The final meeting of the IAAF Diamond League for the calendar year 2015 gets underway today in Brussels, and hogging the limelight in the events will be American sprinter Justin Gatlin, Allyson Felix, and Dafne Schippers, among others.
In the absence of Usain Bolt, who bagged a gold in each of the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay events in the recently-concluded World Championships in Beijing, former Olympic gold medallist Gatlin takes the track for the men's 100m and the 200m event today.
The 33-year-old registered his personal best for the 100m and 200m only this season, and a top three finish today at the Memorial Van Damme will guarantee him the 100m crown. He has a seven-point lead in the 100m Diamond Race and looks to be on course to retain his title.
"Each year in the last three years I just focus on being a better athlete and trying to improve and that has shown in my performances," Gatlin was quoted as saying. "In 2014 I was in consistent 9.8 shape and this year I've been pretty much consistently in 9.7 shape. Next season I hope to do even better. It's just about growth and being there on the day to perform."
The women's 200m is the other attraction of the day as Schippers, who clocked a European record of 21.63 in the 200m event in Beijing this year, takes the track to compete against the likes of Felix, who won the 400m women's event in the World Championships last month.
"Before Beijing I didn't know I was capable of running that kind of time," Schippers said at the press conference on Thursday. "I surprised myself. I hoped to go under 22, which I did, but it was faster than thought."
The American Felix didn't take part in the 200m in Beijing this year as her focus was on the 400m event. The 29-year-old last competed in a 200m race in Lausanne in July, where she beat 23-year-old Schippers by a time of 22.09s.
Looking ahead at the race today, the 2012 Olympic champion said: "In terms of speed, I am probably not as sharp now as I would like to be. But it's exciting to see new talents coming up in the event and I love new challenges.
"The 200m was an impressive race in Beijing, they ran very fast."
The men's triple jump event is also one of the attractions of the day as world champion Christian Taylor faces off against arch rival and Diamond Race leader Pedro Pablo Pichardo.
Where to Watch Live
The events of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League Brussels (Memorial Van Damme) begin on Friday, 11 September at 8:00pm CET (3pm EST, 12:30am IST, 8pm BST).
The men's 100m race gets underway at 8:14pm CET (3:14pm EST, 12:44am IST, 8:14pm BST)
The women's 200m race gets under way at 8:32pm CET (3:32pm EST, 1:02am IST, 8:32pm BST)
UK viewers can catch the event on British Eurosport, with a live streaming option on Eurosport player.
US viewers can catch the event on Universal Sports, with the option of live streaming on USN TV Live.
The official website will also be streaming the event Live.
