will be another highlight of Saturday’s action; new British 100m record holder Dina Asher-Smith (John Blackie) will line up alongside world silver medallist Murielle Ahoure, Commonwealth champion Blessing Okagbare and double European champion Dafne Schippers. In the 200m, Ennis-Hill will face four-time Olympic champion and eight-time world champion Allyson Felix as well as reigning Olympic 400m champion Sanya Richards-Ross.

Other Olympic and world champions confirmed as competing include shot putter Valerie Adams, Asbel Kiprop in the Emsley Carr Mile, 800m runner Eunice Sum and Zuzana Hejnova in the 400m hurdles.

On Sunday 26 July the stars of the Paralympics will take centre stage as the IPC Grand Prix Final also takes place in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. More than 100 athletes, including 13 London 2012 Paralympic champions, will travel to London from across the world to compete in 20 events and bring the Sainsbury’s Anniversary Games to a spectacular close.

Paralympic T44 100m champion Jonnie Peacock (Fudge), who’s victory in the Olympic Stadium was one of the defining moments of the London 2012 Games, will be one of many British and international stars on show as he renews his rivalry with American Richard Browne. Fellow London 2012 hero David Weird (Jenny Archer), winner of four gold medals in London 2012, will also compete as he takes on Marcel Hug of Switzerland amongst a world class T54 1500m field.