Brussels Diamond League 2025: Jefferson-Wooden flies on Mondo athletics track

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden provided the highlight of the Brussels Diamond League meeting with the American sprinter blowing away her 100m rivals with a blistering win in 10.76 on the King Baudouin Stadium’s Mondo Sportflex™ Super X 720 athletics track.

However, the track also helped generate some fast middle and long-distance times at the last regular season Diamond League meeting of the summer on Friday 22 August.

Laros triumphant, Yavi world best

The Netherlands’ Nils Laros, still only 20, came out on top of a fascinating duel with Kenya’s Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech, who is even younger at 18, but the man in his nation’s familiar orange apparel prevailed in 3:30.58 with Koech finishing second in 3:31.41.

The women’s mile steeplechase was something of a novelty addition to the programme having never featured at the Diamond League before.

Wilfred Yavi responded to the challenge and the Kenyan-born Bahraini runner crossed the line in a world best of 4:40.13 for the rarely run event.

Brussels delights

Other highlights at the Brussels Diamond League included:

  • Jacory Patterson (USA): flying around one lap of the Mondo Sportflex™  Super X 720 athletics track clocking 44.05, the fastest time at a European meeting this year.
  • Julian Weber (GER): launching his javelin out to a huge 89.65m in the fourth round and ultimately having three throws better than anyone else in the world-class field could manage.
  • Katie Moon (USA): going over 4.85m to win the pole vault before the 2022 and 2023 world champion had three unsuccessful attempts at what would have been a world-leading height of 4.90m.
  • Ruben Querinjean (LUX): taking almost five seconds off his Luxembourg national record with an upset win in 8:09.47, a feat many onlookers described as the biggest international win for a male athlete from the Grand Duchy since Josy Barthel won the 1952 Olympic Games 1500m title!

Mondo athletics track makes its mark in Belgium

The Memorial Van Damme and its various Mondo athletics tracks installed in the King Baudouin Stadium have been inexorably linked. 

Its incredible history of success over the last three decades has seen 18 world records and three world U20 records set there since the first Mondo track was installed in 1995.

Read this article dated 2021 where Wilfried Meert, one of the founders and former President of the Van Damme Memorial, explains the reasons for the success of the event in correlation with the choice of having a Mondo athletics track.

Mondo Sportflex™ Super X 720 tracks are clearly hugely popular among the managers of Belgium’s top athletics stadia.In addition to being the track at Brusssels’ King Badouin Stadium, Mondo Sportflex™ Super X 720 tracks were installed in the Sport Flanders Bruges stadium and Dilbeek’s Atletiekpiste Roelandsveld last year.
All three stadia have World Athletics Class 2 Certification, making them Belgium’s best venues for athletics.

Diamond League 2025: records on mondo athletics track

After the eight of the 2025 Diamond League meetings in stadia with Mondo athletics tracks have now been concluded, the overall record count is:

  • 1 world record
  • 1 world U20 record
  • 11 Area records
  • 7 Diamond League records
  • 24 world-leading marks
  • 46 meeting records
  • 46 national records

2025 Diamond League stages whose stadiums are equipped with Mondo athletics tracks

  • Xiamen (CHN)                    26th April 2025
  • Shanghai / Keqiao (CHN) 3rd May 2025
  • Rabat (MAR)                      25th May
  • Rome (ITA)                         6th June 2025
  • Paris (FRA)                           20th June 2025
  • London (GBR)                    19th July 2025
  • Silesia (POL)                        16th August 2025
  • Brussels (BEL)                       22nd August 2025