Track fans have a back-to-back Diamond League meets this week, including a two-day affair in London. It’s the last week before the circuit takes a break for the European Championships and then ramps up again for the Diamond League finals. 

But before we look too far ahead, let's make some predictions about what will happen in London this weekend. 

Confidence Picks presented by Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans

1) Christian Coleman takes the men’s 100m, evening the season series with Ronnie Baker. 

The two finished with the same time in Rabat last week, Coleman’s first race after six weeks away due to injury. The field in London should yield an interesting competition beyond those two. Jaylen Bacon and Cameron Burrell are fresh off a collegiate season. Yohan Blake of Jamaica is still searching for a race that indicates he is a medal contender in 2019 and 2020. Mike Rodgers is stringing together an incredible season. He was fourth in Rabat, just 0.03 behind Coleman and Baker. This week, he posted a 9.92 in Switzerland—his fourth sub-10-second race of the year.

2) With Brianna McNeal, Keni Harrison, Sharika Nelvis, Danielle Williams, and Christina Manning on the start list in the women’s 100m hurdles, the world lead in the event will be reset. 

McNeal currently holds the mark with a 12.38 from Stockholm. Harrison has run 12.37, but the mark was wind-aided. The London meet will feature two rounds, increasing the chances of a quick time (the semifinals are no stranger to fast times in the high hurdles).

3) Kirani James wins his first Diamond League race since June 2016. 

The 2012 Olympic champion in the 400m hasn’t been the same since his silver medal run at the 2016 Olympics. James has been remarkably under-the-radar since 2016—a fact attributed to his health issues as well as the overwhelming success of Wayde Van Niekerk and Michael Norman. He missed virtually all of 2017 with an injury and just started racing again in June. 

But the results thus far have been promising. James ran under 45 seconds in both his appearances, including a debut run of 44.35 at the beginning of June. That puts him in the mix in this intriguing field that features 400m hurdle star, Abderrahman Samba, collegians Nathon Allen and Nathan Strother, and the unpredictable Abdalleleh Haroun. 

4) Someone will break 13 minutes in the men’s 5000m. 

In 2018 this counts as a bold prediction. With the season beginning to wind down, there’s a chance that for the first time since 1993, nobody will go under the 13 minute barrier.

I’m going to side with 25 years of history and say that somebody does it in London. Yomif Kejelcha, Paul Chelimo, Muktar Edris, Hagos Gebrhiwet, Birhanu Balew . . . it’s gotta happen. Right?

5) Sifan Hassan prevails in the women’s mile.

The women’s mile features Laura Muir, Jenny Simpson, Hellen Obiri, and Gudaf Tsegay. But it doesn’t include the best 1500m/miler in the world, Shelby Houlihan (she will be in Belgium potentially taking down the American record in the 5000m). That leaves an opening for Hassan. She finished third (behind Houlihan and Muir) in the Lausanne 1500m, and she's coming off a spectacular PR of 14:22 in the Rabat 5000m.