London Diamond League Men's 100m Prediction: Who will emerge victorious in the biggest pre-Olympic showdown of year?

The London Diamond League is the last track and field competition before the world's best athletes head to the 2024 Olympics, and the event is drawing a lot of interest. In particular, fans are excitedly anticipating the men's 100m clash which will feature several medal contenders for Paris battling it out at the London Stadium.

Heading into this clash, the fastest man of the eight-person field is Yohan Blake with his personal best of 9.69s. However, Blake hasn't been close to that top speed for a while now and holds a feeble season best of 10.16, the slowest of the lot.

It is a similar story for Britain's Zharnel Hughes. The World Championships silver-medalist has gone as fast as 9.83 in his career, but he's raced only once this year, where he clocked an unimpressive 10.09.

The true contenders to finish in the top three at the London Diamond League are Noah Lyles, Letsile Tebogo and Akani Simbine. Of these three, America's reigning 100 and 200m World Champion, Lyles is the frontrunner for the top position.

Last year, in the 100m finals of the Budapest World Athletics Championships, the 26-year-old clocked a personal best of 9.83 to clinch gold. He replicated this performance at last month's U.S Olympic Trials, making him the fastest runner of the pack.

Behind Lyles, the battle for second is truly well and alive. Simbine and Tebogo have both managed to dip under the 10-second mark only once this season, with the South African's season best of 9.94 slightly faster than the Botswanian’s 9.99. However, Tebogo does hold the advantage in the duo's head-to-head record, having beaten Simbine twice in their three previous clashes.

Rounding out the field at the London Diamond League are Jeremiah Azu and Louie Hinchliffe. Both the Brits have clocked personal bests this season, dipping under the 10-second mark for the first time. Azu ran a 9.97 while Hinchliffe stopped the clock at 9.95.

However, both athletes have seen a dip in their performance since running these times, failing to breach the 10-second mark again, leaving them out of contention for a podium finish.

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London Diamond League 2024: When and where to watch the men's 100m clash

Fans in America excited to see this men's 100m showdown at the London Diamond League can tune in to NBC Sports to catch a live stream of the entire deal. The race is the last scheduled event of the meet, taking place at 15:52 p.m. local time.

While Noah Lyles is expected to walk away with the win in this race, American’s can expect their star racer to face much harder competition at the fast approaching Paris Olympics. Notably missing from the roster of this Diamond League event are Jamaicans Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville, both of whom hold personal and season bests faster than those of Lyles.