Hope Springs Eternal and so it is for this summer where one big sports event has now settled on an August date. It had originally been scheduled for July 10th in Stade Louis II but Coronavirus put paid to holding big events in early July, especially as in France large gatherings for events with over 5000 spectators on site are delayed until at least September.
So the good news is that the Herculis Ebs sports athletics Meet organizers are actively targeting the competition for Friday August 14, 2020 – still at Stade Louis II of course.
They have the full support of the Monaco government and the Wanda Diamond League and World Athletics are working in close collaboration with the Monegasque public authorities, to ensure the best level of health security for the public and the athletes while offering the very high level of competition that the Meet is famous for.
Prince Albert, as President of the Monegasque Athletics Federation has his own encouraging words quoted on the Herculis site
“Dear friends of Herculis, we are determined to see athletes who can, deprived of competition since the start of the season, join us in Monaco later this summer.
Monaco will appear on Friday August 14, with the support of World Athletics and in full agreement with the services of my government.
It is for us to clearly indicate our will that sport can overcome all obstacles and play its role of unifier. This is why Herculis EBS will also be an opportunity to bring together all the sportsmen of Monaco whose events had to be canceled due to the circumstances.
We will of course organize this meeting in compliance with the rules of health prudence which will be applicable during this period. I hope that you will be able to join us, as many as possible, or participate through the television broadcast.”
The last Hercules meet in Monaco in 2019 had been no exception with respect to attracting the world’s best athletes. Coming into the meet Sifan Hassan had signaled her intention to beat her personal record in the mile. And the Batavian did exactly what she said. She scored the 6th world record in the history of Herculis.
There was yet another memorable highlight in the 100 metres when American veteran Justin Gatlin at 37 years old tamed his countryman Noah Lyles with a time of 9’91, just a hundredth of a second faster than the young Lyles. Delivery of another world class performance came from American Sydney McLaughlin who won the 400m hurdles with the then best performance in the world for the year with a time of 53’32.
August 14th, 2020 is now the date to watch more records fall. For those who cannot get to the Louis-II in four months, Herculis will offer a refund on its website.