Memorial Van Damme will close athletics season with a two-day final in 2024 and 2026

In 2024 and 2026, the Memorial Van Damme will be responsible for organising the two-day finals of the Diamond League, an annual series of athletics competitions. The organisation announced this on Monday.

The organisation of the Diamond League has announced the locations of the finals for the coming five years, in which the best athletes of the season in more than thirty disciplines compete for the Diamond Trophy. The finals of 2024 and 2026 have been assigned to the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels.

"Since last year, the final is organised over two days because of the large number of competitions," the organisation explains in a press release. "This means that in 2024 and 2026 the Memorial Van Damme will be organised over two days, on Saturday and Sunday."

This year, the Memorial Van Damme will take place on Friday, September 2 at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, a week before the finals in Zurich. In 2023, Eugene will host the finals of the Diamond League. Zürich will do so in 2025 and 2027.

The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics competition with the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels as its home base. The event has been part of the Diamond League since 2010, having previously been part of the Golden League since 1998.

The athletics event was founded in 1977 in memory of the late athlete Ivo Van Damme, a middle-distance runner who is considered by many to be one of the best athletes in Belgian sports history. Van Damme still holds the Belgian records on the 800m and the 1000m.

(AHU)

© BELGA PHOTO Kristof Van Accom