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On Track Nights Paris Preview: Storylines To Watch

By Chris Chavez

June 7, 2023

The Diamond League isn’t the only international professional track series making a stop in France this weekend. On Track Nights will make its third stop of the year at the FAST5000 on Saturday, June 10 at Stade du Parc des Sports in Montesson. As official media partners of the On Track Nights series, we will have David McCarthy, Johnny Pace and Alex Andrei on site to capture all of the sights and action. The meet will start at 2 p.m. in Paris and is free to attend. The marquee professional action will be taking place starting at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. EST in America).

Here are the key storylines to watch at the meet:

Can Nikki Hiltz Stay Hot?

In their first-ever European circuit trip, the 2019 world championship finalist is thriving. They ran a 1500m season’s best of 4:03.08 in a photo finish at the Meeting Montreuil in France. They paced the 5000m at the Trond Mohn Games in Bergen, Norway before jumping into the 1500m on short rest and winning wire-to-wire in 4:07.18. Momentum is a good thing to have in the leadup to the U.S. Championships next month. Hiltz’s mile personal best is 4:21.89 from last summer’s Sir Walter Mile.

However, the win will not come easy as OAC’s Sinta Vissa is fresh off a 4:01.98 personal best at the Florence Diamond League.

Allez Jimmy!

Jimmy Gressier has range! He’s coming off a 3:34.08 personal best in Montreuil and ran 59:55 for the half marathon back in February. We’ll see if he can hold off OAC Europe studs Robert Farken and George Mills who went 3:32.10 and 3:33.16 for fresh personal bests, respectively, at a small meet in Rehlingen, Germany on May 28.

What will Emmanuel Bor do in the 5000m?

Emmanuel Bor had a massive payday on the roads earlier this year when he set the 10-mile American record. His first track race since then may have been a bit overlooked. He ran a 13:10.91 outdoor personal best when he finished fifth at the Los Angeles Grand Prix. He was just shy of the 13:07.00 qualifying mark for Worlds. Only Grant Fisher, Woody Kincaid, Joe Klecker and Abdihamid Nur have the time for Budapest and people forget Bor has gone 13:00.48 for 5000m indoors.

Encore for Mizan Alem?

After running 29:59.03 for the 10,000m at the On Track Nights: London stop, Ethiopia’s Mizan Alem is back for the festivities and will test herself over 5000m. Her personal best is 14:46.20 from the 2021 Ethiopian Olympic Trials race. World Cross Country silver medalist Tsige Gebreselama, who just ran a personal best of 30:04.45 for 10,000m in Hengelo this weekend, is also a top contender in this race.

We will update this post with more information on how to watch the meet live.

Chris Chavez

Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and is an aspiring sub-five-minute miler.