Oblique Seville competes in the men's 100m final in Brussels; Ajayi beat Seville twice this season

Oblique Seville competes in the men’s 100m final in Brussels; Ajayi beat Seville twice this season

Diamond League Final 2026: Oblique Seville faces one last test in stacked men’s 100m in Brussels - how to watch live

World champion Oblique Seville takes on Kayinsola Ajayi, Christian Coleman, Trayvon Bromell, Emmanuel Eseme, Lachlan Kennedy and Akani Simbine in an incredible men’s 100m at the 2026 Diamond League Final in Brussels.

The 2026 Diamond League Final in Brussels will crown its men’s 100 metres champion on Friday (4 September), with nine sprinters lining up at the King Baudouin Stadium for the Diamond Trophy in one of the most anticipated athletics races of the night.

At the centre of it is world No. 1 Oblique Seville . The Jamaican world champion is the fastest man in the field this season at 9.82, but he arrives in Brussels knowing that the man who has already beaten him twice this year will be sprinting alongside him.

Can Seville finish the job, or will Kayinsola Ajayi stop him again?

Seville has won in Monaco and Silesia, claimed the Jamaican title and established himself as the man to beat in 2026. Now he wants to finish the season with his first Diamond Trophy while continuing a remarkable streak for his nation. Since the series began in 2010, Jamaica has produced at least one Diamond League champion every season. In the men’s 100m, Seville would join compatriots Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Ackeem Blake as winners of the Diamond Trophy.

“There are great things ahead of me,” Seville told the Jamaica Observer in Silesia ahead of the final. “For the rest of the season I would like to keep winning, and the next win should be in Brussels.”

But there is one man in Friday’s field who has already proved, twice, that Seville can be beaten. And he is only 21.

Nigeria’s Ajayi has emerged as one of the stars of the sprint season. The Nigerian equalled his national record and personal best at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in July, where he lined up against Seville and beat the reigning world champion in 9.84.

Two weeks later in London, he did it again.

Ajayi posted his third 9.84 of the season, this time beating Seville, who clocked 9.87. After his victory in Eugene, Ajayi summed up his growing confidence in his post-race interview: “That is what I do.”

Brussels now offers another opportunity to challenge the world champion.

Also on the list of challengers is Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme , third fastest of the field, who arrives with a 9.83 personal best

national record, as well as the confidence of having won the 2026 Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow in the kind of cool, wet conditions that could greet the sprinters in Brussels.

Diamond League 2026: Full list of disciplines and results for every stop

The next in line is Lachlan Kennedy .

The 22-year-old Australian lowered his national record to 9.85 at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, bettering the previous mark of 9.93, which had stood since 2003. His 9.85 makes him the fourth-fastest man in Friday’s field on 2026 performances.

But while Seville, Ajayi, Eseme and Kennedy boast the quickest times this season, nobody in the field has ever run faster than the two U.S. sprinters.

Christian Coleman and Trayvon Bromell share personal bests of 9.76, putting both among the fastest men in history, even if neither has quite reached those heights this season.

Coleman has won the 100m Diamond Trophy three times, while his 2026 season’s best of 9.90 keeps him firmly in contention in Brussels.

Bromell, meanwhile, has seen his career repeatedly interrupted by serious injuries. The 31-year-old, who was part of the USA’s gold-medal-winning 4x100m squad at the 2025 World Championships, has returned strongly in 2026. He won the Paris Diamond League earlier this season and leads the Diamond League standings with 19 points heading into the final.

“I just got a lot of motivation this year,” Bromell said after winning in Paris, adding that the season was “setting up perfectly” for what lies ahead.

Ajayi and Eseme are not the only African sprinter capable of shaking things up.

South Africa’s Gift Leotlela has run 9.87 at his fastest, while compatriot Akani Simbine owns a 9.82 personal best and, perhaps more importantly, a remarkable record of consistency. From 2015 through 2025, Simbine became the first man in history to record a legal sub-10-second 100m in 11 consecutive seasons.

But times, rankings and accolades will only count for so much when nine men settle into the blocks on Friday night.

Ultimately, it will all come down to one race, and well, who can get to the line first.

How to watch Diamond League 2026 Memorial Van Damme live

Fans in the United States can watch the Diamond League Final on FloTrack . In Canada, the CBC will carry coverage, while British fans can follow on the BBC Sport website, iPlayer, and BBC Two .

In Belgium, coverage will be on VRT Sporza and RTBF Auvio

Action will also be available live on the Diamond League YouTube channel in various territories around the world, with geographical restrictions applied.

Athletics | Allianz Memorial Van Damme | Wanda Diamond League | Brussels | Belgium