Washingtonians in Lausanne & Paris Diamond League; NTL circuit ends in Victoria...

The IAAF Diamond League tour continues with two meets this week, with stops in Lausanne, Switzerland for the Athletissima meeting Thursday, and in St. Denis, France for the Meeting Areva at the Stade de France on the outskirts of Paris.

In Lausanne, University of Washington grad Brad Walker (left/photo by Paul Merca) will face a field that includes many of the competitors from his last Diamond League meet, the Nike Prefontaine Classic in Eugene last month, where he finished fifth.

The field includes current Diamond co-leaders Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany, and Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie of France; the German duo of Malte Mohr and Bjorn Otto; Greece's Konstantinos Filippidis; and Steve Lewis of Great Britain, who trained with Walker this spring in Phoenix.

The start list for Lausanne is available here.

Two days later, Walker, who has set up a training base for the summer in Monaco, faces hometown favorite Lavillenie, Lewis, Filippidis, and Holzdeppe, along with American Jeremy Scott.

Sweden's Ebba Jungmark, who won an NCAA indoor high jump title while at Washington State and earned a medal at last year's IAAF world indoor championships, goes against US national champ Brigetta Barrett, along with Russia's Olympic champ Anna Chicherova, former world champ Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, and fellow Swede Emma Green Tregaro.

USA national 5000 meter champ and Washington State alum Bernard Lagat drops down in distance to 1500 meters, and faces fellow Americans Matthew Centrowitz, Leo Manzano, and Lopez Lomong, along with training partner and Arizona grad Lawi Lalang.

The field also includes two dangerous competitors in Mekonnen Gebremedhin of Ethiopia, and Abdelaati Iguider of Morocco.

The start list for the Meeting Areva is available here.

Closer to home, Victoria is the final stop of Canada's five-meet National Track League circuit, as the Victoria International closes out the tour on Friday at Centennial Stadium.

Washington State University grad Joe Abbott, who turned some heads with an impressive victory at Monday's Harry Jerome meet in Burnaby with a personal best 1:45.35, looks to make it two in a row.

Spokane native Britney Henry, who just landed a sponsorship deal with Seattle-based Oiselle, is the only foreigner in the hammer.

The start list for Friday's Victoria International is available here.